Exclusive: union leaders say proposed changes are immoral and could threaten patient safety if there is staff exodus
Up to 50,000 nurses could quit the UK over the government’s immigration proposals, plunging the NHS into its biggest ever workforce crisis, research suggests.
Keir Starmer has vowed to curb net migration, with plans to force migrants to wait as long as 10 years to apply to settle in the UK instead of automatically gaining settled status after five years.
Continue reading...Understaffing driving workers to ill health and discouraging them for taking leave, says Royal College of Nursing CEO
Nurses across the UK are working while unwell in understaffed hospitals, with stress as the leading cause of illness, according to research.
A survey by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) of more than 20,000 nursing staff found that 66% had worked when they should have been on sick leave, up from 49% in 2017.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...Health secretary and NHS England chief warn of winter pressures and rising levels of abuse
An “ugly” racism reminiscent of the 1970s and 1980s has become worryingly commonplace again in modern Britain and NHS staff are bearing the brunt of it, Wes Streeting has warned.
Incidents of verbal and physical abuse based on people’s skin colour now happen so often that it has become “socially acceptable to be racist”, the health secretary said.
Continue reading...Older people left in their own excrement and wet beds for hours and forced to watch others die, Age UK report finds
Almost 150,000 people aged 90 and over in England are forced to wait longer than 12 hours in A&E every year, with some experiencing “truly shocking” waits of several days stuck in corridors, a report warns.
Older people are also being left in their own excrement and wet beds for hours, denied pain relief and forced to watch and hear other patients die next to them because they end up waiting so long for care, according to Age UK.
Continue reading...Shares jump on higher profits as Emma Walmsley is ‘hopeful’ standoff with NHS can be resolved
GSK’s outgoing chief executive, Emma Walmsley, has said Britain will struggle to be a “life sciences superpower” unless it overhauls drug pricing.
As ministers draw up proposals to increase the amount the NHS spends on new medicines by up to 25%, Walmsley said she was “hopeful and ambitious” that the standoff with the pharma industry could be resolved.
Continue reading...Those in need of free emergency contraception no longer have to see their GP or attend a sexual health clinic
The NHS has made the morning-after pill available for free across pharmacies in England in an effort to reduce a “postcode lottery” of access to emergency contraception.
Almost 10,000 pharmacies are now able to offer the pill without charge, saving those in need of free emergency contraception from having to visit their GP or to get an appointment at a sexual health clinic.
Continue reading...Royal College of Nursing calls on government to stop using anti-migrant rhetoric, which it says emboldens racist behaviour
The number of reports by nurses of racist incidents at work has risen by 55% over three years, according to analysis by the nursing union.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) expects to receive more than 1,000 calls this year from nurses seeking advice and support after racist incidents in the workplace, compared with almost 700 cases in 2022.
Continue reading...Key Labour pledge under threat as health service faces costs from redundancies, strikes and rising drug prices
NHS bosses are seeking an emergency injection of £3bn to cover unexpected costs and have warned ministers that without it patients will wait longer for treatment and hospitals will start rationing care.
Their move presents a fresh problem for Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, as she tries to find ways to fill an estimated £30bn hole in the nation’s finances in her budget next month.
Continue reading...Katie Mitchell had procedure at 15 after being diagnosed with Eisenmenger syndrome, a rare congenital disease
At the age of 15, medics feared Katie Mitchell was coming to the end of her life after suffering irreversible lung damage and heart failure from a rare congenital disease.
But she defied the odds thanks to a heart and lung transplant, and at the age of 53 she has become the UK’s longest-surviving recipient of such a procedure.
Continue reading...Union accuses hospital group of ‘institutional racism’ as cleaners and porters get lower pay than colleagues
Hundreds of NHS hospital workers have voted for strike action after claims that they have lost more than £36m in pay and pension contributions over the last four years.
More than 330 low-paid workers, mainly cleaners, caterers and porters, known as facilities staff, at St George’s, Epsom and St Helier hospital group (GESH) are preparing to go on strike.
Continue reading...Cherry Brown, 69, a British overseas territory citizen, was left sleeping rough after being sent to England for treatment
The UK has been accused of a “stark injustice” for failing to provide health services and humanitarian support to citizens of British overseas territories after a woman from the Caribbean island of Montserrat was refused free NHS care and left homeless.
