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New ‘unusual’ side effect of weight-loss drugs becoming more common, research suggests

A new “unusual” side effect of weight-loss drugs is becoming more common, research has suggested.

Weight-loss drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy have soared in popularity. About one in eight U.S. adults said they’ve taken a GLP-1 drug, used to treat type 2 diabetes and obesity, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll published in May 2024.

But like with any other drugs, there are side effects, including a newly found one that could interfere with medical imaging.

Researchers from Alliance Medical, a European imaging service provider, reviewed oncologic FDG PET-CT scans in patients taking GLP-1 drugs.

Alliance Medical researchers found several abnormal patterns of FDG uptake in patients taking GLP-1 drugs, according to a September presentation at the Annual Congress of the European Association of Nuclear Medicine. These abnormal patterns could be misinterpreted by doctors if a patient’s medication history is not considered.

“We noticed unusual uptake in one of our patients on a GLP-1 agonist, which prompted a wider review across our network,” lead author Dr. Peter Strouhal, Medical Director at Alliance Medical, said in a statement published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

“We found that these altered patterns are increasingly common, yet there is currently no national or international guidance in the UK addressing this emerging issue.”

If patients’ scans are misinterpreted, it can lead to unnecessary tests, incorrect cancer staging and delays in treatment.

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Source: The Independent, 8 October 2025

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Trusts in Northern Ireland spend £22m on restricted procedures such as tummy tucks

Northern Ireland's health trusts spent almost £22m in a single year on restricted procedures which should only be carried out in very specific circumstances, according to the auditor general.

Dorinnia Carville said about 12,000 operations, which include tummy tucks and tonsillectomies, were carried out in 2023-24 without any assurance they complied with government policy.

Ms Carville described the lack of oversight by the Department of Health and the trusts as "very disappointing".

The Department of Health and the five health trusts acknowledged the concerns raised in the Audit Office report and accepted that oversight arrangements must be strengthened.

Health trusts must adhere to the Effective Use of Resources (EUR) policy which restricts 29 medical procedures, with six of these not permitted at all.

The Audit Office report found 40 restricted procedures were carried out each day during that year.

Other restricted procedures include liposuction, breast reduction, removal of breast implants, carpal tunnel and tattoo removal.

The auditor general found the EUR policy was "not resulting in good value for money being achieved".

She said: "Trusts have not put in place arrangements to verify that medical staff are complying with the policy."

"At a time when our health service is facing increased demands and significant financial pressures, measures introduced to ensure the effective use of resources are vital.

"However, these can only be successful if they are properly implemented and monitored."

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Source: BBC News, 8 October 2025

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Scientists develop first ‘accurate blood test’ to detect chronic fatigue syndrome

Scientists say they have developed the world’s first blood test to diagnose myalgic encephalomyelitis, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS).

There is currently no test for the condition and patients tend to be diagnosed based on symptoms, which means many can go undiagnosed for years.

The lead researcher, Prof Dmitry Pshezhetskiy, from the University of East Anglia (UEA) Norwich Medical School, said: “ME/CFS is a serious and often disabling illness characterised by extreme fatigue that is not relieved by rest. We know that some patients report being ignored or even told that their illness is ‘all in their head’. With no definitive tests, many patients have gone undiagnosed or misdiagnosed for years.

“We wanted to see if we could develop a blood test to diagnose the condition – and we did. Our discovery offers the potential for a simple, accurate blood test to help confirm a diagnosis, which could lead to earlier support and more effective management.”

Scientists at UEA and Oxford Biodynamics (OBD) looked at how DNA was folded in patients diagnosed with the condition, which could provide tell-tale signs of ME/CFS.

They examined blood samples from 47 patients with severe ME/CFS and 61 healthy adults. The team discovered a unique pattern that appears consistently in people with ME/CFS that is not seen in healthy people, enabling them to develop the test.

However, some experts not involved with the research urged caution and said the test would need to be fully validated in better designed and independent studies before it could be considered for use in clinical practice.

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Source: The Guardian, 8 October 2025

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Comparing trusts on new productivity metric is misleading, experts warn

Recent productivity improvements will be hard to sustain in future years, experts have warned, as they said newly published NHS England data fails to show which trusts are the most productive.

