Category Archives: England

UK patients unable to get dental care after ‘eye-watering’ rise in private fees

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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.

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Big rise in people going to A&E in England for minor ailments, data shows

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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.

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Labour government discussed Tanzania asylum camp plan in 2004, files show

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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.

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UK ministers warned housing crisis puts plans for NHS and economy at risk

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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.

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NHS delays may drive patients to buy unsafe weight-loss drugs, says top GP

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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.

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Third person arrested after man fatally hit by car in Blackburn on Christmas Day

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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.

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Thick fog expected to continue causing disruption at UK airports on Sunday

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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.

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Driver in 80s arrested after pedestrian dies following collision in Bedfordshire

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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.

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France rescues 107 people trying to cross to UK on Christmas Day

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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.

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Defra scraps England deadline to register thousands of miles of rights of way

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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.

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UK weather: Storm Darragh to bring 80mph gusts as amber wind warning issued

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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.

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English pupils do better than expected in international maths and science tests

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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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Police seek dog owner after fatal attack on young deer in royal park

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Footage released of spaniel chasing deer in ‘deeply distressing’ incident in Richmond Park

Police are looking for the owner of a pet dog that is believed to have chased and killed a deer in Richmond Park in south-west London.

Video footage of what appeared to be a Spaniel relentlessly chasing a deer was released by the Royal Parks Police following the incident on Monday at about 12.30pm near to Sheen Cross.

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Water firms push for higher shareholder returns as Ofwat considers bills increase

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Companies say higher returns are needed to ensure record infrastructure investment across industry is delivered

Water companies want to see higher returns for shareholders to ensure record investment into sewage infrastructure, pipes and treatment plants is delivered.

As Ofwat, the water regulator for England and Wales, prepares to announce its decision on how much customer bills will be allowed to rise by to fund tens of billions of pounds in investment across the industry, water companies said higher returns were needed.

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Michelin-starred chef pleads with thieves to return £25,000 worth of stolen pies

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Tommy Banks urges those who stole van packed with 2,500 pies to ‘do the right thing’ so food can go to people in need

A Michelin-starred chef has appealed to thieves who stole his van which had 2,500 pies inside to “do the right thing” and give them to people in need.

Tommy Banks, who owns two restaurants and a pub in North Yorkshire, announced on Instagram that his van carrying £25,000 worth of stock had been taken. The refrigerated vehicle was due to make a delivery to the chef’s pop-up pie stall at York Christmas Market, but staff found it had disappeared from Barker business park in Melmerby, near Ripon, on Monday morning.

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NHS bosses reportedly worried about Starmer’s pledge to cut waiting lists

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PM expected to set target to carry out 92% of routine operations and appointments within 18 weeks

NHS bosses are said to be privately concerned about Keir Starmer’s ambitious targets to cut waiting lists for routine operations, set to be announced later this week, which will also include specific targets on living standards and housebuilding.

The prime minister is expected on Thursday to set a target for 92% of routine operations and appointments to be carried out within 18 weeks, one that has not been achieved in almost a decade, the Times has reported.

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‘We live on Pot Noodles’: rickets hits homeless families with no kitchen

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Families placed in hotels in England are being forced to live on snack foods, putting young people’s health at risk

Homeless children placed in hotels are developing rickets and other diet-related health problems because their parents lack anywhere to cook.

The Magpie Project, which works with homeless mothers in the east London borough of Newham, where more households are living in temporary accommodation than anywhere in the country, said families living in hotels were eating an unhealthy diet of takeaways and snack foods because they had no cooking facilities or anywhere to store fresh produce.

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MPs across divide call for better palliative care after assisted dying vote

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Layla Moran and Diane Abbott say end-of-life care needs more funding after bill passed for England and Wales

MPs on both sides of the debate over assisted dying have called for improvements to palliative care, regardless of whether parliament eventually enacts legalisation.

Layla Moran, who supported the bill at its second reading on Friday, and Diane Abbott, who did not, agreed that more funding was required to improve end-of-life care during a joint-interview on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

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MPs back landmark bill to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales

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Terminally ill adults with less than six months to live will be given right to die under proposed legislation

MPs have taken a historic step toward legalising assisted dying in England and Wales by backing a bill that would give some terminally ill people the right to end their own lives.

Campaigners in favour of the terminally ill adults (end of life) bill said it was a significant move towards giving people more choice over the way they die, after the Commons backed the bill by 330 votes for to 275 against.

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Girl, two, who drowned in bin in London was failed by council, coroner finds

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Social workers declined to provide short-term foster care for Mazeedat Adeoye whose mother had overstayed visa

A two-year-old girl who drowned in a bin containing 9cm of water in a back garden in east London was a victim of “gross failures” largely by social workers, a coroner has concluded at an inquest.

At the time of her death, Mazeedat Adeoye was being cared for in Dagenham by an acquaintance of her mother, Balikis Adeoye, who had to stay in hospital with Mazeedat’s baby brother when he required urgent heart surgery.

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