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Rollout of Covid vaccines extraordinary feat - inquiry report

The rollout of Covid vaccines – the largest immunisation programme in UK history - was an "extraordinary feat", the Covid inquiry said.

The fourth report from the inquiry praised the speed in which jabs were developed and deployed – 132 million were given in 2021 - alongside how the UK discovered which treatments worked best against the virus.

The positive headlines contrast with the first three reports that were highly critical of the government's pandemic planning, decision-making and management of the NHS.

But the report said more needed to be done to address vaccine hesitancy and those harmed by the Covid jabs should have easier access to bigger payouts.

Inquiry chair Baroness Hallett praised the vaccine programme, pointing to research which suggested it saved more than 475,000 lives after more than 90% of people aged over 12 came forward for a jab.

But she said while most people took up the offer of vaccination, there was lower uptake within communities in areas of higher deprivation and in some ethnic minority communities.

"Governments and health services must work with communities to rebuild trust and promote a better understanding of, and confidence in, vaccines," she said.

Spread of false information online and lack of trust in authority, combined with how quickly the vaccines had been developed, were contributory factors, said the report.

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Source: BBC News, 16 April 2026

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Anxiety drug Xanax under recall in the USA

Xanax, a drug used to treat anxiety disorders, has been placed under a nationwide recall in the USA

Viatris, the maker of Xanax, recalled the medication last month because of “failed dissolution specifications,” according to a recent notice from the Food and Drug Administration.

This means the pill may not break down in the body and release the drug at the right speed. If the medication doesn’t dissolve correctly, it could reduce its effectiveness.

Last week, the FDA classified the recall as Class II, meaning the affected pills could cause “temporary or medically reversible adverse health consequences or where the probability of serious adverse health consequences is remote,” according to the agency.

A Viatris spokesperson told The Independent, “Patient safety and the quality of our medicines are of the utmost importance to Viatris. The voluntary recall of Xanax XR in the U.S. is specific to one lot of one strength (3mg) of the brand product only, and no other batches of the Xanax XR brand product, or its generics, are impacted.”

Viatris said patients don’t need to take any action in connection with the recall and that wholesalers and pharmacies have been provided with instructions on how to return the affected Xanax. The drug maker said they have not received any reports of adverse reactions from the recalled product as of Wednesday.

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Source: The Independent, 16 April 2026

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Nearly half of Americans hold some form of vaccine skepticism, poll finds

Nearly half of Americans are somewhat skeptical of vaccines, a new poll has found.

Some 46% of U.S. adults who responded to a Public First poll by Politico in March agreed that “facts on vaccines are still up for debate and it is damaging to enforce their uptake.”

In contrast, only 39% said that the science on vaccines “is clear and it is damaging to question it.”

The results of the survey are in line with the views of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime vaccine skeptic and founder of the Republican “Make America Healthy Again” movement.

“What stands out is that vaccine safety and vaccine choice are no longer fringe issues,” Mary Holland, CEO of anti-vax group Children’s Health Defense, which Kennedy previously led before taking his post in government, told Politico.

“People want to be able to make their own medical decisions.”

Astonishingly, overall, 39% of respondents to Politico’s survey said they would allow vaccine-preventable diseases to return, rather than force people to have vaccines, in contrast to 47% who said they would rather not.

During his tenure as Health Secretary, Kennedy has overseen several major changes within his department and its policies, including the attempted overhaul of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the elimination of Covid-19 vaccine recommendations.

Last week, it was reported that the CDC had delayed publishing a report showing the benefits of the Covid vaccine, further sparking concerns that the information conflicted with Kennedy’s views. The CDC insisted that the move followed standard procedure.

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Source: The Independent, 14 April 2026

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Study finds that hospital care at home could save the NHS hundreds of millions

Treating patients with serious conditions from the comfort of their own homes could deliver far greater benefits than previously thought, saving the NHS hundreds of millions of pounds while improving care quality and patient satisfaction, according to a major new study.

The most comprehensive evaluation of the ‘Hospital at Home’ model to date has found that patients cared for through West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust’s Virtual Hospital, delivered in partnership with Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust, overwhelmingly preferred home‑based care to traditional hospital treatment.

The peer‑reviewed study, published on 8 April in Frontiers in Digital Health, analysed outcomes for 3,000 patients admitted to the Hospital at Home service between April 2023 and April 2024.

