Category Archives: Health

PwC charged health department to provide ‘risk management’ workshop in weeks before scandal

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Exclusive: Consultancy firm ran event at Department of Health and Aged Care in December, days before former PwC partner was banned by tax advice regulator

PwC Australia billed taxpayers to deliver a “risk management workshop” to a department that was subsequently forced to suspend the firm’s $2.3m contract in the aged care sector, pending an investigation into potential conflicts of interest.

The $36,000 engagement has been described as “frankly absurd” by the public sector union and criticised by legal academics given a Senate committee report released in June 2023 that confirmed the consultancy firm had been engaging in a “calculated” breach of trust.

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Doctors were forced to apologise for raising alarm over Lucy Letby and baby deaths

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Guardian investigation also reveals Countess of Chester hospital executive feared contacting police would ‘damage reputation’

Lucy Letby’s colleagues were ordered to apologise to her after repeatedly raising concerns that the nurse may have been behind a series of unexplained baby deaths, the Guardian has learned.

Senior doctors had warned for months that Letby was the only staff member present during the sudden collapses and deaths of a number of premature babies on the Countess of Chester hospital’s neonatal unit.

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Quarter of submissions from vape users to Australian inquiry parrot text from tobacco industry campaign

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Exclusive: study finds 26% of individual responses to TGA vaping reforms contained text from template provided as part of ‘astroturfing’ campaign

More than one-quarter of submissions from individual e-cigarette users made to the Australian government’s vaping reforms consultation featured text from an “astroturfing” campaign led by the tobacco and vaping industry, “bypassing conflict-of-interest” declaration requirements, a study has found.

The World Health Organization defines astroturfing as the faking of a grassroots movement that in reality is being controlled by a hidden multinational company or organisation, in this case tobacco and vaping companies.

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Government confirms plan to scrap two-week cancer wait targets in England – UK politics live

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Currently two-week wait target is not being met as government says new guidelines will consolidate ten current targets into three

There was some consternation in the comments yesterday at any passing mention of the football, which is going to make it awkward to do the front pages today, with an awful lot of papers featuring the Lionesses upfront and centre.

The Guardian led with the prime minister promising to protect the pensions triple lock, which could see a massive benefits rise given how high inflation is running.

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Pig kidney keeps working for over a month in brain-dead man’s body

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Medical breakthrough marks longest pig kidney has functioned in a human, setting stage for operations in living patients

A pig’s kidney transplanted by surgeons into a brain-dead man has continued to function normally for more than a month – a critical step toward an operation the New York team hopes to eventually try in living patients.

The latest experiment, announced on Wednesday by New York University Langone Health, marks the longest a pig kidney has functioned in a person, albeit a deceased one, and it’s not over. Researchers will track the kidney’s performance for a second month.

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Home test that checks if an abortion has worked reduces follow-up surgery, study finds

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A successful Australian trial of a urine test to detect whether an abortion has worked will be welcomed by rural and remote patients, say clinicians

A home test that checks whether a drug-induced abortion has worked is not only safe but reduces rates of unnecessary follow-up surgery, an Australian-first study has found.

People who attend clinics to access medication to terminate a pregnancy, known as a medical abortion, usually need to see a doctor 14 days later and may undergo a blood test to examine levels of a hormone known as hCG, along with an ultrasound to rule out complications.

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Patients could get cancer scans without GP referral, says Steve Barclay

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Health secretary suggested patients could go directly to diagnostic test or clinician to ease ‘bottleneck’ in NHS system

Patients with cancer symptoms could bypass their GP in the future and go straight for a scan, the health secretary has suggested, in the latest “radical” attempt by the government to cut huge NHS waiting lists.

The suggestion, which comes as the government is expected to reduce the number of NHS cancer waiting time targets, could form part of proposals to “design out bottlenecks” in the NHS system, Steve Barclay said in an interview.

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Australia’s vaping crackdown to be enforced with new laws

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Exclusive: After announcing most forms of vaping would be banned, the Albanese government will legislate changes and boost agencies’ powers

Australia’s ban on non-therapeutic and single-use vapes will be underpinned by new laws – rather than a focus on regulation – in a development that has been welcomed by public health experts.

The Albanese government announced in May that it would outlaw the importation of non-prescription vaping products in the biggest smoking reforms in a decade.

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Charities and experts call for overhaul of ‘broken’ UK sick pay system

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Coalition urges health secretary to back changes as long-term sickness levels reach record high

A coalition of charities and health experts has called for an overhaul of the UK’s “broken” sick pay system, as the number of people prevented from working by long-term sickness reached a record high.

The health secretary, Steve Barclay, was urged in a letter to support changes that the campaign says would not just address widening health inequalities but also benefit the economy.

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Labour says extra 900 beds for NHS just a ‘sticking plaster’ amid record waiting times – UK politics live

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Wes Streeting says announcement of £250m to provide 900 extra beds ‘comes nowhere near the 12,000 beds’ cut in the last 13 years

Back on the PSNI data leak for a second, former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has questioned how the details of PSNI officers and staff were all kept in one system.

“What’s happened, why it’s happened, I don’t know, I don’t get it – how 10,000 people were all in one system, particularly intelligence people – but I’m sure that will all come out in the wash,” PA Media reports he told Newstalk.

