Nhs

Health secretary’s ‘power grab’ to override Nice comes amid growing concern move may be illegal and benefit big pharmaDozens of MPs are opposing Wes Streeting’s decision to award himself power to dictate what the NHS pays for drugs amid growing concern the move may be illegal.Thirty-one MPs have signed a House of Commons motion voicing their disapproval of the health secretary being handed the power to override the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (Nice) judgment on how much the NHS should spend on individual medicines. Continue reading...

NHS chiefs fear rising costs and healthcare shortages due to the shipping standstill in the GulfThe war in Iran has put the NHS on high alert amid fears about looming shortages and rising costs for medicines and medical products such as syringes, intravenous bags and gloves.Much of modern healthcare is dependent on the petrochemicals now held up by the Gulf shipping standstill – whether for active pharmaceutical ingredients or to produce the millions of sterile single-use items, ranging from personal protective equipment (PPE) to catheters and diagnostic-device casings. Continue reading...

Seven-day-old Poppy Hope Lomas died after complications during home birth encouraged by midwives at Barnet hospitalA mother who lost her baby a week after an “unsafe” home birth that went against medical advice was failed by the NHS, an inquest has found.Poppy Hope Lomas was seven days old when she died at University College hospital in London on 26 October 2022 after complications during a home birth that, according to her mother, was encouraged by midwives at Barnet hospital. Continue reading...

The spytech company and founder Peter Thiel should ‘have their hands ripped off our NHS’, say MPs during impassioned Westminster debateMPs have queued up to demand the government scraps its £330m NHS contract with the spytech company Palantir, calling it “dreadful” and “shameful” in a debate on Thursday, after which the government said it was “no fan” of the US company’s politics.Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs led the calls for Palantir, which also works for Donald Trump’s ICE immigration crackdown and the Israeli military, to be removed as a supplier to the NHS federated data platform (FDP), with one Labour backbencher, Samantha Niblett, questioning whether it could be “trusted as a custodian of the intimate health records of tens of millions of British citizens”. Continue reading...

Transfer of medical services from hospital to former Wilko store is improving healthcare access and boosting footfallIt is a revolution that might just save the NHS – and the high street. Imagine being able to have your eyes tested, mole examined or get an appointment with a consultant without going to your local hospital – and maybe fit in some shopping or a cinema visit afterwards.That, increasingly, is what people in Barnsley are doing after an unprecedented relocation of medical services from the district general hospital into a purpose-built outpatients centre in the Alhambra shopping centre, which is getting a new lease of life thanks to the experiment. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Pre-chemotherapy tests previously did not look for gene variant that put some ethnicities at higher risk of serious side effectsThousands of cancer patients from minority ethnic backgrounds will have access to “groundbreaking” genetic testing on the NHS that previously discriminated against them.This routine form of genetic testing, used before chemotherapy treatment, could save the lives of Black and minority ethnic cancer patients who already face poorer health outcomes after diagnosis compared with their white counterparts. Continue reading...

PhenMap tool could spare thousands of patients from treatment that would be ineffective for themA new AI-driven way of identifying how patients with advanced bowel cancer will respond to a drug that was recently introduced by the NHS has been announced.Researchers at London’s Institute of Cancer Research and the RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences in Dublin have developed the method with the goal of sparing potentially thousands of patients from being given drugs that would be ineffective in fighting their cancers. Continue reading...

Exclusive: MPs say profit-making levels in England are ‘scandalous’ and call for cap on amount private companies can make from NHSPrivate firms providing services to the NHS including healthcare and consultancy have made £1.6bn in profits over the last two years, research reveals.The findings – on the basis of contracts worth £12bn – have prompted claims of “scandalous” profiteering, concern that the health service is being “taken for a ride” and calls for ministers to impose a cap on maximum profit levels.£2bn of the £12bn of contracts went to firms with owners based outside the UK.£533m of that £2bn went to companies owned by people living in tax havens such as Jersey and the Cayman Islands.Firms, especially those owned by private equity outfits, used £353m of their £12bn NHS income to pay interest on debts. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Health secretary warns of dangers of protest vote as he pitches NHS as key battleground in May electionsVoters in May’s local and devolved elections risk putting the NHS in jeopardy if they vote for populist parties, Wes Streeting has said, as he sought to make the health service a key battleground.“The founding principles of the NHS are at greater threat than at any time since the NHS was founded in 1948,” the health secretary said. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Sources believe AI tech company’s engineers have been granted access to directory of up to 1.5m staff UK politics live – latest updatesHealth service staff have expressed alarm that engineers working for controversial tech company Palantir have been given NHS email accounts.Employees using NHS.net email accounts have access to a directory with the contact details of up 1.5 million staff. Sources believe Palantir staff were granted the same access. Continue reading...

Sir Jim Mackey said hospitals were struggling to fill rotas because six-day walkout was scheduled over holidayThe latest strike by resident doctors in England has been “deliberately timed to cause havoc” by coinciding with hospital staff’s Easter holidays, the head of the NHS has claimed.Hospitals have struggled to find enough doctors to replace those who have refused to work during the six-day walkout, Sir Jim Mackey, the chief executive of NHS England, said. Continue reading...

