Group representing trusts in England warns of disruption to patient care as two days of stoppages begin
NHS bosses have implored ministers to “do all you can” to end the strikes that are disrupting care for patients and help rescue the service from its “vicious cycle” of overload and delays.
The NHS Confederation issued its plea on the day nurses in England went on strike for the third time as they seek a bigger pay rise for 2022/23 than the £1,400 on offer.
Continue reading...Wages, incarceration rates and unemployment benefits access worse when compared with states allowing the procedure
Wages, employment security, incarceration rates and access to unemployment benefits are all worse in US states where abortion is restricted or banned, compared with those where it is protected, a new report has found.
The report by the Economic Policy Institute also found that minimum wages are, on average, $3.75 an hour lower in abortion restrictive states compared with protective states ($8.17 compared with $11.92); and that restrictive states incarcerate people at 1.5 times the rate of protective states.
Continue reading...Rising flood waters have cut north Queensland’s main transport corridor, the Bruce Highway, with more rain on the way. Follow the day’s news live
Dreyfus opens discussion about judicial watchdog
Today the attorney-general, Mark Dreyfus, will open consultation for the creation of a federal judicial commission, to police what he described as the “relatively rare” instances of “problematic conduct by judges”.
The three diseases that we’re focusing on on this trip – malaria, HIV and tuberculosis – three diseases that Australia has a good control over or good management over.
HIV cases are on the rise for a range of different reasons. Tuberculosis is just devastating and any young child with tuberculosis is an extremely confronting and devastating thing to see it’s a horrible disease. And malaria is an ongoing killer.
Continue reading...UK medicines watchdog advises GPs to ‘taper’ doses for patients who want to stop taking the drugs
GPs whose patients want to stop taking antidepressants should reduce the dose of their medication in stages to lower the risk and severity of withdrawal symptoms, the medicines watchdog has said.
About one in six (16%) adult Britons experience moderate to severe depression, according to the Office for National Statistics. In England alone, 21.4m antidepressant drugs were prescribed between July and September 2022, according to the NHS Business Services Authority.
Continue reading...Former Sex Pistol competing to represent Ireland with love letter to wife of 44 years who is living with the illness
John Lydon has said he is competing to represent Ireland at this year’s Eurovision song contest primarily in order to raise awareness of Alzheimer’s disease. The former Sex Pistols frontman (once known as Johnny Rotten) will appear with his band, Public Image Ltd, on the Late Late Show on 3 February, performing Hawaii, a love letter to his wife of 44 years, Nora Forster, who is living with the illness.
“I’m doing it to highlight the sheer torture of what Alzheimer’s is,” said the singer, who holds an Irish passport as well as US citizenship. “It gets swept under the carpet, but in highlighting it, hopefully we get a stage nearer to a cure.” Lydon insisted that spreading this message was much more important than competing to win, so he isn’t listening to the five other entrants.
Continue reading...RCN says if progress not made on pay negotiations, action in February will include all eligible members in England
Double the number of nurses will be asked to strike in early February in a bid to increase pressure on the government, union leaders have warned.
The Royal College of Nursing has said that if progress is not made in negotiations by the end of January, the next set of strikes will include all eligible members in England for the first time.
Continue reading...Public support for industrial action by health workers remains strong in the face of government claims it is putting lives at risk
A majority of voters continue to support striking nurses and ambulance workers, despite government claims that they are putting the public at risk, according to the latest Opinium poll for the Observer.
Labour has also increased its lead over the Tories by 1 percentage point, to 16 points, after the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, and other cabinet ministers tried to make political capital by accusing Keir Starmer and his party of being in the pockets of the unions at a time of industrial unrest, the survey shows.
Continue reading...Health secretary Steve Barclay urges unions to lobby PM over improved pay offer for striking nurses and ambulance workers
The health and social care secretary Steve Barclay has privately urged trade unions to help him make the case to the Treasury and No 10 for extra money for nurses, ambulance workers and other NHS staff in an extraordinary twist to the escalating crisis over health service strikes, the Observer can reveal.
A serious cabinet split has opened up, with Barclay now wanting more money for all NHS staff except doctors – while Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, are refusing to budge from their insistence that no more can be offered.
Continue reading...In letter to Rishi Sunak, GMB union members say they feel ‘utterly betrayed’ by attempts to portray them as ‘uncaring about safety’
A group of ambulance workers has sent a furious letter to the prime minister saying they feel “utterly betrayed” by the government’s attempts to paint them as “uncaring about safety standards”.
