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Prostate cancer drug that can halve death risk to be offered to thousands in England

Thousands of men with advanced prostate cancer in England are to be offered a drug that can halve the risk of death.

In guidance published on Friday, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) gave the green light to darolutamide, which attacks the disease by starving cancer cells and has fewer side-effects than existing treatments.

At least 6,000 men a year with metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer will get access to the novel treatment, also known as Nubeqa and made by Bayer, on the NHS.

Darolutamide, taken as two tablets twice daily, works by blocking hormones fuelling cancer growth. The treatment is delivered alongside androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), a hormone therapy that lowers testosterone levels.

Data show the treatment combination is better than using ADT alone and is as effective as other combination treatments, according to Nice.

Helen Knight, the director of medicines evaluation at Nice, said: “I’m pleased we can recommend this new combination treatment, which provides another much-needed option for people with metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer.

“We are determined to ensure that effective treatments such as darolutamide, which can help extend the length and quality of people’s lives, are made available fast to the people who need them.”

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Source: The Guardian, 24 October 2025

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Local health hubs at risk as community services under strain

The government's goal of moving care from hospitals into neighbourhood health hubs is at risk because community services are under too much strain, the health and care regulator says.

In its annual report, the Care Quality Commission said waiting times were too long and staffing too stretched in areas such as mental health, GP care and social care.

The regulator said there was a real risk patients would suffer because these services would not able to cope with the extra demands.

But the government said investment was being made to address the pressures.

It raised a number of concerns about the current state of community services, including:

Long waits for mental health – with a third of adult patients reporting wiats of three months or more between first assessment and treatment, plus signs that waits for children are even worse.

Continued problems accessing GP services – with only half of patients finding it easy to get through on the phone.

A dramatic drop in district nurse numbers – with 50% fewer per person over 65 than there was 14 years ago.

The struggle to get state-funded social care - with the proportion of older people getting help from councils dropping to 3.6%, compared to over 8% 20 years ago.

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Source: BBC News, 24 October 2025

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Resident doctors in England to go on strike for five days next month

Resident doctors in England will strike again next month – the 13th time since 2023 – a decision NHS bosses say is “the last thing the NHS needs”

Hospital chiefs predicted that the stoppage would make it harder for the NHS to manage the increase in winter viruses and hamper its efforts to tackle the 7.4m waiting list backlog.

The British Medical Association (BMA) and Wes Streeting, the health secretary, blamed each other for the five-day strike, from 7am on 14 November to 7am on 19 November.

Dr Jack Fletcher, the chair of the BMA’s resident doctors’ committee (RDC), said on Thursday that the strike was a response to Streeting offering only “vague promises” after the union’s “reasonable” demands on pay and career progression.

But the health secretary accused the BMA of making a “preposterous” decision and indulging in “reckless posturing” and “unnecessary strikes” that would harm patients.

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Source: The Guardian, 23 October 2025

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Local systems must ‘comply’ with new medicines access policy

NHS England wants to standardise local drug formulary teams and operations while it develops a single national formulary over the next two years, HSJ  has learned.

The centre wants to bring more consistency to local formulary operations while it works on the SNF, one of the biggest changes to national policy in July’s 10-Year Health Plan, which was exclusively revealed by HSJ.

A formulary is a list of medicines that have been approved for use by the regulator and are considered cost and clinically effective in treating specific conditions. Currently, there are multiple local formularies overseen by prescribing committees.

The SNF will introduce a nationally managed list with the overall aim of driving “rapid and equitable adoption of clinically and cost-effective innovations”, according to a letter seen by HSJ.  NHSE sent the letter to regional and integrated care board chief pharmacists and medical directors last week.

“The SNF will be designed to help address inequity and variation in the use of approved medicines across the country. Whilst local clinicians, including pharmacists, will retain clinical autonomy, they will be encouraged to use products ranked highly in the SNF,” it explained.

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Source: HSJ, 24 October 2025

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Government announces Women's Health Strategy to be renewed

Women across the country will soon benefit from better and more compassionate care as the Women’s Health Strategy is set to be renewed to address longstanding barriers, the government has announced.  

This follows the announcement that menopause questions will be included in the NHS Health Check to better support millions of women.  

