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Urgent review ordered after deaths in fragile maternity services

NHS England has ordered trusts to “urgently” review their home birth services, it has emerged – as an HSJ  investigation reveals widespread fragility and safety risks.

Chief midwifery officer Kate Brintworth wrote to trust and integrated care board CEOs late last year after “gross failures” were identified in the care of Jennifer and Agnes Cahill during a home birth under the care of Manchester University Foundation Trust in 2024.

Ms Cahill died shortly after suffering a haemorrhage during labour, while baby Agnes had the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck and was not breathing when she was delivered.

Coroner Joanne Kearsley identified serious failures by two inexperienced community midwives, and  a subsequent prevention of future deaths report warned of a lack of national guidance on staffing, training and experience for midwives attending home births.

NHSE’s letter, which was sent last year but has not been made public, comes as HSJ analysis shows multiple coroners have been raising concerns about poor support for and oversight of home birth services for several years.

Separate HSJ research has found  widespread and regular suspensions of the services across the country, underlining their fragility and pushing some women towards giving birth with minimal support.

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Source: HSJ, 20 January 2026

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Doctors warn of 'horrific' impact of tech and devices on children and young people's health

Doctors and medical experts have warned of the growing evidence of "health harms" from tech and devices on children and young people in the UK.

The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges (AoMRC) said frontline clinicians have given personal testimony about "horrific cases they have treated in primary, secondary and community settings throughout the NHS and across most medical specialities".

The body, which represents 23 medical royal colleges and faculties, plans to gather evidence to establish the issues healthcare professionals and specialists are seeing repeatedly that may be attributed to tech and devices.

It intends to highlight the sometimes-hidden risks of unrestricted content and screen time to children and young people and provide guidance to the medical profession about how to identify and manage the harm being done.

The academy said it already had "evidence of the impact on children and young people's physical and mental health both from excessive screen time as well as exposure to harmful online content".

It says the work is due to be completed within three months.

The letter was sent to Health Secretary Wes Streeting and Science and Technology Secretary Liz Kendall.

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Source: Sky News, 18 January 2026

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Trump claim linking paracetamol during pregnancy to autism rubbished by major new study

President Donald Trump’s claim that taking paracetamol during pregnancy is linked to autism is not based on robust evidence, a study has found.

The claims were made by Trump and health and human services secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr in September, 2025. They urged women to not take Tylenol, known as paracetamol in the UK, and repeated numerous conspiracy theories about autism.

Kennedy, who has previously been accused of spreading vaccine misinformation and pushed a discredited theory that routine childhood vaccines were linked to autism, said the department would encourage clinicians to prescribe the lowest effective dose of the pain relief drug.

UK scientists hit back at the “fearmongering” claims and health secretary Wes Streeting stressed to not “pay any attention whatsoever to what Donald Trump says about medicine.”

Now a review of the medical evidence published in The Lancet Obstetrics, Gynaecology, & Women’s Health journal, has found there is no strong evidence that paracetamol use during pregnancy increases the risk of autism, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), or any intellectual disability among children.

“Autism diagnoses have surged by 787 per cent in the UK since 1998, which naturally raises questions around what’s behind this trend. It’s simply bad science to automatically assume that this is due to autism becoming much more prevalent. It’s even worse to attribute it to a simple cause like taking paracetamol during pregnancy without foundation,” Dr Lisa Williams, founder and clinical director, The Autism Service, who was not involved in the study, told the Independent.

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Source: The Independent, 16 January 2026

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Staff left with ‘strong sense of betrayal’ after manager jailed for fraud

A former manager at a now-dissolved trust has been sentenced to 30 months in prison after using his position to defraud the organisation of more than £100,000.

Alec Gandy, a former senior operational manager at Dudley Integrated Health and Care Trust was sentenced along with two others at Wolverhampton Crown Court for his role in defrauding the trust of £123,090.

Mr Gandy pleaded guilty to fraud by abuse of position. He filed multiple false invoices and used the money to partly fund a “gambling habit” and to fund businesses he had formed, one of which was called “Crooked Spire.”

