Category Archives: England

Streeting’s hospital league table plan riles NHS medics and bosses

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Health secretary says controversial scheme for trusts in England is necessary to raise standards

Wes Streeting plans to publish a football-style league table of the best- and worst-performing hospitals in England, prompting fury from NHS bosses and staff at the prospect of struggling trusts being “named and shamed”.

The health secretary will announce the controversial move on Wednesday to an audience of health service leaders and defend it as a “tough” but necessary way of raising care standards.

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Nurses quitting profession early puts health reforms in England at risk, says union

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Numbers leaving within 10 years of registering rose by 43% between 2021 to 2024, finds Royal College of Nursing

Increasing numbers of UK-trained nurses are set to leave the profession in England within a decade of registering, in a trend that could jeopardise the government’s overhaul of healthcare, according to a union.

More than 11,000 will have quit the register within their first 10 years on it, according to analysis by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) of the latest official figures.

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Breathing issues cause more emergency NHS admissions than any other condition

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Figures for England show one in eight of all unplanned hospital admissions in 2023-24 were for respiratory system diseases

Serious breathing problems lead to more emergency admissions to hospital in England than any other medical condition, NHS data reveals.

More people with asthma, bronchitis or emphysema have to go into hospital for treatment because they are struggling to breathe than those with heart disease, joint problems or cancer.

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Sara Sharif’s ‘evil’ stepmother tied her up with packing tape, father tells court

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Urfan Sharif says he came home from work to find 10-year-old bound near radiator weeks before her death

The father of Sara Sharif has told a court he caught his “evil” wife red-handed after she tied his “terrified” daughter’s hands behind her back with packing tape just weeks before Sara was killed.

Urfan Sharif said he “shouted and screamed” when he came home from work early to find Sara, 10, bound by the living room radiator.

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Lancashire memorial to first world war hero given Grade II-listed status

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Stone memorial at church in Withnell tells story of Pte James Miller who was killed at Battle of Somme in 1916

A granite stone cross in the boundary wall of an otherwise ordinary English churchyard has been given listed status because of the “extraordinary” story it reveals of first world war heroism.

Most war memorials are dedicated to numbers of people, but the memorial at St Paul’s church in Withnell, Lancashire, is dedicated to just one.

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XL bully dog put down after fatal attack on North Yorkshire girl, 10

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Savannah Bentham, from the Malton area, killed by family pet in attack police said was out of character

An XL bully dog has been put down after fatally attacking a 10-year-old girl in North Yorkshire last week.

Savannah Bentham, from the Malton area, was fatally attacked by her family’s pet dog at home on Friday. On Tuesday, the dog was identified as an XL bully and was euthanised by a vet, North Yorkshire police said.

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Two more UK mpox cases found in household contacts of first case

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Total of three cases of Clade Ib strain now detected in UK but health security agency says risk to population still low

Two more UK cases of a strain of mpox that is thought to spread more easily have been detected in household contacts of the first case, the Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has said.

This brings the total number of confirmed cases of the Clade Ib mpox strain in the country to three.

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British couple missing after Valencia floods found dead in their car

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Daughter confirms death of Don and Terry Turner, aged in their seventies, in eastern Spain

A British couple missing in Valencia after floods hit the region have been found dead in their car, their daughter has told the BBC.

Don Turner, 78, and his wife Terry, 74, had not been seen since torrential downpours caused flash floods in eastern Spain.

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Boy, 14, charged with attempted murder after stabbing of girl, 13, near Hull

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Young victim found beside A63 in Hessle early Friday morning with lacerations to neck, stomach, chest and back

A 14-year-old boy has been charged with attempted murder after a 13-year-old girl was stabbed in the neck, stomach, chest and back near Hull on Friday morning.

The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has also been charged with possession of a bladed article.

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Devon cliff collapse leaves Sidmouth cottage teetering by 400ft drop

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Council closes coastal path and warns beachgoers to stay clear after landslip at Jacob’s Ladder Beach

The views from the old thatched cottage perched on top of Sidmouth cliffs in Devon have always been spectacular.

Now, though, they are downright terrifying after part of the 185m-year-old sandstone cliff collapsed, leaving the period property teetering on the edge of a 400ft drop.

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‘You have to disguise your human form’: how sea eagles are being returned to Severn estuary after 150 years

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Use of bird hand-puppets to rear young among innovative methods unveiled as part of project to restore species

Sea eagles were last seen soaring over the shimmering mud flats and brackish tidal waters of the Severn estuary more than 150 years ago. Now wildlife charities have unveiled innovative plans to bring the raptor back to the estuary, which flows into the Bristol Channel between south-west England and south Wales, by 2026.