The renewed strategy will set out how the government will take the next steps to improve women’s healthcare as part of the 10 Year Health Plan and create a system that listens to women’s experiences and tackles the inequalities they face.  

As part of the renewal, which will be published next year, the government will look to identify specific barriers in access to healthcare and set out concrete action to remove them. 

Opinions from women who contributed to our 10 Year Health Plan consultation - the biggest ever conversation about the future of the NHS - will play a central role in developing this strategy. 

Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said:   

  • We inherited a broken NHS, and as a result too many women are still subject to a system that doesn’t listen to their experiences or understand their needs.  
  • Whether it’s being passed from one specialist to another for conditions like endometriosis or PCOS, the lack of proper pain relief during procedures, or unacceptable gynaecology waiting lists - it’s clear the system is failing women, and it shouldn’t be happening. 
  • Our renewed strategy will set out our longer-term vision so every woman gets the healthcare she deserves, when she needs it. We’re determined to build an NHS in which women can feel safe and can trust.

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Source: Department of Health and Social Care, 23 October 2025

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Weight-loss drug cuts heart attack risk regardless of kilograms shed, study finds

The weight-loss drug semaglutide cuts the risk of heart attack or stroke regardless of how many kilograms people lose, the largest study of its kind has found.

However, shrinking waist size – a sign of less belly fat – was linked to better heart outcomes, according to the research.

The findings, published in the Lancet, suggest drugs could have wider benefits for patients beyond weight loss so should not be restricted to the most obese patients.

Researchers set out to examine the additional benefits of semaglutide, which is the main ingredient of the weight-loss drug Wegovy.

The select trial, led by University College London (UCL), looked at whether or not people taking the drug went on to suffer a “major adverse cardiac event” – including heart disease deaths, heart attacks or strokes.

Previous analysis of the data found that semaglutide reduced the risk of major adverse cardiac events by 20%. Researchers have now found the benefit was apparent regardless of how much weight people lost while taking the drug.

Academics said the findings suggested there were multiple ways the drug could benefit the heart, rather than the protective effect achieved solely by weight loss alone.

The lead author, Prof John Deanfield, of UCL’s Institute of Cardiovascular Science, said: “Abdominal fat is more dangerous for our cardiovascular health than overall weight and therefore it is not surprising to see a link between reduction in waist size and cardiovascular benefit.

“However, this still leaves two-thirds of the heart benefits of semaglutide unexplained. These findings reframe what we think this medication is doing.

“It is labelled as a weight-loss jab but its benefits for the heart are not directly related to the amount of weight lost – in fact, it is a drug that directly affects heart disease and other diseases of ageing.”

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Source: The Guardian, 22 October 2025

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NHS in Parkinson’s ‘crisis’ as 21,000 could be living with disease undiagnosed

More than 20,000 people across the UK could be living with undiagnosed Parkinson’s disease, a new study has revealed.

The charity Parkinson’s UK warns that a "painfully slow" NHS backlog, exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, has left thousands in a state of uncertainty, with some individuals are waiting up to five years to see a neurologist.

The organisation is now urging the NHS to address what it describes as a "diagnosis crisis".

Research by Parkinson's UK, published in the journal Movement Disorders Clinical Practice, used data from more than 18 million primary care records.

It found diagnosis rates dropped by 26% – from 26,000 to 19,300 – between 2019 and 2021 and still have not recovered to pre-pandemic levels.

The study suggests that while excess deaths had a small impact on the prevalence of Parkinson’s, the biggest factors affecting diagnosis have been long NHS waiting lists, and access to neurology services.

Caroline Rassell, chief executive of Parkinson’s UK, said: “The painfully long Covid backlog, and slow recovery of neurology services, has left thousands of people with Parkinson’s struggling to be seen.

“Some people are waiting five years to see a neurologist.

“All too often we hear they are bounced between services, in a state of uncertainty, fearing the worst whilst they wait for a diagnosis.

“It’s simply unacceptable and forces those who can afford it, to turn to private healthcare for answers.”

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Source: The Independent, 23 October 2025

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CQC chief quits with ‘immediate effect’

The chief executive of the Care Quality Commission has quit with “immediate effect”, the regulator has announced today.

Sir Julian Hartley confirmed his departure after deciding his role had become “incompatible” with the ongoing independent maternity and neonatal inquiry ongoing at Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust, examining care provided while he was CEO. 

