Election manifesto promise to set up specialist tribunals to deal with huge backlog of cases has been put on hold
The government appears to have stalled on plans to set up dozens of specialist rape courts to deal with a huge backlog of cases, amid warnings there are not enough lawyers to make the proposals work.
Labour pledged during the election campaign to use vacant rooms and buildings on crown court sites to fast-track rape cases and reduce the numbers awaiting trial.
Continue reading...Engineers assess damage as heavy rains cause first major breach of Bridgewater canal since 1970s
Engineers are assessing the scale of damage to a canal built more than 250 years ago after flood waters caused a dramatic collapse of part of its elevated embankment in Cheshire.
The Bridgewater canal, which was previously used to transport coal but is now a leisure waterway, caved in near Dunham Massey, in the first major breach of the waterway for 54 years.
Continue reading...Disruption expected as rain turns to snow, after major flooding incident declared in Greater Manchester
An ice warning is in force for much of the UK as temperatures have dropped, after a major incident was declared due to flooding.
The yellow Met Office warning indicates there could be some difficult travel conditions across Scotland, Northern Ireland and north Wales, and stretching down to the Midlands, until 10am on Thursday.
Continue reading...First building to open at Huddersfield’s National Health Innovation Centre is named after NHS’s first black matron
In a full-scale model of a house, a £50,000 mannequin that can breathe, blink and cough waits for the replica of an ambulance.
Eerily lifelike technology, some created by model makers who have made “bodies” for the BBC’s Silent Witness, is being used to tackle the scarcity of placement hours for healthcare students by combining real-world training with simulated settings, including virtual reality.
Continue reading...Experts’ group employs new technologies and techniques to help relatives of those missing in the migration crisis
Four years ago, the remains of a toddler encased in a lifejacket and a navy snowsuit washed up on a beach in southern Norway, having spent the previous two months being carried on North Sea currents. Though his face was barely recognisable, publicity about the sinking of the migrant boat he had been travelling on, and suspicions about his identity, enabled Norwegian police to locate a relative to whom his DNA could be matched, providing this lonely corpse with a name: Artin Iran Nezhad.
Others remain nameless. Of the tens of thousands who die trying to reach Europe, only about a fifth are ever formally identified. For their relatives, this lack of closure is a continuing trauma. However, a recently established network of forensic scientists is trying to change this, through the development of new technologies and processes to aid identification efforts.
Continue reading...Matthew Booth, from Bolton, is facing further time in jail after claims he has restarted a relationship with an ex
A Bolton man who is on the run after being recalled to prison indefinitely has made a direct plea to the justice secretary to intervene in his case.
Matthew Booth, 33, is wanted by police on recall to prison for a crime he committed when he was 15 and for which he has served a sentence.
Continue reading...Admissions for vitamin or iron deficiencies up by more than 10% year on year and as much as tenfold on 1998-99
The number of people admitted to hospital in England because of a lack of vitamins or minerals is soaring, according to analysis of NHS figures.
In 2023-24 there were 191,927 admissions where the main reason was a lack of iron, up 11% on 2022-23. The figure is almost 10 times the 20,396 hospital admissions for lack of iron in 1998-99.
Continue reading...Ever growing numbers of people find themselves unable to get NHS treatment or pay for the alternative
Exclusive: patients unable to get dental care after ‘eye-watering’ rise in private fees
The inability of millions of patients to access an NHS dentist is one of the longest-running injustices in the history of the health service. The misery and the harm it causes is profound and well documented. The scandal is not new.
Going private is often the only alternative. If it means getting a checkup, a scale and polish, a filling, an extraction or if necessary a root canal, many will pay. Anything to keep your teeth in good nick.
Continue reading...Exclusive: warning that lack of NHS dentists and soaring cost of private work puts essential care out of reach for many
How soaring fees for private care are deepening England’s dentistry crisis
Private dentists are cashing in on the scarcity of NHS treatment by hiking their charges for fillings, checkups and extractions to “eye-watering” levels, research has found.
Patients are paying as much as £775 for root canal work, £435 to have a tooth out and £325 for a white filling due to fees for common dental procedures soaring since 2022.
A white filling has gone from £105 to £129 – up 23%.
An extraction has risen from £105 to £139 – 32% more.
A half-hour scale and polish is now £75, up from £65 – a 15% jump.
An initial consultation for a new patient is up 23% from £65 to £80.
