Category Archives: Health policy

Government to take legal action against Covid inquiry over Johnson WhatsApps

Posted on by

Cabinet Office serves notice on inquiry chair at 4pm, the deadline she had set for it to hand over files

Ministers have launched an unprecedented high court attempt to avoid handing over Boris Johnson’s unredacted WhatsApp messages and diaries to the government-commissioned public inquiry into the handling of Covid.

In a move immediately condemned by bereaved families and opposition MPs, the Cabinet Office told the inquiry, headed by the retired judge Heather Hallett, that there were “important issues of principle” over passing on information that might not be relevant.

Continue reading...

Record rise in people using private healthcare amid NHS frustration

Posted on by

Data prompts speculation NHS inability to cut waiting lists could make private healthcare ‘new normal’

Record numbers of people are paying for private healthcare, spending up to £3,200 on having a cataract removed and £15,075 on a new hip, amid growing frustration at NHS waiting lists.

Across the UK last year 272,000 people used their own funds to cover the cost of having an operation or diagnostic procedure at a private hospital. That was up from 262,000 the year before and a sharp rise on the 199,000 who did so in 2019, the year before the Covid pandemic struck.

Continue reading...

Patients paying £550 an hour to see private GPs amid NHS frustrations

Posted on by

Signs that NHS’s inability to offer prompt care is creating surge in people resorting to private care

Patients are paying up to £550 an hour to see private GPs amid frustration at the delays many face getting an appointment with an NHS family doctor.

Growing numbers of paid-for GP services are opening up across Britain, in the latest sign of how the NHS’s inability to offer prompt care is creating a surge in people resorting to private healthcare.

Continue reading...

Plans for UK ‘genomics transformation’ aim to act on lessons of Covid

Posted on by

Ten-year science strategy of UK Health Security Agency will use data to combat infectious diseases faster and more effectively

Health officials in the UK have drawn up plans for a “genomics transformation” that aims to detect and deal with outbreaks of infectious diseases faster and more effectively in the light of the Covid pandemic.

Information gleaned from the genetics of Covid proved crucial as the virus swept around the globe, revealing how the pathogen spread, evolved, and responded to a succession of vaccines and medicines developed to protect people.

Continue reading...

Ministers told to set out plan for hiring mental health nurses in England

Posted on by

Exclusive: Sector’s staffing crisis will have knock-on effect on whole NHS system, warns healthcare leader

UK ministers must set out how to recruit and retain thousands more mental health nurses to plug the profession’s biggest staff shortage, healthcare leaders are warning.

Mental health nurses account for nearly a third of all nursing vacancies across England, resulting in overstretched services that are struggling to deliver timely care, according to research carried out by the NHS Confederation’s mental health network.

Continue reading...

Senior doctors in England to vote on industrial action

Posted on by

BMA says consultant pay has declined by 35% since 2008-9

Senior doctors in England are to vote on whether to strike amid the continued row over pay in healthcare, as teachers’ unions also plan to hold a ballot for industrial action.

The ballot will open on Monday until 27 June as the British Medical Association urges members to approve.

Continue reading...

Pharmacist at former Sunak family chemist wary of PM’s health plans

Posted on by

Jithender Ballepu says more staff and funding would be needed and has concerns about passing antibiotics over the counter

There is no plaque outside Bassett Pharmacy in Southampton to indicate this was once run by the prime minister’s mother but there is a sign round the back that gives the game away: “Parking for Sunak Pharmacy customers.”

Inside, the pharmacist Jithender Ballepu was expressing reservations about Rishi Sunak’s plans for chemist shops to provide prescriptions for millions of patients in England.

Continue reading...

NHS disruption warning as ambulance staff strike in south-east England

Posted on by

Hospitals chief says action ‘will pile even more pressure’ on already overstretched services and calls for talks

Ambulance staff in the south-east of England are to strike over pay for the second time on Tuesday, prompting warnings from hospital bosses of further pressure on overstretched emergency services.

Members of the Unite trade union employed by two ambulance trusts are striking after rejecting the government’s pay offer of a lump sum cash payment for 2022-23 and a below inflation increase of 5% for 2023-24.

Continue reading...

NHS leader asks union to let striking nurses go back to work for emergencies

Posted on by

Health service bosses say patient safety could be at risk when nurses in England stage 28-hour stoppage from Sunday evening

An NHS leader has urged the Royal College of Nursing to let striking nurses leave picket lines and go back to work in their hospital if emergencies occur during their strike this weekend.

Matthew Taylor made the appeal as the NHS braced itself for renewed disruption to services as a result of the first strike by nurses since they rejected the government’s improved pay offer.

Continue reading...

Barclay ‘wasting public money’ with legal action against nursing strike

Posted on by

Exclusive: Health secretary trying to ‘wear down’ NHS nurses rather than negotiating, RCN general secretary to tell high court

Steve Barclay will be accused of wasting taxpayers’ money by pursuing striking nurses through the courts when the government seeks on Thursday to shorten their industrial action due to start on Sunday evening.

In a witness statement to be heard in the high court, Pat Cullen, the Royal College of Nursing’s general secretary, will say the health and social care secretary is trying to “wear down” nurses through legal action.

Continue reading...

