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Opticians to treat common eye problems under new government plans

High street optometrists are set to gain expanded powers to treat common and emergency eye conditions under new government proposals.

The changes aim to shift more healthcare into community settings and alleviate pressure on general practitioners.

Under the proposed rules, optometrists and contact lens opticians would assume a significantly broader role in diagnosing patients and prescribing essential medications.

This includes drugs for issues such as dry eye, severe allergies, and bacterial conjunctivitis. They would be authorised to sign off on prescription-only medicines in emergencies or for prescriptions to be filled at local pharmacies.

Among the specific medications that could be prescribed is acetylcysteine, used to manage tear film abnormalities in dry eye cases where standard treatments are ineffective.

Dr Paramdeep Bilkhu, clinical adviser at the College of Optometrists, said: “Enabling optometrists to supply a wider range of prescription-only medicines will ensure more patients receive effective treatment for many common minor eye conditions at their local optical practice, without having to be referred to a prescriber or wait for a GP appointment.

“If these proposals are agreed and implemented, optometrists can continue to play a key role in reducing the burden on A&E departments and GPs, who often lack the specialist ophthalmic training and equipment needed to handle most eye conditions.

“By expanding the number of medicines that all optometrists can supply to patients, optometrists’ core skills will be better utilised to improve patient outcomes and experiences, particularly where commissioned acute eye care services are available.

“We urge our members, all healthcare professionals and the public to support these proposals to improve eye care in the community.”

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Source: The Independent, 4 September 2025

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Opioid painkillers put millions at risk of addiction or dependency

Millions of people are addicted to, or at risk of becoming dependent on, prescription opioid painkillers, according to international research.

The study found that one in three people taking prescribed opioid analgesics, which include codeine, tramadol, oxycodone and morphine, show symptoms of being dependent on them, while one in 10 become fully dependent on the drugs.

The research, led by academics from the University of Bristol and published in the journal Addiction, also showed that one in eight people are at risk of prescription opioid misuse.

It examined data from 148 international studies involving more than 4.3 million patients aged 12 and over who had non-cancer pain for three months or longer and who were prescribed the medicines.

While they are useful for short-term acute pain and managing end-of-life care, “opioid painkillers are not effective in the management of long-term pain,” said Kyla Thomas, a professor of public health medicine at the University of Bristol and lead author of the study. “They are associated with many harms. Our findings show that opioid misuse is much more common among patients taking them for long-term pain than perhaps people imagine.”

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Source: The Guardian, 7 August 2024

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Opioid pain relief 'soared during pandemic' for some patients

The use of opioids for pain relief soared during the pandemic as some patients waited longer for surgery, according to new research.

The University of Aberdeen team focused on more than 450 patients due to have hip or knee replacement surgery.

They said waiting times for these procedures increased by an average of 90 days and that the numbers of patients using opioids while waiting for surgery increased by 40% compared to pre-pandemic levels.

The research, published in the BMJ Quality and Safety, looked at data collected from 452 NHS patients from the north east of Scotland.

The university's Luke Farrow, who led the research, said alternative ways of managing severe arthritis pain needed to be found "urgently" for those waiting for this kind of surgery.

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Source: BBC News, 15 November 2021

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Opinion: I’m stuck in a hospital that’s starved of funds – let’s not forget the NHS when we vote

Having spent 5 months in a hospital bed, Jame Hale, a disabled poet and essayist, urges us as we go into this election not to forget the damage that’s been done to the NHS – and the individual, human casualties that have resulted. 

"High-quality staff are not enough if we put them in environments where they cannot do their best", Jame says to the Guardian newspaper. 

"An NHS in this state is a stain on the country, and an ongoing risk to patient safety. It’s come about because of nine years of persistent underfunding and austerity, which has come on top of PFI hospital-building initiatives that have loaded hospital trusts with unsustainable repayments."

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Source: The Guardian, 7 November 2019

 

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Ontario woman finds needle in her spine 16 years after giving birth

When the pain in her shoulders and weakness in her right leg started two years ago, Giovanna Ippolito thought it was just part of getting older — that's until the 46-year-old's doctor ordered an X-ray that showed a five-centimetre long, broken needle embedded in her spine.

