Category Archives: Health policy

NHS leader calls for partnership with private sector to build new hospitals

Posted on by

Exclusive: NHS Providers head says joining with private health firms and developers would help care backlog

The NHS must be given the green light to partner with private health firms and property developers to build new hospitals to slash the care backlog, a health service boss has said.

The last Labour government was widely criticised over controversial private finance initiative (PFI) deals to erect scores of new NHS facilities that led to vast profits for major corporations.

Continue reading...

UK children shorter, fatter and sicker amid poor diet and poverty, report finds

Posted on by

Food Foundation says height of five-year-olds falling, child obesity up by a third and type 2 diabetes by a fifth

Children across the UK are getting shorter, fatter and sicker amid an epidemic of poor diets, food insecurity and poverty, according to a report warning that millions are facing a “timebomb” of avoidable health conditions.

The average height of five-year-olds is falling, obesity levels have increased by almost a third and the number of young people being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes has risen by more than a fifth, the report by the Food Foundation said.

Continue reading...

Boss of US firm given £4bn in UK Covid contracts accused of squandering millions on jets and properties

Posted on by

Rishi Sunak’s team helped fast-track deal with firm founded by Charles Huang, who says contracts generated $2bn profit

In California, state of sunshine and palm trees, a small group of men are locked in a big legal fight over the money made by a US company selling Covid tests to the British government. The founder of Innova Medical Group says his business collected $2bn (£1.6bn) in profits, one of the largest fortunes banked by any medical supplier during the scramble for lifesaving equipment in the early months of the pandemic.

In a storm of claims and counter-claims, Innova’s boss, Charles Huang, is accused by former associates of “squandering” or moving $1bn of those profits, spending lavishly on luxury aircraft, an $18m house in Los Angeles and “homes for his mistresses”.

Continue reading...

Labour and Tories would ‘both leave NHS worse off than under austerity’

Posted on by

Analysis by leading experts the Nuffield Trust reveals that main parties’ manifestos would squeeze health spending

Labour and the Conservatives would both leave the NHS with lower spending increases than during the years of Tory austerity, according to an independent analysis of their manifestos by a leading health thinktank.

The assessment by the respected Nuffield Trust of the costed NHS policies of both parties, announced in their manifestos last week, says the level of funding increases would leave them struggling to pay existing staff costs, let alone the bill for massive planned increases in doctors, nurses and other staff in the long-term workforce plan agreed last year.

Continue reading...

Deadly cancer treatment delays now ‘routine’ in NHS, say damning reports

Posted on by

Studies sound alarm at state of cancer care with hundreds of thousands waiting months to start essential treatment

Hundreds of thousands of people are being forced to wait months to start essential cancer treatment, with deadly delays now “routine” and even children struck by the disease denied vital support, according to a series of damning reports.

Health chiefs, charities and doctors have sounded the alarm over the state of cancer care in the UK as three separate studies painted a shocking picture of long waits and NHS staff being severely hampered by a worsening workforce crisis and a chronic lack of equipment.

Continue reading...

Campaigners mount legal challenge against puberty blockers ban in Britain

Posted on by

Emergency ban on prescribing the drugs was put in place before dissolution of parliament last week

The UK government has until Friday to respond to a letter from campaigners who are mounting a legal challenge against the ban on puberty blockers for young people that came into force this week.

The non-profit legal organisation The Good Law Project and the transgender advocacy group TransActual have instructed senior lawyers to challenge a ban on the drugs, which campaigners say could lead to the criminalisation of healthcare providers.

Continue reading...

Junior doctors’ strike could delay care for 100,000 NHS patients in England

Posted on by

Rishi Sunak says timing of action days before general election appears to be ‘politically motivated’ to help Labour

Up to 100,000 patients in England face having their NHS care cancelled days before the general election after junior doctors announced a fresh wave of strike action, with Rishi Sunak saying it appeared to be politically motivated.

Health leaders expressed alarm, warning the five-day strike would jeopardise efforts to tackle the record waiting list and “hit patients hard”.

Continue reading...

Labour pledges to clear NHS waiting list backlog in England in five years

Posted on by

Wes Streeting says another Conservative term could result in waiting list swelling to 10m cases

Labour has promised to clear the NHS waiting list backlog in England within five years, with Wes Streeting warning that the health service risks becoming “a poor service for poor people” while the wealthy shift to using private care.

In an interview with the Guardian, the shadow health secretary said that in another Conservative term the total waiting list in England could grow to 10m cases, with healthcare becoming as degraded as NHS dental services.

Continue reading...

Huge number of deaths linked to superbugs can be avoided, say experts

Posted on by

Models suggest deaths in poorer countries could be cut by 18% – or about 750,000 a year – with preventive measures

Every year 750,000 deaths linked to drug-resistant superbugs could be prevented through better access to clean water and sanitation, infection control and childhood vaccinations, research suggests.

Antimicrobial resistance, or AMR, is a huge global challenge, with the evolution of drug-resistant superbugs, driven by factors including inappropriate and excessive antibiotic use, raising the prospect of a future where modern medicine fails.

Continue reading...

NHS spending rise lags behind Tory funding pledges, IFS finds

Posted on by

Thinktank says extra funding eaten up by higher inflation despite greater demand with service in poor state of repair

Spending on the NHS in England has risen less quickly than the Conservatives promised at the last election despite the extra demand created by the pandemic and record waiting lists, a leading thinktank has said.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said increases in funding from the government had been eaten up by higher than expected inflation and, as a result, NHS day-to-day spending had grown by 2.7% a year during the current parliament – below the 3.3% pledged by Boris Johnson in 2019.