Arun Chopra, chief inspector of mental health, is planned to assume the role of interim CEO until a permanent successor is appointed, the CQC said in a statement. 

Sir Julian said: “This has been an incredibly difficult decision. However, I feel that my current role as chief executive of CQC has become incompatible with the important conversations happening about care at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, including during the time I was chief executive there. I am so sorry for the fact that some families suffered harm and loss during this time.

“I will be giving whatever support I can to the inquiry into maternity services at Leeds, so families get the transparency and answers that they need and deserve – and I want to avoid my connection with the trust impacting on CQC’s work to rebuild people’s confidence in the regulator.”

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Source: HSJ, 23 October 2025

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Man murdered stranger in Devon park after losing mental health support, inquest hears

A man with mental health issues and a history of making violent threats murdered a woman in a Devon park after falling off a waiting list for a care coordinator, possibly because a health trust’s computer records were compromised by a cyber-attack, an inquest has heard.

If Cameron Davis had been allocated a care coordinator, a multi-agency meeting on him may have been called before he stabbed Lorna England, 74, the senior coroner for Devon, Plymouth and Torbay, Philip Spinney, concluded.

Cameron Davis fatally stabbed Lorna England after warning he would kill a stranger if he was not sectioned. 

Spinney highlighted that on the day of the murder, a mental health nurse tried to contact the police on their non-emergency 101 line to report that Davis was threatening to kill someone. The nurse waited on the line for about two hours before he was disconnected.

The inquest heard that Davis had been known to mental health services in Devon from November 2021.

In January 2023, the month before he murdered England, Davis presented himself at a police station in Exeter and told an officer he would “100%” kill someone. He was taken to hospital but discharged.

On Saturday 18 February, the morning of the killing, he told a paramedic he would kill a “random person” if he was not detained. He was taken back to hospital but again discharged and went on to attack England that afternoon.

The coroner said psychiatric teams had followed the correct procedures in deciding not to detain Davis. But he said: “There was a mistake in 2022 when Mr Davis appeared to be removed from a waiting list. Mr Davis did not have a care coordinator allocated.”

He said: “It is my conclusion that Mr Davis would have greatly benefited from a care coordinator as a single point of contact as would the other agencies involved to share information.

“A care coordinator may have convened a multi-agency meeting after a decline in Mr Davis mental health at the end of January [2023].”

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Source: The Guardian, 22 October 2025

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NHS health checks in England to have questions on menopause for first time

NHS health checks are to include questions about the menopause for the first time, ministers have announced, with millions of women in England expected to benefit.

Adults aged from 40 to 74 who do not have a pre-existing long-term health condition are eligible for an NHS health check every five years. The checks are intended to identify those at higher risk of heart and kidney disease, type 2 diabetes, dementia and stroke.

The checks will also include questions about the menopause, which the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) estimates could help as many as 5 million women. The questions will be written over the next few months and ministers hope the change will take effect from 2026.

The health secretary, Wes Streeting, said the change would give women “the visibility and support they have long been asking for.”

“Women have been suffering in silence for far too long,” he said, and they are “left to navigate menopause alone, with very little support – all because of an outdated health system that fails to acknowledge how serious it can be.

“No one should have to grit their teeth and just get on with what can be debilitating symptoms or be told that it’s simply part of life.”

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Source: The Guardian, 23 October 2025

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‘Troubling’ bid to curb checks for restricted patients

The Government is making a legal bid to curb the need for health and care providers to get council sign-off and oversight when they admit and put restrictions on people with limited mental capacity.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is asking the Supreme Court, in a case brought by the attorney general of Northern Ireland, to set aside a 2014 legal ruling known as “Cheshire West”, which widened the definition of when so-called “deprivation of liberty safeguards” (DoLs) apply.

The move comes at the same time as the DHSC has revealed proposals to reform the DoLs system in England.

A panel of judges this week began considering whether the Northern Ireland minister of health has the power to revise the DoLs code of practice. 

The Cheshire West ruling resulted in a revised two-part test of whether someone is being deprived of their liberty: if they are under continuous supervision and control, and not free to leave.

It applies where a person is deemed to lack mental capacity to decide themselves. Previously there had been no clear definition.

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CQC prosecutes hospital over ‘avoidable harm’

The Care Quality Commission is prosecuting a large hospital trust for an alleged failure to provide safe care and treatment resulting in “avoidable harm”. 