The Department for Health and Social Care announced last month that productivity at acute and specialist trusts had grown by 2.7% in 2024-25 compared to the previous year – exceeding the 2% target set by government.

The productivity measure, which compares cost-weighted activity growth against real-terms resource growth to give a “productivity growth estimate”, is also one of three finance measures used to determine which segment of the NHS Oversight Framework providers are assigned.

The data, which compares 2023-24 with 2024-25, has last month published what effectively amounts to a productivity “league table”.

HSJ has learned some trusts, including two specialist providers which appeared to be the worst performers when the data was first published last month, have raised concerns to NHSE that their figures were inaccurate.

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Source: HSJ, 7 October 2025

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‘Wild west’ of AI suppliers face new NHSE checks

A new national registry for ambient voice technology providers to combat the “wild west” of suppliers is due to launch this week, England’s national chief clinical information officer has announced.

Alec Price-Forbes told delegates at the Healthcare Excellence Through Technology (HETT) conference today that the new register was a “tactical response” to the rapid rollout of AVT across the NHS.

The AI software automatically transcribes patient-clinician conversations into structured medical notes, freeing up clinicians from manual documentation and allowing them to focus more on patient care.

The NHS 10-Year Health Plan pledged a mass rollout of AVT to deliver productivity gains among clinicians and improve their engagement with patients.

Dr Price-Forbes announced that NHS England would imminently launch a national “self-certified registry” for AVT, underpinned by “clear business capabilities and application requirements for all AVT suppliers to evidence compliance”.

He added that the registry would list existing and recognised regulatory, clinical safety and interoperability standards, but would also go further by introducing specific criteria for “greater safety governance and performance monitoring” of AI and large language models.

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Source: HSJ, 7 October 2025

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Deaf people criticise hospital interpreter delays

A deaf man who spent 24 hours in hospital without the support of an interpreter said staff were shouting out his name despite being told he could not hear.

Terry Murray, from Rugby, is among a group of NHS patients to have been left feeling frustrated or vulnerable at a city hospital because of a lack of sign language interpreters.

The Coventry and Warwickshire Association for the Deaf (CWAD) said it had received more than 100 complaints over delays in getting access to interpreters at University Hospital Coventry.

The trust running the hospital said its interpreter service provider LanguageLine Solutions would be engaging with CWAD.

Mr Murray told BBC Radio CWR he was taken to hospital with potential brain issues and asked for an interpreter but was not given one for 24 hours.

He said he had a CT scan and an MRI but the staff could not explain anything for him because there was nobody who knew sign language.

"They just basically took me, put me in, I had the scan and then was told to leave," he said.

Another CWAD service user said such situations could have safety implications.

Helen Patterson, from Solihull, said she requested an interpreter four or five times in advance before hospital appointments but none had been there when she arrived.

She said it felt like a waste of her time and money, adding that she had sometimes been offered an interpreter over a video link but said there were often connection issues.

"If we're sat there as deaf people, we don't know if there's a fire alarm, if there's a bomb or if there's an emergency," she said.

"We're at risk not having an interpreter present with us. We're very vulnerable."

National hearing loss charity RNID told the BBC that the NHS was "flouting equality law", adding that under the Accessible Information Standard, the NHS should be providing interpreters and accessible means of communication when needed.

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Source: BBC News, 4 October 2025

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Pharmacies facing angry and confused patients over Covid jab eligibility

UK pharmacies have reported having to deal with angry and confused patients after the NHS booking system allowed non-eligible patients to book Covid jabs.

According to Community Pharmacy England (CPE), which represents more than 10,000 chemists, between a third and half of patients who booked via the national booking system are not actually eligible for the vaccination.

CPE director of NHS services Alastair Buxton told the BBC that many patients had arrived at their pharmacy having booked the Covid-19 jab, only to be told they could only get the flu jab.

The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) said the situation has been “deeply frustrating” for both patients and pharmacists.

"That obviously takes a lot of explaining to patients. It causes upset, concern and maybe anger for some patients,” Mr Buxton said.

"We've certainly had examples of some patients becoming abusive with pharmacy team members."

