Lords committee calls for creation of advisory groups to tackle the pollutants, which may increase risk of heart disease and premature death
Light and noise are “neglected pollutants” that are causing significant harm to human health and can cause premature deaths, a group of peers have said.
The science and technology committee of the House of Lords has called on ministers to do more to tackle these pollutants, which it claims are “poorly understood and poorly regulated”.
Continue reading...Jaxson’s symptoms were initially dismissed by health staff in a case that could have had fatal consequences
Soon after her son Jaxson was born, Lauren Clarke spotted that his eyes were yellow and bloodshot. “We kept asking if he had jaundice, but each time we were told to keep feeding him and just put Jaxson in front of a window,” she says.
It was only when Clarke was readmitted six days later with an infection that Jaxson’s jaundice was detected by a midwife. By this time, his levels were becoming dangerously high.
Continue reading...In today’s newsletter: Staff are leaving in droves, wait times have tripled and critics say it’s locked in a ‘death spiral’. But the situation might not be terminal, with some big changes
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Good morning, and a heartfelt happy birthday to the NHS, which was launched by Labour health minister Nye Bevan on this day in 1948. Don’t hold your breath for champagne and cake on your local hospital trust’s budget, though – you will be waiting almost as long as a typical queue at the nearest A&E.
The NHS may be profoundly cherished for its millions of dedicated staff and the still astonishing cradle-to-grave principle that underpins it, but there is no question that the UK’s healthcare system is very sick. More people are dying waiting for ambulances. Waiting times for treatment have almost tripled since 2020. GP surgeries and mental health services are at breaking point. Staff are leaving in droves, and nurses, junior doctors and even consultants are striking – once an unimaginable prospect – over pay and patient safety.
Climate | The government is drawing up plans to drop the UK’s flagship £11.6bn climate and nature funding pledge. A leaked briefing note to ministers seen by the Guardian, lays out reasons for dropping the UK’s contribution to the fund for developing countries. The Foreign Office initially refused to comment on the leak, before describing it as “false”.
Partygate | Scotland Yard is reopening its investigation into potential Covid breaches at a lockdown party at Conservative headquarters. The force will also scrutinise an event in parliament that the Tory MP Bernard Jenkin – a member of the privileges committee that produced a highly critical report into Boris Johnson – is said to have attended.
Jenin | Israeli forces have withdrawn from the Palestinian city of Jenin, military officials have said, after carrying out one of the biggest operations in the occupied West Bank in years. Twelve Palestinians and an Israeli soldier were killed in the operation.
UK news | Private bank Coutts has reportedly shut Nigel Farage’s bank account after he fell below the prestigious lender’s wealth requirements, raising questions over the Brexiter’s claims that the bank was targeting him over his political views.
Scotland | Mhairi Black, the SNP’s deputy Westminster leader, will step down at the next general election, blaming the “toxic” environment in Westminster. Black became the youngest MP in 350 years when she was elected in the SNP landslide of 2015 at the age of 20, described the Commons as “one of the most unhealthy workplaces that you could ever be in”.
Continue reading...Experts say restrictions on socialising during Covid crisis may have led more women to seek to preserve fertility
There has been a dramatic rise in the number of women freezing their eggs in the UK, while more single people are opting for IVF, figures show.
A report from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HEFA) found that more people than ever are undergoing procedures, with egg- and embryo-freezing the fastest-growing fertility treatments in Britain.
Continue reading...Children’s commissioner points to research showing some are so addicted to nicotine they can’t concentrate in school
The children’s commissioner for England has urged ministers to crack down on the “insidious” marketing of vapes to young people, which is leaving them so addicted to nicotine they can’t concentrate on lessons.
Rachel de Souza said the government would be “failing a generation” if these “highly addictive and sometimes dangerous products” were allowed to become mainstream.
