Category Archives: England

Half of Britons avoid calling GP when they are ill, survey finds

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Most believe they will struggle to get an appointment, with over a quarter choosing to manage ailment themselves

Almost half the public delay or avoid contacting their GP surgery when they are ill, mainly because they think they will struggle to get an appointment.

Overall 48% of people across the UK did not bother to ask their family doctor for help – either initially or at all – when they got sick over the past year, a survey found.

Faster access to GPs and A&E are the public’s top priorities for the NHS.

Only 32% believe the NHS provides a good service nationally.

42% think the standard of NHS care has worsened over the past year and only 12% think that it has improved.

47% fear NHS care will decline further over the next year and just 15% expect it to get better

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Chelsea flower show seeks new charity sponsors after mystery donors end support

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Exclusive: Project Giving Back, set up in 2022 to help charities exhibit show gardens, says this year will be its last

Chelsea flower show is looking for new charity sponsors after the mystery philanthropic couple who have spent more than £23m on show gardens end their support.

Project Giving Back was set up by two anonymous donors in 2022, and since then it has paid for 63 gardens at the most prestigious horticultural event in the world, held each summer at the Royal Hospital gardens in south-west London.

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Deer shooting to be facilitated in England to protect woodlands

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Government plans legislation giving landowners and tenants rights to cull deer to protect crops and property

It will be much easier to shoot deer in England under government plans that aim to curb the damage the animals are doing to the country’s woodlands.

Emma Reynolds, the environment secretary, plans to bring forward new legislation to give landowners and tenants legal rights to shoot deer to protect crops and property.

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Councils in England call for ‘radical’ means testing of Send school transport

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Demand is rising at unsustainable rate and could cost £3.4bn by 2030-31, local authorities warn

Families who have children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send) should be means tested for school transport, according to councils in England, who say demand is rising “at an unsustainable rate”.

Local authorities are urging the government to be “radical” in its Send reforms, which are expected imminently, warning that annual costs on home-to-school transport for children with Send could rise to £3.4bn by 2030-31, up from £2bn last year.

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Man dies and boy in critical condition after stabbing at skate park in Northampton

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Police arrest four after incident in the Briar Hill area that left a man in his 20s dead

A man is dead and a teenage boy is in a critical condition in hospital after they were stabbed at a Northampton skate park.

Northamptonshire police launched a murder investigation after emergency services were called to the park in Ringway in the Briar Hill area on Wednesday following reports that two people had been stabbed “during an altercation”.

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Met deploys drones and ebikes to help catch adolescent phone thieves

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London police say criminal gangs are using Snapchat to offer cash rewards of up to £380 for stolen iPhones

Gangs are recruiting children to go out to steal smartphones before they head to school, using Snapchat to offer rewards of up to £380 for the latest Apple iPhones, police have revealed.

The Metropolitan police said they were deploying new resources including drones and Surron ebikes to chase suspects as they step up their fight against phone snatching.

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Quarter of police forces missing basic policies on sexual offences, says Sarah Everard report

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Official report says forces in England and Wales yet to implement recommendations for investigations

A quarter of police forces in England and Wales are yet to implement “basic policies for investigating sexual offences”, an official report has found, with women still being failed despite promises of change after the murder of Sarah Everard four years ago.

The report by Dame Elish Angiolini follows an inquiry set up after Everard was murdered by a serving police officer, Wayne Couzens, in March 2021. She was abducted off a London street while walking home.

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UN experts accuse one of England’s biggest social landlords of habitability failings

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Exclusive: Letter says L&Q appears to have systematically failed in its duty to provide adequate standard of living

UN experts have said that one of England’s biggest social landlords appears to have systematically failed to ensure the habitability of its rental properties.

In a letter to the UK government, they cite the case of a disabled tenant, Sanjay Ramburn, 55, who they say lived with his family of five in an L&Q group property in Forest Gate, east London, for several years with no electricity. They experienced four ceiling collapses, as well as severe damp and mould that affected their health.

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Plastic nurdles found at 84% of UK sites of special scientific interest

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Environmental charity Fidra says 168 of 195 SSSIs it surveyed are contaminated with tiny pellets

Plastic nurdles have been found in 84% of important nature sites surveyed in the UK.

Nurdles are tiny pellets that the plastics industry uses to make larger products. They were found in 168 of 195 sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs), so named because of the rare wildlife they harbour. They are given extra protections in an effort to protect them from pollution.

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University students in England get two-thirds of funding of a decade ago, analysis finds

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University leaders says planned levy on international student fees will leave many institutions even worse off

University students in England get just two-thirds of the funding they would have received a decade ago, after inflation and government cuts have reduced the resources available for teaching, according to vice-chancellors.

University leaders said the situation was likely to get worse if the government went ahead with a new levy on international student fees in Wednesday’s budget.