In its victim impact statement, the trust outlined how the stolen funds could have been used to pay the annual salaries of four nursing associates, two community paramedics or two clinical pharmacists. None of the money stolen has been recovered.

The statement added: “Many of the staff involved in the investigation and those across the wider workforce felt personally connected to Mr Gandy, and therefore have felt a strong sense of mistrust and betrayal from his actions. In turn, the investigation itself led to months of scrutiny over the activity across the service, which could have eroded the trust between the organisation and our contractors.” 

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Source: HSJ, 17 January 2026

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Charter to tackle sexual harassment across NHS in England has failed, say unions

A flagship strategy to tackle sexual harassment across the NHS in England has failed to improve the safety of female staff, according to legal experts and healthcare unions.

The NHS sexual safety charter, launched in September 2023, was supposed to improve how hospitals, GP surgeries and other organisations address sexual harassment. But the UK-based charity Rights of Women said calls from NHS staff to its sexual harassment at work advice line had increased significantly since the charter was rolled out.

Laura Bolam, the employment law officer at the charity – which provides free legal advice to 3,000 working women each year across England and Wales – said the proportion of its callers who were women in the NHS had doubled recently.

“In 2023, around 11% of our calls came from women working in the NHS; this rose to 19% in 2024 and increased again to 22% in 2025. This highlights that sexual harassment within NHS trusts is not only rising but appears to be an entrenched, systemic issue.”

All NHS organisations in England have signed the sexual safety charter, which commits them to taking a zero-tolerance approach to unwanted sexual behaviour. But a Guardian investigation found many trusts continued to report improbably low numbers of incidents, particularly for staff sexually assaulting or sexually harassing colleagues and other staff.

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Source: The Guardian, 18 January 2026

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Women ‘being failed by underfunded and understaffed’ UK postnatal care

Women in the UK are being failed by a postnatal care system that is “dangerously underfunded and understaffed”, a damning report has warned.

Thousands of new mothers feel unsafe, unsupported and overwhelmed in the weeks and months after giving birth, according to the National Childbirth Trust (NCT).

Experts said the report was “deeply troubling” and too many women were “being left without a safety net at one of the most important and vulnerable times of their lives”. Feeling overwhelmed should never be considered a normal part of early parenthood, they added.

The NCT report included a survey of 2,000 new and expectant parents across the UK, including 500 women who were pregnant at the time. Almost a quarter – 24% – said they did not have regular access to NHS staff in the weeks and months after birth.

Nearly nine in 10 (87%) reported feeling overwhelmed at least some of the time, with 22% always feeling overwhelmed. Meanwhile, 62% reported feeling lonely sometimes, with 12% saying they felt lonely all of the time.

More than half (59%) of pregnant women said they worried about their mental health.

The NCT chief executive, Angela McConville, said: “Every major report has shown that the UK’s maternity system is failing to provide safe, compassionate care."

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Source: The Guardian, 19 January 2026

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Cancer patients 'warned for years' about hospital water infections

The father of a woman whose death is being investigated by prosecutors said a health board was "warned for years" about issues with a major hospital's water system that it has now admitted probably caused infections in child cancer patients.

Molly Cuddihy - who died in August aged 23 - became seriously ill in 2018 with an infection potentially acquired at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) in Glasgow.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) had consistently denied bacteria in the water was responsible for causing some infections which led to the deaths of patients.

But in closing submissions to the Scottish Hospitals Inquiry, external it has now admitted "on the balance of probabilities", that there was a "causal connection" between some infections and the hospital environment.

The probe was launched to examine mistakes made in the planning, design and construction of the QEUH campus following concerns about unusual infections and the deaths of four patients.

Those included 10-year-old Milly Main, who died after contracting the stenotrophomonas bacteria while undergoing treatment for leukaemia in 2017.

A separate corporate homicide investigation into the deaths of Milly, two other children and 73-year-old Gail Armstrong was launched in 2021.

And last year prosecutors opened an investigation into Molly's death after it was reported by a consultant.