The regulator today said it was launching the prosecution against University Hospitals Sussex Foundation Trust, with a hearing due to take place at Brighton Magistrates Court on Monday.

It said it was bringing the action under regulations 12 (1) and 22 (2) of the Health and Social Care Act 2008, which relates to a provider’s responsibility to ensure people receive safe care and treatment, and making it a criminal offence where a breach results in avoidable harm or where a person has been exposed to a significant risk of avoidable harm.

The prosecution relates to a young person who was able to abscond from an acute children’s inpatient ward at Worthing Hospital in 2022.

UHSFT has been under intense scrutiny over recent years and is one of the 12 trusts subject to a government-commissioned investigation into maternity service quality. An independent review also recently uncovered claims of misogyny and sexual harassment reported by female staff members.

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Source: HSJ, 22 October 2025

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‘I’m 43, blind and stuck living in a lockdown with my parents’

A blind man said he is living in a “personal lockdown” after having to move back in with his parents while waiting 18 months for vital support.

David Brookmyre, 43 and from Middlesbrough, had to quit his job and move 50 miles away to live with his parents last summer after the glaucoma he’s had since birth rapidly deteriorated. Now, he is unable to leave the house on his own and go out at night without careful planning.

“It's almost like a bit of a personal lockdown,” he told The Independent. “There’s one route I can take down the road with a bit of care because it’s a quiet path to where I live, but other than that, I need to be walking along with somebody, and this is why I was hoping to get some mobility training.”

Mr Brookmyre is one of thousands of visually impaired people who have been forced to wait for local authority training, known as vision rehabilitation, to help them relearn how to do things and live independently. Experts warn that without timely help, those experiencing sight loss will become isolated from society.

A Freedom of Information request by the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) revealed that 20% of local authorities, including the likes of Newcastle upon Tyne, Brighton and Hove, and Croydon in London, have people waiting for more than a year to receive just an initial assessment of the services they need.

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Source: The Independent, 22 October 2025

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Huge difference between side effects of different antidepressant drugs, study reveals

The side effects of different antidepressants have been ranked - revealing a huge difference between drugs.

Researchers looked at the impact medications had on patients in the first eight weeks of starting treatment.

It revealed individuals prescribed certain antidepressants may gain up to 2kg in weight, vary heart rate by as much as 21 beats every minute or have changes in blood pressure.

“Antidepressants are among the most widely used medicines in the world. While many people benefit from them, these drugs are not identical – some can lead to meaningful changes in weight, heart rate, and blood pressure in a relatively short period,” said senior author of the study Dr Toby Pillinger, an academic clinical lecturer at King’s IoPPN, a consultant psychiatrist.

Led by experts from King’s College London’s Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN), the team analysed data from 58,534 participants across over 150 studies, comparing 30 antidepressants against a dummy drug, known as a placebo.

Researchers said that the findings, which have been published in The Lancet, should “empower” patients but urged them to speak with a medic if they have any concerns.

Study author Andrea Cipriani, professor of psychiatry at the University of Oxford, added: “Most clinical decisions – especially in mental health – are still made by physicians with little input from patients.

“Our results emphasise the importance of shared decision making, the collaborative process through which patients are supported by the clinicians to reach a decision about their treatment, bringing together their preferences, personal circumstances, goals, values and beliefs.

“This should be the way forward in the NHS and globally.”

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Source: The Independent, 22 October 2025

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NHS trusts dropped from maternity failings review

Two NHS trusts have been removed from a review of maternity failings across England.

Trusts in Shropshire and Leeds have been dropped from the government's rapid reviews of "failures in the system", after it was confirmed last month they were two of 14 trusts to be looked at.

The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust (SaTH) was removed after "discussions with West Mercia Police about the detail and schedule of [an] ongoing investigation". The decision has left families in the county shocked.

The news Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (LTH) is no longer included in the review comes after a "separate maternity inquiry announced by the Secretary of State" on Monday, officials said.

The national inquiry is due to urgently look at the worst-performing maternity and neonatal services in the country and to report back by December.

North Shropshire MP Helen Morgan said she was concerned how "a review into maternity care in the UK doesn't think it can learn from one of the most in-depth investigations into failings at a maternity unit over decades".

