Category Archives: Health

Former UK health secretary Matt Hancock’s early Covid warnings were ignored by No 10, say allies

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Ex-cabinet minister set to hit back at inquiry after being made a scapegoat for government failings

Matt Hancock and his officials bombarded Downing Street with early warnings about Covid-19 but were treated with ridicule and contempt, according to senior Whitehall figures, who believe that the former health secretary is unfairly being made a scapegoat by civil servants and scientists during the official inquiry into the pandemic.

Attempts by the Department of Health, in mid to late January 2020, to raise the alarm were dismissed out of hand by senior staff working for the then prime minister, Boris Johnson, because they believed Hancock was mainly seeking publicity and exaggerating the dangers, the insiders say.

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Exposure to widely used insecticides decreases sperm concentration, study finds

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Study’s author says ‘we need to reduce exposure in order to ensure men who want to conceive are able to without interference’

Exposure to several widely used insecticides probably decreases sperm concentration and may have profound effects on male fertility, new US research finds.

The George Mason University paper analyzed five decades of peer-reviewed studies to determine if organophosphates and carbamate-based pesticides exposure correlated with decreased sperm concentration.

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Toxic air killed more than 500,000 people in EU in 2021, data shows

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European Environment Agency says half of deaths could have been avoided by cutting pollution to recommended limits

Dirty air killed more than half a million people in the EU in 2021, estimates show, and about half of the deaths could have been avoided by cutting pollution to the limits recommended by doctors.

The researchers from the European Environment Agency attributed 253,000 early deaths to concentrations of fine particulates known as PM2.5 that breached the World Health Organization’s maximum guideline limits of 5µg/m3. A further 52,000 deaths came from excessive levels of nitrogen dioxide and 22,000 deaths from short-term exposure to excessive levels of ozone.

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John Lewis to partner with Randox Health to open clinics in stores

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In effort to attract customers amid falling sales, retailer joins forces with Covid testing firm to offer full-body health checks

John Lewis is to team up with Covid testing firm Randox Health to open clinics within its shops in the latest effort to draw in customers amid tough trading conditions.

The clinics, which will be run by Randox staff, will offer full-body health checks including tests for vitamin deficiencies, hormone imbalances and key health concerns, among other services.

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Thalidomide survivors call on Labor to reopen lifetime support program to new applicants

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Lisa McManus says it is ‘ignorant’ to think all those affected by drug are included in 146 people registered to closed scheme

Thalidomide survivors have asked the government to reopen a lifetime support program to new entrants ahead of next week’s national apology.

Survivors left with significant birth defects and other health issues have welcomed the apology but hope the government will use the occasion to pledge more help.

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Poor people much more likely to die from sepsis, study finds

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Those with existing health problems also at greater risk of condition that kills estimated 48,000 a year in UK

Poor people and those with existing health problems are much more likely to die from sepsis, one of the UK’s biggest killers, a study has found.

Sepsis, or blood poisoning, is a potentially fatal condition triggered when the body reacts to an infection by attacking its own tissues and vital organs. It leads to an estimated 48,000 deaths a year in Britain.

People with learning disabilities are almost four times more likely to get sepsis.

People with liver disease have about three times greater risk.

Patients with chronic kidney disease that is at stage 5 are more than six times as likely to develop it.

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US coal power plants killed at least 460,000 people in past 20 years – report

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Pollution caused twice as many premature deaths as previously thought, with updated understanding of dangers of PM2.5

Coal-fired power plants killed at least 460,000 Americans during the past two decades, causing twice as many premature deaths as previously thought, new research has found.

Cars, factories, fire smoke and electricity plants emit tiny toxic air pollutants known as fine particulate matter or PM2.5, which elevate the risk of an array of life-shortening medical conditions including asthma, heart disease, low birth weight and some cancers.

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Cheap over-the-counter nail drug found to work on crippling flesh-eating disease

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‘Momentous’ breakthrough as trial finds treatment for nail infections to be highly effective for neglected tropical disease

A cheap and easily taken drug used to treat fungal nail infections has been found to work against a devastating flesh and bone-eating disease found across Africa, Asia and the Americas.

Researchers say the breakthrough offers hope to thousands of patients who have suffered decades of neglect and can face amputations if the disease is left untreated.

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Scientists raise hopes of cure for eczema itchiness with study of skin bacteria

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Researchers say they have discovered a common type of bacteria can trigger irritation

Whether it’s a tickle of the nose, or an irritation in one’s hair, itches can be excruciating. Now scientists say they have found a common type of skin bacteria can trigger the sensation.

Crucially, as such bacteria are commonly found on the skin of patients with eczema – or atopic dermatitis – the work helps explain why such conditions can be accompanied by the urge to scratch.

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Jonathan Van-Tam’s family ‘threatened with having throats cut’, Covid inquiry hears

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Former deputy chief medical officer said police advised they move out of their home at one point in pandemic

Prof Sir Jonathan Van-Tam and his family were advised by police to move out of their home at one point during the Covid pandemic because of a threat that they would have their throats cut, he has told the inquiry into the pandemic.

Van-Tam, who was one of the deputy chief medical officers for England during the pandemic, said he was worried that the scale of hate from people who objected to lockdown-type measures could put off other people from doing jobs like his.

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Woman’s death during Brazilian butt lift surgery prompts UK-Turkey meeting

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Melissa Kerr from Norfolk died on day of buttock enlargement surgery at private hospital in Istanbul in 2019

UK officials are to meet with counterparts in Turkey after the death of a British woman during so-called Brazilian butt lift surgery at a private hospital in Istanbul.