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Source: The Independent, 7 October 2025

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Children’s unit to close over staffing and CQC concerns

A children’s mental health unit struggling with short staffing has been forced to close for several months, in the wake of a Care Quality Commission inspection.

Chalkhill Hospital, an inpatient unit run by Sussex Partnership Foundation Trust in the grounds of the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath, has capacity for up to 16 young people aged 12 to 17.

The trust confirmed it has closed to new admissions and, although it is not at full capacity, is seeking to relocate its seven current residents. However, the trust expects this to take up to 12 weeks. 

A board paper shows the trust was contemplating closure from mid-September, citing “no consultant cover”, and said admissions were paused following concerns from the CQC.

The CQC inspected the unit at the end of August, but has not yet published its report, and would not comment further.

HSJ understands the trust has recently recruited a new “responsible clinician” – a regulated role required for patients detained under the Mental Health Act – but they will not take up the post for several weeks.

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Source: HSJ, 6 October 2025

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Trump launches website to help Americans buy cheaper drugs, with Pfizer signing up

The US president, Donald Trump, has announced a new web portal—dubbed TrumpRx—to allow Americans to buy drugs at reduced prices from next year.1

Prices listed on TrumpRx will be the “most favoured nation” price, said Trump—essentially, the lowest price paid by other developed nations such as Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, Switzerland, and Denmark. In a press conference announcement on 30 September Trump reiterated that US drug costs were higher than in other developed nations.

The website is intended to facilitate direct-to-consumer access to prescription drugs at lower prices,2 although the announcements did not say how prescriptions would be verified, and no further detail was disclosed at the press conference.

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Source: BMJ, 3 October 2025

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Covid-19: Lack of surveillance leaves UK in dark as hospital admissions rise, experts warn

The UK’s current method of recording Covid-19 cases “is not a sensible approach to managing the spread of infection,” virologists have warned.

Latest data showed an uptick in the number of UK covid cases and hospital admissions that experts said was “worrying, so early in autumn.”

The latest surveillance report from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) showed that in the week starting 15 September the overall weekly hospital admission rate for covid was 2.73 per 100 000 people. This was up by 60% from a month prior, when the rate was 1.71 per 100 000 in the week starting 18 August. And latest data from the following week show that covid cases rose 22%—from 2012 weekly cases to 2459—in the week to 24 September.

Amanda Doyle, NHS England’s primary care director, said, “It’s concerning to hear flu and covid-19 cases are already creeping up ahead of winter,” urging people who were eligible to come forward for vaccinations as soon as they could.3

But Young warned that reduced data now collected by the UK on the virus could mean that health officials were flying blind into the winter period. “The lack of routine [covid] testing means we have no idea about the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in the general population, making it difficult to predict any future waves of infection,” he said.

Current testing predominantly focuses on hospital patients rather than community or primary care, which Young said could make it “difficult to identify and monitor outbreaks.” He added, “Relying on hospitalisations as a measure of surges in infection is not a sensible approach to managing the spread of infection and planning for pressures on the NHS.”

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Source: BMJ, 3 October 2025

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More than 60,000 cancer patients in England ‘not getting necessary radiotherapy’

More than 60,000 cancer patients a year in England are not getting the radiotherapy they need at all, while some face waits of up to six months to begin the treatment, research has found.

The situation is so dire that nearly 100 heads of radiotherapy and oncology – three-quarters of England’s radiotherapy leaders – have warned in an open letter that the government is failing patients.

International experts agree that more than half (53%) of all cancer patients will typically need radiotherapy, but exclusive analysis of the latest NHS data in England shows only 35% actually receive it. The study by the charity Radiotherapy UK found 181,023 cancer patients should have received radiotherapy but only 120,569 did, leaving 60,455 patients a year without any radiotherapy at all.

Regional inequalities are rife. In south-west England, 36% of patients receive radiotherapy, meaning around 7,200 patients miss out, while in the south-east, 33.7% receive treatment, with more than 10,100 missing out.

The leading oncologist and chair of Radiotherapy UK, Prof Pat Price, said: “Thousands of cancer patients risk dying prematurely either because they are not getting radiotherapy at all or because of huge delays in starting radiation treatment.”

