Category Archives: Doctors

‘It’s soul destroying’: why so many NHS staff are off sick with burnout

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Doctors, paramedics and nurses explain the stress and anxiety of working in a system that has reached breaking point

“Frustration with the system was why I went off in the end,” said Conor Calby, 26, a paramedic and Unison rep in southwest England, who was recently off work for a month with burnout. “I felt like I couldn’t do my job and was letting patients down. After a difficult few years it was challenging.”

While he usually manages to keep a distinct divide between work and home life, burnout eroded that line. He also lost his sleep pattern and appetite.

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Doctors in England and Wales urged to monitor people’s drinking habits

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More than 10m people consume alcohol at levels that pose a risk to their health, experts say

GPs in England and Wales are being urged to ask patients detailed questions about their drinking habits amid concerns that thousands of people with alcohol issues are “slipping through the net”.

More than 10 million people consume alcohol at levels that pose a risk to their health, according to experts. Millions are mildly or moderately dependent on alcohol, while about 600,000 people have severe alcohol dependency and will, as a result, benefit hugely from professional alcohol treatment.

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Hospitals in England cancel 88,000 appointments in seven weeks due to strikes

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NHS leaders warn disruption to patients could become even worse as healthcare staff plan further strikes

Hospitals in England have had to cancel 88,000 appointments because of strikes by nurses and ambulance staff over the last seven weeks, figures have revealed.

NHS bosses warned on Tuesday that the already “shocking scale of disruption” to patient care could “skyrocket” in coming weeks as unions intensify their campaign and walkouts over pay become commonplace.

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Cancer and other serious illnesses could go undiagnosed if specialists take on GP tasks, RACGP says

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Australian peak GP body says ‘overall picture’ of patients’ health will be lost if Medicare changes split care across multiple providers

Australia’s peak GP group is concerned serious conditions such as cancer could be missed if general practice is deprioritised under looming changes to Medicare funding, saying parts of their roles should not be transferred to other health professionals.

As allied health groups suggest nurses, physiotherapists or pharmacists could perform some work currently done by GPs, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners said it was “nervous” about patients visiting separate specialists without being monitored by a coordinating doctor.

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Steve Barclay privately concedes he will have to increase pay offer to NHS staff

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The U-turn may help to end wave of strikes, though funding it could require cuts to key services

Steve Barclay has privately conceded he will have to increase his pay offer to NHS staff, in a U-turn that may help to end the growing wave of strikes.

However, the Treasury has made clear he will have to find any new cash from within the existing health budget, raising the prospect of cuts to key services.

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Rising number of foreign objects found in patients after surgery in England

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In what NHS calls ‘never events’, items including swabs, blades and drill bits left in patients 291 times in England in 2021-22

A rising number of medical foreign objects, including wire cutters, scalpel blades and drill bits, have been left inside hospital patients after surgery in England, new figures reveal.

Blunders involving a “foreign object accidentally left in body during surgical and medical care” led to 291 “finished consultant episodes” in 2021-2022, official data shows.

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People turning to DIY health treatment amid shortage of GP appointments

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Lib Dems say face-to-face GP bookings ‘almost extinct’ in some areas as their survey shows a rise in self-prescribing

Almost one in four people have bought medicine online or at a pharmacy to treat their illness after failing to see a GP face to face, according to a UK survey underlining the rise of do-it-yourself treatment.

Nearly one in five (19%) have gone to A&E seeking urgent medical treatment for the same reason, the research commissioned by the Liberal Democrats shows.

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NHS braced for surge of patients after ambulance workers’ strike

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Doctors warn of a backlog of patients and ‘deteriorating health’, with calls to 999 down 25% during paramedics’ 24-hour stoppage

The NHS is bracing itself for an influx of patients between now and Christmas after thousands of people deferred seeking treatment during the ambulance workers’ strike on Wednesday.

Senior doctors are warning that the decision by many people in England and Wales not to request help while paramedics were staging a 24-hour stoppage will leave the NHS struggling to cope at a time when hospitals would traditionally be scaling back their services for the festive break.

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‘Like a horrific board game’: 33 hours inside an NHS in crisis

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Crammed wards, burnt-out GPs, patients waiting hours for ambulances – the health service is at breaking point

Inside the dimly lit command centre at King’s College hospital, staff arriving for the first beds meeting of the day are greeted with a warning: the hospital is already under strain. “So, we are under pressure this morning,” the head of nursing, Naomi Hosking, informs colleagues stood around her in a semi-circle. No one registers surprise. “We’ve got a lot of patients in ED [emergency department] with little space to see new patients, so we need to get some early movement.”

It’s 8.32am and ED – maximum capacity 60 – is packed, with 61 patients inside. The oldest is 98; the youngest 30 days old. Later, that pressure will intensify: the number of ED patients – in beds, on trolleys or in chairs – will more than double to 137.

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NHS operations cancelled in England due to staff shortages double in three years

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Labour highlights issue to back up pledge to invest heavily in addressing shortages

The number of operations cancelled by the NHS in England because of staff shortages may have doubled in three years, with an estimated 30,000 not proceeding because no staff were available to perform them.