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Beareaved parents face ‘harrowing’ delays for NHS postmorterms

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Shortage of specialist doctors means service is in crisis, says chair of Royal College of Pathologists committee

Bereaved parents are enduring “harrowing” delays of more than a year to find out why their child died because the NHS has too few specialist doctors to perform postmortems.

The shortage of paediatric and perinatal pathologists is revealed in a report by the Royal College of Pathologists published on Sunday. It warns that the situation is “dire”, services in some parts of the UK have “totally collapsed” and families are paying the price.

37% of consultant posts in the UK are lying vacant.

The UK has just 52 paediatric and perinatal consultants and 13 are due to retire in the next five years.

Just 3% of consultants think current staffing levels are enough to sustain their service.

Only 13 resident doctors are in training to become consultants in the specialty.

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Spycops inquiry: Doreen Lawrence says she does not believe ex-home secretary

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Stephen Lawrence’s mother tells inquiry she did not believe Michael Howard when he told her he did not know police had spied on her family

The mother of the murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence has told a public inquiry that she does not believe claims by the former home secretary Michael Howard that he did not know undercover police officers had spied on her family.

Doreen Lawrence told the spycops inquiry on Thursday that Lord Howard, a former leader of the Conservative party, invited her to a meeting shortly after the inquiry was set up in 2014.

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UK weather: ‘blizzard conditions’ likely in north-east England

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Snow hits UK coasts with Met Office warning worst-affected regions could face travel disruption and power cuts

Blizzard conditions are possible in parts of north-east England where an amber warning for snow has come into force, the Met Office has said.

Sleet and snow showers continued to hit UK coasts overnight into Thursday, with the worst-affected areas facing disruption to travel and potential power cuts, the forecaster said.

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Almshouse in Dorset discovers its 15th-century Flemish triptych is worth £3.5m

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Artwork that hung for centuries at St John’s Almshouse in Sherborne will be sold to raise funds for social housing

“The blessing of the Lord brings wealth, and He adds no sorrow with it,” so says the Bible, Proverbs 10:22.

On Friday, a church almshouse was counting its blessings after discovering that a triptych painting that has hung in the chapel for centuries is a 15th-century Flemish masterpiece worth £3.5m.

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Rare bronze and iron age log boats reveal details of Cambridgeshire prehistory

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Well-preserved oak and maple boats used for transport and fishing to be displayed in Peterborough

After lying undisturbed in mud for more than 3,000 years, three rare bronze and iron age log boats have emerged to offer fresh insights into prehistoric life.

The boats were among nine discovered in a Cambridgeshire quarry 13 years ago – the largest group of prehistoric boats found in the same UK site. Most were well preserved, with one still able to float despite its long incarceration.

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Bots and third parties to be banned from booking driving tests in DfT shake-up

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In effort to tackle severe backlog and end resale market, only learner drivers will be able to make bookings

Bots and third parties will be banned from booking driving tests as part of a government shake-up to tackle a severe backlog of almost 670,000 learners booked in for a practical assessment.

The Department for Transport (DfT), which recently consulted on how to crack down on touts reselling test slots at inflated prices, said that only learner drivers themselves and not their instructors would be able to make bookings.

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David Lammy says 91 prisoners freed in error in England and Wales since April

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Justice secretary tells MPs as many as four may still be at large and blames previous governments’ cuts for mistakes

The justice secretary has revealed that 91 prisoners have been released by mistake in England and Wales since April, of whom as many four remain at large.

David Lammy gave details in a Commons statement of three mistakenly released prisoners the police are trying to trace. He said the Prison Service was also investigating a fourth inmate released in error last Monday who may still be at large.

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NHS staff who visit patients at home say St George’s flags can mean ‘no-go zones’

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Black and Asian staff left feeling ‘deliberately intimidated’, according to chief executive of one NHS trust

NHS staff who care for patients in their own homes fear some areas have become “no-go zones” for them because of the presence of St George’s flags, health leaders have said.

Black and Asian staff have been left feeling “deliberately intimidated” as a result of the flags that were put up in many parts of England during the summer, according to the chief executive of one NHS trust in England, who asked to remain anonymous.

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Councillors in England face suspensions for misconduct as part of government overhaul

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Local authorities to be given powers to suspend rule-breaking officials and to withhold allowances

Mayors and councillors in England face suspensions of up to six months for serious misconduct and repeated rule breaches as the government seeks to overhaul standards in local government.

Under plans unveiled on Tuesday, local authorities will be handed powers to suspend rule-breaking councillors and mayors, including those found guilty of bullying and assault, and to withhold their allowances.

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‘Environmental catastrophe’ fears as millions of plastic beads wash up on Camber Sands

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MP asks for explanation from Southern Water amid concerns the spill could have dire impact on rare sea life

Southern Water is investigating after millions of contaminated plastic beads washed up on Camber Sands beach, risking an “environmental catastrophe”.

The biobeads could have a dire impact on marine life, the local MP has said, with fears rare sea life, including seabirds, porpoises and seals, could ingest them and die.

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