She added: “Radiotherapy is one of the most cost-effective and curative cancer treatments we have. It is not a ‘nice to have’, this is a life-saving treatment.”

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Source: The Guardian, 3 September 2025

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Maternity units disrupted for nine months by IT fault

An IT fault has prevented several major maternity units in South London from properly storing foetal heart monitoring records for more than nine months, HSJ has learned.

St George’s, Epsom and St Helier Hospital Group (GESH) and Kingston and Richmond Foundation Trust have confirmed they are affected by a problem which prevents cardiotocography (CTG) traces from being automatically downloaded and stored.

A manual workaround has been put in place, which the trusts said ensured CTG traces were captured and safely stored, but the fault is not yet fixed.

CTGs can track a baby’s heart rate and a mother’s contractions during labour and are often critical evidence in clinical negligence investigations.

Board papers from GESH, published in September, said CTG traces from Neoventa STAN machines were not being downloaded or stored as expected.

It warned that the absence of CTG traces “presents a clinical and legal risk”, given their frequent role in determining breach of duty in clinical negligence claims.

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Source: HSJ, 3 October 2025

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Call to allow ‘safe and effective’ at-home abortions up to 12 weeks in UK

At-home abortions should be allowed for up to 12 weeks of pregnancy across the UK, according to academics, after a study found they were just as safe and effective as hospital care.

A medical abortion involves taking two medications, mifepristone and misoprostol, to end a pregnancy. In 2022, at-home medical abortions were made permanent in England and Wales, after temporary legislation allowed them to take place at home during the pandemic. In Northern Ireland, at-home abortion care is not permitted at any gestation.

Despite the World Health Organization (WHO) recommending that early medical abortions can occur safely at home in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, legislation across England and Wales limits this to 10 weeks.

The study, published in BMJ Sexual & Reproductive Health, looked at the outcomes of abortions carried out between 10 and 12 weeks of pregnancy in hospital and at home across NHS Lothian in Scotland, between 2020 and 2025. At-home medical abortions are legal in Scotland up to 12 weeks.

During this period, 14,458 referrals were made to the abortion service, and of these 485 women (3.5%) were assessed as being between 10 and 12 weeks of pregnancy either by the date of their last period or by an ultrasound scan.

The researchers found that 97% of abortions were successful for both groups of women.

They also found cases of serious complications, such as heavy bleeding or infection, one month after the procedure among those who had opted for a medical abortion at home. But despite this, the researchers concluded it was a rare complication among women who are less than 20 weeks pregnant.

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Source: The Guardian, 

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The doctors banned from practising abroad cleared to treat in NHS

he health secretary has ordered an urgent review of vetting procedures for foreign qualified doctors after a Times investigation exposed how medics banned from practising overseas have been cleared to treat NHS patients.

Wes Streeting described the findings as “horrific” and “a serious failure in our medical regulatory systems that I will not tolerate”.

One doctor was fired when The Times approached their employer with its revelations, and another is under suspension.

Sujan Thyagaraj, a psychiatrist employed by a Bradford NHS trust, lost his US medical licence for having sex with a patient. Sattar Kadhem, a radiologist, lost his Swedish and Norwegian medical licences for misreading scans.

Despite this, both were granted the right to practise in the UK.

They were among 22 doctors identified by The Times who have been subject to discipline or restrictions overseas but with no record of it showing on their General Medical Council (GMC) licences.

In each case the GMC had either failed to spot the overseas findings — despite in some cases this information being public record — or it did not think the information should be available to patients.

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Source: The Times, 2 October 2025

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UK woman who refused cancer drugs was influenced by mother, inquest finds

A woman who died after refusing chemotherapy doctors believed would have given her a strong chance of recovery was “adversely influenced” by her conspiracy theorist mother, a coroner has said.

Paloma Shemirani died aged 23 in July 2024 after refusing conventional treatment for non-Hodgkin lymphoma. On Thursday, the coroner in her inquest said the influence of her parents, Kay and Faramarz Shemirani, “more than minimally” contributed to her death.

“It seems that if Paloma had been supported and encouraged to accept her diagnosis and considered chemotherapy with an open mind she probably would have followed that course,” Catherine Wood told a hearing at Kent and Medway coroner’s court in Maidstone.