The findings demonstrate not only strong clinical and patient experience benefits, but also a compelling economic case for scaling up Virtual Hospital models across the NHS.

The evaluation found that Hospital at Home care significantly reduced the time patients spent receiving acute treatment.

Key findings include:

  • Early Supported Discharge patients spent 2.8 fewer days in care on average compared with similar hospital patients.
  • Hospital at Home care costs £118.49 per bed day, compared with £569 for inpatient hospital care.
  • Savings of £486 per Early Supported Discharge patient.
  • Savings of £3,652 per Admission Avoidance patient.

Overall, the programme delivered net savings of £1.33 million over 12 months.

Patient experience was a major strength of the Virtual Hospital model.

The study found that 95.8% of patients preferred Virtual Hospital care, and 98.3% of patients said they felt safe while being treated at home.

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Source: National Health Executive, 14 April 2026

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Alzheimer’s drugs ‘make no meaningful difference to patients’, major review suggests

Drugs aimed at slowing Alzheimer's disease progression "make no meaningful difference to patients" while raising the risk of brain swelling and bleeding, a new review has claimed.

However, charities have swiftly challenged these findings, accusing experts of unfairly combining failed and successful drug trials.

Researchers behind the review stated that the effects of these medicines on individuals with early-stage Alzheimer's and dementia were "either absent or consistently small".

Edo Richard, a professor of neurology at Radboud University Medical Centre in the Netherlands, noted his team observed "results from trials over the last two decades 'are not consistent'".

Charities argue that the review's authors have attempted to "paint an entire class of drugs with the same brush", potentially undermining the benefits of certain treatments. Anti-amyloid medicines work by binding to and clearing protein deposits in the brains of those with Alzheimer's, a process intended to slow cognitive decline.

The treatments were not approved for use on the NHS after the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) deemed their benefits “too small” to justify the cost.

The new Cochrane review looked at 17 studies involving 20,342 patients overall.

The analysis found that the effects of these drugs on cognitive function and dementia severity after 18 months was “trivial”.

According to Prof Richard, the differences made by the treatments were “far below the minimal effect that’s needed to be noticeable at all for patients and caregivers”.

Dr Susan Kohlhaas, executive director of research at Alzheimer’s Research UK, said the charity regularly heard from families impacted by dementia who said that even a delay of several months in their loved one’s decline “could provide valuable, meaningful time” that “shouldn’t be minimised”.

She said: “Crucially, this study is attempting to paint an entire class of drugs with the same brush even though we know different anti-amyloid treatments can act in different ways.

“Anti-amyloid treatments will not be the whole answer to curing Alzheimer’s, and research is already moving towards a wider range of biological targets.

“But it’s not accurate to dismiss their impact as ‘trivial’, especially when the analysis has clear constraints that limit what it can tell us.”

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Source: The Independent, 16 April 2026

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Police expand NHS death inquiry to heart patients

A major investigation into the care of more than 200 NHS cases has been expanded to include a "small number" of heart patients, confirms Sussex Police.

The force is looking into allegations of medical negligence at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton between 2015 and 2021 as part of Operation Bramber.

Officers are examining claims about preventable deaths and injuries in the trust's neurosurgery and general surgery departments.

University Hospital Sussex NHS Trust, which runs seven hospitals across East and West Sussex, said it would continue to "fully co-operate" with the police investigation.

Initially, 40 deaths were investigated as part of Operation Bramber, which was launched by the police in 2023, after both a coroner and two consultant surgeons at the hospital raised concerns.

A spokesperson for Sussex Police said: "As a result of a further witness coming forward during the course of the investigation, police are now starting to review a small number of cases relating to cardiothoracic surgery at the Royal Sussex County Hospital."

And added: "Cases relating to neurosurgery and general surgery at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton between 2015 and 2021 have started to be reviewed by specialist consultant surgeons who are totally independent of University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust.

"They have been commissioned to provide expert medical opinion on individual cases, and their reports will be considered alongside information obtained from our police enquiries to determine whether any cases will be taken forward and if so, which ones."

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Source: BBC News, 15 April 2026

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Patients forced to chase NHS test results in admin ‘doom loop’

Two-thirds of patients (66%) have experienced at least one NHS admin problem in the past year, according to a new study.

