Category Archives: NHS

New treatment destroys head and neck cancer tumours in trial

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Exclusive: combination of drugs causes tumours to vanish in some terminally ill patients, study finds

A new cancer treatment can wipe out tumours in terminally ill head and neck cancer patients, scientists have discovered.

In a landmark trial, a cocktail of immunotherapy medications harnessed patients’ immune systems to kill their own cancer cells and prompted “a positive trend in survival”, according to researchers at the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), London, and the Royal Marsden NHS foundation trust.

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NHS staff face rising tide of abuse from patients provoked by long waits

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Chronic underfunding, Covid and staff shortages blamed for increase in physical and verbal assaults

NHS staff across the UK are facing a “growing tide of abuse” including assaults from patients, which they say is being caused by frustration at long waits for care.

In a strongly worded joint statement, which has been shared with the Guardian, six key medical bodies and staff groups blame patients’ increasingly long delays in receiving treatment on years of successive governments underinvesting in the NHS and not fixing severe workforce shortages.

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Nursing crisis sweeps wards as NHS battles to find recruits

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Lack of EU staff adding to shortages: ‘There aren’t enough to deliver care we need’

Ministers are being warned of a mounting workforce crisis in England’s hospitals as they struggle to recruit staff for tens of thousands of nursing vacancies, with one in five nursing posts on some wards now unfilled.

Hospital leaders say the nursing shortfall has been worsened by a collapse in the numbers of recruits from Europe, including Spain and Italy.

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Coronavirus report warned of impact on UK four years before pandemic

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Exclusive: Report from planning exercise in 2016 alerted government of need to stockpile PPE and set up contact tracing system

Senior health officials who war-gamed the impact of a coronavirus hitting the UK, warned four years before the onset of Covid-19 of the need for stockpiles of PPE, a computerised contact tracing system and screening for foreign travellers, the Guardian can reveal.

The calls to step up preparations in areas already identified as shortcomings in the government’s response to Covid, emerged from a previously unpublished report of a health planning exercise in February 2016 that imagined a coronavirus outbreak.

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Fear on the ward: UK mothers threatened with social services for refusing maternity care

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Women who turn down advice from health service staff say they are being coerced with threats of referrals to agencies and police

Pregnant women and new mothers are being referred to social services by midwives for refusing to follow their advice, patient advocacy groups have warned.

Expectant parents who have declined care, including opting out of scans, refusing inductions or failing to attend antenatal appointments, are among those who have faced threats from healthcare professionals amounting to coercion, according to the Association for Improvements in the Maternity Services (Aims).

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Scottish Covid vaccine passport app hit by problems after launch

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NHS app needed to enter nightclubs, large events and for overseas travel, but users complain it does not work

Scotland’s Covid vaccine passport app is experiencing problems hours after its launch.

The app, which proves someone is fully vaccinated, is needed from Friday to enter nightclubs, large events and for overseas travel. But a number of users have complained it does not work and that the app cannot find their data.

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Flu and Covid jabs safe to be given at same time, study finds

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Clinical trial on joint flu, Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccinations reported only mild to moderate side-effects

Flu jabs are safe to give at the same time as the Pfizer or AstraZeneca Covid vaccines, according to the first clinical trial to investigate co-administering the shots in a single appointment.

While some people experienced more side-effects with certain combinations of flu and Covid shots, the ailments were mainly mild to moderate, the study found. The most common side effects included pain at the injection site and temporary fatigue, headache or muscle pain.

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Covid antibody drug Ronapreve to be given to vulnerable NHS patients

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Ronapreve, which was used to treat Donald Trump, will be ‘saving lives as early as next week’, says Sajid Javid

A drug given to the former US president Donald Trump when he had coronavirus last year is to be used to treat vulnerable NHS hospital patients.

Last month, the health secretary, Sajid Javid, heralded Ronapreve as the first treatment designed specifically for Covid-19 to receive regulatory approval in the UK.

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Asylum seeker given £100,000 hospital bill after suffering stroke

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Simba Mujakachi says government’s ‘hostile environment’ policies deterred him from taking medication

Simba Mujakachi, a personal trainer, was just 29 years old in June 2019 when he suffered a catastrophic stroke that left him comatose. When he awoke, he was paralysed on his left side and unable to talk or eat.

His stroke could have been prevented by relatively inexpensive medication for a blood clotting condition that, as an asylum seeker, he was not entitled to on the NHS.

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Winter plan: what does government’s toolkit to combat Covid include?

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Boris Johnson announces restrictions that could be used in England if NHS comes under pressure

Boris Johnson has announced the government’s “autumn and winter plan” to combat an anticipated rise in Covid infection rates over the coming months, with a toolkit of restrictions that could be introduced in England if the NHS comes under significant pressure.

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More than 8,000 people in hospital with Covid in UK

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Figure highest for almost six months leading to fears of resurgence in virus’ ability to cause serious illness

More than 8,000 people in the UK were in hospital with Covid on Wednesday – the highest figure for nearly six months – leading to fears of a resurgence in the virus’ ability to cause serious illness and death among the population.

In countries with high rates of vaccination, such as the UK, fewer people are predicted to become ill enough to require hospital treatment, even if infection rates remain high. But the latest figures show the highest number of patients on wards since 10 March.

