Category Archives: NHS

Infected blood victims and families urge UK government to drop defence

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Exclusive: Claimants say government can no longer defend treatment disaster in light of inquiry’s damning interim report

More than 500 people taking the government to court over the contaminated blood scandal are urging it to concede the case in light of evidence heard by a public inquiry and an interim report produced by its chair.

The claim, which began in 2017 but was stayed pending the inquiry into what has been described as the biggest treatment disaster in the history of the NHS, alleges the Department of Health – now the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) – breached a duty to take reasonable care to prevent personal injury or loss, amounting to misfeasance in public office.

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Nurses’ leader blasts Steve Barclay over ‘disgraceful’ use of legal action to stop strike

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Pat Cullen attacks health secretary’s attempt to prevent 48-hour action in England as ‘frightening for democracy’

The leader of the Royal College of Nursing has said a legal attempt by the health secretary to block next weekend’s strike in England is “frightening for democracy and very frightening for trade unionism”.

Pat Cullen, general secretary of the RCN, said it was “disgraceful” that Steve Barclay was attempting to thwart the strike via the courts, and said nurses would “not be bullied into silence”.

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RCN head accuses Barclay of issuing ‘blatant threat’ with legal action over strikes

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Pat Cullen said health secretary’s attempt to block 48-hour nurses’ strike was ‘cruel’ and ‘unacceptable’

The health secretary’s legal challenge against the Royal College of Nursing’s forthcoming strike is a “blatant threat”, the union’s leader has said.

Steve Barclay’s decision to refer to the courts, revealed on Friday, is the latest twist in the long-running saga over pay between nurses and the government.

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Dominic Raab bullying claims: deputy PM refusing to resign after reading report – as it happened

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Dominic Raab denies wrongdoing after report on his behaviour delivered to Rishi Sunak this morning

Today’s announcement by the Association of School and College Leaders that it is to hold a formal ballot for national strike action for the first time in its history (see 9.49am) marks a significant development in the ongoing dispute between teachers and the government.

Up until now only members of the National Education Union (NEU) have taken strike action in England, with five more days of strikes planned for later this term. In addition a fresh ballot is to be held to provide the NEU with a mandate for further strike action up until Christmas.

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Colin Beattie ‘steps back’ as SNP treasurer following arrest amid party finance investigation – as it happened

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PMQs is starting in five minutes.

The Cabinet Office has just published the revised list of ministers’ interests. This is the document that is supposed get updated every six months, but which has not been updated for around a year – partly because it’s the job of the No 10 independent adviser on ministes’ interests (aka, the ethics adviser), and for months the post was empty because two of Boris Johnson’s resigned, and then he gave up trying to find a replacement.

The prime minister’s wife is a venture capital investor. She owns a venture capital investment company, Catamaran Ventures UK Limited, and a number of direct shareholdings.

As the prime minister set out in his letter to the chair of the liaison committee on 4 April 2023, this includes the minority shareholding that his wife has in relation to the company, Koru Kids. The guide to the categories of interest (section 7, pages 4-6) sets out the independent adviser’s approach to the inclusion of interests declared in relation to spouses, partners and close family members within the list. The prime minister’s letter of 4 April is available at https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/38992/documents/191876/default/

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Keir Starmer says NHS is ‘broken’ and in jeopardy under Tories

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Research by Labour shows 4.5 million in England went to A&E last year due to lack of GP appointments

Keir Starmer has said the NHS is “broken” and he believes the future of the health service is in jeopardy under the Conservatives.

The Labour leader accused the Tories of presiding over a “cycle of decline” as new research by his party shows that nearly a fifth of patients in England, which equates to 4.5 million people, went to A&E last year because they were unable to get a GP appointment.

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Sickness drags down UK economy as job vacancies go unfilled

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Rishi Sunak wants growth, but ONS figures show rising levels of inactivity because of ill-health

Unwelcome though it is for a government facing strikes by doctors and nurses in the months ahead, the message from the latest labour market figures is clear: Britain is already the sick man of Europe.

