Category Archives: Society

UK charity steps up campaign against child hygiene poverty

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The Multibank, founded by Gordon Brown, receives boost with Amazon-led drive for 250,000 items this month

A charity founded by the former prime minister Gordon Brown is to increase its campaign efforts against child hygiene poverty this year.

The Multibank, which was founded by the former Labour leader, is working with a number of sports clubs across Britain and the Hygiene Bank charity. Over the Christmas and new year period it collected thousands of hygiene products at sporting fixtures.

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Expanded seven-day health hubs to help tackle NHS waiting times in England

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Proposals to be outlined by Keir Starmer will offer patients 500,000 more appointments a year, as health secretary says without reforms NHS could collapse ‘like Woolworths’

Patients in England will be offered 500,000 more appointments a year via seven-day health hubs under plans to tackle lengthy waiting times, as ministers warned the NHS could collapse like Woolworths without major reform.

Millions of people will be able to access checks, tests and scans closer to home as the health service expands the number of community diagnostic centres (CDCs) opening 12 hours a day, seven days a week.

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Cash incentives for GPs under Labour’s radical plan to cut NHS waiting lists

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Doctors will be given £20 each time they consult with a specialist to see if there is an alternative to hospital visits

GPs will be offered financial incentives to discuss with specialists whether patients can be treated outside hospital, under radical plans to cut NHS waiting lists.

Doctors will be given £20 each time they consult a specialist either by phone or email under the so-called advice and guidance (A&G) scheme, to see if there is an alternative to hospital visits and treatment.

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Labour goes slow on rape courts pledge amid fears over shortage of lawyers

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Election manifesto promise to set up specialist tribunals to deal with huge backlog of cases has been put on hold

The government appears to have stalled on plans to set up dozens of specialist rape courts to deal with a huge backlog of cases, amid warnings there are not enough lawyers to make the proposals work.

Labour pledged during the election campaign to use vacant rooms and buildings on crown court sites to fast-track rape cases and reduce the numbers awaiting trial.

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Keir Starmer to announce radical NHS changes to cut waiting times

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Exclusive: Patients in England to get direct referrals for tests without seeing consultant, but critics say plan is ‘deluded’

Keir Starmer will attempt to reset his premiership next week by setting out a series of radical NHS changes aimed at reducing waiting times for millions of patients in England.

The shake-up comes after a torrid first six months in government and amid mounting frustration among patients. More than 6 million are waiting for care.

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More than 2,200 people died in Mediterranean in 2024, UN finds

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Figure includes hundreds of children, who make up one in five migrants trying to reach Europe fleeing war and poverty

More than 2,200 people either died or went missing in the Mediterranean while trying to reach Europe in search of refuge in 2024.

The figure, cited in a statement from Regina De Dominicis, the regional director for Europe and central Asia for the UN’s children’s agency, Unicef, was eclipsed on New Year’s Eve when 20 people fell into the sea and were reported missing after a boat started to take in water in rough seas about 20 miles off the coast of Libya.

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Government must look at effects of toxic smoke on Grenfell firefighters, minister says

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Union calls for regular health checks for 600 Grenfell firefighters after many developed long-term conditions

The government “needs to seriously look” at the effects of toxic smoke inhalation on firefighters who served at the Grenfell Tower fire, a minister has said.

The comments from Andrew Gwynne, the health minister, came after the Guardian disclosed that more than a quarter of firefighters who battled against the fire eight years ago have long-term health disorders.

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Guardian and Observer readers raise £1.25m so far in charity appeal

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With just over a week to go, more than 11,200 people have donated generously to support victims of conflict and war

With just over a week to go, an incredible £1,250,000 has been raised by generous readers for the 2024 Guardian and Observer appeal in support of victims of conflict and war.

Three charities will benefit from the appeal: Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and War Child, which carry out frontline medical aid work in war zones, and Parallel Histories, which helps schools teach sensitive and controversial histories such as those of Northern Ireland, Israel and Palestine.

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Fixing UK social care will be biggest challenge yet for Louise Casey

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Troubleshooter for four previous prime ministers is charged with saving troubled national care sector

She is the no-nonsense civil servant from Portsmouth who was called upon by four prime ministers to tackle deep-rooted social issues, including rough sleeping, antisocial behaviour, victims’ rights and troubled families.

Now Louise Casey has been tasked by a fifth to chair an independent commission into adult social care. Her mission? Develop a plan to save the sector.

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Ministers plan biggest shake-up of adult social care in England for decades

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But final report on reforms would not emerge until 2028, which health leaders say is kicking crisis ‘into the long grass’

Ministers are to launch a historic independent commission to reform adult social care, as they warned older people could be left without vital help and the NHS overwhelmed unless a “national consensus” was reached on fixing a “failing” system.

The taskforce, to be led by the cross-bench peer Louise Casey, will be charged with developing plans for a new national care service, a Labour election manifesto pledge, in the biggest shake-up to social care in England in decades.