The report from the King’s Fund, Healthwatch and National Voices exposed the admin “doom loop” with patients being forced to chase NHS test results, receiving appointment reminders after the date has passed, not being kept informed about waiting times and being given incorrect information.

The report, based on responses from 1,908 adults in December, said: “The results overall make for difficult reading. Not only has there been little change in people’s experience of NHS admin since our previous polling (2024), but general perceptions of NHS admin and communications have actually gotten worse.

“Less than half of those polled think the NHS is good at communicating with patients about things like appointments and test results, and around a third think it is poor at various aspects of communication with patients.

“When we asked people how good or poor the NHS is at communicating with patients about things like appointments and test results, over two in five (43%) said it was good, while nearly one in three (30%) said it was poor.

“This is worse than in 2024, when over one in two (52 per cent) said it was good and one in four (25 per cent) said it was poor.”

The study found responses to particular aspects of admin have got worse.

For example, in 2025, 32% of people said the NHS is good at ensuring patients have someone to contact about ongoing care (down from 43% in 2024), while just over 34% said it is poor (compared with 28% in 2024).

People with long-term health conditions were more likely to say the NHS is poor, while carers and those on lower incomes were also more likely to say the same.

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Source: The Independent, 16 April 2026

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Future of the NHS, saviour of the high street? High hopes for health hub in a Barnsley shopping centre

It 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.

Those involved say the initiative – the first of its kind in the NHS – is trailblazing and revolutionary. After a recent visit, Wes Streeting, the health secretary, described it as “really inspiring”. He said: “What we’re seeing right here in the heart of Barnsley town centre is the future of the NHS.”

The outpatients centre has been created as a result of a collaboration between Barnsley hospital NHS foundation trust and the town’s Labour-run council. Hundreds of people a week are visiting it to have tests or treatment, including minor operations,for example to treat cataracts, blocked tear ducts or ingrowing eyelashes. Soon the number will rise to 1,000 or more.

It gives patients easier access to a range of non-urgent services than at the hospital on the town’s outskirts, where parking is limited. Through the extra footfall it is generating, it is also boosting custom for shops, cafes, restaurants and leisure facilities.

“It’s about having your mammogram while your husband wanders around at Sports Direct, or meeting your friend for a coffee after a dermatology appointment where someone looked at your rash,” says Michael Brown, the architect who designed the new facility.

The outpatient centre’s location is proving a hit with patients, partly because it is a quick walk from the bus and rail station, says Alan Heathcote, Barnsley hospital’s project manager. “Patient feedback has been very positive. And the themes are consistent: easier access, a better location, less walking, shorter waits and no need to battle for hospital parking”, he says. Parking near the Alhambra is plentiful and cheap.

The experience of the CDC so far suggests that offering care in a town centre location has helped to reduce “DNAs” – patients who don’t show up – by 24%.

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Source: The Guardian, 16 April 2026

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Ockenden to head fourth maternity review

A chair finally been appointed for an independent review into maternity and neonatal services in Sussex, nearly 10 months after the investigation was first announced by Wes Streeting.

Midwife Donna Ockenden will lead the review, which is now expected to look far wider than the nine deaths at University Hospitals Susex Foundation Trust it was originally expected to examine.

Families affected have been calling for Ms Ockenden to be chosen.

She is already chairing the inquiry into maternity at Nottingham University Hospitals Trust, and was recently appointed to head a similar inquiry into Leeds Teaching Hospitals. She previously led the inquiry into Shrewsbury and Telford maternity.

The health and social care secretary, who met with Sussex families on Wednesday afternoon, said afterwards: “Donna Ockenden has earned the trust of families across the country through her tireless work to uncover the truth and drive lasting change in maternity care. I know she will bring that same dedication to Sussex.”

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Source: HSJ, 16 April 2026

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Women waiting too long for NHS care because of ‘medical misogyny’, top doctor warns

Women are waiting too long for care because of “medical misogyny” within the NHS, the UK’s top gynaecologist has warned.

Dr Alison Wright, president of the Royal College of Gynaecologists and Obstetricians (RCOG), warned that women’s health conditions are often prioritised differently to men’s, with chronic and debilitating conditions such as endometriosis not being given the attention they deserve.

She also warned that A&E was being clogged up with women who need emergency treatment because they are waiting too long for routine procedures.