Infected blood victims and families urge UK government to drop defence

Posted on by

Exclusive: Claimants say government can no longer defend treatment disaster in light of inquiry’s damning interim report

More than 500 people taking the government to court over the contaminated blood scandal are urging it to concede the case in light of evidence heard by a public inquiry and an interim report produced by its chair.

The claim, which began in 2017 but was stayed pending the inquiry into what has been described as the biggest treatment disaster in the history of the NHS, alleges the Department of Health – now the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) – breached a duty to take reasonable care to prevent personal injury or loss, amounting to misfeasance in public office.

Continue reading...

Rishi Sunak appears ready to try to tough out further wave of NHS strikes

Posted on by

High-risk tactic increases likelihood of combined stoppages by nurses and junior doctors in England

Rishi Sunak appears set on trying to face down unions in a high-risk strategy to tough out a renewed wave of NHS strikes in England that health service leaders warned were unsustainable and could put patient safety at risk.

With the prime minister and his health secretary, Steve Barclay, seemingly offering no fresh concessions for nurses or junior doctors, they risk the possibility of combined strike action, a scenario one NHS leader said would put the health service “into uncharted territory”.

Continue reading...

Some ‘nicotine-free’ vapes high in addictive substances, tests reveal

Posted on by

Concerns raised after some brands sold in shops in England and Wales found to exceed legal limits

Some high street vapes claiming to be nicotine-free actually contain the same level of addictive substances as full-strength e-cigarettes, tests shows.

Data shared with the Guardian by Inter Scientific – which offers analytical testing of products to check whether they are following regulations – examined dozens of vape brands sold in shops across England and Wales.

Continue reading...

Is vaping safe or not? All you need to know about e-cigarettes

Posted on by

Why is the government promoting vapes for smokers in England while discouraging them for youth?

E-cigarettes are being promoted in England as part of the government’s efforts to help people quit smoking tobacco at the same time as it cracks down on youth vaping. We take a look at why there are two very different campaigns on the devices.

Continue reading...

Further England nurses’ strikes present ‘severe challenge’ to NHS

Posted on by

NHS leader says threat of joint strike with junior doctors could pose hardest challenge yet

A 48-hour nurses’ strike in England in May will present “severe challenges”, and the threat of coordinated industrial action with junior doctors could pose the “most difficult challenge” to date, an NHS boss has said.

Speaking after a four-day junior doctors’ strike ended at 7am on Saturday, Sir Julian Hartley, the chief executive of NHS Providers, said fresh strike action announced by the Royal College of Nursing from 30 April until 2 May, and the possibility of stoppages continuing into next winter, was “extremely worrying and concerning”.

Continue reading...

Nurses will strike again in England after voting to reject government pay deal

Posted on by

RCN members refuse offer recommended by union leaders by 54% to 46% in ballot

Nurses are to launch fresh strike action across England later this month after rejecting the government’s pay offer, sparking fears stoppages could go on until Christmas.

In a major blow to ministers, union leaders and health service bosses, members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) voted narrowly, by 54% to 46%, on a turnout of 61%, to reject the government’s offer of a 5% pay rise this year and a cash payment for last year.

Continue reading...

Inaction on diabetes has plunged the the UK into a wholly avoidable crisis

Posted on by

Government sleepwalking, junk food and rising inactivity have created a health emergency that has been warned of for decades

The warnings about a looming, large and potentially lethal diabetes crisis in the UK have been sounded for years. Tragically, there is no longer any need for warnings.

Diabetes UK’s grim report confirms the worst: 5 million people are now living with diabetes, a major cause of blindness, kidney failure, heart attacks, stroke and lower limb amputation.

Continue reading...

Junior doctors’ union asks Acas to help end strikes deadlock

Posted on by

Conciliation service urged to look for ways to end logjam with government over demand for 35% pay rise

The junior doctors’ union has asked the conciliation service Acas to look into ways of breaking the deadlock in their dispute with the government over their claim for a 35% pay rise.

Tens of thousands of junior doctors in England are on the second day of a four-day strike in pursuit of their campaign to achieve “full pay restoration” after a significant loss of earnings since 2008-09. It is expected that up to 350,000 appointments and operations could be cancelled as a result.

Continue reading...

Government disposed of 3bn items of PPE bought in pandemic, data shows

Posted on by

Department of Health and Social Care in England has removed 269,500 pallets of PPE from its stock

The government has disposed of more than 3bn items of personal protective equipment (PPE) it bought during the pandemic, figures have revealed.

An estimated 3.14bn items have been shed through a mixture of recycling, energy from waste processes – including some incineration – donations and sales.

Continue reading...

Margaret Ferrier should be suspended for 30 days for Covid breach, says MPs’ watchdog

Posted on by

Possible byelection looms for Rutherglen and Hamilton West after MP travelled back to Scotland on train after positive test in 2020

The MP for Rutherglen and Hamilton West Margaret Ferrier should be suspended from the House of Commons for 30 days for breaching Covid rules, the committee on standards has recommended.

Ferrier could face a byelection as the Commons watchdog recommended she should be suspended for 30 days for breaching Covid rules. She was found to have damaged the reputation of the Commons and put people at risk after taking part in a debate and travelling by train while suffering from Covid.

Continue reading...