News about the NHS

Nicola Davis Science Correspondent · Nov 4, 2024

New NHS campaign urges people to call 999 at first sign of stroke Update of Act FAST made as data for England shows average time between first symptom and call is 88 minutes Dialling 999 as soon as stroke symptoms occur is crucial to saving lives and preventing lasting damage, a new NHS England campaign is to stress as data reveals people wait almost an hour and a half on average before making an emergency call. About 100,000 people in the UK have a stroke each year. The potentially life-threatening condition occurs when the blood supply to part of the brain is cut off . Recent data suggests that the number could increase to 151,000 a year by 2035. Continue reading... By Nicola Davis Science Correspondent New NHS campaign urges...

Richard Brooks · Nov 3, 2024

‘They remind me there’s a life after cancer’: how paintings in NHS hospitals help patients feel better Feedback on the benefits of displaying pictures on wards, now gathered in a new book, is backed by scientific studies Art, of course, brings pleasure. Now there is evidence that paintings can also help alleviate medical conditions, as well as boosting NHS staff. A new book produced by the charity Paintings in Hospitals (PiH), which has a collection of 3,500 works and prints, including by Andy Warhol, Maggi Hambling and Bridget Riley, in medical settings across the UK, contains feedback from dozens of patients and medical staff about the “invaluable” benefits of seeing the art. Hospitals, health centres, surgeries and hospices can...

Tom Wall · Nov 2, 2024

NHS £22.6bn funding boost in England ‘not enough’, warn health experts The chancellor’s budget spending increase will largely be absorbed by pre-existing plans, says top thinktank Medical experts have warned the boost to NHS funding in England unveiled in the budget will not be enough to rebuild the country’s ailing health service and that it will take time for patients to see improvements Rachel Reeves last week announced an additional £22.6bn over this year and next for the NHS, which she claimed was the biggest spending increase for the health service – outside the Covid pandemic – since 2010. Continue reading... By Tom Wall NHS £22.6bn funding boost in England ‘not enough’, warn health experts to Continue reading... NHS...

Matthew Weaver · Nov 1, 2024

Ministers urged to protect GP practices, charities and care homes from NIC rise Doctors and care providers warn increased costs will cause job losses and cuts in services Ministers are under pressure to reimburse or exempt GP practices, charities and care homes from increases in national insurance amid warnings they will cause job losses and cuts in services. The rise in national insurance contributions (NICs) has prompted post-budget alarm from doctors and the voluntary and social care sectors, and pleas to ministers for exemptions to avoid widespread cuts to provision. Continue reading... By Matthew Weaver Ministers urged to protect GP practices, charities and care homes from NIC rise to Continue reading... NHS Forums - For...

Jessica Elgot Deputy political editor · Nov 1, 2024

MPs who are also medics urge colleagues to support assisted dying bill Exclusive: Cross-party group’s letter comes after health secretary said he doubted NHS could enact the change A cross-party group of MPs who are practising medics and former NHS staff have written to MPs urging them to back the assisted dying bill, after the health secretary expressed doubt that the health service was fit to enact such a big change. The six Labour and Conservative MPs, including two GPs and two surgeons, said they had extensive experience of working in and around palliative care and stressed that a tightly defined bill would give dying patients genuine choice. Continue reading... By Jessica Elgot Deputy political editor MPs who are also...

Editorial · Oct 31, 2024

The Guardian view on health spending: the NHS needs more than a shot in the arm | Editorial The chancellor has given the health service a boost. But huge challenges remain It was predictable that Wes Streeting’s department would emerge as the winner from this week’s budget, given the scale of the difficulties facing the NHS, particularly its vast waiting lists, and the strength of public feeling about this. The promised increase of £22.6bn over two years, plus £3.1bn for repairs and equipment, will bring the average annual increase in day-to-day spending in England up to 4%. Big as these numbers are, they are far from transformative. The historic average increase is 3.6%. Ageing populations, new drugs and medical technology mean...

Guardian Staff · Oct 31, 2024

Rachel Reeves has left the social care sector in deep trouble | Letters Rachael Dodgson of Dimensions says the budget adds to the pressure not-for-profit social care providers already face. Richard Robinson and Andrea Nicholas-Jones of Hourglass call on the chancellor to think again The budget is alarming for not-for-profit social care providers because it will put us under pressure to meet the increases in tax costs across our workforce. Our initial analysis indicates that the changes to national insurance will cost us £5m next year. In addition to this, the increase in the national living wage will increase our wage bill by £10.2m and give us less scope to maintain differentials between entry-level and more experienced colleagues...