It was a medical error that took more than a decade to discover — after medical staff at the time failed to report it. 

Exactly when the needle was left in Ippolito's spine is unclear, but she says she's only had something injected into her back twice — during the birth of her son in 2002 and her daughter in 2004. 

Ippolito says she believes the needle broke off when medical staff at Mackenzie Richmond Hill Hospital in nearby Richmond Hill (called York Central Hospital at the time) administered a spinal block or an epidural during one of the births.

She's now locked in a battle with the hospital for answers and accountability. But experts say, with a system that's stacked against Canadians harmed by medical errors, it's likely no one will have to take responsibility.

More than 132,000 patients experienced some kind of medical harm — something both preventable and serious enough to require treatment or a longer hospital stay — in 2018-19, according to the Canadian Institute for Health Information, an independent, not-for-profit organization that collects information on the country's health systems.

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Source: CBC, 5 October 2020

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Only six of 200 NHS private units signed up to complaints watchdog

Just six of the English NHS’s more than 200 private patient units (PPUs) are signed up to the independent complaints adjudicator, HSJ has learned.

The figures follow the publication of the Paterson Inquiry earlier this month. The inquiry’s report warned patients treated in private units, including PPUs, which are not regulated by the Independent Sector Complaints Adjudication Service (ISCAS) “will not have access to independent investigation or adjudication of their complaint”.

ISCAS is the main independent adjudicator for the private healthcare sector and takes on approximately 125 adjudications each year on unresolved patient complaints. Most standalone independent providers have signed up to the watchdog. However, ISCAS membership is not mandatory and it is concerned patients wishing to complain about care at PPUs will have little choice but to pursue costly legal action. 

The government is now considering the inquiry’s recommendation that all private patients are given the right to a mandatory independent resolution of their complaint.

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Source: HSJ, 26 February 2020 

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Only one in six A&Es in England say they could cope with major incident

Crowded accident and emergency wards mean only 15% of department heads are confident they could deal with a major incident such as a terror attack or rail disaster, new research has revealed.

In a survey of clinical directors and consultants at 71 emergency departments in England, all said their A&E was crowded, with more than 70% saying patients had to wait in corridors or ambulances at least half the time. Only 11 were confident they were “adequately prepared” to respond to a major incident.

The results, published last week in the Emergency Medicine Journal, came from a survey conducted in March last year by academics at Derriford Hospital in Plymouth and the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine in Birmingham.

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Source: Guardian, 11 January 2025

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Only one in five staff at care scandal trust confident in execs

Just one-fifth of staff at a trust engulfed in an abuse scandal expressed confidence in the executive team, according to the Care Quality Commission (CQC), which has downgraded the trust and its leadership team to ‘inadequate’.

The CQC inspected Greater Manchester Mental Health Trust following NHS England launching a review into the trust in November 2022 after BBC Panorama exposed abuse and care failings at the medium-secure Edenfield Centre.

The two inspections, made between January and March 2023, which assessed inpatient services and whether the organisation was well-led, also saw the trust served with a warning notice due to continued concerns over safety and quality of care, including failure to manage ligature risks on inpatient wards.

Inspectors identified more than 1,000 ligature incidents on adult acute and psychiatric intensive care wards in a six-month period. In the year to January, four deaths had occurred by use of ligature on wards which the CQC said “demonstrated that actions to mitigate ligature risks and incidents by clinical and operational management had not been effective”.

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Source: HSJ, 21 July 2023

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Only half of trusts’ staff were trained ahead of troubled IT go-live

Only half of staff across two acute trusts were fully trained in the use of a new electronic patient record before its introduction, which led to disruption and patient harm, HSJ has revealed.

The implementation of Oracle Cerner’s EPR at Royal Surrey Foundation Trust and Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals FT was carried out, despite the trusts not having achieved their target of 80% of staff having completed the necessary training, newly disclosed documents show.

HSJ has also seen an internal report by the Royal Surrey’s informatics team which warned of risks to patient safety and data problems, unless preparations improved in the three months leading up to go-live. 

The two acute trusts implemented the EPR in May last year under a programme called Surrey Safe Care, but there have been multiple problems ever since – including some of the issues that the internal report warned of.  