Speaking to The Independent ahead of the government’s new health plan for women, published by health secretary Wes Streeting on Wednesday, she said: “Misogyny exists across society... sadly, I’m having to say this in 2026.

“Women are not prioritised as they should be across the board, including when it comes to the health service. We, as gynaecologists, often have to really push for women to get a place in the operating theatre.”

She added: “An example [a colleague] gave me recently was of a man who had a testicular torsion, which is often treated as an emergency and taken to the operating room very quickly.

“Whereas, when a woman has a similar equivalent of torsion of her ovary, it’s not always treated as an emergency in the same way.”

Dr Wright claimed that robots were brought into hospitals “very quickly” for male urology surgery, while gynaecologists had to “jump through hoops” for the same technology.

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Source: The Independent, 15 April 2026

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The dangers of using AI chatbots for health and medical information

Experts have issued a stark warning about the use of AI chatbots for health and medical information.

Chatbots such as ChatGPT and Grok frequently "hallucinate," delivering inaccurate and incomplete medical information, research has found.

Half of the responses to 50 medical questions in a recent study were deemed "problematic."

All AI types were implicated, with Grok showing the most issues (58%), followed by ChatGPT (52%) and Meta AI (50%).

Researchers said “chatbots often hallucinate, generating incorrect or misleading responses due to biased or incomplete training data, and models that are fine-tuned on human feedback are known to exhibit sycophancy – prioritising answers that align with user beliefs over the truth”.

They said the incorporation of AI chatbots into medicine requires diligent oversight, “especially since they are not licensed to dispense medical advice and may not have access to up-to-date medical knowledge”.

Previous work has found that only 32% of more than 500 citations from ChatGPT, ScholarGPT and DeepSeek were accurate and almost half were at least partially fabricated, according to the study.

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Source: The Independent, 15 April 2026

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Government sets aside extra £1bn for victims of UK’s infected blood scandal

Compensation payments will rise for people affected by the infected blood scandal, including an extra £35,000 each for former pupils who were experimented on at school without their knowledge, the paymaster general has announced. The government has allocated £1bn for the payments.

The final report of the inquiry into what has been described as the biggest treatment disaster in NHS history was published in May 2024. The compensation scheme that followed has also been blighted by controversy.

People who were infected, and their relatives, had complained about delays, qualifying criteria, the size of payments and the complex application process.

Among those angry at the amount they were offered were former pupils at Treloar’s college, a specialist school in Hampshire for haemophiliacs, where they were infected in experimental trials.

On Tuesday, the paymaster general, Nick Thomas-Symonds, announced the government’s response to the public consultation on proposed changes to the infected blood compensation scheme. The compensation pot was set at £11.8bn in the 2024 autumn budget, with the announced changes estimated to cost £1bn.

Thomas-Symonds said: “While this government understands no amount of money will make up for the suffering endured by the infected blood community, I hope that these changes to the compensation scheme demonstrate our commitment in ensuring this community receives the compensation they rightly deserve.”

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Source: The Guardian, 14 April 2026

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Streeting relaunches women’s health strategy to tackle ‘medical misogyny’

Wes Streeting has vowed to stop women being “gaslit” by doctors as he relaunches the women’s health strategy for England.

Speaking before the publication of the renewed strategy on Wednesday, Streeting said the NHS was “failing women” and set out measures to help them access the healthcare they need.

The government said the strategy would include a new standard of care to ensure women were offered pain relief for invasive procedures, such as fitting a contraceptive coil and hysteroscopies.

Feedback would be directly linked to provider funding via a new trial, giving women more power to affect change if they have a poor experience.

Action would also be taken to ensure women no longer face long waits for diagnoses for conditions such as endometriosis, which can take a decade to diagnose.

MPs said parts of the 10-year women’s health strategy, launched in 2022 by the Conservatives, were at risk of being scaled back or discontinued under wider changes to the NHS. These included initiatives that had reduced waiting lists and improved women’s access to healthcare, such as women’s health hubs.

Sarah Owen, the chair of the committee and a Labour MP, said: “This would be a disaster for girls’ and women’s menstrual healthcare, when it is in dire need of more support.

“It is a national scandal that nearly half a million women are on hospital gynaecology waiting lists when there are effective treatments that could be administered in primary and community care, if only they could access them.”

Streeting said: “[Women] have for so long been let down by a healthcare system that too often gaslights women, treating their pain as an inconvenience and their symptoms as an overreaction.”