She said Kay Shemirani “took a leading role in advising Paloma in respect of and facilitating access to alternative treatments”. She added: “If approached with an open mind, Paloma would have chosen the chance to survive, and if she had undergone chemotherapy she probably would have survived.”

An NHS doctor told the inquest into Paloma Shemirani’s death she was concerned her mother, Kay, better known as the online influencer Kate Shemirani, influenced her daughter’s refusal of cancer treatment.

Arunodaya Mohan, a consultant haematologist at Maidstone hospital, said she had recommended steroids and a PET (positron emission tomography) scan, and that Paloma had “nodded in agreement”.

At the time of her diagnosis, doctors at Maidstone hospital told Paloma she had an 80% chance of recovery through chemotherapy.

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Source: The Guardian, 2 October 2025

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Millions of seniors could lose access to telehealth without deal in Congress

Millions of American seniors could lose access to telehealth appointments with their doctors if Congress fails to fund them amid a looming government shutdown, while thousands more who have been receiving high-level, acute care at home face being sent back to the hospital or discharged.

While most Medicare reimbursements to doctors and hospitals will continue in the event the government shuts down Wednesday, payments for video health care visits — which gained in popularity during the pandemic and must be separately authorised for an extension by Congress — face elimination.

Without getting paid or receiving some assurance they would be compensated retroactively, doctors and hospitals say they will be unable to provide services. Particularly for elderly people with limited mobility or transportation hurdles, telehealth has become a vital service improving their access to care, advocates say.

Losing these benefits will “exacerbate all types of problems in our health care system,” said Kyle Zebley, executive director of ATA Action, the advocacy arm of the American Telemedicine Association. “It’s going to diminish capacity at a point in time when we don’t have enough.”

More than 6.7 million seniors received care through a telehealth service visit last year, according to the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), which is a quarter of eligible Medicare beneficiaries. During the pandemic, the number was even higher, with 14.8 million eligible Medicare beneficiaries receiving telehealth services in 2020.

The funding cliff for the telehealth and home-hospital care programs is separate from shutdown negotiations, but both programmes are caught up waiting for congressional action. Some providers have been warning patients for months that their appointments may no longer be reimbursed, while others are remaining hopeful that Congress will come through with a last-minute funding plan. The biggest impact would be in urban and suburban areas, according to medical groups, while patients in rural areas that were eligible before the pandemic would continue to receive coverage.

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Source: Washington Post, 30 September 2025

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'Years of unnecessary chemotherapy stole my youth'

A brain cancer patient who says he was prescribed chemotherapy tablets for 16 years, even though NHS guidelines say they should only be taken for six months, has said he feels his youth was stolen from him.

Jonathan Jones was diagnosed with anaplastic astrocytoma in 2007 when he was 17 and took temozolomide tablets until November 2023, when he was 33.

Since he has raised his case with lawyers, more than 30 other brain cancer patients at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW) have raised similar concerns.

The NHS trust said it was committed to providing the safest possible care and had commissioned an independent inquiry.

Prof Ian Brown, the oncologist who oversaw Mr Jones's care, is being investigated by the General Medical Council (GMC). The BBC has attempted to contact the retired professor several times.

Mr Jones, now aged 36, said: "I lost my freedom, I couldn't do anything at the time. I had 16, 17 years taken away from me."

Mr Jones was told he would need to stay on his tablets to stay alive, and when he questioned the treatment, he said the reply was: "Do you want to die? If you don't carry on taking the chemo, you'll die."

Guidelines say temozolomide should be taken post radiotherapy for a maximum of six cycles, external. This is usually over six months.

There are a wide range of side effects associated with temozolomide including muscle weakness, memory issues and, in rare cases, secondary cancers and liver damage.

Another patient, Samantha Smith from Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, says she took temozolomide for six-and-a-half years while under the direction of Prof Brown at UHCW.

She said she had suffered from teeth and gum decay, mobility issues and chronic fatigue.

Ms Smith said: "You never expect anybody to turn around and say to you 'by the way, you've had too much'."

