The proposal, put forward by Nice, would see 13 million patients checked regularly
Millions of people in England and Wales with a long-term health condition should have their body mass index (BMI) checked regularly to prevent diabetes and heart disease, an NHS watchdog is recommending.
Anyone found to be overweight should talk to sensitive, non-judgmental doctors and nurses about how they can lead a healthier life and stop their excess pounds causing them problems.
Continue reading...Ex-nurse says inquiry should be suspended until review of convictions has finished
Lucy Letby has called for the public inquiry into her crimes to be halted, arguing there is now “overwhelming and compelling” evidence undermining her baby murder convictions.
Lawyers for the former nurse took the extraordinary step of writing to Lady Justice Thirlwall on Monday to say that the inquiry – which is due to end on Wednesday – should be suspended immediately.
Continue reading...New contraceptives, IVF and endometriosis treatments added to federal subsidy scheme, with Coalition leaders backing the move
New medications related to contraception, endometriosis and IVF will be subsidised on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) from 1 May, with some women expected to save thousands of dollars each year.
The announcement from the federal government on Sunday was welcomed by health campaigners, who said women’s health issues have been sidelined for far too long.
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Continue reading...Health secretary says the scrapping of NHS England is ‘beginning, not end’ of bid to slash ‘bloated bureaucracy’
The health secretary has declared that scrapping NHS England is “the beginning, not the end” and has vowed to continue “slashing bloated bureaucracy”.
Wes Streeting suggested hundreds more quangos could be in the line of fire after the prime minister announced this week the end of the body overseeing the health service in England.
Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, Streeting said: “The abolition of NHS England – the world’s largest quango – is the beginning, not the end.
“Patients and staff alike can see the inefficiency and waste in the health service. My team and I are going through budgets line by line, with a relentless focus on slashing bloated bureaucracy.”
NHS England has managed the health service since 2012, when it was established to cut down on political interference in the NHS – something Streeting described as an act of “backside-covering” to avoid blame for failures.
But on Thursday, Keir Starmer announced this would come to an end as he unexpectedly revealed the government would abolish NHS England in an effort to avoid “duplication”.
In his Sunday Telegraph article, Streeting suggested more was to come, saying the new NHS England chair, Penny Dash, had “identified hundreds of bodies cluttering the patient safety and regulatory landscape, leaving patients and staff alike lost in a labyrinth of paperwork and frustration”.
The move towards scrapping NHS England and other health-related quangos marks a change in direction for Streeting, who in January said he would not embark upon a reorganisation of the NHS.
He told the Health Service Journal he could spend “a hell of a lot of time” on reorganisation “and not make a single difference to the patient interest”, saying instead he would focus on trying to “eliminate waste and duplication”.
But in the Telegraph article, Streeting said he had heard former Conservative health ministers “bemoan” not abolishing NHS England, adding: “If we hadn’t acted this week, the transformational reform the NHS needs wouldn’t have been possible.”
The government expects scrapping NHS England will take two years and save “hundreds of millions of pounds” that can be spent on frontline services.
But during the week, Downing Street would not be drawn on how many people were facing redundancy as a result of the changes.
The Guardian reported on Friday that the jobs cull from the government’s radical restructuring of the NHS will be at least twice as big as previously thought.
The staff shakeout caused by NHS England’s abolition and unprecedented cost-cutting elsewhere will mean the number of lost posts will soar from the 10,000 expected to between 20,000 and 30,000.
Many thousands more people who work for the NHS’s 42 integrated care boards (ICBs) in England will see their roles axed, as well as the 10,000 working for NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) who have already been earmarked to go.
One of those waiting for Labour’s announcement explains why he depends on personal independence payments
Adam Gabsi is unequivocal on the subject of his personal independence payment: “It really is an essential lifeline. I don’t feel that I would be able to function without it.”
Gabsi receives his Pip disability benefit for multiple sclerosis, with which he was diagnosed 18 years ago, when he was 21.
Continue reading...Loss of staff will be at least twice as big as thought, as new NHS England chief tells regional boards to cut costs by 50%
The jobs cull from the government’s radical restructuring of the NHS will be at least twice as big as previously thought, with other parts of the health service now being downsized too.