He added: “Whether it’s being passed from one appointment to another for conditions like endometriosis and fibroids, or a lack of proper pain relief during invasive procedures, through to having to navigate symptoms for years before receiving a diagnosis, it’s clear the system is failing women.

“Women’s voices must be central to delivering effective, respectful and empathetic care. We need to hit medical misogyny where it hurts – the wallet. Today’s renewed strategy will tackle the issues women face every day and ensure no woman is left fighting to be heard.”

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Source: The Guardian, 14 April 2026

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Father took own life after botched dental surgery in Turkey

Pawel Bukowski, 48, was found dead at his home in Norfolk in April last year after Turkish dentists removed his teeth but sent him home without new implants.

An inquest has now found that the NHS “missed” opportunities to prevent the forklift driver’s death, which a coroner ruled was suicide.

Mr Bukowski travelled to the country in January 2025 for the treatment after suffering from periodontal disease, a chronic inflammatory condition.

Mr Bukowsi was told by dentists that once his teeth were removed, he would be given temporary dentures while he waited for a second permanent implant procedure several months later.

Daria Bukowska, his widow, told the inquest at Norfolk coroner’s court: “Unfortunately, after removing all of his teeth, the clinic told him they could not proceed further.

“They sent him home without any teeth and told him to return in six months. This was emotionally devastating for him.”

The inquest heard mental health workers concluded he was “hopeless with a strong suicidal ideation” and there were concerns for his “safety and wellbeing”.

However, they chose not to admit him to psychiatric care because of “sufficient protective factors” and sent him home to his family, who were given medication for him and advice on keeping him safe.

On April 26, his “heavy” drinking prevented a nurse from prescribing him further medication.

On April 28, a psychiatrist was due to visit him at home at 10am but staff sickness meant he was not visited until shortly before 1pm, when he was found dead.

Johanna Thompson, the area coroner, recorded his cause of death as suicide and said there was “evidence of Pawel’s intent to end his life in the messages and notes he left”.

The Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust investigated itself following his death and found the decision not to admit him on April 24 was a “missed opportunity”, the coroner said.

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Source: The Telegraph, 13 April 2026

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Manufacturer to warn of fatal adverse reactions from blood-clotting drug and anaesthetic mix-ups

In a letter to healthcare professionals, drugs manufacturer Pfizer is to warn of serious and fatal adverse reactions following inadvertent administration of tranexamic acid instead of local anaesthetics.

The letter, seen by The Pharmaceutical Journal and dated 30 April 2026, says: “Serious, including fatal, adverse reactions have been reported after inadvertent intrathecal administration [of tranexamic acid] due to mix-ups, mostly with injectable local anaesthetics.”

Pfizer said it was sending the letter on behalf of marketing authorisation holders and in agreement with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

Tranexamic acid is an antifibrinolytic, used in the prevention and treatment of haemorrhages.

“Intrathecal, epidural, intraventricular and intracerebral use of tranexamic acid solution for injection is contraindicated,” the letter added.

“Cases of medication errors have been identified, including cases reported in the EU, where tranexamic acid injection was inadvertently administered intrathecally or epidurally.

“Most of these cases involved mix-ups of vials or ampoules resulting in erroneous administration of tranexamic acid instead of the intended injectable local anaesthetic (e.g. bupivacaine, levobupivacaine, prilocaine).”

It has added that, when administered intrathecally, serious patient harms had been reported, including prolonged hospitalisation and death, while serious adverse reactions that were reported include severe back, gluteal and lower limb pain, myoclonus, generalised seizures and cardiac arrhythmias.

“Extreme caution should be taken when storing, handling and administering IV formulations of tranexamic acid to ensure the correct route of administration. This includes clearly labelling syringes containing tranexamic acid for IV use only and storing tranexamic acid injectables separately from injectable local anaesthetics,” it added.

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Source: The Pharmaceutical Journal, 14 April 2026

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USA: Taking Tylenol during pregnancy has no link to autism, new study finds

Taking acetaminophen – known in the US by the brand name Tylenol – during pregnancy has no effect on later autism diagnoses, according to a sweeping new study from Denmark published on Monday.

The Trump administration has targeted Tylenol use in pregnancy as a major cause of autism in children, which appears to have led to a drop in pregnant people taking the pain reliever.