Steve Rice, the head of the GMB union’s ambulance committee, sent Rishi Sunak a letter on behalf of ambulance workers protesting against the government’s plans to introduce anti-strikes legislation.
PA Media contributed to this report
Continue reading...Warnings of ‘great cost’ to individuals, workplaces and the economy as people struggle to access diagnosis and treatment
ADHD awareness hassoared among women in the UK in the past year, but waiting times and the dearth of clinical awareness are leaving people awaiting diagnosis in a perilous position, leading experts have warned.
Dr Max Davie, a consultant paediatrician and co-founder of ADHD UK, said that people talking openly about their diagnoses – such as the Loose Women presenter Nadia Sawalha – had led to more people seeking referrals for the condition.
Continue reading...Almost 2,000 patients of surgeon told by health authorities they may need to have procedures repeated to ensure they do not have cancer after an investigation by regulators
A surgeon who performed hundreds of potentially “incomplete” colonoscopies in the Albury-Wodonga region has been temporarily banned from practising medicine.
Dr Liu-Ming Schmidt will remain registered as a GP and specialist surgeon in Australia, but cannot perform any medical procedures or treat patients according to conditions imposed on Friday.
Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...Critics say warnings are a ‘direct attack’ against Italy as a key exporter of wine
A plan by Ireland to put stark health warnings on bottles of wine, beer and spirits has caused anger in Italy.
Ireland is free to go ahead with the measure, which would warn consumers about the risks of cancer and liver diseases linked to alcohol, after a deadline passed for the European Commission to oppose it.
Continue reading...Controversial bill to stop industrial action criticised as an already struggling sector fears losing more staff in a damaging brain drain
Zimbabwe’s health workers have criticised the government for passing contested legislation that outlaws any industrial action, saying it will worsen the sector’s already damaging brain drain.
The new Health Services Bill, which came into force on Tuesday, forbids health workers who are classified as an “essential” service from striking for more than three days. Those who do not comply face a fine or imprisonment of up to six months.
Continue reading...Officials from 14 health unions want to hold direct talks with ministers to agree pay rises for NHS staff
The system for setting NHS staff pay is under threat after health unions refused to submit evidence to the two bodies that advise ministers on how big annual increases should be.
The role and credibility of both the NHS pay review body (NHSPRB) and the review body on doctors’ and dentists’ remuneration (DDRB) have been brought into question by the move.
Continue reading...Waves of respiratory diseases, staff attrition and an older population are taxing Canada’s overburdened hospital system
When Allison Holthoff entered a crowded Nova Scotia hospital at the end of December, the intense pain in her abdomen worsened with each hour she spent waiting for treatment. With the emergency room under renovations, overwhelmed staff triaged a stream of incoming patients in a makeshift treatment area.
“‘I feel like I’m dying. They’re going to let me die here,’” Holthoff told her husband, Gunther.
Continue reading...Exclusive: employment strategy aimed at those ‘written off’ by society like young people with mental health issues, says Jonathan Ashworth
Labour will “put health and wellbeing” at the heart of its employment strategy by embedding career advisers in health services, including addiction clinics, rehab centres and primary care, the party has said.
In an interview with the Guardian, Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow work and pensions secretary, said the strategy would help people who had been “written off” to access work.
Devolving employment support to local authorities to target the best routes into work.
Tailored extra support to work flexibly for those with caring responsibilities or chronic conditions.
Offers of “in principle” decisions for access-to-work funding for disabled people.
Change the work capability assessment regime to allow people to accept a job without fearing they would not be able to return to the benefits they were receiving.
Continue reading...Almost half of deaths occur in babies’ first month and most could be prevented with better healthcare according to campaigners
Five million children worldwide died before their fifth birthday in 2021, with almost half (47%) dying during their first month, according to new UN figures.
Most of the deaths could have been prevented with better healthcare, say campaigners, adding that deaths among newborn babies haven’t reduced significantly since 2017.
Continue reading...Business department says bill will enforce ‘basic’ level of service from different sectors during stoppages
Ministers are to unveil controversial new legislation designed to curb the effectiveness of strike action as industrial disputes continue to paralyse services across the UK.
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has previously said the bill will enforce a “basic” level of service from different sectors if workers choose to strike.
Continue reading...Pharmacists are having to convert tablets into liquid alternatives needed for small children
Australian medical groups and pharmacists have warned that a national shortage of medicines including common antibiotics is getting worse, with some pharmacists having to convert tablets into liquid alternatives for children.
Some doctors are now urging the federal government to invest in the development of domestic manufacturing as a long-term solution to overcome global supply chain challenges.
Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup
Continue reading...