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Coronavirus live: passports ‘needed to keep England venues open’; Vietnam says city residents must get vaccine

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England vaccines minister says passes needed for nightclubs and mass events; Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi residents must receive one dose by 15 September

The BBC reports that Scottish Labour will not support the Scottish government’s plans to introduce vaccine passports.

Anas Sarwar told BBC Scotland’s The Sunday Show:

This is not opposition for opposition’s sake. Neither is this an ideological opposition to the principle of vaccine passports. This is about what works, and what’s going to make a meaningful difference. We all agree the vaccine is working in helping reduce hospitalisations and reduce deaths but there is a fear that using vaccine passports might actually entrench vaccine hesitancy rather than encourage uptake.

US officials have expressed optimism that Covid-19 booster shot delivery can start for all adults on 20 September, the goal set by President Joe Biden, as cases continue to rage across the country fueled by the highly transmissible Delta variant.

The officials insist, however, that boosters will not be rolled out without US health agencies’ authorisation, leaving open the possibility of delays.

Related: US officials optimistic Covid booster rollout can start on 20 September

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Huge decrease in organ transplants as Covid took hold across world

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UK and international studies show the impact pandemic has had on health services and patients

The number of solid organ transplants fell dramatically around the world between 2019 and 2020, researchers have found, highlighting the widespread impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on health services and patients.

As the pandemic surged, hospitals were forced to delay potentially life-saving organ transplant surgery, because of resources such as intensive care beds being needed for Covid patients and because of concerns including whether it was safe to treat transplant recipients in hospital.

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Delta variant doubles risk of hospitalisation, new study finds

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Outbreak of Delta Covid cases likely to put strain on health services in areas with low vaccination rates, experts say

The Delta variant doubles the risk of Covid hospitalisation compared with the previously dominant Alpha variant, a new study focused largely on unvaccinated or partially vaccinated people has found.

The analysis – based on data collected in England – suggests that outbreaks of the Delta variant are likely to put an additional strain on health services, particularly in places with low rates of vaccination.

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NHS planning Covid vaccines for children from age 12, reports say

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UK health officials say no decision has been made yet as new school year in England looms

NHS England has been told to prepare to administer Covid vaccinations to all children aged 12 and above, as vaccine advisers continue to consider whether to extend the programme, according to reports.

The planned extension to the vaccination programme would coincide with the start of the new school year. NHS trusts have been told to have plans prepared by 4pm on Friday, the Daily Telegraph reported.

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New Covid variants ‘will set us back a year’, experts warn UK government

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Vaccine-beating variant is ‘realistic possibility’, say scientists, amid calls for contingency plans to be revealed

Ministers are being pressed to reveal what contingency plans are in place to deal with a future Covid variant that evades current vaccines, amid warnings from scientific advisers that such an outcome could set the battle against the pandemic back a year or more.

Recent papers produced by the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) have suggested that the arrival of a variant that evades vaccines is a “realistic possibility”. Sage backed continued work on new vaccines that reduce infection and transmission more than current jabs, the creation of more vaccine-production facilities in the UK and lab-based studies to predict evolution of variants.

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‘I don’t intend to let my son down twice’: the bereaved father trying to end suicide

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When 18-year-old Edward Mallen killed himself, his father blamed the NHS, society – and himself. He founded the Zero Suicide Alliance to try to make such deaths a thing of the past

Not long before Christmas in 2014, Steve Mallen began to worry about the eldest of his three children. Edward, who had just turned 18, was good at everything. A gifted pianist, a talented sportsman and a nurturing big brother, he had secured a place at the University of Cambridge.

Then Edward stopped playing the piano. He became withdrawn and began to eat less and lose sleep. On 22 January 2015, he went to see the family’s GP, near their home in a village outside Cambridge. He revealed that he had suicidal feelings and had begun to self-harm, something he felt too ashamed to share at home. He had no known history of mental health problems.

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Covid patients reunited with the medics who saved them

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Four people who were so ill that they barely remember their time in the ICU meet the doctors and nurses who held their hands

In a light-filled studio in east London, a petite woman in scrubs receives a bouquet of flowers from a tall man, dressed smartly, only faintly out of breath.

The room is thick with emotion. They are strangers, but stare at each other with wonder in their eyes. And then Dr Susan Jain, an intensive care consultant at Homerton university hospital, breaks the silence with a laugh.

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NHS drops from first to fourth among rich countries’ healthcare systems

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Thinktank says longer wait for treatment since Covid pandemic is main reason, in study of 11 countries

The NHS has lost its prestigious ranking as the best health system in a study of 11 rich countries by an influential US thinktank.

The UK has fallen from first to fourth in the Commonwealth Fund’s latest analysis of the performance of the healthcare systems in the nations it studied.

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Drug firm that hiked prices by 6,000% paid shareholders £400m

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Advanz Pharma and former private equity owners were fined £100m by markets watchdog

A pharmaceuticals firm that inflated thyroid drug prices by up to 6,000% over a decade paid out more than £400m to shareholders and directors during the same period.

London-based Advanz Pharma – and its former private equity owners HgCapital and Cinven – were fined a combined £100m by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) on Thursday.

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