Overall NHS figures show 6.37 million patients waiting for health treatment at end of December
More than a third of cancer patients in England are facing potentially deadly delays, leading doctors have said, with thousands of people forced to wait months to begin treatment.
There has also been a significant surge in people experiencing long waits in A&E, though the overall NHS waiting list continues to fall, according to the latest performance data for England.
Continue reading...Ruling comes months after supreme court ruled that requiring sterilisation before a change of gender in official records was unconstitutional
A court in western Japan has approved a transgender man’s request to have his gender changed in official records without undergoing sterilisation surgery, the first known ruling of its kind since the country’s top court struck down a surgery requirement for such record changes.
Tacaquito Usui, 50, could get the gender listed for him in his family registry updated to male, the Okayama family court’s Tsuyama branch ruled on Wednesday. Usui’s original application for the revision was rejected five years ago.
Continue reading...Families who may have been affected by hormone pregnancy tests not included in patient safety commissioner’s review
Campaigners have accused the UK government of betraying them after a review of redress for victims of health scandals excluded families who may have been affected by the hormone pregnancy test Primodos.
A report published on Wednesday by the patient safety commissioner, Dr Henrietta Hughes, found a “clear case for redress” for thousands of women and children who suffered “avoidable harm” from the epilepsy treatment sodium valproate and from vaginal mesh implants.
Continue reading...Public opinion divided over lyrics to Zorra, usually used to mean ‘bitch’, by electropop duo Nebulossa
It has been criticised by some as insulting to women, but hailed by the prime minister as provocative – in a good way.
Days after Spain selected its entry for this year’s Eurovision song contest, the electropop tune Zorra has rocketed to the top of the country’s music charts and divided public opinion.
Continue reading...Activists will cross the continent visiting areas where the practice is prevalent to revive progress in protecting women and girls
African female genital mutilation survivors will lead thousands of campaigners in a two-year “caravan campaign” across the continent, calling for an end to the practice.
Organised by #FrontlineEndingFGM, a group of grassroots activists and organisations in Africa will cover about 7,400 miles (12,000km) across 20 countries, including Nigeria, Sudan and Cameroon.
Continue reading...British Dental Association says government’s plan does not offer hope to millions struggling to access care
Rishi Sunak has been accused of making a U-turn on his pledge to restore NHS dentistry as experts say his “recovery plan” does not offer enough money to incentivise dentists to take on extra NHS patients.
The prime minister’s long-awaited proposals have been criticised for failing to ringfence funding for the dental sector and reform the NHS dentistry contract, which means millions across the country will continue to struggle to access care.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Sources say PM has blocked talks due to concerns about knock-on effect of more generous pay offer
Rishi Sunak has been accused of personally holding up a deal to end doctors’ strikes in England despite warnings from the health department and NHS England that waiting lists will continue to soar unless the industrial dispute is resolved.
Sources told the Guardian it had been made “abundantly and repeatedly” clear to the prime minister that there would be no progress on his pledge to drive down NHS waiting lists until a deal was struck.
Continue reading...Actors say non-specific categories benefit men as industry still offers them more interesting roles
The Flemish film and television awards are facing calls to temporarily do away with gender-neutral categories amid concerns that the switch has left women routinely shut out of the top awards.
At the Ensors awards on Saturday male actors cleaned up the categories for best lead and supporting actors. It was an echo of 2022 – the first year that the awards ceremony axed gendered categories – when men also walked away with each of the four awards recognising the best actors.
Continue reading...Charities say deaths will be prevented if ‘sponge on a string’ test is widely adopted
A test that can detect oesophageal cancer at an earlier stage than current methods should be made more widely available to prevent deaths, charities have said.
The capsule sponge test, previously known as Cytosponge, involves a patient swallowing a dissolvable pill on a string. The pill then releases a sponge which collects cells from the oesophagus as it is retrieved.
Continue reading...Voters will welcome announcement of what party’s reforms will look like but structural inequalities run deep
While Britain was still struggling through the Covid pandemic in autumn 2020, Keir Starmer announced that Labour would bring in a race relations act if it came to power.