Health officials announced in September 2025 that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) would initiate a label change for acetaminophen, warning of a potential link to autism. Trump cautioned several times against taking the pain reliever during pregnancy.

“If you’re pregnant, don’t take Tylenol,” Trump said at a press conference at the time. “Don’t take Tylenol. Don’t have your baby take Tylenol.” He said the medication was “not good” and taking Tylenol during pregnancy was associated with “a very increased risk of autism”.

Through Denmark’s robust national healthcare system, researchers were able to track more than 1.5 million children ‌born between 1997 and 2022 in the national health registry, including 31,098 children who were exposed to Tylenol in utero.

Autism was diagnosed in 1.8% of children who were exposed to Tylenol and 3% of those who weren’t, according to the study, which was published in Jama Pediatrics. A similar 2024 study in Sweden found a marginal link that disappeared after taking siblings into account, suggesting that autism is strongly genetic, which has already been demonstrated in other studies.

Tylenol is safe to take during pregnancy and can play a key role in relieving pain and bringing down fevers. Yet after the September announcement, Tylenol orders for pregnant women in emergency rooms dropped by 16% in the initial study period, according to a Lancet study published last month.

Health officials’ “words are affecting behavior”, said Jeremy Faust, a co-author of that Lancet study, an emergency physician at Mass General Brigham and a health services researcher at Harvard Medical School.

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Source: The Guardian, 13 April 2026

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Timely cancer diagnosis ‘shouldn’t be a question of luck’ says Streeting

The Health Secretary has asserted that securing a timely cancer diagnosis "shouldn't be a question of luck," as he announced a substantial funding injection to facilitate patient checks closer to home.

The government is investing £237 million into new and improved community diagnostic centres (CDCs) across England. Wes Streeting described the new CDCs as "part of the biggest expansion in NHS diagnostics in a generation."

“The NHS delivered a record number of tests and scans last year but there’s still a long way to go before we’re catching disease on time,” Mr Streeting said.

“The NHS should be there for all of us when we need it, catching illness earlier so we can treat it faster.”

The investment will lead to four new CDCs in Gorton, Luton, Boston and Bideford, which will open in 2026/27.

Some 17 CDCs will be expanded and 15 will receive enhancements to boost diagnostic capacity, the Department of Health and Social Care said.

Mr Streeting went on: “These new CDCs are part of the biggest expansion in NHS diagnostics in a generation – continuing the progress we’re making and helping save lives.

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Source: The Independent, 14 April 2026

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Nurse did not escalate baby concerns, panel hears

A children's nurse has been struck off from practising after the regulator found serious care failings.

Elzabeth Lennon, a children's nurse working in Northampton, was reviewed by a Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) Fitness to Practise Committee over care provided in March 2022.

The panel previously found she failed to carry out regular checks of a cannula location, did not properly respond to repeated infusion pump alarms, and did not escalate concerns for "Baby A", a vulnerable baby when required.

"Mrs Lennon's actions breached fundamental tenets of the profession, pose an ongoing risk to patient safety and would be deemed concerning by the members of the public," the panel said.

The panel said Lennon had "addressed how she would handle a similar situation differently in the future", and accepted her statement that, although she made mistakes, she believed she was acting in Baby A's best interests.

However, the NMC panel found she had not shown a full understanding of the seriousness of her misconduct or its impact on colleagues and the nursing profession.

Because of this, the panel said there was an "ongoing risk of repetition", and so "a finding of impairment is necessary on the grounds of public protection".

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Source: BBC News, 14 April 2026

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NHS improves genetic testing for minority ethnic cancer patients

Thousands 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.

Before undergoing chemotherapy, cancer patients across England undergo genetic testing that can lead to changes in treatments to reduce the adverse side-effects chemotherapy can have, including mouth sores, hair loss, nausea and fatigue, and which can also be fatal. Up to 40% of the 38,000 patients treated with fluoropyrimidine-based chemotherapy in England will develop an adverse drug reaction to the treatment.

Until last year, these genetic tests only looked for four types of DPYD gene variants, which are mainly found within the DNA of people from white European backgrounds. Consequently, this genetic testing was less effective on Black cancer patients, leading them to be more likely to experience severe side-effects including death after chemotherapy.

These genetic tests are now being offered by the NHS across England to include testing for a fifth DPYD genomic variant, which is more prevalent among people from Black and minority ethnic backgrounds.

