Radical reforms needed to tackle waiting times, says former health secretary
Patients should be charged for GP appointments and A&E visits, Sajid Javid has said, as he called the present model of the NHS “unsustainable”.
The former health secretary said “extending the contributory principle” should be part of radical reforms to tackle growing waiting times.
Continue reading...Experts call major spike in deaths on 19 July and following day ‘extraordinary data’ and a wake-up call over dangers of extreme heat
The hottest day on record last summer resulted in 638 more deaths in England than normal, according to official figures, which experts said show the danger that extreme heat and climate change pose to human life.
The following day, when temperatures remained almost as high, 496 more people died than would usually be expected.
Continue reading...Latest updates: YouGov survey finds there is almost nowhere in Britain where people think their community has got better
Keir Starmer has held a meeting with Leo Varadkar, the taoiseach (Irish PM), at Davos this morning. According to a readout of the meeting from the Labour party, Starmer and Varadkar “discussed the importance of strengthening British-Irish relations, their mutual commitment to that enduring relationship, and talked about areas both countries could work together on in the future”.
They also talked about the need “to proceed at pace in finding agreement over the Northern Ireland protocol,” Labour said.
I know I’m not the only MP in the party who thinks this — I’m just the only one who feels I have nothing to lose by speaking out. After all, there’s no front-bench job offer for the only Labour MP in my county. Many of us know that self-identifying as a woman does not make a person a biological woman who shares our lived experience. But for obvious reasons, these views are not voiced outside of closed rooms or private and secret WhatsApp groups. Even there, the most senior MPs often do not post a single word; they know exactly what’s at stake and not many of them want to be me. So for now, they mostly remain silent.
One of the traits of being in an abusive relationship is “stonewalling”. The abuser will go quiet for days on end. They will stew, not speak to you, turn their back on you. Trust me when I say I don’t take this lightly: but what I feel now, after six years of being cold-shouldered by the Labour party, conjures memories of how I felt in that abusive relationship. When I come home at night, I feel low-level trauma at my political isolation.
In 2019, it was hard enough trying to convince my constituents that Labour wasn’t antisemitic. In the next election, when they inevitably ask whether Labour is sexist, I’m not sure I’ll be able to do the same.
Continue reading...MPs and peers say draft mental health bill must go further to strengthen patients’ choices
Ministers must use legislation to address an “unacceptable and inexcusable” failure to address racial disparity in the use of the Mental Health Act, MPs and peers have said.
The joint committee on the draft mental health bill says the bill does not go far enough to tackle failures that were identified in a landmark independent review five years ago, but which still persist and may even be getting worse.
Continue reading...The Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA) identifies cancer, heart disease and stroke as health risks of drinking alcohol
New alcohol guidelines recommending that Canadians limit themselves to just two drinks a week – and ideally cut alcohol altogether – have prompted intense debate over risk versus enjoyment in a country where the vast majority of adults regularly consume alcohol.
The Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA) this week called for a substantial reduction in consumption, warning that seemingly moderate drinking poses a number of serious health risks, including cancer, heart disease and stroke.
Continue reading...Group representing trusts in England warns of disruption to patient care as two days of stoppages begin
NHS bosses have implored ministers to “do all you can” to end the strikes that are disrupting care for patients and help rescue the service from its “vicious cycle” of overload and delays.
The NHS Confederation issued its plea on the day nurses in England went on strike for the third time as they seek a bigger pay rise for 2022/23 than the £1,400 on offer.
Continue reading...Regulator fines online betting firm £442,750 for imposing unfair terms and failures in anti-money laundering measures
An online betting firm has been fined £442,750 for demanding ID from winning punters before it would give them the cash, while failing to carry out similar checks on potentially vulnerable people depositing money.
The Gambling Commission punished TonyBet, which is based in Estonia but has a licence to operate in Great Britain, for imposing unfair terms and failures in anti-money laundering and social responsibility measures.
Continue reading...Latest government U-turn on policy comes amid row over Scotland’s gender recognition bill
The government’s plans for a ban on so-called conversion practices will now also include transgender people, the culture secretary has confirmed.
The policy, which has been proposed several times by successive Conservative governments since 2018 when Theresa May was prime minister, will outlaw attempts to change someone’s sexuality or gender identity in England and Wales.
Continue reading...Where does the responsibility lie in the recent shooting in Newport News, Virginia, for a country so inured to gun violence?
The shooting of a Virginia teacher by her six-year-old student last week left the town of Newport News and the rest of the US shaken and shocked.
Even in a country long used to the sort of school shootings that are rare in much of the rest of the world, the astonishingly young age of the shooter prompted a bout of public agonizing in the US about its gun violence problem.
Continue reading...Two men charged with drug and money laundering offences, as well as theft of electricity, after officers raid Coromandel East property
Two men have been arrested after police uncovered an elaborate underground bunker allegedly used to grow cannabis in Adelaide’s south.
Officers attended a semi-rural property in the suburb of Coromandel East on Monday where they discovered the bunker’s entrance.