The trusts acknowledged the process had been “challenging” but said they had trained a higher proportion of the staff who were working in the two weeks after go-live, with Royal Surrey describing the findings of the internal informatics report as an “inaccurate representation” of readiness.

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Source: HSJ, 13 December 2023

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Only half of new virtual beds occupied, internal figures reveal

Just over half of the 7,000 new virtual ward beds opened under the new national programme are occupied by patients, according to recent internal figures seen by HSJ.

NHS England director for community transformation Stephanie Sommerville told a recent NHSE webinar that occupancy stood at around 52%.

Although it is understood programme directors are pleased with the 43% growth in virtual beds since May, Ms Sommerville said it “demonstrate[s] we have a way to go to make sure our virtual wards are really well utilised. Of course, one of the big contributions to delivering more activity to our virtual wards is getting the referrals and admissions process right.”

While the concept of remotely monitoring patients at home has been around for more than 20 years, NHSE has made expanding remotely monitored care a key ambition in order to tackle the capacity and demand challenges facing the NHS.

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Source: HSJ, 16 December 2022

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Only a third of NHSE staff think it has a ‘clear vision’

A survey showing only a third of NHS England staff believe it has a “clear vision” for the future has been described as ”not as challenging as could be expected” by the organisation. 

It is NHSE’s first full staff survey since its major restructuring and merger with Health Education England and NHS Digital, which has seen around 7,000 posts cut, and widespread irritation with how how the changes were handled.

The summary report from the 2024 staff survey (attached below), obtained by HSJ, highlights particular problems with morale, and failures to develop staff.  

Among NHSE’s worst scores were whether staff felt it had a “clear vision for the future” (33 per cent agreed), while only 26% “feel like I am part of my organisation’s vision for the future”, and just 36% agreed the organisation would address staff concerns if they spoke up.

However, an NHSE executive team presentation report on the results said: “This year’s results should be considered against the backdrop of ongoing organisational change, which can significantly impact staff engagement levels and decreased morale. 

“Independent feedback from our survey providers indicates that the results are not as challenging as could be expected, given the scale and complexity of NHSE’s change programme.”

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Source: HSJ, 16 October 2024

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Only a third of children in need accessed mental health support in the pandemic

The number of children experiencing mental health problems has risen sharply during the Covid-19 pandemic, but fewer have been able to access support because of disruptions to services, says a report by the Children’s Commissioner for England.

Around one in nine children had a probable mental health disorder in 2017, the report says, but this jumped to one in six in 2021 with only around a third (32%) able to access treatment.

While the number of children referred to mental health services by GPs and teachers has been growing in recent years, referral rates fell back in 2020-21 to 497 502 (equivalent to 4% of all children in England), compared with 539 000 (4.5% of children) the previous year.

“It is likely that even though more children have mental health problems, fewer were being referred to services during lockdowns because of disruptions caused by the pandemic,” said children’s commissioner for England, Rachel de Souza.

“Numbers referred into services are likely to increase again in the coming years. The health secretary will be publishing a review later this year to explore how we can tackle this increased level of need and adopt a more preventive approach.”

Lynn Perry, interim co-chief executive of children’s charity Barnardo’s, said, “Covid-19 has taken a serious toll on children’s mental health and schools are the first place many of them seek help. Being able to reach this support early at school will reduce the number of children who need specialist help from mental health services. This is why Barnardo’s is calling on the government to speed up the rollout of mental health support teams to help pupils and teachers get the support they need, when they need it.”

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Source: BMJ, 7 February 2022

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Only 29% of UK Covid hospital patients recover within a year

Fewer than one in three people who have been hospitalised with Covid-19 have fully recovered a year after they succumbed to infection.

That is the shock finding of a survey into the impact of long Covid in the UK. The team of scientists and doctors at Leicester University also found that women had poorer recovery rates than men after hospitalisation, while obesity was also likely to hinder a person’s prospects of health improvements.

Among the symptoms reported by patients a year after their initial infection were fatigue, muscle pain, poor sleep and breathlessness.

“Given that more than 750,000 people have been hospitalised in the UK with Covid-19 over the past two years, it is clear from our research that the legacy of this disease is going to be huge,” said Rachael Evans, one of the study’s authors.