Dr Veline L’Esperance, the senior clinical adviser at the NHS Race and Health Observatory, said that the introduction of these new genetic tests represents “tangible results for patients who have historically been left behind”.

“Patients of African ancestry deserve the same standard of safety as everyone else, and now clinicians have the means to deliver it,” L’Esperance said. “What makes this significant is that it moves the conversation about ethnic health inequality in cancer care from words to action. This is the first concrete, clinical response to the evidence that Black and ethnic minority patients were being failed by tests designed around white European genetics.”

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Source: The Guardian, 13 April 2026

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Health NHS faces migrant staff exodus as workers feel unwelcome in UK

Two in five international health workers are considering leaving the UK, with many citing feelings of not being welcome amid anti-immigrant rhetoric.

The union Unison warns that government proposals to tighten settlement rules for migrant workers, coupled with escalating visa fees and restrictions, threaten to deepen the ongoing NHS staffing crisis.

A Unison survey of nearly 1,900 international health professionals working in Britain found that 43% are now considering departure, with a quarter feeling unwelcome and a fifth reporting they feel unsafe.

The union’s head of health Helga Pile said: “The UK’s health and care services would collapse without the skilled workers who’ve come here from overseas. How we treat them matters – they should be respected, not taken advantage of and abused.

“It’s shocking so many NHS staff say they don’t feel safe or welcome in this country. No wonder so many are thinking of leaving.

“These findings make it clear ministers must think again about trebling the settlement period for crucial migrant health and care staff. Otherwise, the workforce crisis will get worse.

“Politicians of all stripes need to stop demonising people who are doing crucial work, often for very low pay. They’re the ones shoring up the UK’s crumbling health and care sectors. We simply cannot do without them.”

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Source: The Independent, 14 April 2026

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Sussex baby deaths inquiry will fail to learn lessons after excluding families, Streeting warned

An inquiry into the preventable deaths of babies in Sussex will fail to learn the lessons as it “systematically” excluded dozens of families, Wes Streeting has been warned before a meeting with bereaved parents.

The health secretary has ordered a review of nine infant deaths at the University Hospitals Sussex NHS foundation trust amid maternity scandals across England. However, families are calling on Streeting to expand the investigation to all those who died and might have survived with better care.

To date, the families of more than 60 babies who died between 2019 and 2023 have expressed concerns about their care, although the true figure is expected to be higher.

Dr Marija Pantelic, a public health expert whose baby Sasha died in the care of UH Sussex in January 2022, said the narrow scope and opt-in nature of the review was dangerous and potentially harmful as it would be based on the experiences of an “overwhelmingly white and British” group of parents.

Parents want an expanded investigation to be led by Donna Ockenden, the senior midwife who is leading maternity inquiries into preventable deaths at NHS trusts in Nottingham and Leeds. They also want the Sussex investigation to actively seek out families who are affected so it is not based only on the nine cases whose parents have raised the alarm.

Pantelic, an associate professor in public health who specialises in health inequalities, said it should alarm Streeting that the review would be based on the experiences of the “overwhelmingly white and British” families who had come forward.

“If you only hear from certain groups, you will only see certain problems,” she said. “For instance, you can be sure not to identify racism if you only hear from white families. If you fail to identify the real drivers of harm, the solutions you propose will be partial at best, and harmful at worst.”

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Source: The Guardian, 13 April 2026

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Private firms providing services to NHS made £1.6bn profit in two years, research finds

Private 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.

The £1.6bn in profits made in 2023-24 and 2024-25 would have been enough to pay for 9,178 doctors or 19,428 nurses during that time, according to the Centre for Health and the Public Interest.

Its findings are based on analysis of NHS contracts in England, with 760 private firms providing services including diagnostic tests such as CT scans to patients, and treatments including hip and knee replacements, and for skin problems and mental health conditions.

Helen Morgan, the Liberal Democrats’ health spokesperson, said: “Private companies making super-profits from our NHS is an unacceptable waste. This money should be going on frontline services, not fattened profits for big corporations.

“The NHS should be able to benefit from economies of scale and use its power as a major buyer to drive down prices. I’m afraid it looks like our health service is being taken for a ride.”

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Source: The Guardian, 13 April 2026

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Chair ‘exceeded authority’ when suspending trust chief, investigation finds

A trust chair “exceeded her authority” and “badly handled” the suspension of its chief executive, according to investigation findings seen by HSJ.