At least a third of cancelled operations were those that were deemed urgent, according to the analysis by Labour. It suggested at least 2,500 cancelled operations for cancer patients and 8,000 on children.

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Delays in seeing a GP mean millions will get diagnosis too late, says Labour

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Serious illnesses among estimated 5m people in England who could not get an appointment in October may have been missed

Millions of people in England are struggling to get GP appointments and as a result some will not have serious medical conditions diagnosed until it is “too late”, Labour has warned.

The party has made new estimates based on the latest GP appointment figures for England with GP patient survey data.

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Brexit has worsened shortage of NHS doctors, analysis shows

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Exclusive: More than 4,000 European medics have chosen not to work in NHS since Britain left EU, data reveals

Brexit has worsened the UK’s acute shortage of doctors in key areas of care and led to more than 4,000 European doctors choosing not to work in the NHS, research reveals.

The disclosure comes as growing numbers of medics quit in disillusionment at their relentlessly busy working lives in the increasingly overstretched health service. Official figures show the NHS in England alone has vacancies for 10,582 physicians.

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Severely ill refusing sicknotes as they cannot afford time off, says GPs’ head

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Exclusive: Doctors suffering ‘moral distress’ at their powerlessness to help most vulnerable, says head of the Royal College of GPs

Ill patients are refusing sicknotes from their GP because they cannot afford time off work, while physicians suffer “moral distress” at their powerlessness to do more to help the most vulnerable, the new leader of Britain’s family doctors has revealed.

More patients are experiencing asthma attacks or other serious breathing problems because they cannot afford to heat their homes, said Dr Kamila Hawthorne, the chair of the Royal College of GPs, while many have reported deteriorating mental health due to financial stress.

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Rishi Sunak is registered with private GP practice offering £250 consultations

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Campaigners say poorest people will suffer most as NHS is ‘neglected and private practice becomes the norm’

Rishi Sunak is registered with a private GP practice that guarantees that all patients with urgent concerns about their health will be seen “on the day”.

The west London clinic used by the prime minister charges £250 for a half-hour consultation and, unlike most NHS GPs across the country, offers appointments in the evenings and at weekends, as well as consultations by email or phone that cost up to £150.

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Sunak omits target of 6,000 more GPs from brief for health secretary

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Exclusive: Steve Barclay not tasked with manifesto commitment, raising fears that shortage of doctors in England will continue

Rishi Sunak has fuelled concerns that the government will miss its target of recruiting 6,000 more GPs in England, which was promised in the 2019 Conservative manifesto.

The prime minister omitted the pledge from his appointment letter to the health secretary, Steve Barclay, laying out expectations for what should be delivered by March 2024.

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US doctor removes 23 contact lenses stuck in eye like ‘stack of pancakes’

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The patient, who had been avoiding visits to her eye doctor due to Covid, complained about feeling something foreign in her eye

A California eye doctor has said an elderly patient who came in complaining of blurry vision ended up having 23 disposable contact lenses in her eye.

“To this day, she herself does not understand how it took place,” Dr Katerina Kurteeva, a Newport Beach ophthalmologist, told a local TV news channel. “She’s still baffled by it all.”

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Two New York hospitals agree to pay more than $165m to 147 abuse victims

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Robert Hadden, a former gynecologist, was accused in 2016 of sexually abusing female patients for over two decades

Two New York hospitals have agreed to pay more than $165m to 147 former patients who have accused a former gynecologist of sexual abuse and misconduct.

Columbia University Irving Medical Center and NewYork-Presbyterian announced the agreement Friday. Last year, the two hospitals reached a settlement to establish a $71m compensation fund with 79 former patients.

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National insurance increase will be reversed from 6 November, says Kwasi Kwarteng – UK politics live

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The chancellor says the move will save 28m people £330 on average next year

Catholics outnumber Protestants in Northern Ireland for the first time, a demographic milestone for a state that was designed a century ago to have a permanent Protestant majority, my colleague Rory Carroll reports.

Thérèse Coffey is deputy prime minister as well as health secretary. Speaking on ITV’s Good Morning Britain this morning, and responding to a question from the former Labour MP Ed Balls, who was presenting, she said that as deputy PM whould be would “chairing things like the home affairs committee and different elements like that”. But she rejected claims this meant she would be doing the health job part time. She said:

I’m conscious that in two weeks we’ve already pulled together our plan for patients and we will continue to develop that.

I don’t think it will be a case of being part-time ... We don’t have fixed working hours.

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UK children’s doctors given advice on how to help families in poverty

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Health experts encourage doctors to talk about nutrition and socio-economic circumstances

Children’s doctors plan to help poor families cope with the cost of living crisis and its feared impact on health, amid concern that cold homes this winter will lead to serious ill health.

In an unusual move, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) is issuing the UK’s paediatricians with detailed advice on how they can help households in poverty.

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No one should wait more than two weeks to see GP, Coffey to say

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New health secretary’s demand to improve patient access to GP care in England is immediately criticised by family doctors

No patient should have to wait more than two weeks to see a GP, the new health secretary will demand , in a move that has already been criticised by family doctors.

Thérèse Coffey will on Thursday set out a new “expectation” that everyone seeking an appointment with a GP should get one within 14 days while outlining a major plan to tackle the NHS’s growing crisis.

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