Molly's father, John, told BBC Scotland News the statement was "overdue recognition".

He added: "Molly's words and experience must continue to echo beyond her lifetime."

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Source: BBC News, 18 January 2026

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‘Jess’s rule’ posters remind GPs in England to re-examine patients’ symptoms

Millions of patients in England will this week be urged to ask their GP to think again if they have not had a diagnosis for their symptoms after three appointments.

From Monday, GP practices across the country will use posters to promote Jess’s rule, a new system aimed at preventing serious illnesses from being missed and needless deaths. It is named after Jessica Brady, a 27-year-old who contacted her surgery 20 times before dying of cancer in 2020.

Jess’s rule urges family doctors to consider a second opinion, conduct a face-to-face physical examination or order more tests if a patient has had three appointments for their symptoms but no diagnosis.

Posters advertising Jess’s rule have been sent to all 6,170 GP practices in England. The system was launched in September but the new posters will boost patient safety by reminding GPs to rethink initial assumptions, ministers said.

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Source: The Guardian, 19 January 2026

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NHSE’s ‘model A&E’ delayed after ‘real world value’ questioned

Senior leaders have been drafted in to draw up NHS England’s new blueprint for A&Es, following internal criticism of the highly anticipated guidance.

NHSE has been working on a new plan for accidents and emergencies – titled the “model emergency department” – to outline how they can achieve the “ambitious” targets for four hours performance, as outlined in the medium-term planning guidance.

In October, NHSE had promised the ‘model ED’ blueprint would be published “soon”, but HSJ understands the process has stalled following internal criticism.

HSJ understands Birju Bartoli, chief executive of Northumbria Healthcare Foundation Trust, and Emma Rowland, chief operating officer at Homerton Healthcare FT, are among the senior figures drafted in by NHSE to work on the “model ED” policy.

The Royal College of Emergency Medicine is also understood to have privately raised concerns about the “model ED”, including over a lack of any new money for emergency departments.

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Source: HSJ, 15 January 2026

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US health officials reverse course and reinstate $1.9bn to mental health and substance use

US health officials reversed course and began reinstating nearly $2bn in cuts to mental health and substance use programmes on Wednesday night, one day after they unexpectedly announced the immediate shutdown of programmes.

The reversal is a blow to the agenda of Robert F Kennedy Jr, the secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services, who has made aggressive and legally contested cuts to health agencies in the first year of the Trump administration and has proposed folding the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (Samhsa) into a new agency he would call the Administration for a Healthy America (AHA).

There was immediate outcry about the effects of shutting down vital programs amounting to one-quarter of the budget of Samhsa.

The cuts would have affected overdose prevention and reversal, mental health and substance use support for children, mental health training and support for first responders, support for pregnant and postpartum women, and recovery support programmes.

“After national outrage, Secretary Kennedy has bowed to public pressure and reinstated $2 billion in SAMHSA grants that save lives,” DeLauro said. “These are cuts he should not have issued in the first place,” and they “created uncertainty and confusion for families and healthcare providers”, Rosa DeLauro, ranking member of the House appropriations committee, said.

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Source: The Guardian, 15 January 2026

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Hospitals with unsafe concrete expected to miss rebuild deadline

Work to fix hospitals built using unsafe concrete will not be completed in time to meet the government's target, a new report has warned.

Seven hospitals built using Raac, or reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete, were prioritised for remedial work last year, with the government setting a deadline of 2030.

The new buildings are now expected to open in 2032 and 2033 - but some are already facing pressure to meet the revised timetable, the National Audit Office (NAO) said.

In a number of hospitals, roofs are being supported by metal props and some areas have been closed as unsafe.

Meanwhile, affected health trusts face huge maintenance bills to keep their aging buildings safe.

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Source: BBC News, 16 January 2025

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NHSE’s ‘model A&E’ delayed after ‘real world value’ questioned

Senior leaders have been drafted in to draw up NHS England’s new blueprint for A&Es, following internal criticism of the highly anticipated guidance.