The team stressed their results show there is now an urgent need to develop ways to tackle Long Covid. “Without effective treatments, Long Covid could become a highly prevalent long-term condition,” said Professor Chris Brightling, another author.

A critical factor in these poor rates of recovery was the lack of treatments that exist for Long Covid, added Professor Louise Wain, who was also involved in the study. “No specific therapeutics exist for long Covid and our data highlights that effective interventions are urgently required.”

The researchers also found that many of those reporting impairment in the wake of their hospitalisation were suffering from persistent inflammation. “That suggests these groups might respond to anti-inflammatory strategies,” added Wain.

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Source: The Guardian, 24 April 2022

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Only 15% of healthcare apps meet safety standards, research reveals

Only 15% of healthcare apps meet minimum safety standards, highlighting a “desperate need” for a proper review process, new research has concluded.

Health app evaluation organisation ORCHA evaluated more than 5,000 apps against 260 performance and compliance factors and found that majority do not meet the minimum safety requirements.

Liz Ashall-Payne, ORCHA’s Chief Executive, said: “We believe that digital health apps are one of the most important tools available to help tackle health issues in an ageing population that’s facing more complex, long-term problems. The fact that only 15% of apps that we review meet the minimum standards show there is a desperate need to regularly and properly assess the apps available to ensure that people are protected against the serious risks associated with downloading ineffective or even harmful apps.”

Helen Hughes, Chief Executive of Patient Safety Learning, which is working with ORCHA to improve the safety of apps, said the research reiterated the need for consistent regulatory standards and accreditation frameworks to be applied to healthcare apps.

“One of the areas we are beginning to explore with ORCHA is whether or not we can consider what patient safety would be in part of the review process,” she said. “Essentially what we want is patient safety embedded in all of the review processes so that we can inform and guide clinicians and inform and guide patients."

“And that there is appropriate research on their use and their impact so that information can feed the improvement of standards.”

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Source: Digital Health. 9 October 2019

 

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Online UK pharmacies prescribing weight loss jabs to people with healthy BMI

Online pharmacies operating in the UK are approving and dispatching prescriptions of controversial slimming jabs for people of a healthy weight, a Guardian investigation has found.

Some pharmacies appear to be issuing prescriptions of such medications to people who lie about their body mass index (BMI) on an online form. In one case a reporter was issued a prescription after accurately saying their BMI was about 20. A healthy BMI lies between 18.5 and 24.9.

The findings have raised alarm among eating disorder charities, which have warned that weight-loss medications should only be sold under the strictest conditions. Their concern has prompted calls for online pharmacies to employ stronger health checks and screening for eating disorders.

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Source: The Guardian, 10 May 2023

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Online triage tools to be ‘rapidly procured’ to manage COVID-19 pressures

The procurement of digital tools to support online primary care services during the coronavirus outbreak are to be fast-tracked for providers who don’t have the resources.

In a letter sent to primary care providers and commissioners, GP surgeries were told to move to a triage-first model of care as soon as possible as the NHS bolsters its response to COVID-19.

The letter, sent by medical director for primary care, Nikita Kanani, and director of primary care strategy and NHS contracts, Ed Waller, states practices and commissioners should promote online consultation services where they are in place or “rapidly procure” them.

“Rapid procurement for those practices that do not currently have an online consultation solution will be supported through a national bundled procurement,” wrote in the letter.

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Source: Digital Health, 30 March 2020

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Online retailers stop sales of some blood oxygen monitors after investigation

Amazon, eBay and Wish have stopped stocking some monitors that let people keep track of their blood oxygen levels after an investigation found they were not fit to be sold.

The online marketplaces removed a number of pulse oxygen testing devices known as oximeters from sale after being alerted to flaws identified by the consumer organisation Which?

Pulse oximeters have boomed in popularity as a result of Covid, with millions of people keeping one at home so they can quickly assess if their blood oxygen level has fallen worryingly low – a condition known as “silent hypoxia” – which is a common side-effect of the disease.

Some of the devices were not legally fit to be sold in the UK, did not carry the CE quality Kitemark or wrongly claimed that they had been approved by the NHS.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said it would look into the unauthorised use of the health service’s iconic blue and white branding on the devices. It made clear that “the NHS does not approve or endorse any medical devices, including oximeters”.