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FDA approves new ‘spiral’ tampon shape

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For the first time in decades, the products could get a significant update, which makers say better absorbs fluid

It’s been over 90 years since Tampax created the first modern tampons, and the product’s design remains mostly unchanged. But the FDA just approved a new design that could change the appearance of a product that’s looked the same for decades.

The design, patented by the independent startup Sequel, has diagonal grooves that spiral down the product. The brand’s founders say the product’s helical shape better absorbs fluid, which leads to less leakage and a more reliable experience.

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Girl, 13, gives birth after she was raped and denied abortion in Mississippi

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The nearest abortion clinic – in Chicago – was too far away and too expensive for her mother to provide her with the procedure

A 13-year-old girl in Mississippi gave birth to a boy after she was raped as well as impregnated by a stranger – and then was unable to get an abortion, according to a Time magazine report published on Monday.

The mother of the girl, who uses the pseudonym Ashley in the report, was looking to get an abortion for her daughter but was told the closest abortion provider was in Chicago – a drive of more than nine hours from their home in Clarksdale, Mississippi.

Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html

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Keir Starmer accuses Tories of ‘moving goalposts’ on NHS cancer care

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Proposals to ‘streamline’ treatment, which government says are clinically led, would cut number of targets from nine to three

Keir Starmer has accused the government of “moving the goalposts” as the number of NHS cancer waiting time targets is expected to be reduced.

The government has been consulting on the proposed measures to streamline NHS cancer care, which would replace the nine existing cancer targets with just three. The target of all patients seeing a specialist within two weeks of an urgent referral for cancer tests by the GP is expected to be scrapped.

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Mary-Louise McLaws, epidemiologist who guided Australia through Covid, dies aged 70 from brain cancer

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Health minister says professor and WHO advisor was ‘an incredibly calm, articulate voice at a time that was very frightening’

Professor Mary-Louise McLaws, the epidemiologist who guided Australians through the Covid-19 pandemic, has died at the age of 70 from brain cancer.

McLaws died in her sleep on Saturday night, her husband Richard Flook said in a statement to the Sydney Morning Herald.

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Cigarette packs could soon include advice on how to quit smoking

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Ministers launch a consultation on including inserts in boxes that outline the benefits of quitting tobacco

Plain packaging, graphic images of lung disease and warnings that smoking causes cancer already adorn cigarette boxes. But now smokers in the UK could also be given an upbeat note with every pack in an attempt to help them quit.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has announced that it is opening a consultation on Monday to seek views on the introduction and design of pack inserts for tobacco products, such as cigarettes and rolling tobacco.

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Landmark NHS recruitment plan in danger from applicant shortfall

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The huge increase in students needed to fill medical training places, and supplying the staff to teach them, may not be feasible

A “once in a generation” NHS recruitment plan requiring an extra 50,000 clinical training places in less than a decade risks being derailed by difficulties in finding enough applicants and a shrinking number of staff to teach them.

A new analysis seen by the Observer reveals the sheer scale of the proposed increase in NHS staff implied by the government’s long-awaited workforce plan, unveiled at the start of the summer and given a broad welcome across the NHS.

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Sunak’s ‘intransigence’ on pay will lead to more NHS strikes, warns top doctor

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Exclusive: BMA council chair says medics will have no option but to stage more industrial action until ministers make ‘credible offer’

Rishi Sunak’s “increasingly intransigent” and “belligerent” stance on medics’ pay is blocking the path to ending the industrial action in the NHS, leaving no option but to strike until the next general election, one of Britain’s top doctors has warned.

Speaking to the Guardian on Friday after junior doctors launched a fifth round of industrial action, Prof Philip Banfield, the chair of the British Medical Association (BMA) council, said the union was standing firm and that doctors would continue to hold stoppages until they received a “credible offer”.

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Teenage girl dies after being forced to stay in a ‘period hut’ in Nepal

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Campaigners say efforts to stamp out custom of banishing girls and women during menstruation have been set back by Covid

A 16-year-old girl from Nepal has died as a result of the illegal practice of chhaupadi, where menstruating women are forced to stay in huts outside their homes.

Anita Chand, from Baitadi district, in the west of the country, bordering India, is understood to have died on Wednesday from a snake bite while she was sleeping. Her death is the first reported fatality from chhaupadi since 2019 and campaigners fear progress to eliminate the practice is being eroded.

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Youth say they need education and job skills to thrive in the modern world

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The pandemic, cost-of-living crisis and the climate emergency are influencing responses to the largest-ever survey of young people

Getting a good education and a job are the top priorities for 10 to 24-year-olds, according to the preliminary results of the largest-ever global survey of young people.

More than 700,000 were asked what would improve their wellbeing. About 40% cited education and work, while 21% said safety and 16% good health and nutrition.

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Children’s medicines in short supply across Australia as cold and flu cases continue to rise

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Chemists say global supply issues and increased demand behind lack of stock, but antibiotic substitutions are available

Australian parents are struggling to find medicines for their children as cold and flu cases continue to rise this winter, according to health experts and practitioners.

As part of ongoing medicine shortages caused by global supply problems since the Covid pandemic, children’s medicine has become a “hotspot” in the last couple of weeks.

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