NHSE has been working on a new plan for accidents and emegencies – titled the “model emergency department” – to outline how they can achieve the “ambitious” targets for four hours performance, as outlined in the medium-term planning guidance.

In October, NHSE had promised the ‘model ED’ blueprint would be published “soon”, but HSJ understands the process has stalled following internal criticism.

HSJ understands Birju Bartoli, chief executive of Northumbria Healthcare Foundation Trust, and Emma Rowland, chief operating officer at Homerton Healthcare FT, are among the senior figures drafted in by NHSE to work on the “model ED” policy.

The Royal College of Emergency Medicine is also understood to have privately raised concerns about the “model ED”, including over a lack of any new money for emergency departments.

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Source: HSJ, 15 January 2026

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New registry launched to tackle ‘Wild West’ IT market

Only around a fifth of ambient voice technology firms understood to be supplying the NHS have been included on a new national registry designed to beef up NHS England’s oversight of the market, described as the “Wild West”.

19 AVT firms have been listed on the new national registry launched today, but it is understood that over a hundred such firms operate in the competitive market.

The suppliers of the AI tools are the first to join the self-certified registry, which requires them to comply with multiple standards covering regulation, clinical safety, and data protection.

AVT software automatically transcribes conversations between patients and clinicians and generates structured medical notes, aiming to reduce the manual documentation burden on staff and free up more time for patient care.

To be listed, suppliers must demonstrate compliance with the Digital Technology Assessment Criteria, hold Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency Class I registration, and provide evidence of post-market surveillance.

Additional requirements include evidence of benefit in the NHS, the ability to integrate with existing NHS digital infrastructure and scalability across organisations of different sizes.

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Source: HSJ, 15 January 2026

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Letby trust pays £1.4m damages to ex CEO

A former NHS chief executive has been awarded £1.4m in damages after suing the health service for unfair dismissal.

Dr Susan Gilby took the Countess of Chester NHS Trust to court after being suspended in December 2022.

The compensation is one of the largest payments the NHS has ever made to a former employee.

The final cost to the taxpayer - including court costs - could be around £3m after the trust refused offers to avoid the case going to court.

Gilby told the BBC she was relieved the case was over and that this "was never about the money."

The Countess of Chester NHS Trust - where Lucy Letby worked - confirmed that a settlement had been agreed.

The compensation payment comes after an employment tribunal ruled in February last year that board members at the trust had conspired to remove her from her job.

Gilby had accused the trust's chairman, Ian Haythornthwaite, of bullying and harassment. In response, Haythornthwaite, working alongside three other directors, had set up Project Countess, to force Gilby out.

Gilby, 62, said one of the trust's directors, Ros Fallon, took her to a pub on a Friday afternoon in October 2022 and told her it was "time for you to go".

"She said: 'And if you don't agree to go, we will start a process against you'. She was unable to tell me what that process would be."

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Source: BBC News, 15 January 2026

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System criticised after death of ‘fit and well’ 23-year-old

Urgent and emergency care services in the East Midlands are letting down people with ”serious but not immediately life-threatening” conditions, a coroner has warned after the death of a “fit and well young man”.

Adam Hussain, 23, died from complicated appendicitis at the Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham in May, after repeatedly asking for help for abdominal pain over the previous four days.

Mr Hussain called emergency and urgent care services five times during the days before his collapse at home on 15 May. He was sent to a walk-in-centre after his first call on 12 May then sent home, but was not seen again face to face. 

The coroner found East Midlands Ambulance Service and the Nottingham Emergency Medical Service – the system’s single urgent care triage system – had failed to recognise the need for further face-to-face assessment and necessary treatment.

She also said there was “confusion” in the system about how to manage category 3 ambulance calls, the classification for urgent but not immediately life-threatening conditions, and where triage suggests the patient can be managed at home.

Elizabeth Didcock, assistant coroner for Nottinghamshire, said: “Had Adam been seen face to face [when he sought help], it is very likely that the intra-abdominal sepsis would have been recognised and treatment provided, likely leading to him surviving what is a treatable condition in a previously fit and well young man.”