Continue reading...

NHS mental health trust failings blamed for more than 30 deaths in Norfolk and Suffolk

Posted on by

Campaigners are calling for public inquiry into high number of patient fatalities over a decade at crisis-hit service

More than 30 patients died after risks were not acted on in the decade following a controversial service redesign at a crisis-hit NHS mental health trust, according to an analysis by campaigners.

The report by the Campaign to Save Mental Health Services in Norfolk and Suffolk also logged nearly 20 patients of Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) who have died since 2013 after communication failures, while family concerns were ignored in 15 cases.

Continue reading...

Nurses in England took an average of one week off sick for stress last year, data shows

Posted on by

Chronic workforce shortages have put nursing staff under unbearable pressure, says union chief

Nurses in England took an average of a week off sick last year because of stress, anxiety or depression, NHS figures reveal.

The disclosure has prompted concern that the intense strains nurses face in their jobs, including low pay and understaffing, are damaging their mental health and causing many to quit.

Continue reading...

Ban smacking children in England and Northern Ireland, say doctors

Posted on by

Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health urges ministers to follow lead of Scotland and Wales

Parents in England and Northern Ireland should be banned from smacking their children because doing so is unjust, dangerous and harmful, leading doctors have urged ministers.

It was “a scandal” that Scotland and Wales had outlawed smacking but not the other two home nations, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health said on Wednesday.

Continue reading...

Tobacco firms lobbying MPs to derail smoking phase-out, charity warns

Posted on by

Exclusive: Tactics include proposals to raise smoking age to avoid outright ban, and exemptions for cigars, says Cancer Research UK chief

Tobacco firms are lobbying MPs and peers in an effort to derail Rishi Sunak’s flagship policy to phase out smoking, the head of Britain’s biggest cancer charity has said.

The prime minister’s landmark legislation – which would bar anyone born after 2009 from buying cigarettes and make England the first country in the world to ban smoking – is due to be debated in parliament for the first time on Tuesday.

Continue reading...

More than 2,000 NHS buildings in England older than NHS, figures show

Posted on by

Lib Dems and health trusts say patient and staff safety being put at risk by poor state of ageing infrastructure

Millions of patients are being put at risk in crumbling hospitals that are unfit for purpose, MPs have said, as figures reveal more than 2,000 NHS buildings are older than the health service itself.

Health bosses have repeatedly warned ministers of the urgent need to plough cash into replacing rundown buildings in order to protect the safety of patients and staff. The maintenance backlog has risen to £11.6bn in England.

Continue reading...

Boris Johnson calls Rishi Sunak’s smoking ban ‘absolutely nuts’

Posted on by

Former PM laments state of Tory party saying it is ‘mad’ that party of Winston Churchill is ‘banning cigars’

Boris Johnson has attacked Rishi Sunak’s smoking ban, calling it “absolutely nuts” in a lament about the state of the Conservative party in Britain.

Speaking at an event in Canada on Wednesday night, Johnson said it was “mad” that the party of Winston Churchill was “banning cigars”.

Continue reading...

Review of gender services has major implications for mental health services

Posted on by

Cass report calls for move away from mainly medical treatment as part of dramatic shift in approach to gender dysphoria

A long-awaited review by consultant paediatrician Hilary Cass into the NHS’s gender services for children calls for a dramatic shift in the type of treatment offered to children and young people with gender dysphoria.

The report proposes that instead of being offered mainly medical treatment, young people referred to NHS gender services should “receive a holistic assessment of their needs to inform an individualised care plan”, meaning that questions of gender identity should be treated alongside other possible mental health concerns.

Continue reading...

Labour reveals plan to digitise NHS personal child health records

Posted on by

Parents and NHS would be able to monitor vaccinations and checkups through digital version of ‘red book’

Labour plans to digitise the NHS “red book” that parents use for their children’s medical records as part of a series of changes to the NHS app.

Parents and the NHS would be able to see if children are behind on jabs or checkups through a new digital record, with automatic notifications to prompt them to book appointments under the party’s plans.

Continue reading...

Brussels ‘must copy London’s low emissions zones’ and save 900 lives a year, experts plead

Posted on by

Act now on air quality in the Belgian capital, which is among the filthiest in Europe, say doctors and environmentalists

More than 100 doctors and environmentalists in Brussels have called on their politicians to follow London and Paris and take measures to improve the choking air pollution in the Belgian capital.

According to IS Global research, Brussels is ranked as the eighth worst of more than 800 European cities for nitrogen dioxide, which damages the lungs and is one of the main byproducts of internal combustion engines. The capital of the European Union is also ranked 308th out of 858 cities for PM2.5, or fine particulates, which can travel deep into the respiratory tract.

Continue reading...

Hundreds of thousands face being denied revolutionary new dementia drugs in England

Posted on by

Exclusive: Treatments near approval but lack of diagnostic capacity means NHS unprepared for rollout, report says

Hundreds of thousands of dementia patients in England face being denied access to revolutionary new drugs because the diagnostic capacity of the NHS lags behind every other G7 country, according to a damning report.

After decades of research to find a cure for the condition projected to affect 153 million people worldwide by 2050, scientists have successfully developed the first treatments to tackle the underlying causes rather than only relieve the symptoms. Two new drugs could get the green light for use on the NHS within weeks.

Continue reading...