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Source: BBC News, 22 October 2025

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Staff skipped checks and said a vulnerable young woman was safe. Days later, she was dead

Cerys Lupton-Jones pauses between two doorways. One door leads into a side room in the Manchester mental health unit where she's a patient. The other leads into a toilet.

The 22-year-old had tried to end her life just 20 minutes earlier - but no staff are seen on the CCTV footage from inside the unit.

She hesitates for about 30 seconds, walking backwards and forwards. Then she enters the toilet and shuts the door.

The next time she is seen on the footage, doctors and nurses are fighting to resuscitate her.

Cerys dies five days later, on 18 May 2022.

A coroner has concluded that some of the care Cerys was given at Park House, which was run by the Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, was a "shambles".

Staff were meant to be checking on her every 15 minutes.

But the last recorded observation - at 15:00 - had been falsified, saying she had been seen in a corridor. CCTV shows at that point, Cerys was already in the toilet where she would fatally harm herself.

A staff member who was supposed to be looking after her has now admitted to falsifying these records.

Zak Golombeck, coroner for Manchester, said that if someone had stayed with her after the earlier attempt to take her life, what followed may never have happened. He said neglect was likely to have contributed to her death.

Campaigners are calling for an inquiry into the number of deaths at the mental health trust and believe the services are in crisis.

Greater Manchester Mental Health Trust said it "failed her that day, and we are so very sorry that we did not do more".

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Source: BBC News, 21 October 2025

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NHS productivity slows despite ministers hailing ‘green shoots of recovery’

Hospital productivity growth has “slowed sharply” in recent months, new analysis has revealed, prompting experts to warn the NHS is set to miss a key government target.

It comes just weeks after ministers celebrated data showing the NHS had exceeded its target to become 2% more productive each year of this parliament.

NHS England data showed the acute sector had delivered 2.7% growth over the past financial year, 2024/25, as the amount of activity rose faster than staffing costs.

However, research carried out by the Health Foundation and the Strategy Unit, which compared staffing and activity growth month-by-month, found “progress has slowed sharply” in the final quarter of 2024/25, and in the first months of the current financial year.

The think tank said: “Further analysis reveals weakening growth across all components of care, with the fastest fall in emergency inpatient care. Staffing growth has slowed too, but not to the same degree. Taken together, this paints a picture of cooling acute productivity growth.”

Anita Charlesworth, who is co-leading the Health Foundation’s commission on NHS productivity, said the target would not be delivered by “short-term, one-off initiatives and getting people to try and have a big push on one aspect of care for a few months”.

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Source: HSJ, 22 October 2025

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Cuts to world’s biggest malaria fund risk a million more deaths – including 750,000 children

Cuts to the world’s biggest funder of malaria prevention, including by the UK government, could lead to almost a million more deaths by 2030 – including 750,000 children, a report has warned.

It could also drive losses of $83 billion (£62bn) in national economies across Africa, and cost billions in extra trade with the rich countries making up the G7.

On 21 November the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which provides 59 per cent of all international malaria funds, will hold a summit with the aim of raising $18bn (£13.5bn) for the next three years. The event will be co-hosted by the UK and South Africa.

A report by the African Leaders Malaria Alliance (ALMA) and Malaria No More UK estimated that if the Global Fund could no longer pay for malaria prevention, only treatment, almost one million more people would die by 2030 with 750,000 of them being children under five.

In the event that the Global Fund raised 80% of what it did last time, that would still amount to more than 80,000 additional deaths.

The disease kills roughly 600,000 people a year, with the vast majority being children under five.

“We are really at a very momentous time in human history,” said Joy Phumaphi, executive secretary of AMLA and former health minister of Botswana. “There are tools that are available that can actually facilitate the elimination of malaria,” she said, including new vaccines, more effective insecticide- treated bed nets and the use of drones to kill mosquito larvae in standing water.

But, she added, “one of our biggest challenges at the moment is financing”.

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Source: The Independent, 21 October 2025

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Suicide rates among young people in England rose 50% in 10 years, figures show

Suicide rates among children and young people in England have increased by 50% in the last decade, figures show.

The Office for National Statistics analysed data covering almost 12 million children and young people aged between 15 and 25 from 2011-12 to 2021-22. There were 4,315 suicides across the whole period.