The staff shakeout caused by NHS England’s abolition and unprecedented cost-cutting elsewhere will mean the number of lost posts will soar from the 10,000 expected to between 20,000 and 30,000.
Continue reading...Reforms proposed by health secretary predicted to save as much as £500m but could be distraction for ministers
Wes Streeting has ordered a “high stakes” reorganisation of the NHS that will scrap 10,000 jobs in an attempt to free up cash for frontline care.
Experts warned that the move to abolish NHS England and fold it into the Department of Health could distract ministers from the urgent job of ending long waits for treatment, while trade unions expressed concern about the “shambolic” announcement of job cuts for public servants.
Join Wes Streeting in conversation with Pippa Crerar discussing England’s health and social care system and how Labour plans to turn it around on Tuesday 25 March 2025, 7pm-8.15pm (GMT). Book tickets here or at guardianlive.com
Continue reading...Union says staff will have been left reeling after surprise news that body will be scrapped
Starmer is now talking about regulatation, and giving examples of where he thinks it has gone too far.
l give you an example. There’s a office conversion in Bingley, which, as you know, is in Yorkshire. That is an office conversion that will create 139 homes.
But now the future of that is uncertain because the regulator was not properly consulted on the power of cricket balls. That’s 139 homes. Now just think of the people, the families, the individuals who want those homes to buy, those homes to make their life and now they’re held up. Why? You’ll decide whether this is a good reason because I’m going to quote this is the reason ‘because the ball strike assessment doesn’t appear to be undertaken by a specialist, qualified consultant’. So that’s what’s holding up these 139 homes.
When we had those terrible riots … what we saw then, in response, was dynamic. It was strong, it was urgent. It was what I call active government, on the pitch, doing what was needed, acting.
But for many of us, I think the feeling is we don’t really have that everywhere all of the time at the moment.
The state employs more people than we’ve employed for decades, and yet look around the country; do you see good value everywhere? Because I don’t.
I actually think it’s weaker than it’s ever been, overstretched, unfocused, trying to do too much, doing it badly, unable to deliver the security that people need.
Continue reading...Police allege 41-year-old woman was practising as an unregistered midwife while another woman, 51, held no medical qualifications and was also unregistered when baby died
Two women who police allege practised as unregistered midwives have been charged with manslaughter after a baby died after a home birth on the New South Wales mid north coast.
The women, aged 41 and 51, appeared in Coffs Harbour local court on Wednesday in relation to the newborn boy’s death in 2022.
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Continue reading...Psychiatrist describes the detained woman at Thomas Embling hospital as one of the most unwell patients in the state
One of the most mentally unwell patients in Victoria will deteriorate further if she continues to be held in solitary confinement, where she has been detained for almost a decade, a court has heard.
Victorian county court judge Nola Karapanagiotidis heard a major review on Wednesday of the detention of the woman under the Crimes (Mental Impairment and Unfitness to be Tried) Act.
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Continue reading...The prime minister has ruled out imposing reciprocal tariffs on the US. Follow today’s news live
Trump tariff decision bad for Australia-US ties – Butler
Mark Butler said the US tariff decision was “bad for our relationship” when asked whether it had a damaging effect on international relations on ABC News Breakfast a short while ago.
This is a disappointing decision. It’s a bad economic decision. It’s bad for our relationship. It’s bad for the US, ultimately, because we think that the exports we send to them - which are significantly less than the exports they send to us - are good for the US economy. They’re good for US industry. They’re particularly good for defence, which is an important area of cooperation.
We think this is a bad decision that’s disappointing, and we’ll continue to press the case for it.
We’ve only been going at this for almost seven weeks that President Trump has been back in office. We intend to continue to press the case at the highest level – particularly ambassador Rudd has been relentless in this, meeting with officials almost constantly to press the American case. We’ve had a lot of senior ministerial engagement.
Obviously the prime minister has spoken directly with the president. We’ll continue to do that. It’s not only in Australia’s interest – which for us, is the most important thing – we’re confident, we’re very sure it’s in both of our interests’ interest to continue the open trade that has characterised particularly the last 20 years under the US FTA.
Continue reading...Research has found that the number of ADHD prescriptions in England increased from around 25 per 1,000 people in 2019/20 to 41.55 in 2023/24
The number of prescriptions being issued in England for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medication has risen by 18% year on year since the pandemic, with the biggest rise being seen in London, according to research.