Andrew Sparrow · Oct 31, 2024

Reeves’s long-term spending figures almost as unrealistic as Tories’ were, IFS says – UK politics live Institute for Fiscal Studies says budget ‘looks like the same silly games’ as seen under the Conservatives Rachel Reeves is now being interview on ITV’s Good Morning Britain. She is being interviewed by Ed Balls, the former Labour shadow chancellor who is now a TV presenter. He asks her to confirm that workers will end up losing out because of the employers’ national insurance contributions (NICs) increase. Continue reading... By Andrew Sparrow Reeves’s long-term spending figures almost as unrealistic as Tories’ were, IFS says – UK politics live to Continue reading... NHS Forums - For NHS Staff | Patient Forums

Larry Elliott Economics editor · Oct 30, 2024

Rachel Reeves bets on public spending increases in budget winning over voters Chancellor hopes extra money for NHS and public services will make it easier to accept higher taxes and slow growth Rachel Reeves used her budget debut to announce a massive package of tax, spending and borrowing increases as she gambled on voters rewarding the government for patching up Britain’s crumbling public services. Insisting that she was delivering on the choices the public made in July’s general election, the chancellor told businesses and the better off that they must bear the brunt of £40bn of tax increases needed for an emergency NHS cash injection and to plug the hole in the public finances inherited from the Conservatives. Continue...

Anna Bawden · Oct 30, 2024

Chancellor announces £22.6bn cash injection for NHS in England Rachel Reeves hails biggest increase ‘outside of Covid’ since 2010 but health experts say patients may not feel impact Budget 2024: key points at a glance The NHS in England is to receive a £22.6bn cash injection over two years, the chancellor has announced, in what she called the biggest spending increase outside Covid since 2010. But health experts said patients may not feel the impact as much of the increase would be absorbed by pay rises and higher care costs. Announcing the “down payment” on the government’s 10-year plan for the NHS, due in spring 2025, Rachel Reeves said the NHS was the nation’s “most cherished public service” and that the extra funding would...

Devi Sridhar · Oct 30, 2024

Britain has closed its eyes to long Covid – which means it will ravage even more lives and livelihoods | Devi Sridhar Unlike the US, Canada and Australia, the UK is only giving free boosters to some. But the cost of restricting them could be huge Trust me, no one, even in public health or medicine, wants to talk or think about Covid-19. The trauma of those pandemic years is burnt into our minds. But, whether we want to deal with it or not, Covid-19 is still affecting all of us, and circulating at fairly high levels in Britain this month. While community surveys are no longer conducted by the Office for National Statistics to estimate overall cases, hospital data from England indicates that the weekly hospital admission rate for...

Sammy Gecsoyler · Oct 30, 2024

‘Waiting to die’: Layla Moran raises plight of NHS surgeon who fears for parents in Gaza Exclusive: Surgeon who treated Lib Dem MP has worked for NHS for 20 years and grew up in the Jabalia camp In April, Layla Moran was admitted into hospital for sepsis. For a while, doctors thought antibiotics would clear the infection but it soon became clear she needed surgery. While recovering, a surgeon told her he had removed her appendix. “He told me his name and I was like, ‘Hold on, where are you from?’” Like Moran, Mohammad is Palestinian. The NHS surgeon grew up in the Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza and has worked for the health service for 20 years. Moran, the Lib Dem MP for Oxford West and Abingdon, had to remain in hospital for an extra...

Jessica Elgot Deputy political editor · Oct 29, 2024

NHS will not be fixed in single budget, says Wes Streeting Health secretary says NHS cannot be turned around ‘overnight’ but vows to get service ‘back on its feet’ over course of parliament UK politics live – latest updates The NHS will not be turned around in one budget, the health secretary, Wes Streeting, has warned, saying measures to be announced on Wednesday would “arrest the decline” amid significant reform of the health service. Streeting told broadcasters new efficiencies in the health service would be the key quid pro quo for significant investment. The government is expected to announce a spending boost of at least 4% to the health budget. Continue reading... By Jessica Elgot Deputy political editor NHS will not...

Jessica Elgot, Anna Bawden and Kiran Stacey · Oct 29, 2024

Budget will end neglect of ‘broken not beaten’ NHS, say Labour ministers Funding for more surgical hubs and radiotherapy machines planned in what PM says will be budget to ‘fix foundations’ The budget will revive a “broken but not beaten” NHS, Labour ministers have said, with billions of pounds of funding to be announced in an effort to cut record waiting lists. The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, said measures to be announced on Wednesday would “end the neglect” of the health service, delivering more surgical hubs and radiotherapy machines in a drive to lay on an extra 40,000 appointments a week. Continue reading... By Jessica Elgot, Anna Bawden and Kiran Stacey Budget will end neglect of ‘broken not beaten’ NHS, say Labour...