“The department strictly controls the NHS identity and takes unauthorised use or adaptation of the NHS logo and the letters ‘NHS’ very seriously”, a DHSC spokesperson said.

Which? said that 11 of the cheap pulse oximeters it bought from those websites failed to comply with UK and European Union law when it examined them closely.

“It is very concerning that our investigation found these medical devices for sale without the required safety markings or brazenly claiming to be approved by the NHS, and the biggest online marketplaces were not picking up on these red flags”, said Natalie Hitchens, the consumer group’s head of home products and services.

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Source: The Guardian, 26 March 2022

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Online prescribing 'must get safer'

More deaths could occur unless action is taken to keep people safe when obtaining medications from online health providers, says a UK coroner.

Nigel Parsley has written to Health Secretary Matt Hancock highlighting the case of a woman who died after obtaining opiate painkillers online.

Debbie Headspeath, 41, got the medication, dispensed by UK pharmacies, after website consultations. Her own GP was unaware of what she had requested from doctors on the internet.

The Suffolk coroner has now written to the Department of Health asking for urgent action to be taken.

The General Pharmaceutical Council – the independent regulator for pharmacies – said it was responding to the coroner's report and would continue to take necessary action to make sure medicines are always supplied safely online.

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Source: BBC News, 9 December 2019

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Online portals deliver scary health news before doctors can weigh in

More Americans are learning of devastating health diagnoses through their phones and computers instead of personally from their doctors because of a federal requirement that people receive immediate access to medical test and scan results, from routine bloodwork to MRIs.

This shift has sparked a debate in the medical community about whether instant information empowers patients or harms them.

The new medical landscape resulting from a bipartisan law promoting transparency has exposed fault lines in a stressed health-care system where the promises of technological advancements are undercut by the heavy workloads foisted on medical professionals.

As more people receive troubling results online at the same time as their doctors—often waiting days or weeks for treatment plans—medical associations have been pushing to give doctors more time to release records revealing cancer and other grim diagnoses so patients don’t have to bear the news alone.

The idea of medical transparency undergirding provisions in the 2016 Cures Act is broadly supported. But implementation of the regulations expanding access to medical records, which took effect in 2021, has been more divisive.

Congress has taken little interest in this issue, and federal health officials have stood by the rules, arguing that concerns will be resolved as technology improves and as medical practices adjust how they prepare patients for results.

“There is just a moral imperative here, which is for patients, this is their information. They ought to be able to access it whenever they want,” said Micky Tripathi, the national coordinator for health information technology whose office crafted the requirement for the Department of Health and Human Services. “They also pay for it. They ought to be able to get things they pay for.”

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Source: Washington Post, 26 July 2024

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Online GP access leaves patients lost, says report

Online services for GPs across Surrey leave many patients feeling "helpless and lost", a new report says.

Healthwatch Surrey said some patients felt "defeated" by online systems and that issues were worse in certain groups.

This included people with English as a second language and those less confident with technology.

Online services include booking appointments, requesting repeat prescriptions and viewing test results.

Healthwatch Surrey, which gathers the views of local people on health and social care services in the county, said: "Confusion around the appointment booking process and a perception that appointments are hard, or even impossible, to book online is the issue people tell us most about."

One Epsom and Ewell resident was asked by their surgery to book a blood test online.

They told Healthwatch: "I tried but I couldn't understand how to do it and so I called back.

"I'm in my 80s and I try to be as independent as I can, but some of these processes defeat me."

Sam Botsford, contract manager at Healthwatch Surrey, said communication was key in ensuring patients knew how to use online services.

She said: "People feel they're being pushed online, and that spans a range of different demographics.

"It's really important for practices to identify the needs of their patients and how they can best meet those."

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Source: BBC News, 2 February 2024

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Online depression therapy given go-ahead in England

Nine online talking-therapy treatments for anxiety or depression have been given the green light to be used by the NHS in England.

They offer faster access to help but less time with a therapist, which may not suit everyone, the health body recommending them said.

There is huge demand for face-to-face services, with people waiting several weeks to see a therapist.

The new digital therapies, delivered via a website or an app using cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT), provide an alternative way of accessing support, which may be more convenient for some, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) says.