More than 2.5 million people who are economically inactive cite long-term sickness as the reason why they are not looking for a job – and the number is rising sharply.

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‘Buckling’ NHS fails to treat 250,000 children with mental health problems

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Exclusive: child mental health crisis deepens with one-third of all referrals denied help

A quarter of a million children in the UK with mental health problems have been denied help by the NHS as it struggles to manage surging case loads against a backdrop of a crisis in child mental health.

Some NHS trusts are failing to offer treatment to 60% of those referred by GPs, the research based on freedom of information request responses has found.

In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org. You can contact the mental health charity Mind by calling 0300 123 3393 or visiting mind.org.uk. YoungMinds is at youngminds.org.uk.

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Rishi Sunak appears ready to try to tough out further wave of NHS strikes

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High-risk tactic increases likelihood of combined stoppages by nurses and junior doctors in England

Rishi Sunak appears set on trying to face down unions in a high-risk strategy to tough out a renewed wave of NHS strikes in England that health service leaders warned were unsustainable and could put patient safety at risk.

With the prime minister and his health secretary, Steve Barclay, seemingly offering no fresh concessions for nurses or junior doctors, they risk the possibility of combined strike action, a scenario one NHS leader said would put the health service “into uncharted territory”.

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Local election voters may punish Tories as NHS strikes drag on

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Chair says party could lose 1,000 English seats on 4 May, despite voters finding Rishi Sunak more palatable than his predecessors

Even by the standards of political expectations management, Greg Hands’ message in his Sunday morning interviews was stark: the Conservative party, which he chairs, should expect to lose more than 1,000 councillors in next month’s local elections.

When party bigwigs make such predictions they usually do so against a context of significant wins the last time the seats were contested. But in May 2019, Theresa May was weeks away from announcing her departure, and the Tories lost more than 1,300 seats.

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NHS crisis deepens as nursing union plans ‘mega strike’ in England

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Doctors could join coordinated strike as Royal College of Nurses announce national ballot on mass action

England’s biggest nursing union is to ballot its members on whether to join a “make or break” mega-strike that would lead to mass action by nurses in every hospital trust in the country, the Observer can reveal.

The move by the Royal College of Nursing to “up the ante” by holding a single national vote – rather than conducting ballots in each individual trust as it did last October – would, if passed, mean twice as many trusts being hit by industrial action by nurses as have been so far.

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Further England nurses’ strikes present ‘severe challenge’ to NHS

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NHS leader says threat of joint strike with junior doctors could pose hardest challenge yet

A 48-hour nurses’ strike in England in May will present “severe challenges”, and the threat of coordinated industrial action with junior doctors could pose the “most difficult challenge” to date, an NHS boss has said.

Speaking after a four-day junior doctors’ strike ended at 7am on Saturday, Sir Julian Hartley, the chief executive of NHS Providers, said fresh strike action announced by the Royal College of Nursing from 30 April until 2 May, and the possibility of stoppages continuing into next winter, was “extremely worrying and concerning”.

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Nurses will strike again in England after voting to reject government pay deal

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RCN members refuse offer recommended by union leaders by 54% to 46% in ballot

Nurses are to launch fresh strike action across England later this month after rejecting the government’s pay offer, sparking fears stoppages could go on until Christmas.

In a major blow to ministers, union leaders and health service bosses, members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) voted narrowly, by 54% to 46%, on a turnout of 61%, to reject the government’s offer of a 5% pay rise this year and a cash payment for last year.

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Royal College of Nursing rejects government pay offer and announces new strike – as it happened

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Nurses in England are preparing to go on strike until Christmas after members of the country’s biggest nursing union voted against the government’s pay deal, the Guardian has learned.

The Royal College of Nursing will announce that members have rejected the government’s offer and will at the same time announce a new ballot for more aggressive strikes likely to last for the next six months.

The vote has closed and the figures are being verified. There is no result until that point. We will make an announcement later today and tell our members first.