Continue reading...Lesley Regan, women’s health ambassador for England, says ‘destructive’ changes to NHS system in 2012 are failing women
Women are finding it harder to access contraception than they did a decade ago, resulting in more unplanned pregnancies, the women’s health ambassador has said.
They have been discouraged by bad experiences, a confusingly disjointed system and long delays for procedures such as the coil or implant insertion, according to Prof Lesley Regan, a leading gynaecologist who was appointed women’s health ambassador for England last year.
Continue reading...PwC predicts increase in divorces, slide in house prices and drop in happiness index
British wages next year will fall back to 2006 levels, while 2023 will also bring a slide in house prices and an increase in divorces, according to a forecast that finds the UK is on course to be a less happy place to live.
The consultancy firm PwC said a look ahead to 2023 showed there were few positive indicators, with most measures of the UK’s economic and social performance going into reverse.
Continue reading...Climate crisis increases risks for subsistence farmers in Africa who usually work throughout pregnancy
Rising temperatures driven by climate breakdown are causing distress to the foetuses of pregnant farmers, who are among the worst affected by global heating.
A study revealed that the foetuses of women working in fields in the Gambia showed concerning rises in heart rates and reductions in the blood flow to the placenta as conditions became hotter. The women, who do much of the agricultural labour and work throughout pregnancy, told the scientists that temperatures had noticeably increased in the past decade.
Continue reading...Online black market exists where breast milk is bought by cancer patients, athletes and bodybuilders, among others
An exponential growth in Australians donating or selling breast milk online is putting infants at risk of disease, a bioethicist says, calling for human milk to be defined as a “tissue” and regulated in the same way as blood.
There are Facebook groups facilitating the donation or sale of breast milk in every state and territory. The “about” section for one group states: “Please post milky requests, offers and milk-sharing questions … It can be helpful to include details such as the age of your baby and your location or how far you are willing to travel.”
Continue reading...Staff cuts at Chicago’s Howard Brown Health could squeeze care as attacks on LGBTQ+ and trans healthcare have escalated
Howard Brown Health, a nonprofit community health center in Chicago that is the largest provider of health and wellness care for the LGBTQ+ community and people living with HIV in the US midwest, has announced it wants to lay off at least 100 employees, or about 15% of staff.
The layoffs were proposed as voluntary in the first instance, but the company says “a reduction in workforce is required”, suggesting that if 100 volunteers are not found then layoffs will be compulsory.
Continue reading...First global analysis follows discovery of toxic pollution particles in lungs and brains of foetuses
Almost a million stillbirths a year can be attributed to air pollution, according to the first global study.
The research estimated that almost half of stillbirths could be linked to exposure to pollution particles smaller than 2.5 microns (PM2.5), mostly produced from the burning of fossil fuels.
Continue reading...Researchers find no such link for women, suggesting connection between diet and bowel cancer is clearer for men
Eating a plant-based diet rich in vegetables, whole grains, nuts and legumes can reduce the risk of bowel cancer in men by more than a fifth, according to research.
A large study that involved 79,952 US-based men found that those who ate the largest amounts of healthy plant-based foods had a 22% lower risk of bowel cancer compared with those who ate the least.
Continue reading...Particles breathed by mothers pass to their vulnerable foetuses, with potentially lifelong consequences
Toxic air pollution particles have been found in the lungs, livers and brains of unborn babies, long before they have taken their first breath. Researchers said their “groundbreaking” discovery was “very worrying”, as the gestation period of foetuses is the most vulnerable stage of human development.
Thousands of black carbon particles were found in each cubic millimetre of tissue, which were breathed in by the mother during pregnancy and then passed through the bloodstream and placenta to the foetus.
Continue reading...Supermodel joins list of celebrities delving into lucrative wellness business with products that ‘help find inner peace’
Once nicknamed “the tank” for her ability to guzzle champagne, the original 90s It model Kate Moss has swapped partying for dawn meditation and night-time tisanes.