Experts said increased public awareness via social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok could be a factor behind the substantial rise in prescription rates, encouraging “more people to seek assessment, diagnosis and treatment”.
Continue reading...This blog is now closed
Good morning blog readers – this is Rafqa Touma, and I’ll be taking you through the day’s live news updates. Thank you to Martin Farrer for getting us rolling this morning.
More than 125,000 properties are in the dark as crews work to restore power across QLD and NSW in Alfred’s aftermath.
Continue reading...Health secretary accuses food companies of ‘exploiting loophole’ over food safety and urges greater transparency
The US secretary of health and human services, Robert F Kennedy Jr, has directed the Food and Drug Administration to revise safety rules to help eliminate a provision that allows companies to self-affirm that food ingredients are safe.
The move would increase transparency for consumers as well as the FDA’s oversight of food ingredients considered to be safe, Kennedy said on Monday.
Continue reading...Scientific triumphs were made in the battle against the pandemic, but the memories and lessons are already in danger of being lost
On 9 March 2020, Martin Landray was studying the likely impact of Covid-19 as it started to sweep Britain. What was needed, he realised, was a method for pinpointing cheap, effective drugs that might limit the impact of the Sars-CoV-2 virus that was filling UK hospitals with dangerously ill patients.
Within 10 days, Landray – working with Oxford University colleague Peter Horby – had set up Recovery, a drug-testing programme that involved thousands of doctors and nurses working with tens of thousands of Covid-19 patients in UK hospitals.
Continue reading...Health minister convenes meeting after reports second-largest private hospital operator risks voluntary administration
The health minister, Mark Butler, has convened an urgent meeting with the chief executives of Australia’s private hospitals and health insurers amid warnings the second-largest private hospital operator, Healthscope, is facing a financial crisis.
The Australian Financial Review reported this week that Healthscope had retained insolvency experts KordaMentha to prepare a contingency plan in case it is placed into voluntary administration.
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Continue reading...Exclusive: Nursing union says it continues to receive complaints about low pay, unfit housing and illegal fees
Ministers are dragging their heels on an investigation into the mistreatment of migrant carers, the country’s largest nursing union has said, as it continues to receive complaints about low pay, substandard accommodation and illegal fees.
Nicola Ranger, the general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, has written to Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, to urge her to speed up her promised investigation into the abuse of foreign care workers.
Continue reading...The Victorian premier said she would be introducing legislation to' ‘bring about that change … very soon’. Follow today’s news live
Chalmers defends Australian defence spending as Trump administration says nation should spend more
Jim Chalmers has defended Australia’s defence spending as having already gone up “considerably”, amid suggestions from the Donald Trump administration that Australia should spend more.
That is a very, very substantial pick-up in defend spending and one of the reasons we’re doing that is to be able to work more effectively with our allies and partners like the United States … We do pay our own way on defence. We are substantially increasing defence spending.
We have got a good relationship with the Americans, particularly that economic relationship which is of mutual benefit, and these are the sorts of things that we have been talking about with our American counterparts as they finalise some of the policies on things like tariffs.
Continue reading...Study shows that male partners can help in limiting recurrence of the condition afflicting almost one in three women
Like almost one in three women, Hanae has developed bacterial vaginosis (BV) – a condition when the normal healthy bacteria in the vagina are replaced by an overgrowth of other mixed bacteria.
When she got it for first time in 2021, she took the standard treatment of antibiotics, only for the condition to come back weeks later. “It came back time and time again, no matter how many times I got antibiotic treatment,” said Hanae, who lives in Melbourne.
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Continue reading...Exclusive: Marie Tidball tells of her experiences with NHS as report finds 44% higher risk of stillbirth for disabled women
When doctors tried to work out whether Marie Tidball would need a specially designed birth plan, one asked her to lie fully clothed on the bed and spread her legs in the air so they could see how far they could open.
The incident was one of several occasions when Tidball, now a Labour MP, felt neglected during her pregnancy and early motherhood because of the NHS’s failure to adapt on account of her physical disabilities. Tidball has physical impairments affecting all four of her limbs and had major surgeries on both her hips and legs as a child.
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