Members of the GMB union at the company’s Coventry fulfilment centre will walk out on Sunday for three days.

Further strikes are planned from April 21 to 23.

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Why NHS in England appears destined for months of further strikes

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Rejection of pay deal underlines nurses’ fury at state of health service as RCN’s handling of dispute is questioned

Friday’s announcement by the Royal College of Nursing that its members had rejected the pay offer on the table for NHS workers dashed any remaining hopes in Downing Street of drawing a neat line under months of debilitating strike action across the public sector.

As nurses kicked off the first strike action in the RCN’s history before Christmas, the union was demanding a pay rise of 19%. In January, its general secretary, Pat Cullen, urged the health secretary, Steve Barclay, to “meet me halfway here”, and conceded that 10% might be acceptable.

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New nurses’ strikes likely in England if RCN members reject pay offer

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Union to announce result of vote on Friday after its leaders recommended that ministers’ offer be accepted

Nurses in England will go back on strike this month if RCN members reject ministers’ latest pay offer, with officials saying the result of the three-week ballot is too close to call.

The Royal College of Nursing will announce the results of its vote on Friday after a lengthy consultation period in which many members have opposed the recommendation of union leaders to accept the government’s proposed deal.

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Joe Biden due to address Irish parliament after saying US relationship with Ireland getting ‘stronger and stronger’ – politics live

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US president praises emerging relationship with Ireland to taoiseach Leo Varadkar

Chris Philp, the policing minister, has published an article in the Telegraph today explaining the changes being introduced to the way that police record crimes in England and Wales. The changes are being introduced following recommendations from the National Police Chiefs’ Council.

Philp says:

Firstly, we are dropping the requirement for police to record some crimes twice or more, reintroducing the previous “principal offence” rule. This will remove multiple entries on the database which effectively re-record the same incident many times.

Accurate crime recording is vital, and these changes will better reflect victims’ experience. Recording crime does not equate to investigating crime and the police will continue to pursue all offences involved in the incident.

Accurate records of crime must be kept, and crimes will be recorded. These changes to the crime-recording rules will enable police to target and focus investigations and provide victims the service they deserve.

Ambulance response times for all types of emergencies have got longer, including for life-threatening illnesses and injuries, but remain below record levels.

Meanwhile around one in 10 people arriving at major A&E departments are having to wait more than 12 hours before being admitted, transferred or discharged – the first time data of this kind has been published.

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Medical crowdfunders for Britons surge amid record NHS waiting lists

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Appeals to pay for private care linked to waiting lists or cost of living crisis have soared since Covid pandemic

The number of Britons crowdfunding for private medical care has soared since the Covid-19 pandemic, as NHS waiting lists continue to reach record lengths.

Figures provided to the Guardian by GoFundMe, a website that helps people raise money, show 84% more medical crowdfunders mentioning “waits” or “waiting lists” were launched this March than in January 2019, before the pandemic.

The number of medical campaigns containing the words “go private” or “privately” had also doubled.

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A&E staff in England struggling to spot abuse cases in infants, says watchdog

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HSIB report identifies several barriers to child safeguarding in hospital emergency departments

Staff in hospital emergency departments in England are struggling to spot when infants are being physically abused by their parents, raising the risk of further harm, an investigation has found.

Clinicians often do not know what to do if they are concerned that a child’s injuries are not accidental because there is no guidance, according to a report from the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) that identifies several barriers to child safeguarding in emergency departments.

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Junior doctors’ union asks Acas to help end strikes deadlock

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Conciliation service urged to look for ways to end logjam with government over demand for 35% pay rise

The junior doctors’ union has asked the conciliation service Acas to look into ways of breaking the deadlock in their dispute with the government over their claim for a 35% pay rise.

Tens of thousands of junior doctors in England are on the second day of a four-day strike in pursuit of their campaign to achieve “full pay restoration” after a significant loss of earnings since 2008-09. It is expected that up to 350,000 appointments and operations could be cancelled as a result.

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