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Source: HSJ, 15 January 2026

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One in 10 patients spent over 12 hours in A&E in 2025

One in 10 patients who attended major A&E units in England last year spent more than 12 hours there, a BBC analysis shows.

During 2025, 1.75 million patients waited that long to be treated and discharged or found a bed on a ward - only marginally better than in 2024.

It comes as the Royal College of Nursing warned long waits and corridor care – where patients are left for hours in make-shift areas – was having a devastating impact.

The union published testimonies from members across the UK describing unsafe and undignified care, with one nurse saying animals were treated better at vets.

The government said it was unacceptable, but it was still dealing with the legacy it inherited.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting acknowledged corridor care remained a problem, saying the NHS was "falling short".

"It should never be normalised," he added.

He said he was committed to ending the practice before the end of the parliament and would soon start publishing data on it to ensure transparency.

But he said on some measures, such as ambulance response times, there had been improvement compared to last year.

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Source: BBC News, 15 January 2025

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Qatar launches new national patient safety classification to boost care quality

According to Qatar’s Ministry of Public Health (MoPH), the Ministry has launched the Qatar Patient Safety Classification as part of its strategic work to strengthen patient safety and improve the quality of healthcare services across the country.

MoPH said the Classification is a unified national framework for classifying and analyzing patient safety information and clinical practice excellence across all healthcare facilities in Qatar. 

The Classification serves as the scientific foundation for the National Learning System for Patient Safety Events and Practice Excellence (NLS-PSEP). MoPH noted that it will help standardise health data, strengthen national-level analysis, and support continuous quality improvement across the health system.

MoPH added that the framework aligns with Qatar National Vision 2030 and the National Health Strategy 2024–2030, and applies to all governmental, semi-governmental, and private healthcare facilities. It is intended for use by healthcare professionals, quality and patient safety teams, risk management teams, health leaders, regulators, and healthcare decision-makers.

Dr. Eman Radwan, Acting Director of MoPH’s Healthcare Quality Department, said the launch is a major step toward improving healthcare quality and building a stronger culture of safety at the system level. She also noted that a national team developed the Classification, bringing together experts in healthcare quality and patient safety from both the public and private sectors in a partnership-based, integrated approach.

MoPH explained that the Classification is intended to standardise patient safety concepts and taxonomies across the health system, strengthen national learning and reduce repeat incidents, improve risk management, enable comparative analysis and evidence-informed decision-making, and enhance transparency and public confidence in health services. MoPH also said implementation will support efforts to raise patient safety levels, strengthen a learning culture across providers, and reduce potential risks and harm at both facility and national levels.

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Source: OncoDaily, 13 January 2026

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‘People will die’: Trump administration cancels up to $1.9bn for substance use and mental health

The Trump administration on Tuesday evening unexpectedly canceled up to $1.9bn in funding for substance use and mental health care, which providers say will immediately affect thousands of patients.

“It feels like Armageddon for everyone who’s on the frontlines of the addiction and mental health space,” said Ryan Hampton, founder of Mobilize Recovery, a national advocacy organization for people in and seeking recovery.

“The scope of care that’s disrupted by these grants is catastrophic. Tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of people will die.”

As many as 2,800 grantees through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (Samhsa) received a letter immediately ending their funding – about 26% of Samhsa’s entire budget.

“These are programs that save lives, so the impact could be really devastating,” said Regina LaBelle, former acting director of the Biden White House office of national drug control policy and professor at Georgetown University.

“It really covers the spectrum of prevention, treatment and recovery services, both on substance use and mental health,” said Yngvild Olsen, who until last July served as the director for the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment at Samhsa and is now a national adviser at Manatt Health.

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Source: The Guardian, 14 January 2026

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Hospital alert after fake doctor-endorsed videos

A hospital trust in south London has issued an alert after fraudulent videos were circulated online claiming its staff endorsed weight loss products.

Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust said that the videos, found on social media platforms like Facebook and TikTok, "falsely claim a number of our clinicians are using and endorsing these products".

