Category Archives: Health policy

Chancellor announces £22.6bn cash injection for NHS in England

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Rachel Reeves hails biggest increase ‘outside of Covid’ since 2010 but health experts say patients may not feel impact

The NHS in England is to receive a £22.6bn cash injection over two years, the chancellor has announced, in what she called the biggest spending increase outside Covid since 2010. But health experts said patients may not feel the impact as much of the increase would be absorbed by pay rises and higher care costs.

Announcing the “down payment” on the government’s 10-year plan for the NHS, due in spring 2025, Rachel Reeves said the NHS was the nation’s “most cherished public service” and that the extra funding would help the government cut waiting lists.

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Parents trapped in special needs tribunal backlog as disputes surge by 50%

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Waits of more than a year for hearings into councils’ failure to meet growing needs of Send children

Parents are having to wait more than a year for tribunal hearings into ­inadequate provision for children with special educational needs after new cases surged by more than 50% in a year.

The National Audit Office last week highlighted the worsening ­crisis in the special educational needs and ­disabilities (Send) system, with ­cash-strapped councils unable to meet rising need amid a lack of ­suitable school and college places.

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Wes Streeting denies ‘dystopian future’ over weight-loss jabs for unemployed

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UK health secretary says people will not be ‘involuntarily jabbed’ but that medications could be ‘gamechanging’

Wes Streeting has denied his plans to give new weight-loss jabs to unemployed people to help them back into work would result in a “dystopian future” where overweight people would be “involuntarily jabbed”.

The UK health secretary acknowledged that weight-loss drugs were not, on their own, the answer to the nation’s obesity crisis after he suggested this week that they could have a “monumental” impact on getting more people working.

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‘My dream has been shattered,’ says Nigerian nurse accused of cheating after arriving in UK

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Nurse says she has lost ‘my name, my integrity’ after being accused of using proxy to sit tests to work in Britain

When I was a little girl in my village in Nigeria going to school was something I could not even dream of because we did not have money. Then my mother sold everything we owned to pay for me to go to school.

I knew this was my only ticket to make something worthwhile out of my life and my family’s life.

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Alan Milburn to be given lead role in Labour’s health ministry

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Move reignites row over Labour figures with private interests having access to government

Wes Streeting is to hand Alan Milburn a lead role in the running of his health ministry, in a move that has reignited the row over Labour figures with private interests having access to government.

The health secretary is preparing to appoint Milburn, who was a radical reformer of the NHS in his time in that post under Tony Blair, as the lead non-executive director of the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).

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England urged to bring in minimum unit price on alcohol as deaths rise 10% a year

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Health leaders tell government to follow Scotland and Wales on cost of cheap booze after Darzi report on death toll

Ministers are facing pressure to ­introduce minimum unit pricing for alcohol after Lord Darzi’s investigation into the NHS highlighted the “alarming” death toll in England caused by cheap drink.

Public health leaders are this weekend calling for urgent action to increase the price of cheap alcohol in supermarkets and off-licences. A two-litre bottle of cider can be bought in England for under £2, which equates to 22p per unit of alcohol.

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Suspects in assisted dying cases wait far too long on prosecution decision, says ex-DPP

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Ex-director of public prosecutions in England and Wales says that of 27 cases he considered for potential charges only one met the threshold

The former director of public prosecutions Sir Max Hill has said a review of assisted dying laws should consider how bereaved suspects are forced to endure long waits before being told whether they face prosecution.

During his time as DPP for England and Wales, from 2018 to 2023, Hill said he considered 27 cases for potential charges involving assisted suicide. He considered only one met the evidential and public interest threshold for a prosecution.

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Poor NHS maternity care in danger of becoming normalised, regulator warns

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CQC issues damning report on maternity services in England as minister admits anxiety over ‘risk of disaster’

Maternity services in England are so inadequate that cases of women receiving poor care and being harmed in childbirth are in danger of becoming “normalised”, the NHS regulator has said.

A Care Quality Commission (CQC) report based on inspections of 131 maternity units sets out an array of problems, adding to the sense of crisis that has enveloped an NHS service that cares for the 600,000 women a year who give birth and their babies.

Some women, frustrated at facing such long delays in being assessed at triage, discharge themselves before they are seen.

65% of units are not safe for women to give birth in, 47% of trusts are rated as requiring improvement on safety and another 18% are rated as inadequate.

Some hospitals do not record incidents that have resulted in serious harm.

There is a widespread lack of staff and in some places a lack of potentially life-saving equipment.

Hospitals do not always consider women’s suffering after receiving poor care.

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Keir Starmer ready to face down ‘nanny state’ jibes in radical public health drive

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Junk food ad ban, age limit on energy drinks and expanded water fluoridation among measures planned to help NHS

Plans to ban junk food ads and to stop children buying high-caffeine energy drinks are among radical public health measures being drawn up by ministers to prevent illness and so ease pressure on the NHS.

The government made clear it would face down “predictable cries of ‘nanny state’” because Keir Starmer was convinced this was the way to fix the service.

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NHS queues mean most Britons expect to pay for healthcare, says report

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Joseph Rowntree Foundation points to ‘critical shift in expectations’ and says the public now budget for many routine services

Most people in the UK now believe they will have to spend their own money on private healthcare for routine services such as dentistry, physiotherapy and counselling because they won’t be able to get them quickly on the NHS, pioneering new research has found.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation says its findings, based on extensive focus group analysis, is evidence that Britons have undergone a “critical shift in expectations” about the health service’s capacity to meet their needs.