His promise was driven by concern about the disproportionate impact of the coronavirus crisis on minority ethnic communities, confirmed in a report from Doreen Lawrence, the Labour peer and mother of the murdered black teenager Stephen.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Radical changes in a draft race equality act would give same protections as women now receive
A Labour government would extend the full right to equal pay that now exists for women to black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) workers for the first time under radical plans for a draft race equality act seen by the Guardian.
The legal right, which would follow a consultation with business groups and unions, would be phased in to give employers time to adapt to paying all their staff fairly, with back pay only available from when the law changes.
Continue reading...Labour MPs call to extend provision to every primary pupil in England after study finds health and learning improve
Labour is facing calls from MPs to back the provision of free school meals for all primary school children in England, after a new study found evidence that it reduces obesity and boosts reading skills.
Levels of obesity were reduced by 7% to 11% among reception children in the four London boroughs that have already adopted the policy, according to the study seen by the Observer. For children in year six, who had been given free school meals for their entire time in primary school, there was a 5-8% reduction.
Continue reading...Plans to reform social care and House of Lords are trimmed as Keir Starmer’s party opts for caution ahead of vote
Labour is planning only limited first-term reforms of social care and the House of Lords and a smaller green investment plan as part of a stripped-down general election manifesto, as it seeks to make its policies “bombproof” to Tory attacks.
Shadow cabinet ministers have been given until 8 February to make policy submissions for the manifesto, as Keir Starmer’s party gears up for an election that, according to opinion polls, looks likely to return it to government for the first time since 2010.
Continue reading...‘Shameful’ backlogs in cases are causing severe mental health problems, says victims commissioner
Victims of crime are dying waiting for justice as they face delays of up to six years for their cases to be dealt with in court, the victims’ commissioner for England and Wales has said.
As a new law to enshrine victims’ rights is scrutinised in the House of Lords, Baroness Helen Newlove warned that the wider justice system was “on its knees”, with “shameful” backlogs leaving victims suffering acute mental health problems.
Continue reading...Family were given permission for L-shaped building in 2021, but instead built a large, C-shaped structure
The spa pool at the home of Captain Sir Tom Moore’s daughter has been lifted out by crane as the unauthorised complex was demolished. The tub was hoisted up through the open top of the block, whose roof had been removed by workers earlier in the week.
Hannah Ingram-Moore, 53, and her husband, Colin, 66, lost an appeal against an order to remove the Captain Tom Foundation building in the grounds of their property after a hearing in October.
Continue reading...Children’s parents and those who performed the procedure are in police custody, according to local reports
Police in Sierra Leone are investigating the deaths of three girls who underwent female genital mutilation (FGM).
Adamsay Sesay, 12; Salamatu Jalloh, 13; and Kadiatu Bangura, 17, died during initiation ceremonies in the country’s North West province last month, according to local reports.
Continue reading...Employees blindsided by news that company blew through $50m investment, will offer no severance and will cut off healthcare
The Messenger, a news startup launched last year with a $50m investment and a nonpartisan perspective, is shutting down, according to multiple news reports.
In a staff email, the publication’s founder, Jimmy Finkelstein, wrote that the company had pursued all options “over the past few weeks, literally until last night” but made the “painful” decision to shut down the site effective immediately after failing to raise “sufficient capital to reach profitability”.
Continue reading...MSF begins vaccine drive against incurable disease, which is spread via dirty water and kills thousands of pregnant women
A push to tackle an outbreak of hepatitis E in South Sudan is being hampered by flooding that has isolated populations and turned villages into islands.
A pioneering vaccination drive has begun to protect people against a spate of cases but the true scale of the disease outbreak is unknown.
Continue reading...CQC will conduct review into Nottinghamshire Healthcare in tandem with mental health homicide review
A troubled NHS trust that treated Valdo Calocane for paranoid schizophrenia before he killed three people in Nottingham last year is to be the subject of a special review.
Ministers said the review into Nottinghamshire Healthcare foundation trust would help provide answers to the families of Barnaby Webber, Grace O’Malley-Kumar and Ian Coates, who were killed by Calocane last June.
Continue reading...Piano especially associated with improved mental processes in those over 40, Exeter University research finds
Playing a musical instrument or joining a choir is linked to better memory and thinking skills in older age, research has found.
The piano was especially associated with a better brain in those over 40 in the study from Exeter University, which reviewed data from more than a thousand adults and looked at how much experience the people had in participating in music.
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