Jonathan Portes · Oct 28, 2024

Rachel Reeves’s first budget offers a chance to break out of the doom loop. Here’s how she should do it | Jonathan Portes It’s a tall order but Labour has a chance to improve people’s lives in both the short and long term Jonathan Portes is professor of economics and public policy at King’s College London and a former senior civil servant Four years of economic turmoil. High inflation, then high interest rates, then an (albeit mild) recession. A pre-election budget with some distinctly dodgy looking tax cuts. All leaving an election-winning, but nevertheless very unpopular, government with a big fiscal hole to fill. What does the chancellor do? Put up taxes, of course. And indeed that is precisely what Norman Lamont did in March...

Jasper Jolly · Oct 28, 2024

Creaking public services are costing companies in absent staff, employers tell TUC Union group urges chancellor to better fund health, social care and childcare to get staff back to work and boost productivity UK businesses are losing staff working time because of waits for healthcare or caring duties due to underfunded public services, according to a poll of managers before Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ first budget. More than half of 500 UK business leaders polled for the TUC said workers had to take time off in the last year because of problems accessing public services. Continue reading... By Jasper Jolly Creaking public services are costing companies in absent staff, employers tell TUC to Continue reading... NHS Forums - For...

Tobi Thomas Health and inequalities correspondent · Oct 28, 2024

Numbers studying nursing down sharply in all parts of England, RCN says North-east the worst-affected region, recording 40% drop in acceptances on to pre-registration courses, union finds The number of people studying to become nurses has fallen substantially across England, with some areas recording a 40% drop in successful applications, according to analysis by the largest nursing union. The latest regional data from Ucas, the university admissions service, shows the number of people accepted on to nursing courses fell across all parts of England between 2020 and 2023. Continue reading... By Tobi Thomas Health and inequalities correspondent Numbers studying nursing down sharply in all parts of England, RCN says to Continue...

Tobi Thomas Health and inequalities correspondent · Oct 28, 2024

Researchers study treatment for chronic pain in childhood cancer survivors Team at Nottingham Trent University is investigating how chemotherapy in early life could damage nerve cells Treatments that could help alleviate the chronic pain experienced by thousands of childhood cancer survivors are being investigated by scientists and researchers in the UK. About eight out of 10 children survive their cancer for 10 years or more but more than half of them report delayed and ongoing pain in adulthood. Continue reading... By Tobi Thomas Health and inequalities correspondent Researchers study treatment for chronic pain in childhood cancer survivors to Continue reading... NHS Forums - For NHS Staff | Patient Forums

Guardian Staff · Oct 27, 2024

Ways to make the NHS – and all of us – more healthy | Letters Medicalising problems chiefly caused by health inequalities is not a long-term solution, says Emeritus Professor David J Hunter. Plus letters from Jennifer Marshall, Amanda Baker and Chris Clough Re the article by Wes Streeting (I love the NHS: it saved my life, but the operation to rescue it must be led by the people and its staff, 21 October), the government’s health plan must devote serious attention to the public’s health. Focusing on individual lifestyle behaviour change because it’s the easier option will not result in sufficient progress in tackling preventable illnesses such as obesity. Nor is prescribing more weight-loss drugs the answer. Medicalising problems...

Amelia Hill · Oct 27, 2024

Positive assessment rates for autism vary widely between parts of England Charity says findings on evaluations of children and adults suggest different approaches and are ‘deeply worrying’ Children and adults seeking an autism diagnosis in England are up to almost seven times more likely to receive one in some NHS foundation trusts than others, according to research. Freedom of information requests by the charity Autistica revealed that positive assessments in children ranged from 100% of those evaluated by one trust to just 18% in another. In adults the figures ranged from 97% to 14%. Continue reading... By Amelia Hill Positive assessment rates for autism vary widely between parts of England to Continue reading... NHS Forums...

Emma Beddington · Oct 27, 2024

Want to understand British irony, humour and politics? Visit the NHS suggestions website | Emma Beddington Put a Wetherspoon’s in every hospital? Make Larry the Cat the health minister? The public’s ideas are like British banter bingo – but they show how much we care Do you ever wonder if the British might be a fundamentally unserious people? I do, though I should stress that I include myself; a thoroughly trivial person whose “professional” life is mainly spent in the silliest corners of an internet that long ago destroyed my capacity for joined-up thinking. Still, if you do have any intellectual rigour, it must be troubling, what with the hegemony of Hun culture, voting for politicians purely on bants potential, expressing dissent...

