Category Archives: Health

Doubts grow over number of NHS doctors helped by pension giveaway

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New figures reveal only 100 hospital doctors left NHS in 2022 due to voluntary early retirement, despite claims by Jeremy Hunt

The number of hospital doctors that could be helped by Jeremy Hunt’s pensions giveaway has been cast into doubt, after new figures revealed that only 100 of them left the NHS last year due to voluntary early retirement.

Criticism has mounted about the measure announced in the budget, which would scrap the up to 55% tax levied on lifetime pension pots worth just over £1m and raise the annual allowance threshold from £40,000 to £60,000.

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Neo-Nazis and trans rights protesters clash in Melbourne; bushfire alert for parts of Great Ocean Road – as it happened

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Melbourne forecast to reach 37C while northern regions of the state could exceed 40C. This blog is now closed

Federal government welcomes decision to hear MH17 case

The federal government has welcomed the International Civil Aviation Organization Council’s decision to hear Australia and the Netherlands’ case against Russia for the downing of flight MH17.

We have maintained since May 2018 that the Russian Federation is responsible under international law for the downing of Flight MH17.

We now look forward to presenting our legal arguments and evidence to the ICAO Council as we continue to seek to hold Russia to account.

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Wyoming becomes first US state to outlaw use of abortion pills

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Bill from Republican-controlled legislature comes as measures to crack down on abortion pills gather pace across the country

Wyoming has become the first US state to outlaw the use or prescription of medication abortion pills after the governor, Mark Gordon, signed into law a bill that was passed by the state’s Republican-controlled legislature earlier this month.

The crux of the two-page Wyoming bill is a provision making it illegal to “prescribe, dispense, distribute, sell or use any drug for the purpose of procuring or performing an abortion”.

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No 10 refuses to give details of how £4bn pay deal for health workers will be funded – as it happened

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Downing Street reveals cost of improved pay offer for nurses and paramedics but will not say where the money will come from

Downing Street says the improve pay offer for health workers in England announced yesterday will cost around £4bn.

At the morning lobby briefing, a No 10 spokesperson said the “non-consolidated element for 2022-23” – the one-off payments worth up to 8.2% – would cost an extra £2.7bn.

Analysis showed that in two years’ time - by which point Labour could have won a general election - two million people could face paying taxes of up to 55 per cent on their pots as a result of [Rachel] Reeves’ policy.

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Levels of carcinogenic chemical near Ohio derailment site far above safe limit

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EPA scientists assessed a dioxin cancer risks threshold in 2010, but a federal cleanup is only triggered at far higher levels

Newly released data shows soil in the Ohio town of East Palestine – scene of a recent catastrophic train crash and chemical spill – contains dioxin levels hundreds of times greater than the exposure threshold above which Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) scientists in 2010 found poses cancer risks.

The EPA at the time proposed lowering the cleanup threshold to reflect the science around the highly toxic chemical, but the Obama administration killed the rules, and the higher federal action threshold remains in place.

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New data links Covid-19’s origins to raccoon dogs at Wuhan market

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Analysis of gene sequences by international team finds Covid-positive samples rich in raccoon dog DNA

Newly released genetic data gathered from a live food market in Wuhan has linked Covid-19 with raccoon dogs, adding weight to the theory that infected animals sold at the site started the coronavirus pandemic, researchers involved in the work say.

Swabs collected from stalls at the Huanan seafood market in the two months after it was shut down on 1 January 2020 were previously found to contain both Covid and human DNA. When the findings were published last year, Chinese researchers stated that the samples contained no animal DNA.

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Four arrested after climate protesters occupy Dominic Perrottet’s office – as it happened

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Six teenagers and a dozen adults occupied NSW premier’s office, protesting approval of new coal and gas projects. This blog is now closed

We’ve got some more information on the news the Albanese government is set to spend $1.3bn buying 220 Tomahawk cruise missiles.

The deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, said Australia would be working closely with the US to get more missile capability.

Making sure we have longer-range strike missiles is a really important capability for the country. It enables us to be able to reach out beyond our shores further and that’s ultimately how we are able to keep Australia safe.

The cruise missiles are a critical part of that, as are the submarines that launch them.

Our banking system is really well capitalised. It’s well regulated. We’re well placed in Australia to withstand some of the vulnerability in banking systems.

Whether it’s Silicon Valley banks, and the steps taken by the Americans, or credit Swiss, and the loans provided by the central bank, we’re monitoring it closely.

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Health unions hail victory after government’s new pay offer for NHS staff in England

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Offer includes two one-off payments – 2% bonus and 4% Covid payment – plus pay rise of about 5%

Health unions hailed a historic victory on Thursday, after Steve Barclay made a significant new pay offer aimed at ending NHS strikes in England, in a climbdown that could embolden other unions at loggerheads with the government.

After months of rolling strikes involving thousands of NHS workers including nurses, ambulance staff and physiotherapists, the government ditched its claim that this year’s pay deal could not be reopened and offered a one-off bonus worth up to 8.2%.

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NHS workers expected to be offered one-off payments worth up to 6% as part of revised pay offer – UK politics live

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Health secretary expected to announce a formal pay offer to key unions later today

Sinn Féin’s US fundraising arm has caused a row by calling for a referendum on Irish unity in adverts in the New York Times, Washington Post and other US publications.

The half-page ads were paid for by Friends of Sinn Féin and ran on Wednesday urging support for unity referendums in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. “It is time to agree on a date,” it said. “Let the people have their say.”

They’re ads from Irish American organisations whose view on reunification is well known and held for a very long time and they take out ads every year. So, the focus now needs to be on getting back to work [at Stormont].