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Grenfell firefighters exposed to toxic smoke developed health disorders, study finds

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Exclusive: Data from 524 firefighters who risked their lives showed 136 reported life-changing conditions

More than a quarter of firefighters exposed to toxic smoke during the Grenfell Tower fire have had long-term health disorders, a study shows.

Ministers are facing demands for an urgent review after data from 524 firefighters who risked their lives at the 2017 disaster showed that over the first three years, 136 reported life-changing conditions. These included 11 cases of cancer, 64 respiratory diseases, 22 neurological disorders and 66 digestive illnesses.

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Ex-chief prosecutor rejects Musk’s calls for new child abuse inquiry

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Nazir Afzal and police whistleblower Maggie Oliver say previous lengthy inquiries were not acted upon

A former chief prosecutor and a police whistleblower who uncovered a notorious paedophile gang have hit back at demands from senior Conservatives and the billionaire Elon Musk for a national inquiry into child sexual exploitation.

Nazir Afzal, the ex-chief prosecutor who was central to successful prosecution of the Rochdale grooming gang, said lengthy and expensive inquiries were not acted upon by the previous Conservative government.

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DWP spent £50,000 trying to stop release of review into disabled man’s death

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Previous government spent almost £1m trying to prevent release of documents in 56 legal cases

More than £50,000 of taxpayers’ money was spent on lawyers to try to prevent the release of a safeguarding review ordered after a disabled man starved to death in his own home.

The costs were part of a bill of nearly £1m spent under the last government to prevent the release of various documents under the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act.

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Health innovation centre looks to future of NHS while celebrating its past

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First building to open at Huddersfield’s National Health Innovation Centre is named after NHS’s first black matron

In a full-scale model of a house, a £50,000 mannequin that can breathe, blink and cough waits for the replica of an ambulance.

Eerily lifelike technology, some created by model makers who have made “bodies” for the BBC’s Silent Witness, is being used to tackle the scarcity of placement hours for healthcare students by combining real-world training with simulated settings, including virtual reality.

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Baby Remi, among the first born of new Beta generation, arrives in Australia just minutes after new year

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Baby girl born in NSW’s Port Macquarie base hospital at 12.05 belongs to generation Beta, many of whom will live to see 22nd century

A baby girl named Remi, born just minutes into the new year on the NSW midnorth coast, is believed to be the first Australian birth of 2025 – and the first of “generation Beta”.

Tzu-Ling Huang and Liam Walsh had a quiet New Year’s Eve planned at their home in Comboyne, but their daughter surprised them and arrived two weeks early.

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Prisons in England and Wales record rapid rise in drones delivering drugs

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Exclusive: tenfold increase in drone incidents since 2020 leads MPs to call for urgent action over security concerns

Prisons will need more money to combat the rapid rise in drones delivering drugs, the head of an influential Commons committee has said, as figures showed the number of aerial incursions predicted to have tripled in two years.

A freedom of information request by the Guardian found there were 1,296 drone incidents at prisons in England and Wales in the 10 months to the end of October 2024, a tenfold increase since 2020.

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Thousands throng central Birmingham amid false rumour of New Year’s Eve fireworks

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Revellers left disappointed after social media reports of display turn out to be a damp squib

Thousands of people gathered in the centre of Birmingham on New Year’s Eve despite a police warning that the announcement of a fireworks display was false.

Police and the city council had urged revellers not to travel after false reports there would be a spectacular show in Centenary Square.

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Belgium becomes first EU country to ban sale of disposable vapes

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Products banned on health and environmental grounds, while Milan outlaws outdoor smoking

Belgium has become the EU first country to ban the sale of disposable vapes in an effort to stop young people from becoming addicted to nicotine and to protect the environment.

The sale of disposable electronic cigarettes is banned in Belgium on health and environmental grounds from 1 January. A ban on outdoor smoking in Milan came into force on the same day, as EU countries discuss tighter controls on tobacco.

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Man on the run after being recalled to UK prison indefinitely makes plea to minister

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Matthew Booth, from Bolton, is facing further time in jail after claims he has restarted a relationship with an ex

A Bolton man who is on the run after being recalled to prison indefinitely has made a direct plea to the justice secretary to intervene in his case.

Matthew Booth, 33, is wanted by police on recall to prison for a crime he committed when he was 15 and for which he has served a sentence.

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Hospital admissions for lack of vitamins soaring in England, NHS figures show

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Admissions for vitamin or iron deficiencies up by more than 10% year on year and as much as tenfold on 1998-99

The number of people admitted to hospital in England because of a lack of vitamins or minerals is soaring, according to analysis of NHS figures.

In 2023-24 there were 191,927 admissions where the main reason was a lack of iron, up 11% on 2022-23. The figure is almost 10 times the 20,396 hospital admissions for lack of iron in 1998-99.

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