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Source: BBC News, 2 October 2025

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‘No rush’ to transfer NHSE staff as abolition faces delay

There is no longer a “rush” to transfer the employment of NHS England staff to the Department of Health and Social Care, Sir Jim Mackey has told them.

Speaking at an internal staff briefing, the chief executive said the process of merging NHSE functions with DHSC – and cutting both their central staffing in half – would be “more of a gradual, managed process” than signalled in the spring.

HSJ has also learned there is now serious doubt about whether legislation can be drafted and passed through Parliament in time to formally abolish NHSE “within the next two years”, the timetable set in July’s 10-Year Health Plan.

In comments seen by HSJ, Sir Jim told NHSE staff last week: “The transformation process won’t be that big, dramatic overnight thing that we thought was going to be the case…

“We’re still heading towards a similar sort of objective, around the scale of the reduction and… joint working with DHSC, but it’s going to be more of a gradual, managed process now over the next couple of years…"

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Source: HSJ, 2 October 2025

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Sunbeds should be banned in UK, skin cancer experts say

Sunbeds are so dangerous they should be banned in the UK, cancer experts and campaigners say.

They have urged ministers to order the closure of the thousands of tanning salons operating across Britain, using public funds to compensate owners if necessary.

Commercial sunbeds play such a damaging role in causing skin cancer, and a ban on under-18s using them is so widely flouted, that an outright ban is justified, they argue in the British Medical Journal (BMJ).

“An immediate outright ban on commercial sunbeds alongside public education offers the most cost-effective solution to reduce skin cancer, save lives and ease the burden on the NHS,” they say.

The call comes from experts at the Christie cancer hospital in Manchester, including Prof Paul Lorigan, campaigners from the British charity Melanoma Focus and a skin cancer specialist in Australia whose work helped persuade its government to ban sunbeds in 2016.

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Source: The Guardian, 1 October 2025

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New guidance on doctors' sexual misconduct cases

New guidance on how to treat cases of sexual misconduct by doctors has been released.

It follows criticism of the body that is meant to determine whether doctors are fit to practise in the UK.

The Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) had been accused of failing to apply appropriate sanctions in cases involving sexual misconduct.

The MPTS says it hopes the fresh guidance will support consistent and well-reasoned decisions.

Last month research found in nearly a quarter of cases involving sexual misconduct, the MPTS imposed sanctions on doctors that were more lenient than those recommended by the regulator, the General Medical Council (GMC).

The criticism was based on the outcomes of 46 cases with offences including harassment, rape, and assaults of patients, colleagues and children.

Some medics were handed suspensions instead of following GMC advice to strike them off the medical register.

At the time, the Royal College of Surgeons accused the MPTS of failing victims and compounding the trauma they had suffered.

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Source: BBC News, 1 October 2025

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Heart surgeon's failures contributed to multiple deaths

Seven people have died following multiple failures by a heart surgeon who continues to work for the NHS, the BBC has learned.

An NHS investigation found problems in Karen Booth's cases included clinical errors, carrying out operations she wasn't skilled or experienced enough to perform and not calling for help when she should have.

Serious concerns about Ms Booth's performance at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle were first raised by her colleagues in 2018 - but the hospital did not launch an investigation until 2021. Ms Booth is currently working as a mentor to other surgeons at the Freeman, which plans to allow her to resume her surgical career shortly.

Karen Booth "should never [again] practise as a surgeon", said the family of one man who died after being operated on by her.

The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the Freeman, did not respond to most of the questions put to it by the BBC, including why it thought it appropriate to let Ms Booth resume her surgical career.

The trust did however point to a problematic working culture in the cardiac unit at the time of the failures, while internal reports have criticised poor governance procedures and a reluctance from senior staff to take responsibility over safety concerns.

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Source: BBC News, 2 October 2025

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Major failings found after surgeon harmed women

A former NHS gynaecologist's risky practices and shortcuts contributed to women suffering severe physical harm, a long-awaited report into his care has found.

Daniel Hay joined the University Hospitals of Derby and Burton (UHDB) NHS Foundation Trust in 2005, and operated on hundreds of women before retiring in 2020.