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Starmer faces pushback from pubs over ‘bonkers’ outdoor smoking curb plans

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Hospitality industry expresses concern about impact on businesses of leaked proposals not denied by PM

Keir Starmer is on a collision course with the hospitality industry and political opponents after signalling plans for major curbs on outdoor smoking.

The proposals, not denied by the prime minister, would potentially prohibit tobacco use outside pubs and restaurants, including on pavements. The restrictions would come on top of existing plans to gradually outlaw smoking year by year.

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Parents urged to ensure children get measles jab before new UK school term

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Health agency warns of surge in cases of potentially serious disease as MMR vaccination uptake falls below 95%

Parents should make sure their children are fully vaccinated against measles before the new school term begins, the UK’s health agency has said, amid concerns that pupils mixing at school could fuel a new surge in cases.

According to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), there have been 2,278 laboratory-confirmed measles cases reported in England since the start of 2024, with London and the West Midlands particularly affected. The majority of cases – 62% – have been in children aged 10 years and under.

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Victims of UK’s infected blood scandal to start receiving payouts by end of year

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Those affected by contaminated blood transfusions and products in 1970s and 80s to finally receive compensation

A new authority set up to properly compensate the victims and families of the infected blood scandal is due to start making payments by the end of this year.

The Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA) was set up after the inquiry in May into the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS concluded that governments, the health service and doctors had repeatedly failed victims. Regulations enacting the compensation scheme were laid out on Friday.

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Labour must raise GP funding to end ‘8am scramble’, says doctors’ group

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General practices forced to ‘do more and more with less and less’, says Doctors’ Association UK

Labour’s promise to “end the 8am scramble” for medical appointments will be impossible without increasing core funding for GPs, according to a leading medical association.

The health secretary, Wes Streeting, pledged during the general election campaign that Labour would “end the 8am scramble by allowing patients to easily book appointments to see the doctor they want, in the manner they choose”.

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Contaminated blood scandal payouts to start by end of year, says UK government

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Individuals could get up to £2.6m in compensation over blood products that caused HIV and hepatitis C

Victims of the contaminated blood scandal will begin receiving compensation before the end of the year, and some people will be entitled to more than £2.5m, the government has confirmed.

An outline of the long-awaited compensation scheme was set out in May, after the final report of the infected blood inquiry laid bare what Rishi Sunak, the then UK prime minister, called “a decades-long moral failure at the heart of our national life”.

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UK’s National Crime Agency says it is ‘not scared’ of PPE Medpro’s lawyers

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Agency says long-running investigation into company run by Tory peer Michelle Mone’s husband will be concluded as quickly as possible

The National Crime Agency has said it is “not scared” of lawyers acting for PPE Medpro, the company led by the Conservative peer Michelle Mone’s husband, Doug Barrowman, and is progressing an investigation into it “as fast as we can”.

The NCA is conducting a long-running investigation into suspected criminal offences committed in the procurement by PPE Medpro of £203m of government contracts to supply personal protective equipment during the Covid pandemic.

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Unions welcome scrapping of Tories’ ‘spiteful’ minimum service law

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Senior figures praise repeal of law but privately some want full workers’ rights overhaul implemented without delay

Unions have welcomed the government’s move to formally scrap a “draconian” anti-strike law that would have ensured a minimum level of service during industrial action as the legislation had restricted workers’ rights.

The deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, and the business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, have written to government departments with sectors that were most affected by the strikes to give a “clear message” the measures will be repealed and have urged all metro mayors to start engaging with local employers on the change.

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Pharmacies in England cutting services amid financial pressures, research finds

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Poll reveals emergency contraception, free prescription deliveries and extended opening hours among services hit

Pharmacies across England are unable to provide critical NHS and public health services owing to the overwhelming financial and operational pressures they are facing, according to research.

A poll of pharmacy owners representing more than 2,100 pharmacies found that more than 96% of respondents said they had stopped providing locally commissioned services over the past 12 months.

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Rachel Reeves to delay some of Tories’ ‘unfunded’ road and hospital projects

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Chancellor attempts to plug £20bn hole in spending but will commit to above-inflation public sector pay rise

Rachel Reeves is to delay a number of “unfunded” road and hospital projects on Monday as part of the Treasury’s anticipated plans to plug an apparent £20bn hole in spending left by the Conservatives, while committing to an above-inflation public sector pay rise.

The chancellor is expected to argue she has inherited capital projects that are “unfunded with unfeasible timelines” as part of her Treasury audit report to the Commons. The audit will be seen as an indication of the government’s early commitments and priorities.

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Cost of England’s four biggest killer diseases could hit £86bn by 2050

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Study predicts overall economic cost of cancer, heart disease, dementia and stroke will rise by 61%

The cost of England’s four biggest killer diseases could rise to £86bn a year by 2050, prompting calls for a crackdown on alcohol, junk food and smoking.

The ageing population means the annual cost of cancer, heart disease, dementia and stroke combined will go from the £51.9bn recorded in 2018 to £85.6bn in 2050 – a rise of 61%.

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