More than half of NHS trusts have cap on availability of products, forcing patients to pay for products themselvesMillions of people across the UK living with incontinence are facing shortages of sanitary products due to supplies being rationed by NHS trusts, according to a coalition of charities.The shortages are leading to a “pad gap” where people are having to pay for incontinence products themselves, according to an open letter from organisations including the Royal College of Nursing, Prostate Cancer UK, and Bowel and Bladder UK. Continue reading...

People encouraged to ‘come forward as normal’ when BMA members begin industrial action over pay on TuesdayThe NHS is urging patients not to put off seeking the care they need when resident doctors press ahead with strike action from Tuesday, a stoppage that the health secretary has called “disappointing”.Tens of thousands of resident doctors in England are to stage a six-day strike after the government took a key part of its offer off the table. Continue reading...

People receive rehab only three to four days a week in hospital – and one to two days once they are discharged, data suggestsThe NHS is failing stroke patients and limiting their chances of recovery because of a shortage of rehabilitation care staff, health leaders have said.More people are surviving strokes than ever before in the UK. But their hopes of getting better are being dashed because of a lack of physiotherapists and other specialist staff, according to the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy and the Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Neurology. Continue reading...

‘Partnership’ on drug pricing also gives patients in Britain greater access to potentially life-extending treatments British drug exports to the United States will escape tariffs imposed by Donald Trump as part of a controversial UK-US medicines deal that critics fear will mean less money for the NHS.The deal will also give patients in Britain greater access to potentially life-extending drugs because the rules have been relaxed to allow the NHS to pay more for particular treatments. Continue reading...

Head of committee says it was appropriate for government to seek guidance on way out of £330m deal with US data companyClaims by Palantir that concerns over the US data analytics company’s multimillion-pound NHS contract are “ideologically motivated” have been rejected by the chair of a parliamentary committee.It was also appropriate for the government to seek guidance on activating a break contract in the deal, said Chi Onwurah, a Labour MP who heads the science, innovation and technology select committee. Continue reading...

Jim Mackey tells LBC phone-in he is ‘really worried’ about supply issues amid US-Iran warMiddle East crisis – live updatesThe head of the NHS in England has said he is “really worried” about medicine supply issues.A number of experts have raised concerns about cost implications and supply disruption linked to the war in Iran. Continue reading...

Louis Mosley says government should resist calls to trigger break clause in £330m deal with US analytics companyUK politics live – latest updatesPalantir’s UK boss has urged the government not to give in to “ideologically motivated campaigners” as government ministers explore a way out of a £330m NHS contract with the tech company.Ministers have sought advice on triggering a break clause in Palantir’s deal to deliver the Federated Data Platform (FDP), amid questions over the company’s presence in the public sector. Continue reading...

US firm Eli Lilly, which is also pushing for end to rebate scheme, optimistic about talks with ministersThe US pharmaceutical group behind the Mounjaro weight-loss drug has said it will unpause its UK investments if ministers agree to regularly increase NHS drug prices and end a rebate scheme.Patrik Jonsson, the president of Eli Lilly’s international business, said the company was in talks with UK ministers and that he was optimistic about reaching an agreement this summer for Britain to pay more for its medicines. Continue reading...

Health secretary still confident of success but critics say scrapping of NHS England has been ‘a total car crash’NHS to miss targets for cutting A&E wait times and performance in EnglandIn the Great Hall at the University of East London last Wednesday, the perennially upbeat Wes Streeting was exuding even greater positivity than usual. After years of neglect under the Conservatives, he said, the NHS was starting to revive thanks to Labour’s medicine.In a bravura performance in front of an audience of health service bosses, policy experts and student nurses in their blue and green uniforms, Streeting reeled off a long list of improvements in his 20-month tenure as health secretary. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Health secretary’s pledges in doubt as analysis shows health service will not deliver key improvementsThe NHS is set to miss key targets to shorten waiting times for help at A&E, cancer care and planned hospital treatment, leaving millions of patients facing persistently long delays.The health service in England will not deliver a series of milestone improvements in its performance that ministers demanded it achieve by the time the fiscal year ends on Tuesday, a Guardian analysis of the NHS’s most recent data has found. Continue reading...

BMA’s decision to withdraw from talks with government and NHS chiefs has sparked a war of wordsNHS bosses have accused resident doctors of seeking to cause “maximum harm” to patients by striking for six days next month over pay and jobs.Wes Streeting has given resident – formerly junior – doctors in England until 2 April to reconsider their rejection on Wednesday of his “generous” offer to end the dispute. It would have given them £700m in extra pay over the next three years. Continue reading...