They could also free up resources and help reduce the wait for care. However, psychiatrists said digital therapies were not a long-term solution.

Mental-health charity Sane said they were no substitute for a one-to-one relationship and could leave people feeling even more isolated than before.

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Source: BBC News, 16 May 2023

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One-stop shop clinics carry out 1m health tests for cancer, heart and lung disease

One million checks for cancer, heart and lung disease have been carried out at new diagnostic clinics in football stadiums and shopping centres, the NHS has reported.

In the past year, 92 “one-stop shop” centres offering scans, x-rays and blood tests have been opened in an effort to tackle the Covid care backlog after NHS waiting lists in England soared to a record 6.4 million patients.

The NHS said it will open a further 70 centres, which will operate seven days a week and allow patients to get symptoms checked “on their doorstep” following GP referrals.

The centres are staffed by nurses and radiographers who can carry out a range of diagnostic tests, including cancer scans.

This means patients can get multiple tests in one visit, rather than having to make several different trips to a hospital.

Professor Charles Swanton, chief clinician at Cancer Research UK, said the rapid diagnostic clinics were improving access to lifesaving treatment.

Speaking at the world’s largest cancer conference in Chicago, he said: “Individuals with red-flag cancer symptoms — blood in the stool, persistent cough — can bypass the bureaucratic and lengthy standard approaches to getting investigated in hospital.”

However, Swanton warned that without action to address the “chronic shortage” of 110,000 NHS staff, the new centres risked “robbing Peter to pay Paul” by taking doctors and nurses away from hospitals.

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Source: The Times, 6 June 2022

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One quarter of patients unable to access mental health services during lockdown, suggests survey

A quarter of people who sought help for mental health problems during lockdown were unable to access NHS services, a new survey shows.

A survey by the mental health charity Mind found that 25% of respondents who contacted primary care services could not get support.

More than a fifth (22%) of adults with no previous experience of poor mental health now say that their mental health has deteriorated, according to the survey.

Many people who were previously well will develop mental health problems as a “direct consequence of the pandemic and all that follows”, according to Mind.

Two out of three (65%) adults aged 25 and over and three-quarters of young people aged 13-24 with an existing mental health problem reported worse mental health during the lockdown.

Mind predicts that prolonged worsening of wellbeing and “continued inadequate access” to NHS mental health services will lead to a marked increase in people experiencing longer-term mental health problems.

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Source: The Independent, 30 June 2020

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One person diagnosed with cancer every 80 seconds in UK, report reveals

The number of people in the UK being diagnosed with cancer has reached a record high, with one person diagnosed every 80 seconds, a report reveals.

Cancer Research UK found that more than 403,000 people were being diagnosed with the disease each year. The rise is largely due to a growing and ageing population, as people are more likely to develop cancer as they get older.

The NHS is struggling to cope with rising demand for care. Cancer waiting times across the UK are among the worst on record, according to the report.

Incidences have risen to 620 per 100,000 people, from 610 a decade ago, partly driven by rising obesity levels. The proportion of cases diagnosed early has barely changed, inching up from 54% to 55%.

There have been some major successes. Death rates have fallen, and the proportion of people surviving for a decade or more has risen. But Cancer Research UK said this progress was now at risk of stalling, in part due to pressure on cancer services.

It said the government’s recent national cancer plan for England was a crucial step towards improving care but there needed to be “funding and resources to translate ambition into impact”.

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Source: The Guardian, 23 April 2026

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One percent of the population make up a third of ambulance call outs

The British Red Cross have found that that 367,000 people, which equates to around one percent of the population in England attend A&E up to 346 times a year.

These figures accounted for nearly one in three ambulance call outs and over one in six A&E visits.

The research analysis found that a fifth of those repeatedly attending A&E lived alone and also often lived in deprived areas of the country.

Frequent users also accounted for 29% of all ambulance call outs and 16% of non-minor-injury A&E visits.

The data also revealed that people in their twenties were more likely to repeatedly visit A&E than any other age category.

Mike Adamson, chief executive of the British Red Cross, said: 'High intensity use of A&E is closely associated with deprivation and inequalities - if you overlay a map of frequent A&E use and a map of deprivation, they're essentially the same.'

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Source: National Health Executive, 29 November 2021

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