A total of 440 young people killed themselves in 2021-22, up 47% from the 300 such deaths in 2011-22. The number of suicides per 100,000 children and young people was up 54% over the same period.

Suicide rates were higher around the summer exam period and slightly lower at the start of the academic year, the ONS found.

Gemma Byrne, the policy and influencing manager at the charity Mind, said the figures were devastating and showed that the country was “sliding backwards, not moving forwards, on young people’s mental health”.

She said: “The causes of suicide are complex and differ from person to person, but we know that over half a million people under 18 are on mental health waiting lists, with one in four of them waiting for more than two years for meaningful care. Too many young people can’t get help in the community when they need it.

“Until the government grasps the scale of the nation’s mental health crisis, more children and young people will be let down by the systems supposed to care for them. We must see investment in timely support for young people, through a national network of early support hubs and a commitment to tackling mental health waiting lists, so they can get help before it’s too late.”

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Source: The Guardian, 20 October 2025

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Management training scheme more likely to reject minority ethnic applicants

Applicants from minority ethnic backgrounds are much more likely than others to be rejected by the NHS graduate management training scheme, HSJ can reveal.

Last year, 84% of the 37,557 applications to the graduate management training scheme were from people with a minority ethnic background, but they made up 38% of the 197 people that started the scheme.

HSJ analysis of NHS England data shows that of the previous five full recruitment cycles, one in every 198 minority ethnic applicants was successful, compared to one in every 41 for white applicants.

Of the 1,193 successful applicants in each of the past five full recruitment cycles, 321 (27%) identified as from a minority ethnic background. 

The latest NHSE Workforce Race Equality Standard report warned that many more staff were from a minority ethnic background than board members, with the gap, at 16.8% nationally, being “especially large in 2024, having increased from 13.5% in 2021”.

Habib Naqvi, chief executive of the NHS Race and Health Observatory, said the low rate of successful minority applicants to the GMTS identified by HSJ was “concerning, not least because the lack of diverse representation at leadership level is a long-standing challenge for the NHS”.

He told HSJ: “Healthcare leaders need to take stock of the data and lead by example in ensuring opportunities for these coveted placements are equally accessible and open to applicants from Black, Asian, and minority ethnic backgrounds.

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Source: HSJ, 20 October 2025

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NHS policies to improve care for people taking multiple medicines may not be effective

Current NHS policies designed to improve care for people taking multiple medicines may not be effective, according to new research.  

In England, more than one in seven people take five or more medicines daily, leading to growing concerns over the overuse of medicines – known as polypharmacy – because of potential side effects and patient harms.  

The new study is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and led by the universities of Exeter and Bristol. Published in The Lancet Healthy Longevity, it looked at how medication safety in general practice might be improved for people taking lots of medicines. 

Drawing on current NHS policy recommendations, the researchers developed a process involving rigorous reviews of a person’s medicines by a pharmacist and GP, and compared this new method of care with the usual type of care carried out in GP practices.

They found that the enhanced process did not lead to improvements in safe prescribing for patients taking multiple medicines. 

The findings suggest the need to reconsider NHS approaches to improving medication safety for people with complex prescriptions, with researchers calling for future policies to be revised to ensure efficient and effective use of resources. 

Professor Rupert Payne of the University of Exeter, who led the project, said: “This is one of the largest studies of its kind. It adds strong evidence that the strategies being used by the NHS to improve medicines safety need to be reconsidered. We’ve also learned that there are ways we can improve the experience of patients and help GPs and pharmacists to work more effectively together. The NHS should look at how this might be made to happen in practice, as more of the same doesn’t seem to be working.” 

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Source: University of Exeter, 20 October 2025

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‘Falling to bits’: NHS faces £16 billion maintenance crisis

Patient safety is being put at risk by “decrepit” NHS buildings, experts have warned, as new figures show the maintenance bill has risen by more than 15% to almost £16 billion.

The sum outstrips the total cost of running the NHS estate, which was £14 billion in 2024-2025, according to NHS England data.

Health commentators warned that hospitals with “flooded corridors” and “roofs at risk of falling in” are impacting care and patient safety.

The latest Estates Return Information Collection (ERIC) shows that the cost to eradicate the backlog of NHS repairs in England increased to £15.9 billion in 2024-2025.

This is up by 15.7% on £13.8 billion reported a year earlier.