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NHS strikes: Steve Barclay expected to announce formal pay offer

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Offer to unions involved in strikes in England expected to include one-off payment of up to 6% for this year

The health secretary, Steve Barclay, is expected to announce a formal pay offer to key unions involved in NHS strikes in England, including a one-off payment of up to 6% for this year, in an effort to end months of industrial action.

Last-minute talks between the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the unions were understood to be continuing on Thursday morning, but an offer was expected to be made public later in the day.

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Covid cases on the rise in NSW with a ‘patchwork quilt’ of variants

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Experts say data points to early signs of a new wave but, given level of immunity, is not expected to be as severe as in the past

New South Wales is experiencing a rise in Covid-19 cases, with one expert warning the data indicates early signs of a new wave with a “patchwork quilt” of variants.

NSW Health recorded 8,032 Covid cases in the week to Saturday, an increase of 9.2% from the previous week.

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UK ministers under pressure to tighten laws on ‘forever chemicals’ in drinking water

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Vast numbers of people drinking water with levels that would be banned in the US, research shows

Pressure is building on UK ministers to tighten regulations on PFAS “forever chemicals” as research shows vast numbers of people are drinking water with levels that would be banned in the US.

On Tuesday, US president Joe Biden announced plans to drive down acceptable limits in drinking water to four nanograms per litre (4ng/l) for two types of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFOS and PFOA), and announced proposals to regulate four more – PFNA, PFHxS, PFBS and GenX Chemicals – as a mixture.

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Hunt’s disability plans put 1m at risk of losing £350 a month, IFS says

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Charities and disability campaigners say chancellor’s proposals set out in his budget more ‘stick than carrot’

Up to 1 million people currently claiming incapacity benefits could lose hundreds of pounds a month as a result of plans outlined in the budget to push ahead with the “biggest reforms to the welfare system in a decade,” experts have said.

The warning came as ministers unveiled a range of measures to try to drive more people back into the workplace, including scrapping controversial “fit for work” tests for disabled claimants and stepping up the threat of benefit sanctions against part-time workers.

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Caffeine may reduce body fat and risk of type 2 diabetes, study suggests

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Findings could lead to use of calorie-free caffeinated drinks to cut obesity and type 2 diabetes – but more research needed

Having high levels of caffeine in your blood may lower the amount of body fat you carry and reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, research suggests.

The findings could lead to calorie-free caffeinated drinks being used to reduce obesity and type 2 diabetes, though further research is required, the researchers wrote in the BMJ Medicine journal.

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Polish court convicts activist for helping woman get abortion pills

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Justyna Wydrzynska sentenced to community service after telling court she sent pills to victim of domestic violence

A court in Poland has convicted an activist for helping a pregnant woman access abortion pills, sentencing her to eight months of community service in a landmark case over abortion rights in the predominantly Catholic country.

“I do not feel that I am facing the court alone,” said Justyna Wydrzynska at the hearing on Tuesday. “Behind me are my friends and hundreds of women I have not had the luck to meet yet.”

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Florida surgeon general’s Covid vaccine claims harm public, health agencies say

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‘Fueling vaccine hesitancy undermines effort’ to protect lives, warns letter to Dr Joseph Ladapo sent by FDA and CDC

US health agencies have sent a letter to the surgeon general of Florida, warning that his claims about Covid-19 vaccine risks are harmful to the public.

The letter was sent to Joseph Ladapo on Friday by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It was a response to a letter Ladapo wrote to the agencies last month, expressing concerns about what he described as adverse effects from Covid vaccines.

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Queensland to hold inquiry into health risks of e-cigarettes amid concerns some contain toxic chemicals

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More knowledge needed about whether vaping is a ‘stepping stone’ to smoking and to raise awareness of harmful effects among youth, premier says

The Queensland parliament will hold an inquiry into the health risks, use and prevalence of e-cigarettes, amid concerns that some vaping products marketed as “nicotine free” actually contain the addictive chemical.

Queensland laws allow the sale of nicotine-free vaping devices in tobacco shops. E-cigarettes containing nicotine are only available with a prescription.

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Matt Hancock’s leaked messages being ‘used to rewrite history’, say civil servants

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Some advisers and civil servants speaking to the Guardian say an ‘anti-lockdown filter’ has been placed on events

The mass leaking of thousands of Matt Hancock’s WhatsApp messages have laid bare in the starkest terms the extent of the divisions inside the cabinet and among advisers and civil servants handling the deadliest pandemic in modern times.

But some who worked in Number 10 and across Whitehall, as well as bereaved families, have been angered by what they see as a rewriting of history by some cabinet ministers and by the framing of some of Hancock’s texts.

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Children face acute risk amid Malawi’s deadliest cholera outbreak

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The disease, which has killed 1,500 people since last March, has been aggravated by heavy rains and an overburdened health system

Malawi’s cholera outbreak is the country’s deadliest on record, claiming more than 1,500 lives, according to the UN.

More than 50,000 cases have been detected in the landlocked country in south-east Africa since an outbreak was declared in March last year, triggered by two devastating tropical storms that hit the region. Almost 200 children have died.

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SNP leadership hopefuls take part in second televised debate – as it happened

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Kate Forbes, Ash Regan and Humza Yousaf take part in debate hosted by Channel 4’s Krishnan Guru-Murthy

Lucy Frazer won’t be happy. (See 10.40am.) Interviewed by reporters leaving home this morning, Gary Lineker said that he had had a conversation with the BBC’s director general, Tim Davie. He would not reveal what was said. “We chat often,” was all Lineker said.

But Lineker did not look chastened. In fact, he was smiling like a Cheshire cat. Asked if he regretted sending his tweet, he replied “No,” and, asked if he stood by what he said, he replied, “Of course.”

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