Rule change follows high court challenge brought by two doctors prevented from working in specialist fieldsDoctors who have been prevented from working in the NHS while they wait for asylum decisions are celebrating after the Home Office agreed to lift the ban. The changes come into force on Thursday.The changes to the immigration rules follow a high court challenge by two specialist doctors who had the relevant qualifications to work for the NHS but were prevented from taking up work. Doctors who have a break in their practice can quickly become deskilled. Until now, the ban has remained in place despite shortages of doctors and other healthcare professionals in some parts of the NHS. Continue reading...

East Kent hospitals NHS trust says it could have acted sooner to notify UKHSA after first reported case East Kent hospitals NHS trust missed an earlier opportunity to alert the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) of the meningitis outbreak in Kent, it has been reported.According to the BBC, the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother hospital in Margate first reported a case to the UKHSA on the afternoon of Friday 13 March. Continue reading...

Wes Streeting set to hail result as proof of progress, but Britons remain frustrated with long waits for GP hospital carePublic satisfaction with the NHS has risen for the first time since 2019, but people remain deeply frustrated with stubbornly long waits to receive GP, A&E or hospital care.The proportion of voters in Britain satisfied with the way the NHS runs has increased from the record low of 21% seen last year to 26%. At the same time dissatisfaction with the health service fell 8% – the biggest drop since 1998 – although it remains high at 51%.Only 22% are satisfied with A&E and dentistry.GP services and hospital care score better, but only 36% and 37% are satisfied with them.Just 50% are satisfied with the quality of care the NHS provides and just 16% think it will improve over the next five years.Satisfaction with social care is just 14%. Continue reading...

In today’s newsletter: Bereaved families say the latest findings confirm long-standing concerns about capacity, care and political choicesGood morning. Yesterday lunchtime the UK Covid-19 inquiry published its latest findings – this time on how the NHS, its staff and patients were affected during the pandemic. It delivered a stark verdict: the health service “teetered on the brink of collapse” and only avoided it through the “almost superhuman efforts” of staff.Heather Hallett, the inquiry chair, said healthcare systems “coped, but only just” – and rejected the claim made by Conservative ministers at the time that the NHS had not been overwhelmed. For bereaved families, that language matters.Middle East | Iran said it would show “zero restraint” if its energy infrastructure was targeted again as Qatar revealed that almost a fifth of its liquefied natural gas export capacity had been knocked out in an Iranian strike.Health | Meningitis vaccination has been expanded in Kent after cases linked to a Canterbury nightclub rose to 27. Two people have died, and officials say the outbreak is being contained.Politics | Muslim leaders have condemned Nigel Farage’s call to ban public prayer by Muslims in the UK as bigoted and warned of a “growing tide of hate” after Kemi Badenoch questioned whether the events fitted “within the norms of British culture”.EU | EU leaders have pledged to stand behind Cyprus as it seeks “an open and frank discussion” on the future of the British bases on the island, which have become a target after the outbreak of the latest Middle East crisis.Immigration | A 16-year-old schoolgirl is stranded in Denmark after she was not allowed to board a flight to the UK due to new border rules on dual nationals. Continue reading...

Chair Heather Hallett says pandemic had devastating impact due to NHS being in ‘parlous state’ at timeThe NHS “teetered on the brink of collapse” during the Covid pandemic, and only just coped thanks to the “superhuman” efforts of healthcare workers, an official inquiry has concluded.In a damning assessment of how the UK’s healthcare systems coped with the pandemic, the Covid-19 inquiry chair, Heather Hallett, said the impact was “devastating” due to the NHS being in a “parlous state” before the outbreak of the virus.The NHS entered the pandemic with low bed numbers, high numbers of staff vacancies and high bed occupancy, meaning it was already in a “precarious position” and ill-prepared to deal with a pandemic.There was not enough PPE at the start of the pandemic, meaning healthcare workers had to put themselves and their families at risk to care for patients.Infection control in the early stages of the pandemic was flawed as it assumed Covid-19 was spread by physical contact, rather than being airborne.The “stay home, protect the NHS, save lives” public message may have inadvertently led to a decline in hospital attendance of life-threatening emergencies such as heart attacks.80% of healthcare professionals said they acted in a way that conflicted with their values during the pandemic, with some saying they felt they were “playing God” as they were unable to give everyone the treatment they needed. Continue reading...

Health service in England has saved more than £14bn hiring from overseas, report says, as doubt is cast on aim to reduce international recruitment to 10%Ministers’ plans to cut the international workforce within NHS England appear overambitious, MPs have said, as a report reveals the health service saved more than £14bn by recruiting doctors, nurses and midwives from overseas.Many of the countries recruited from were struggling with staff shortages, and the UK had a moral duty to offer support, rather than simply extracting what it needed, the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on global health and security found. Continue reading...

Treasury minister Spencer Livermore trails new strategy as chancellor pins hopes on benefits of AI amid global uncertaintyThe NHS and Ministry of Defence will be urged to buy British tech, as the government pins its hopes on the benefits of artificial intelligence to kickstart growth in the face of the Iran crisis, Treasury minister Spencer Livermore has said.The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, will restate her economic strategy in a high profile lecture on Tuesday, just as rocketing oil prices have raised fears of higher inflation and weaker growth. Continue reading...