Continue reading...Stretched primary services causing increase in emergency visits for issues from coughs to hiccups, health leaders say
The number of people turning to A&E departments in England for minor ailments including hiccups, sore throats and coughs is soaring, as senior health leaders warn that NHS primary and community services are “massively overstretched”.
NHS data shows a large increase in people arriving at emergency departments for non-emergency ailments including backache, insomnia and earache.
Continue reading...Newly released files show proposals to divert £2m – earmarked to prevent conflict in Africa – to fund scheme
Tony Blair’s government discussed diverting £2m earmarked to prevent conflict in Africa in order to fund a controversial pilot scheme to process and house asylum-seekers in Tanzania, newly released government files show.
Under the scheme, Britain would have offered Tanzania an extra £4m in aid if it opened an asylum camp to house people claiming to be Somalian refugees while their applications to live in Britain were assessed.
Continue reading...Damning report reveals millions in England are living in poor-quality housing that threatens their health
Ministers have been warned that efforts to save the NHS and grow the economy will fail unless they tackle the housing crisis, as a damning report reveals millions of people are living in substandard homes that risk worsening their health.
In total, 4.5 million people aged 50 or above with an existing health condition in England are living in poor-quality housing with one or more problems such as rising damp, rot or decay that may be making them even sicker, the Centre for Ageing Better analysis found. Of those, 1.7 million are aged 70 or over.
Continue reading...People warned against buying illegal weight-loss medicines through beauty salons or fake pharmacy websites
Long waits for NHS services could lead people to take matters into their own hands by buying potentially unsafe weight-loss jabs online, Britain’s top GP has said.
Prof Kamila Hawthorne, the chair of the Royal College of GPs, warned that buying drugs online from unregulated retailers could put people at risk and they may also miss out on wraparound support offered alongside the medication.
Continue reading...Kirk Marsden, 37, died after being struck by vehicle outside Gate Street Bar and Grill after reports of incident at venue
Police have arrested a third person suspected of murder after a man was fatally hit by a car outside a pub on Christmas Day.
Officers were called to reports of an incident at the Gate Street Bar and Grill in Blackburn, just before 4.50pm, after an argument in the venue.
Continue reading...Many flights at Heathrow and Gatwick cancelled or delayed on Saturday as murky conditions persist
Disruption caused by thick fog is expected to continue until Sunday at some of the UK’s busiest airports.
Flights at Stansted airport were affected by the weather conditions on Saturday, while live departure boards showed delays at Heathrow, Luton and Manchester airports.
Continue reading...Police say man in 40s died at scene in Dunstable after incident at about 4pm on Friday
A man in his 80s has been arrested after a pedestrian died following a road collision in Bedfordshire, police said.
Officers were called just before 4pm on Friday to reports of a collision between a blue Saab car and a pedestrian in West Street, Dunstable.
Continue reading...Authorities carry out series of operations off northern coast, as 451 people arrive in England on 11 boats
French maritime authorities carried out 12 rescue operations along the coast of northern France on Christmas Day, rescuing 107 people in distress from small boats trying to cross to the UK.
On Christmas morning, 30 passengers were rescued from a boat near Dunkirk, while the others onboard wished to continue their journey and were taken into British custody once they reached UK waters, said the French Channel and North Sea maritime prefect’s office.
Continue reading...Campaigners jubilant after government heeded warning 2031 cutoff would mean loss of precious footpaths
A deadline for registering historic rights of way is to be scrapped after a warning that the looming cutoff date could result in the loss of thousands of miles of footpaths.
The last government set a deadline of 2031 for all rights of way in England to be added to an official map, after abandoning a previous commitment to scrap the policy.
Continue reading...Fourth named storm of the season follows concern over lack of flooding warnings for Storm Bert last week
An amber warning for wind has been issued for large parts of the UK, with power cuts and flying debris possible amid the arrival of the fourth named storm of the season.
Storm Darragh is expected to bring gusts of up to 80mph and heavy rain late on Friday and into Saturday.
Continue reading...England maintained good maths scores and improved in science, coming ninth and fifth among 70 countries
English pupils have made a strong showing in the latest round of prestigious international tests, maintaining their scores in maths and improving in science, a subject in which they rose to fifth in the league tables.
They were among students from 70 countries who participated in the 2023 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (Timss), which takes place every four years, providing education policymakers with international comparisons.
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