Council officials found Cherry Brown, 69, sleeping rough in a park in Swanley, Kent, in April. Brown had been funded by the Montserratian government – whose budget is largely subsidised by the UK – to travel to England to receive treatment from the NHS that was not available at home.
Continue reading...Prime minister will focus on economic growth as an ‘antidote to division’ in address that will seek to strike a more combative, hopeful tone
Wes Streeting, the health secretary, has said that Tony Blair could play a positive role in Gaza helping to lead the administration there proposed under Donald Trump’s peace plan.
In an interview on LBC, Streeting said that Blair’s decision to involve the UK in the Iraq war was “a catastrophic error” that had “devasting consequences”. He said that he personally opposed it at the time.
I also think about Tony Blair’s other legacy, great legacy, which is Northern Ireland, and there he showed that he could bring together sworn enemies to broker a lasting peace.
So if Tony Blair can put those skills to use, if he’s got the confidence of both the Israelis, the Palestinians, and the regional players, as seems to be the case, then great. If he can make that contribution, and that can be another legacy, a positive legacy under his belt, then so much the better.
Continue reading...Surgical procedure to treat devastating illness slowed progress of disease by 75% in patients after three years
Huntington’s disease, a devastating degenerative illness that runs in families, has been treated successfully for the first time in a breakthrough gene therapy trial.
The disease, caused by a single gene defect, steadily kills brain cells leading to dementia, paralysis and ultimately death. Those with a parent with Huntington’s have a 50% chance of developing the disease, which until now has been incurable.
Continue reading...Commons committee finds women’s concerns not taken seriously due to bias, stereotyping and racist assumptions
Black women in England are still facing poorer outcomes in their maternity care due to systemic racism, alongside failures in leadership and data collection, according to a group of MPs.
Across the UK, black women are more than twice as likely to die in childbirth compared with their white counterparts, while babies born to black mothers are at an increased risk of stillbirth.
Continue reading...Care and support package, including housing, will help 30-50 young Palestinians for an initial two years
The first group of children from Gaza have arrived in the UK for specialist life-saving treatment on the NHS, the Guardian understands.
Yvette Cooper, the foreign secretary, informed the parliamentary Labour party on Monday evening about the development. On arrival in the UK, the patients and their families have been granted access to NHS treatment, appropriate housing and comprehensive support services for an initial two-year period.
Continue reading...Medical tribunal rules ‘very low risk’ of Suhail Anjum, who had been dismissed by hospital in Greater Manchester, repeating behaviour
A doctor who left a patient midway through an operation to have sex with a nurse is at “very low risk” of repeating his serious misconduct, a medical tribunal has ruled.
Dr Suhail Anjum, 44, and the unnamed nurse were caught in a “compromising position” by a colleague who walked in on the pair at Tameside hospital. The consultant anaesthetist had asked another nursing colleague to monitor the male patient, who was under general anaesthetic, so he could go to the bathroom.
Continue reading...As House of Lords prepares to debate bill, Hospice UK says sector needs adequate funding for end-of-life care
Hospices are “on the brink” and two in five are making cuts this year despite the importance of end-of-life care if assisted dying becomes legal, the sector has warned before the first House of Lords debate on the legislation.
Hospice UK, which represents the sector, said many were financially struggling and still “in the dark” about how funding for end-of-life care will be improved when assisted dying legislation is passed.
Continue reading...Jamie Pearson killed himself in toilet at Blackpool Victoria hospital after being admitted over painkiller overdose
The death of a 27-year-old man who killed himself in a hospital toilet after waiting 22 hours to be seen by the mental health team was “contributed to by neglect”, a coroner has ruled.
Jamie Pearson was admitted to Blackpool Victoria hospital’s A&E department after taking an overdose of high-strength painkillers on 17 August 2024.
Continue reading...Caesareans drive rise in assisted deliveries as experts warn of complex pregnancies linked to age, obesity and other conditions
More than half of women having a baby in Britain now do so with the help of medical intervention, an audit of NHS maternity care has revealed.
Of the 592,594 births that took place in 2023, 50.6% involved either a caesarean section or the use of instruments such as forceps or a ventouse suction cup.
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