Toby Helm, Political Editor · Oct 26, 2024

Reeves: ‘My budget will match greatest economic moments in Labour history’ The chancellor says she will invest to reverse Tory decline, but stands accused of breaking party manifesto promises Labour will launch a new era of public and private investment in hospitals, schools, transport and energy as momentous as any in the party’s history in this week’s budget, the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has said. In an interview with the Observer before the first budget by a female chancellor, Reeves draws comparisons with Labour’s historic reform programmes begun in 1945 by Clement Attlee, in 1964 under Harold Wilson and in 1997 under Tony Blair. Continue reading... By Toby Helm, Political Editor Reeves: ‘My budget will match greatest...

Merope Mills · Oct 26, 2024

This mother made six attempts to raise the alarm about her sick toddler. Doctors told her he’d be fine. They were fatally wrong The death of her son, Micah, highlights the danger of medics ignoring parental concerns. ‘It was like they were gaslighting us,’ says Keri-Sue McManus On the morning of 30 November 2022, Keri-Sue McManus sat down with her three-year-old son, Micah, to watch the TV series Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood. A preschool animation about a tiger cub, the show sets out to teach life lessons. That day, Keri-Sue chose a specific episode, Daniel Goes to the Hospital, for a reason. She planned to take Micah to hospital and was using the cartoon to reassure him that everything would be OK. She was sensitive to his mood...

Peter Walker, Aletha Adu and Jessica Elgot · Oct 25, 2024

Labour MPs fear chancellor’s tough budget will bring new set of problems Concerns from party that significant cuts to key departments will set damaging tone for new government When Rachel Reeves stands up in the Commons on Wednesday, her budget will end months of speculation, allowing the government to fully set out what it stands for. And that, some Labour MPs fear, might herald a whole new set of problems. For all the expectation management about a disastrous economic inheritance and the fabled £22bn fiscal black hole, the sheer lack of money and tight constraints over tax rises mean that however well Reeves presents her choices, many of them will be painful. Continue reading... By Peter Walker, Aletha Adu and Jessica Elgot...

Nicola Davis Science correspondent · Oct 25, 2024

Which disease-modifying Alzheimer’s drugs are the most promising? Many drugs in development aim to delay, slow or reverse symptoms, but which are causing the biggest stir? This week England’s health spending watchdog rejected a new Alzheimer’s drug – the second such drug it has turned down this year. Both donanemab and lecanemab were approved by the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), yet the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) said their benefits were too small to justify their costs, while there have also been concerns over potential side effects – such as brain swelling and bleeding. Continue reading... By Nicola Davis Science correspondent Which disease-modifying Alzheimer’s...

News about the NHS

Show only:

New NHS campaign urges people to call 999 at first sign of stroke

‘They remind me there’s a life after cancer’: how paintings in NHS hospitals help patients feel better

NHS £22.6bn funding boost in England ‘not enough’, warn health experts

Ministers urged to protect GP practices, charities and care homes from NIC rise

MPs who are also medics urge colleagues to support assisted dying bill

The Guardian view on health spending: the NHS needs more than a shot in the arm | Editorial

Rachel Reeves has left the social care sector in deep trouble | Letters

Reeves’s long-term spending figures almost as unrealistic as Tories’ were, IFS says – UK politics live

Rachel Reeves bets on public spending increases in budget winning over voters

Chancellor announces £22.6bn cash injection for NHS in England

Britain has closed its eyes to long Covid – which means it will ravage even more lives and livelihoods | Devi Sridhar

‘Waiting to die’: Layla Moran raises plight of NHS surgeon who fears for parents in Gaza

NHS will not be fixed in single budget, says Wes Streeting

Budget will end neglect of ‘broken not beaten’ NHS, say Labour ministers

Rachel Reeves’s first budget offers a chance to break out of the doom loop. Here’s how she should do it | Jonathan Portes

Creaking public services are costing companies in absent staff, employers tell TUC

Numbers studying nursing down sharply in all parts of England, RCN says

Researchers study treatment for chronic pain in childhood cancer survivors

Ways to make the NHS – and all of us – more healthy | Letters

Positive assessment rates for autism vary widely between parts of England

Want to understand British irony, humour and politics? Visit the NHS suggestions website | Emma Beddington

Reeves: ‘My budget will match greatest economic moments in Labour history’

This mother made six attempts to raise the alarm about her sick toddler. Doctors told her he’d be fine. They were fatally wrong

Labour MPs fear chancellor’s tough budget will bring new set of problems

Which disease-modifying Alzheimer’s drugs are the most promising?

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