The videos, which show doctors applying weight loss patches to their bodies and losing weight over a period of time, appear to be AI-generated, the Trust said, and do not show doctors who work there.

The BBC has approached the company and a doctor claiming to be behind the products, but has had no response.

Speaking to the BBC Dr Daghni Rajasingam, deputy chief medical officer at the Trust, said staff were "actively working" to try and get the videos taken down.

"They are fraudulent and they're misleading," Rajasingam said.

"NHS clinicians would never endorse or promote commercial products such as this."

The doctor urged the public to seek health advice on weight loss from "trusted NHS sources".

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Source: BBC News, 15 January 2025

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Plan to include pregnant women in drug trials ‘a generational change’

When Emma decided to try for a baby, she began to come off some of the medicines she relied on to manage her Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. The complex condition affecting connective tissues has left the 35-year-old without a bladder and being fed via a tube into her small bowel. But there were some drugs she couldn’t safely go without. That’s when Emma realised no one could tell her for sure whether those drugs could harm her baby.

“The vast majority of the information that’s available is like, ‘To be used if there’s no other options, no research done’. And without the medication, I will end up in hospital, so I don’t really have an option but to take it,” Emma says. The lack of information left her feeling “guilt and anxiety”.

More than 90% of medicines have never been tested in pregnancy, leaving millions of women around the world making this impossible choice: go without treatment or take it without full-throated reassurance from doctors that it’s safe. This year, in the biggest step change in a generation – since the Thalidomide scandal of the 1950s and 1960s – the World Health Organisation (WHO) will begin to work with scientists, doctors and drug developers to change this.

“People have been scared to treat pregnant women since the thalidomide tragedy,” says Mariana Widmer, a maternal health scientist at WHO.

“There’s no one single organisation or one individual that can make this change. This change is huge. This takes time,” she adds. “We need collaboration and we need partnerships. And this is what we at WHO would like to do ... bring together all these players at the table and work together to make this change, that’s the only way to do it.”

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Source: The Independent, 14 January 2026

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NHS corridor care is ‘torture’ leading to patient deaths and staff nightmares

Corridor care is “a type of torture” that is leading to patients dying and causing NHS staff to have nightmares, the UK’s nurses union has warned.

In one case, an elderly patient choked to death in a corridor, unseen by staff, according to a new dossier of evidence highlighting the problem published by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN).

Demand for care is so intense that hospitals are having to turn dining rooms, staff kitchens and rooms for viewing deceased people into overspill care areas, the RCN reveals.

Wes Streeting, the health secretary, has pledged to end the use of corridor care in England by 2029, if not sooner. However, NHS staff groups are sceptical that he can fulfil that promise, given that many hospitals are overloaded so often, and not just during the winter.

The RCN’s dossier is based on testimony from 436 nurses around the UK between 2 and 9 January. One, in the south of England, was “having nightmares” after a patient died in a departure lounge that had been turned into a makeshift ward.

Another, in Yorkshire, relayed how a terminally ill patient had spent a week in an overflow area before being moved to a side room, where they died. “I won’t ever forget that,” the nurse said. A third, in the north-west of England, said it had become “routine” for 26 patients to be stuck in a corridor awaiting a bed, even though their hospital said no more than six should be left there.

Prof Nicola Ranger, the RCN’s general secretary, said: “This testimony from nursing staff reveals once again the devastating human consequences of corridor care, with patients forced to endure conditions which have no place in our NHS.”

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Source: The Guardian, 15 January 2026

Further reading on the hub:

In a series of blogs on the hub, we have been highlighting some of the key patient safety issues surrounding corridor care.

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LGB+ people in England and Wales ‘much’ more likely to die by suicide than straight people

LGB+ people are much more likely to die by taking their own lives, drug overdoses and alcohol-related disease than their straight counterparts, the first official figures of their kind show.

The 2021 census in England and Wales asked people aged 16 and above about their sexual orientation for the first time. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has now analysed differences in causes of mortality from March 2021 to November 2024. The ONS research uses the acronym LGB+ rather than LGBTQ+.