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Continue reading...Former Sex Pistol competing to represent Ireland with love letter to wife of 44 years who is living with the illness
John Lydon has said he is competing to represent Ireland at this year’s Eurovision song contest primarily in order to raise awareness of Alzheimer’s disease. The former Sex Pistols frontman (once known as Johnny Rotten) will appear with his band, Public Image Ltd, on the Late Late Show on 3 February, performing Hawaii, a love letter to his wife of 44 years, Nora Forster, who is living with the illness.
“I’m doing it to highlight the sheer torture of what Alzheimer’s is,” said the singer, who holds an Irish passport as well as US citizenship. “It gets swept under the carpet, but in highlighting it, hopefully we get a stage nearer to a cure.” Lydon insisted that spreading this message was much more important than competing to win, so he isn’t listening to the five other entrants.
Continue reading...RCN says if progress not made on pay negotiations, action in February will include all eligible members in England
Double the number of nurses will be asked to strike in early February in a bid to increase pressure on the government, union leaders have warned.
The Royal College of Nursing has said that if progress is not made in negotiations by the end of January, the next set of strikes will include all eligible members in England for the first time.
Continue reading...Public support for industrial action by health workers remains strong in the face of government claims it is putting lives at risk
A majority of voters continue to support striking nurses and ambulance workers, despite government claims that they are putting the public at risk, according to the latest Opinium poll for the Observer.
Labour has also increased its lead over the Tories by 1 percentage point, to 16 points, after the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, and other cabinet ministers tried to make political capital by accusing Keir Starmer and his party of being in the pockets of the unions at a time of industrial unrest, the survey shows.
Continue reading...Health secretary Steve Barclay urges unions to lobby PM over improved pay offer for striking nurses and ambulance workers
The health and social care secretary Steve Barclay has privately urged trade unions to help him make the case to the Treasury and No 10 for extra money for nurses, ambulance workers and other NHS staff in an extraordinary twist to the escalating crisis over health service strikes, the Observer can reveal.
A serious cabinet split has opened up, with Barclay now wanting more money for all NHS staff except doctors – while Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, are refusing to budge from their insistence that no more can be offered.
Continue reading...Bill payers stand to collectively save billions if minimum standard raised to a C rating, research suggests
Raising the minimum standard of energy efficiency to a C rating for privately rented homes would save bill payers about £570 a year, research has found.
This would amount to annual savings totalling £1.75bn across the UK, according to the thinktank E3G in a report called Cutting Energy Bills and Raising Standards for Private Renters.
Continue reading...Leader of the Labour party made the comments during a speech on Brexit in Northern Ireland
The UK culture secretary, Michelle Donelan, has said she is “not ruling out” changing the online safety bill to allow regulators to prosecute social media bosses who are found not to have protected children’s safety.
Donelan told the BBC she was open to making changes that have been demanded by dozens of Conservative MPs, saying she would take a “sensible approach” to their ideas.
Obviously this is a very sensitive area and I know there were very robust debates and exchanges on it as the bill was passing in Scotland. What I’m concerned about is the impact of the bill across the United Kingdom.
There may be impacts across the UK that we need to be aware of and understand the impact of them, and that’s what we’re doing, and once the government has received final advice it will set out next steps.
This is not just a question about the GRR people’s individual views on it. This is about democracy.
The Scottish parliament has voted in favour of legislation that sits within devolved competencies, and it’s incumbent upon Westminster to ensure that legislation is passed in full.
Continue reading...Riverdance star has undergone surgery and is in care of doctors, according to Instagram account
Michael Flatley, best known for his Riverdance show, has been diagnosed with an “aggressive” form of cancer.
A post on the Irish dancer and director’s Instagram account said: “Michael Flatley has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. He has undergone surgery and is in the care of an excellent team of doctors.”
Continue reading...Officials from 14 health unions want to hold direct talks with ministers to agree pay rises for NHS staff
The system for setting NHS staff pay is under threat after health unions refused to submit evidence to the two bodies that advise ministers on how big annual increases should be.
The role and credibility of both the NHS pay review body (NHSPRB) and the review body on doctors’ and dentists’ remuneration (DDRB) have been brought into question by the move.
Continue reading...Waves of respiratory diseases, staff attrition and an older population are taxing Canada’s overburdened hospital system
When Allison Holthoff entered a crowded Nova Scotia hospital at the end of December, the intense pain in her abdomen worsened with each hour she spent waiting for treatment. With the emergency room under renovations, overwhelmed staff triaged a stream of incoming patients in a makeshift treatment area.
“‘I feel like I’m dying. They’re going to let me die here,’” Holthoff told her husband, Gunther.
Continue reading...Exclusive: employment strategy aimed at those ‘written off’ by society like young people with mental health issues, says Jonathan Ashworth
Labour will “put health and wellbeing” at the heart of its employment strategy by embedding career advisers in health services, including addiction clinics, rehab centres and primary care, the party has said.
In an interview with the Guardian, Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow work and pensions secretary, said the strategy would help people who had been “written off” to access work.
Devolving employment support to local authorities to target the best routes into work.
Tailored extra support to work flexibly for those with caring responsibilities or chronic conditions.
Offers of “in principle” decisions for access-to-work funding for disabled people.
Change the work capability assessment regime to allow people to accept a job without fearing they would not be able to return to the benefits they were receiving.
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