Melissa Kerr, 31, from Gorleston in Norfolk, travelled to the private Medicana Haznedar hospital for the buttock enlargement surgery in 2019.

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BoM provides El Niño update – as it happened

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This blog is now closed

Birmingham says China ‘doesn’t appear to be acknowledging the facts’

Shadow foreign minister Simon Birmingham is speaking with ABC RN and is asked about sonar pulses from a Chinese warship that left one Australian naval diver injured.

The Australian navy and Australian defence force operates always with professionalism, and I’m confident that Australia’s version of events is a credible.

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Australian retail lobby groups refuse to disclose amount of funding from tobacco and vaping industries

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Representatives for convenience and grocery stores tell Senate inquiry details of any funding were commercial in confidence

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Lobby groups representing convenience and grocery stores have refused to tell a Senate inquiry how much they receive in tobacco and vaping industry funding.

The failure to disclose industry funding follows public hearings into the public health (tobacco and other products) bill earlier in November and comes as concerns are raised about one lobby group having a parliamentary access pass.

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One in 10 Australian men report having sexual contact with under-18s, study finds

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UNSW study finds nearly one in six men over the age of 18 had sexual feelings towards under-18s

Francene Reo’s stepdad told her it was therapy. In 1976, the Newcastle supreme court found it was child sexual abuse.

At that time, charging someone for incest was so unusual “they didn’t even know how to word the charges”, she said. Reo’s stepdad spent five years behind bars for his years of severe offending, which took place for 10 years when she was aged six to 16. She didn’t speak about it for decades.

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‘Straight out of Utopia’: healthcare workers denounce $558m expansion of Albury base hospital

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NSW and Victoria government documents show support for push by doctors to combine the Albury and Wodonga hospitals into one new facility – but that’s not what was announced

A $558m redevelopment of Albury Base hospital jointly proposed by the New South Wales and Victorian state governments has outraged healthcare workers and community groups, who claim both governments misled them during a years-long consultation.

“If I was going to design a system to hide the dismal plans they’ve provided us, I’d design it exactly the way they’ve done it,” says Michelle Cowan from local community group Better Border Health. “These are the oldest tricks in the book. It’s the most cynical exercise so they can say they’ve ticked the consultation box.”

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Firms earn £53bn a year from UK smoking, excess drinking and junk food – study

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Harmful habits are worsening public health, says report, as groups urge crackdown on ‘irresponsible’ industries

Firms are earning £52.7bn a year from UK sales of tobacco, junk food and excessive alcohol, and their consumption is contributing to Britain’s rising tide of illness, a report says.

The figures prompted a coalition of health, medical and children’s organisations to demand an urgent crackdown on “the irresponsible behaviour of health-harming industries”.

NHS hospitals admit 2.5 million patients a year for treatment of diseases directly linked to being overweight (1.02 million), drinking (980,000) or smoking (506,000).

About 459,000 people cannot work because they are too ill to do so as a result of their smoking (289,000), alcohol consumption (99,000) or being morbidly obese, with a body mass index over 40 (70,000).

People who smoke or drink at harmful levels are more likely to be jobless and earn less than those who do not – a “wage penalty” for their unhealthy lifestyles.

That wage penalty, together with unemployment and lost productivity due to smoking, drinking and obesity, costs the UK £31bn a year.

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No beds and lack of nurses: how Anne Pedler’s last hours were spent ramped in an ambulance

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Exclusive: Australian Medical Association finds people spending more time waiting outside hospitals amid ‘unforeseen levels of ramping’

The last hours of Anne Pedler’s life were spent in an ambulance ramped outside Launceston general hospital because no bed was available for the 71-year-old.

Pedler arrived at the hospital at 12.45am on 6 August 2022 with a diagnosis of a pulmonary embolism – a sudden blockage of the vessels responsible for sending blood to the lungs. Despite being triaged as urgent, Pedler was still ramped at 8.30am – when she suffered cardiopulmonary arrest.

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Solar energy could power all health facilities in poorer countries and save lives, experts say

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Move would cost less than $5bn and cut toll of deaths from power outages and lack of supply, Cop28 delegates will hear

All healthcare facilities in poorer countries could be electrified using solar energy within five years for less than $5bn, putting an end to the risk of life from power outages, experts will argue at Cop28 this month.

“I would like the international community to commit to a deadline and funding to electrify all healthcare facilities,” said Salvatore Vinci, an adviser on sustainable energy at the World Health Organization and a member of its Cop28 delegation. “We have solutions now that were not available 10 years ago – there is no reason why babies should be dying today because there is not electricity to power their incubators.

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UK medicines regulator approves gene therapy for two blood disorders

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MHRA authorises uses of Casgevy as a potential cure for sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia

The UK’s medicines regulator has authorised the use of a world-first gene therapy as a potential cure for two inherited blood disorders.

The treatment, Casgevy, for sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia, is the first to be licensed that uses the gene-editing tool known as Crispr, whose inventors were awarded the Nobel prize in 2020.

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Private firms harming NHS patients by failing to deliver medicines, Lords report warns

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‘Real and serious problems’ in UK medical homecare sector going unaddressed due to failures in regulation, damning review says

Private healthcare companies are harming NHS patients in their own homes by failing to deliver vital medicines, and then escaping censure amid an alarming lack of oversight by ministers and regulators, members of the House of Lords have warned.

More than 500,000 patients and their families rely on private companies paid by the NHS to deliver essential medical supplies, drugs and healthcare to their homes. The homecare medicines services sector is estimated to be worth billions of pounds.

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