It found that people who identified as gay, lesbian, bisexual or “other” sexual orientation had 1.3 times the risk of dying than those identifying as straight or heterosexual. The age-standardised rate of death from any cause was 982.8 for each 100,000 people for LGB+ people compared with 752.6 for each 100,000 people for straight or heterosexual people, the ONS said.

While the leading cause of death for all people was coronary heart disease, the second most common cause of death for LGB+ people was taking their own lives, accounting for 7.1% of all deaths.

Dr Emma Sharland, at the ONS, said: “This is the first time we have looked at differences in causes of death among adults by sexual orientation.

“There are some noticeable differences, with nearly three times as many drug poisoning deaths and close to twice as many alcohol-related deaths among the LGB+ group compared with the straight or heterosexual group.

“While this analysis does not explore causality, we hope this data will help inform health professionals and others working with different population groups.”

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Source: The Guardian, 13 January 2026

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Fifth NHS trust declares critical incident as winter bugs lead to overwhelming demand

A fifth NHS hospital trust has declared a critical incident in the last 24 hours as it is overwhelmed by demand for its services.

Nottingham University Hospitals Trust said it was facing “severe and sustained pressure” caused by rising patient numbers, winter infections and staff sickness.

The combination has led to “significant and unacceptable” delays in A&E and on hospital wards, according to trust chiefs.

A “critical incident” is the highest alert level used by the NHS, and when one is declared, hospitals may redirect resources, postpone non-urgent treatments and seek external support.

Bosses at Nottingham University Hospitals Trust pleaded with the public to go to A&E only in emergencies or serious accidents, and to use other services instead.

Patients were facing what they said were “unacceptable and lengthy” waits in corridors.

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Source: The Independent, 14 January 2026

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US is weeks away from losing its measles elimination status

As of 6 January, the CDC has confirmed 2,147 measles cases in 2025 and 2026, with North Carolina and South Carolina reporting the latest cases amid dozens of outbreaks across the U.S. 

The U.S. achieved measles elimination status in 2020, but the nation could lose this designation in late January. 

In 2025, the CDC logged 49 outbreaks across 45 states. The federal health agency has not reported on any measles-related hospitalizations or deaths in 2026. In 2025, there were 240 hospitalisations and three deaths. 

“About 11% of patients are still being hospitalized for measles, so hospitals may need to be ready to employ isolation precautions to prevent in-hospital spread,” Kaufman Hall said in a news release. 

The majority of infections are among unvaccinated individuals. A national survey conducted from 17 November to 1 December by the Annenberg Public Policy Center of Philadelphia-based University of Pennsylvania found a decline in the public’s perception of the safety and effectiveness of measles, mumps and rubella vaccines. In 2025, 83% of U.S. adults considered the MMR vaccine as safe, which is significantly lower than the 88% who said the same in 2022. 

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Source: Becker's Clinical Leadership, 13 January 2026

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Unregistered Harley Street plastic surgeon pretended to be patient during inspection

A plastic surgeon has been suspended after performing liposuction at a private Harley Street clinic without proper registration and lying to inspectors from the health watchdog.

Dr Sayed Mia carried out gynaecomastia procedures – male breast reduction – without the necessary registration with the Care Quality Commission (CQC), a tribunal heard.

During an inspection by the CQC, it was alleged that Dr Mia claimed he was a patient and gave a fake name and contact details.

The Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service has suspended him for 12 months.

The tribunal heard that on 14 November 2023, Dr Mia, who qualified in South Africa in 1999, was in consultation with a patient at the central London clinic when four CQC inspectors arrived and introduced themselves.

The tribunal heard an inspector “intercepted” Dr Mia, telling him the reason for the visit was “to establish if regulated activities were taking place at the clinic”, after receiving complaints from members of the public.

When asked for his name, Dr Mia told the inspector it was “Ahmed Munda”.

He told the inspector he was having a meeting about a procedure and claimed he was a patient.

The tribunal was told a young man waiting outside the consultation room interrupted and said: “He’s not a patient, he’s a doctor I’ve come to see.”

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Source: The Independent, 14 January 2026

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