A report - which scrutinised Mr Hay's care between 2015 and 2018 - was commissioned after concerns were raised by colleagues, and found failings in his practices, how he was managed and added only "good fortune prevented further harm".

The report was commissioned by the Gynaecology Review Steering Group, which included representations from NHS England, UHDB, and the Derby and Derbyshire clinical commissioning group.

As part of the report, the panel contacted 325 women who had been treated by Mr Hay between 2015 and 2018, asking them to share their experiences.

In addition to the 325 patients, 58 women had already been reviewed in an earlier assessment carried out in 2019.

In Wednesday's report, the steering group panel identified two women as suffering "severe physical harm", with three sustaining "moderate physical harm" under Mr Hay's care.

Among the issues identified were women who had a hysterectomy - a surgical procedure that removes the womb - with some patients made to feel like it was their "only option" when less invasive options may have been available.

This "adversely affected" the mental health of women who dreamed of starting families but were unable to do so, affecting their relationships and jobs.

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Source: BBC News, 1 October 2025

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Food allergy law saving lives, say teen's parents

The parents of a teenager who died from an allergic reaction after eating a pre-packed baguette have said their daughter would be "very proud" of how a change in the law is saving lives.

Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, 15, from Fulham, west London, suffered a severe allergic reaction to sesame baked into the Pret A Manger sandwich in July 2016.

Sesame was not listed as an ingredient on the packaging, and the seeds were not visible to the naked eye.

Four years ago to the day, Natasha's Law was introduced requiring food outlets to provide a full ingredients list and allergy labelling for foods made and packaged on the premises for direct sale, following a campaign by Tanya and Nadim Ednan-Laperouse.

The couple, founders of the Natasha Allergy Research Foundation, said the law was making a difference.

The charity has called 1 October Natasha's Day - a time to celebrate the teenager's "legacy of change".

Her parents said in a statement: "Natasha's Law gives greater protection to the millions of people in the UK living with food allergies, allowing them to buy food and eat out with greater confidence."

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Source: BBC News, 1 October 2025

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Every GP practice now has to offer online booking

From today, every GP practice in England will have to offer online appointment bookings throughout the day.

The move, ordered by the government, is aimed at reducing the so-called '8am scramble' to get through to practices on the phone.

Surgeries will have to provide the service from 08:00 to 18:30 Monday to Friday.

Alongside requesting non-urgent appointments, patients will also be able to ask questions and describe symptoms and request a call back.

It comes after the British Medical Association (BMA) called for a halt to the introduction, warning that potentially serious health problems could be missed by some GPs and lead to patients being harmed.

The doctors union said there would be a "potential online triage tsunami" and urged more to be done to provide safeguards, such as allowing practices to temporarily switch off the online booking mechanism if staff are struggling to handle patient numbers.

It said on Monday it would consider industrial action in the form of a work-to-rule if need be.

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Source: BBC News, 1 October 2025

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Streeting orders probe of mental illness overdiagnosis

The health and social care secretary is to launch a review of the prevalence of mental illness and neurodivergence, with a particular focus on whether some conditions are being overdiagnosed, HSJ has revealed.

HSJ understands the review has been commissioned by Wes Streeting, and will be chaired by leading psychoanalyst and clinical psychologist Peter Fonagy. Former Royal College of Psychiatry president and NHS England board adviser Sir Simon Wessely will be vice chair.

The review is expected to be announced in coming weeks, sources say.

It will be launched in the content of rising concern about the number of people receiving benefits because they are deemed unfit for work due to mental health problems. There is also alarm over the very long waits and backlogs for diagnosis and treatment for some conditions, particularly ADHD and autism, and for mental healthcare. There has been a big increase in recognition and diagnosis of ADHD in particular in recent years, in both children and adults.

Prime minister Sir Kier Starmer told the BBC this morning that some money allocated to health benefits for those suffering from mental health problems might better be spent on their treatment.

Asked if ”being anxious, even being depressed… a good enough reason for stopping looking for work?, the PM replied: ”We need to look again at this issue of mental health, and ask ourselves a fundamental question, which is ‘would we not be better putting our money into the resources and support that is needed for mental health’, than simply to say it is to be provided in benefits.”

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Source: HSJ, 1 October 2025

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