On Thursday, Moss has launched her own wellness brand, Cosmoss, featuring six products including vegan skincare and mood-boosting teas, ranging from £20 for a canister of Dawn Tea to £120 for a Sacred Mist fragrance. “A story of reconnection from soul to surface. There is a magic to Cosmoss and I can’t wait for you all to uncover it, just as I did,” reads a statement in a press release.
Continue reading...Suggestion of activities to help improve mental and physical health part of wider movement of ‘social prescribing’
GPs around England are to prescribe patients activities such as walking or cycling in a bid to ease the burden on the NHS by improving mental and physical health.
The £12.7m trial, which was announced by the Department for Transport and will begin this year, is part of a wider movement of “social prescribing”, an approach already used in the NHS, in which patients are referred for non-medical activities.
Continue reading...Participants in charity’s year-long inquiry describe being ignored and feeling patronised and dehumanised
Systemic racism within UK maternity care is risking the safety of people from Black, Asian and mixed ethnicity backgrounds, often with devastating consequences, according to a report by the childbirth charity Birthrights.
More than 300 people with lived and professional experience of racial injustice in a maternity setting gave evidence to an expert panel chaired by Shaheen Rahman QC, a barrister who specialises in clinical negligence, as part of the charity’s year-long inquiry into the issue.
Continue reading...Fogo Island will lose its only full-time physician in June, leaving the community to journey six hours away to find care
For more than two centuries, residents of a remote Canadian island in the north Atlantic knew they could count on a nearby doctor for relief of most ailments.
But this June, Fogo Island will lose the community’s only full-time physician, a trend mirrored in many of Newfoundland’s towns and villages as the region battles economic decline and a looming demographic crisis. The closest doctor will be a six-hour ferry ride away, subject to the vagaries of powerful maritime storms.
Continue reading...Exclusive: ‘Inner green deal’ courses are part of new wave of mindfulness that applies practice to hard politics
Brussels bureaucrats are being trained to meditate to help them tackle the climate crisis as part of a new wave of “applied mindfulness” that seeks to take the Buddhism-inspired practice “off the cushion” and into hard politics.
EU officials working on the 27-country bloc’s green deal climate policy are attending “inner green deal” courses intended to foster a deeper connection among decision-makers and negotiators tasked with tackling the crisis. The courses incorporate woodland walks near Brussels and meditation sessions, including one that invites participants to feel empathy for trees and animals to boost “environmental compassion”.
Continue reading...Watchdog expresses concern over safety of mothers and babies days after damning Shrewsbury report
Hospital inspectors have uncovered repeated maternity failings and expressed serious concern about the safety of mothers and babies in Sheffield just days after a damning report warned there had been hundreds of avoidable baby deaths in Shrewsbury.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) found Sheffield teaching hospitals NHS foundation trust, one of the largest NHS trusts in England, had failed to make the required improvements to services when it visited in October and November, despite receiving previous warnings from the watchdog.
Continue reading...Five-year investigation to conclude mothers forced to suffer traumatic births because of targets for ‘normal’ births
Three hundred babies died or were left brain-damaged due to inadequate care at an NHS trust, according to reports.
The Sunday Times has reported that a five-year investigation will conclude next week that mothers were denied caesarean sections and forced to suffer traumatic births due to an alleged preoccupation with hitting “normal” birth targets.
The inquiry, which analysed the experiences of 1,500 families at Shrewsbury and Telford hospital trust between 2000 and 2019, found that at least 12 mothers died while giving birth, and some families lost more than one child in separate incidents, the newspaper reported.
Donna Ockenden, an expert midwife who led the inquiry with the input of more than 90 midwives and doctors, said her team had been “shocked and saddened” by the scale of the tragedy.
The Ockenden report is expected to reveal that hundreds of babies were stillborn, died shortly after birth or were left permanently brain-damaged while many had fractured skulls or broken bones, or were left with life-changing disabilities.
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