The backlog bill is a measure of how much funding is needed to restore buildings to a good state. It refers to maintenance work that should already have taken place rather than any that is planned.

Daniel Elkeles, chief executive of NHS Providers, said: “Critical parts of the NHS are falling to bits, literally, after years of underinvestment nationally. The safety of patients and staff is at risk.

“We can’t keep wasting money propping up ageing buildings not fit for purpose.”

He added: “Eye-watering sums are needed just to patch up buildings and equipment which are in a very bad way right across hospital, mental health, community, and ambulance services. We need to make the NHS as modern and winter-proof as possible, but the waiting list of essential repairs keeps getting longer and costs are soaring.”

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Source: Medscape, 17 October 2025

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Millions exploited by ‘menopause gold rush’ amid lack of reliable information, say UK experts

Millions of women are being exploited by a “menopause gold rush” as companies, celebrities and influencers take advantage of a “dearth” of reliable information on the issue, experts have said.

Healthcare companies and content creators saw menopause as a “lucrative market” and were trying to profit from gaps in public knowledge, women’s health academics at UCL said.

Researchers called for the rollout of a national education programme after finding a significant number of women do not feel well-informed about menopause.

Writing in medical journal Post Reproductive Health, they said: “There has been a rapid expansion in unregulated private companies and individuals providing menopause information and support for profit; this has been termed the ‘menopause gold rush’.

“This fragmented landscape of menopause support and education leaves people vulnerable to financial exploitation, may propagate misinformation and is likely to amplify existing menopause-related health inequities.”

One woman who took part in the UK study told researchers: “Everything I know about the menopause I learnt on Instagram from other women.” Only one in five – 22% – of 1,500 women surveyed by the UCL team felt well-informed about menopause.

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Source: The Guardian, 20 October 2025

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Low participation in medical trials puts millions of young people at risk

Millions of young people risk missing out on new treatments for health conditions and having to use medicines that are unsafe, ineffective or inappropriate because so few take part in medical research, experts have warned.

Data analysis by the Guardian reveals that members of gen Z – those born between the late 1990s and the early 2000s – are significantly underrepresented in clinical trials and health studies.

People aged 18 to 24 make up 8% of England’s population, but only 4.4% of those taking part in medical research.

Though less affected by life-threatening conditions such as cancer and heart disease, young adults still experience a significant burden of disease. Almost half – 45% – of those aged 24 or under have a long-term physical or mental health condition.

Experts said the lack of young people participating in research would have a serious impact on their physical and mental health for decades unless urgent action was taken to reverse the trend.

Kirsty Blenkins, the deputy chief executive of the Association for Young People’s Health, said adults aged 24 and under faced “a distinct set of health challenges” that were often “shaped by major life transitions, social pressures and inequalities” that impacted their physical and mental wellbeing.

Their absence from clinical and health research projects had serious implications, she added.

“Treatments and interventions may be designed and tested primarily on older adults, which means they may not always be safe, effective, or appropriate for younger populations. This can lead to poorer health outcomes, delayed diagnosis, and reduced trust or engagement with healthcare systems.”

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Source: The Guardian, 20 October 2025

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Scotland: Code-red patients waiting up to 18 hours for ambulances to arrive

Some code-red patients are waiting up to 18 hours for ambulances to arrive, it has been revealed, in delays that have been branded “scandalous”.

Freedom of Information requests from the Scottish Conservatives show that since January last year, one patient in that category waited over 17 hours for an ambulance in Lothian. Another waited 18 hours in the Highlands.

Code-red patients are those deemed to be at risk of cardiac arrest or at risk of needing resuscitation.

The figures also show one code-purple patient – those who are deemed the most critically ill and most at risk of cardiac arrest – was forced to wait over four hours for an ambulance in Glasgow in the past year.

The Scottish Ambulance Service’s (SAS) target median response time for code-purple cases is seven minutes.

Scottish Conservative shadow health secretary Dr Sandesh Gulhane described the waiting times as “scandalous” and accused the SNP of putting patients’ lives at risk due to their “chronic mismanagement” of the service.

He said: “These terrifying figures expose how patients’ lives are being jeopardised because our ambulance service is dangerously overstretched after years of chronic SNP mismanagement.

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Source: The Scotsman, 19 October 2025

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