“Sea eagles used to be common in these regions. But they were wiped out through human persecution,” says Sophie-lee Williams, the founder of Eagle Reintroduction Wales, which is leading the project. “We strongly believe we have a moral duty to restore this lost native species to these landscapes.”

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Crown court backlog in England and Wales ‘could hit 100,000 without radical overhaul’

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Chief inspector raises prospect of judge-only trials and greater use of magistrates to reduce prosecutors’ caseloads

The backlog of cases in crown courts in England and Wales could hit 100,000 unless radical action is taken to overhaul the criminal justice system, a watchdog has said.

Anthony Rogers, the chief inspector of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and Serious Fraud Office (SFO), said prosecutors’ caseloads were already beyond what had been seen before and he feared the situation could deteriorate.

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More than meatballs: Ikea opens its first UK standalone restaurant in London

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Diners hail ‘great price’ of dishes at Swedish furniture chain’s food outlet next door to its Hammersmith store

Its meatballs are as famous as its flatpack furniture, with a meal in one of its restaurants often the highlight of an Ikea trip.

Now shoppers can enjoy an Ikea meal without lugging around their kitchen sink – literally – as the furniture company has opened its first standalone restaurant on the UK high street in King Street in Hammersmith. Located next door to its west London city store, the space seats 75 people and serves a range of Swedish dishes.

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Sara Sharif’s father ‘hit her like crazy’ and made her do sit-ups all night, court hears

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Stepmother’s WhatsApp messages read out at Old Bailey in trial over death of 10-year-old in Surrey last year

The father of Sara Sharif forced his daughter to do sit-ups all night because she hid his keys, a court has heard.

Urfan Sharif was also said to have made the schoolgirl put her hands in the air after beating her so badly her stepmother, Beinash Batool, feared he would break her arms and legs.

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Mike Amesbury urged to resign as MP after ‘bridge row’ altercation

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Witness reportedly says Runcorn and Helsby MP and second man were arguing about temporary bridge closure

The Labour MP who punched a constituent in the early hours of Saturday morning has been urged to resign, as it was reported that the pair rowed over the closure of a local bridge.

Mike Amesbury was suspended from the party over the weekend and has had the whip withdrawn after videos emerged of the altercation in Frodsham, in his constituency in Cheshire.

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Police viewed sensitive files on Sarah Everard out of ‘curiosity’, panel hears

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Seven Met officers accused of accessing X-rays and witness information after Wayne Couzens was arrested

Police viewed confidential information about the kidnap and murder of Sarah Everard such as her X-rays out of “curiosity”, a disciplinary hearing heard.

Seven Metropolitan police officers were accused of looking at sensitive information relating to the case after the arrest of the firearms officer Wayne Couzens, the Times reported.

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Labour suspends MP Mike Amesbury after video appears to show him punching man

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Footage appears to show MP for Runcorn and Helsby knocking man to ground before aiming six more blows at his head

Labour has suspended the whip from the MP Mike Amesbury after footage appeared to show him punching a man to the ground, the party said.

A video published by the Mail appeared to show Amesbury, the MP for Runcorn and Helsby, hitting the man in the face and knocking him to the floor, before standing over him and aiming six more blows at his head.

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Change drug policy or risk more poisoning deaths, UK government warned

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Experts call for consumption rooms and wider testing of substances, as number of people dying hits new high

Experts in drug addiction have warned the government must take a different approach towards illegal substance use, or risk an increasing number of deaths from drug poisonings.

Data published by the Office for National Statistics last week showed that the number of people dying as a result of drug poisoning had reached the highest level on record.

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Which disease-modifying Alzheimer’s drugs are the most promising?

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Many drugs in development aim to delay, slow or reverse symptoms, but which are causing the biggest stir?

This week England’s health spending watchdog rejected a new Alzheimer’s drug – the second such drug it has turned down this year.

Both donanemab and lecanemab were approved by the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), yet the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) said their benefits were too small to justify their costs, while there have also been concerns over potential side-effects – such as brain swelling and bleeding.

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12 ebike fire survivors sue London landlords and battery manufacturer

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Legal action after fire that killed man at overcrowded flat in Shadwell thought to be the first of its kind involving ebikes

Twelve survivors of an ebike battery fire that killed a man have launched legal action against their landlords and the battery’s manufacturer.

The 12 managed to escape in the early hours of 5 March 2023, after an overcrowded flat they were living in – in Maddocks House in Shadwell, east London – caught fire due to an explosion found by a coroner to have been caused by a faulty ebike battery. Mizanur Rahman, a 41-year-old father-of-two, died in the fire.

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