Annette Doherty, chair of East Kent Hospitals University Foundation Trust, gave chief executive Tracey Fletcher less than 24 hours to either accept a settlement package or face suspension during a mid-year performance review on 18 November last year.

Ms Fletcher was formally suspended three days later. In December, she raised a grievance concerning the handling of her suspension and the matters leading up to it.

HSJ has seen a draft report into that grievance prepared by a specialist HR consultant firm, dated 15 March. The document says that it “details high-level interim findings based on the evidence gathered so far”, although the author believed further information was “unlikely to change the findings”.

It concluded that on the basis of the evidence, the chair’s actions were “not in line with the NHS values and expectations of a senior leader”.

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Source: HSJ, 13 April 2026

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33 trusts promised funding for urgent care units

The government has revealed the locations of 40 new and expanded urgent care centres and same-day emergency care units.

The programme, backed by £215.5m, includes 10 new urgent treatment centres, four expanded UTCs, five new same-day emergency care services and 21 expanded SDECs. They are across 33 hospital trusts.

A government announcement said the facilities would tackle corridor care by “reducing waiting times and improving patient flow through hospitals” – but the Royal College of Emergency Medicine has disputed this claim.

While many of the hospitals set to host the new UTCs and SDECs are above the national average for 12-hour waits in A&E, others appear to have less of a problem with long A&E waits. This measure is a close barometer of corridor care.

“Expert teams” from NHS England’s Getting It Right First Time programme are also being sent to the hospitals with the highest levels of corridor care to provide “bespoke clinical support to leadership staff”, the government has said.

RCEM president Ian Higginson welcomed the government’s commitment to eradicate corridor care, but said urgent treatment centres “are not the answer to reducing corridor care and will not make a dent in the number of people who are enduring long waits on trolleys in inappropriate places such as corridors”.

“These services focus on the least unwell patients, and it’s the most unwell or those with mental health problems who are filling our corridors,” he added.

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Source: HSJ, 11 April 2026

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Dr TikTok: patients diagnose chronic illnesses with anonymous commenters’ help

Malina Lee, a 31-year-old wedding baker based in San Antonio, Texas, joined TikTok during the Covid pandemic lockdowns in 2020. Like many people at the time, she was bored and began using the platform to pass the time and advertise her business. She didn’t expect a cancer diagnosis.

Four years after Lee joined the app, a commenter with the username “PickleFart” told her that her neck looked asymmetrical in a way that could suggest she had a goiter – an enlarged thyroid gland – and that she should get it checked out. The anonymous amateur clinician turned out to be right – Lee had thyroid cancer, received treatment quickly, and, less than a year later, was cancer free.

TikTok users are increasingly reporting that the app’s hyper-specific algorithm has steered them towards detecting medical problems before they were aware of them themselves. In many instances, users reported that symptoms described by other TikTokers matched their own inscrutable set of ailments, which led to diagnoses. In instances like Lee’s, human commenters were responsible for diagnoses that doctors had missed or not yet identified.

Lee is not the only user that PickleFart, whose real name is Billie Jean Tuomi, has accurately diagnosed in a comment section. By her estimate, Tuomi has commented on dozens of videos alerting content creators of potential thyroid problems – and correctly spotted serious problems in at least four cases that she knows of, including Lee’s.

Tuomi’s career as the “thyroid avenger”, as some have started to call her, is personal in its origins: she herself was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2012, and after two years of treatment was declared cancer-free. But obtaining a diagnosis and undergoing the subsequent treatment were difficult processes. She now finds herself trying to spare strangers on the internet what she went through.

“It’s something that you don’t ever stop struggling with – it’s constantly on my mind,” she said. “The earlier you get diagnosed, the easier it is to treat, so I feel like it’s important to say something if you see something.”

Craig Mittleman, director of the department of emergency services at Lawrence + Memorial hospital in Connecticut, said in the last five years of his 36-year career practicing medicine, he has seen a sharp increase in patients coming in with internet-influenced diagnoses – for better and for worse.

“In some ways, it’s allowed patients to feel empowered to ask certain questions and be more informed,” he said. “But I also find that we are often, as emergency physicians, spending a lot of time debunking information that patients present, which they’ve procured through social media.”

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Source: The Guardian, 12 April 2026

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