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‘Life-changing’ therapy now available for cystic fibrosis patients

Hundreds of people with cystic fibrosis are to be offered a new pill which has been hailed as “life changing” by health experts.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has given the green light for the NHS to give patients Alyftrek, a type of modulator therapy which works to tackle the underlying cause of cystic fibrosis (CF).

CF is caused by a faulty gene that affects the production of a protein called CFTR.

Modulator drugs work by helping to make the CFTR protein work effectively.

Helen Knight, director of medicines evaluation at NICE, said: “CFTR modulators are already revolutionising the way cystic fibrosis is treated so we’re pleased to be able to recommend Alyftrek, the latest of this type of treatment that has been shown to be effective, with significant benefits for people with the condition.”

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Source: The Independent, 15 July 2025

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‘Life threatening’ risk to clinically vulnerable after firms disconnect energy supply, warns NHS chief

A senior NHS leader has warned of a “life-threatening” situation in which clinically vulnerable people are being admitted to hospital after having their energy supplies disconnected.

Sam Allen, chief executive of North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB), has written to Ofgem today to raise “serious concerns” that vulnerable people have seen their electricity or gas services disconnected as a result of non-payment.

In the letter, which the ICB has published on its website, Ms Allen said the impact of energy supplies being cut off “will be life threatening for some people” and place additional demand on already stretched health and social care services.

She wrote: “It has come to light that we are starting to see examples where clinically vulnerable people have been disconnected from their home energy supply which has then led to a hospital admission.

“This is impacting on people who live independently at home, with the support from our community health services team and are reliant on using electric devices for survival.

“An example of this is oxygen; and there will be many other examples. There is also a similar concern for clinically vulnerable people with mental health needs who may find themselves without energy supply.

“Put simply, the impact of having their energy supply terminated will be life threatening for some people as well as placing additional demands on already stretched health and social care services.”

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Source: HSJ, 5 September 2022

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‘Life saving’ rapid test not available at most CDCs

Patients are facing “unnecessary and worrying” waits because a rapid heart failure test is not available at most of the NHS’s 169 community diagnostic centres (CDC), experts have told HSJ.

An analysis by HSJ of data from the Alliance for Heart Failure found that as of October 2024 virtually no trusts and ICBs reported offering rapid NT-proBNP in their CDCs.

The rapid version gives a result with minutes, while a regular test must be sent away to a lab for analysis.

The research, exclusively shared with HSJ, also found that CDCs offering the rapid NT-proBNP test are mainly located on hospital-based sites – and not in the community.

A further 14 trusts operating across 10 integrated care systems said that the rapid test is, or might be, added to their CDC offer.

The Royal College of Pathologists and the British Society for Echocardiography have both called for it to be made available in all CDCs. They have claimed this would cut unnecessary waits for patients, reduce inappropriate referrals and ease pressure on diagnostic services. 

“This is an essential test which should be available in all CDCs”, said Dan Augustine, president of the British Society for Echocardiography.

“Many people who are suspected of having heart failure are currently referred for echocardiograms. For those who do not have heart failure, this means an unnecessary and potentially worrying wait. It also puts added pressure on already struggling echocardiographers.”

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Source: HSJ, 19 May 2025

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‘Legally wrong’ to make pregnant women with Covid give birth alone

NHS guidance which often forces pregnant women who test positive with coronavirus to give birth alone is legally wrong, lawyers warned.

Official guidance drawn up by NHS England states that if a woman tests positive for Covid, their husband or partner must self-isolate at home and is not allowed to support them during childbirth.

But campaigners and lawyers told The Independent their guidance for visitor restrictions in maternity services during the pandemic is legally inaccurate as people have the “right to private and family life” under Article Eight of the Human Rights Act.

Maria Booker, of Birthrights, a leading maternity care charity, said: “The NHS oversimplifies the government’s self-isolating Covid regulations and tells partners they have to stay at home. But this hasn’t taken into account the legal nuance that government rules state people can leave home if they have a reasonable excuse."

“A woman being anxious about giving birth alone, which most people will be, is likely to legally constitute as a reasonable excuse."

“It is completely inhumane for a woman to give birth without a partner or supporter. It is even scarier giving birth alone you are Covid positive. It is terrifying. Nobody should give birth alone and that includes Covid positive women.”

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Source: The Independent, 13 February 2021

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‘Leave measles out of spring break’: California coast city releases PSA to try and slow virus spread

A California coastal destination is telling visitors to leave the measles virus at home this spring break, as cases continue to crop up across the country.

San Diego County’s communications office said that while no cases have been reported there this year, the potential for new infections could rise with “many people taking advantage of spring break.”

“If you have traveled internationally or nationally near an outbreak area and are experiencing the symptoms of measles, call your healthcare provider immediately,” Medical Director of County Epidemiology and Immunization Services Dr. Seema Shah said in a Monday statement. “Measles isn’t just a fever and rash. It can be a very dangerous illness, especially for young children and babies.”

The county has also released a Public Service Announcement on social media to warn people of the potential spread and the vaccination.

The warning comes as a deadly outbreak in West Texas grew even larger, with 327 cases identified since late January, officials announced Tuesday. That’s up by 18 since Friday. 

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Source: The Independent, 25 March 2025

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‘Lack of respect’ for children at ‘inadequate’ hospital

Staff failed to provide kind and compassionate care and did not treat children with respect at a private hospital downgraded from ‘good’ to ‘inadequate’, a report by health inspectors has revealed.

Huntercombe Hospital Stafford was placed in special measures in 2016, but was rated “good” by the Care Quality Commission two years later.

Now, its first inspection under provider Huntercombe Young People Ltd in October 2021 has exposed a raft of safety concerns and instances of poor care. Huntercombe Young People Ltd took over the service in February 2021. 

Heavy reliance on agency staff, workers spotted with their “eyes closed” on observations, and staff not respecting young people’s pronouns were among concerns inspectors flagged.

Staff observation of patients was also found to be “undermined” by a blind spot where people could self-harm unseen, the CQC report, published today, said.

Children also told the CQC they felt staff did not always understand their mental health condition or know how to support them, particularly those on the psychiatric intensive care ward with eating disorders or autism.

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Source: HSJ, 10 March 2022

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‘Lack of curiosity’ contributed to stillbirths, review finds

An area with high stillbirth rates has found there were “significant” gaps in maternity care in more than one in five cases, in a newly published review.

The review of stillbirths across the Black Country was commissioned by its local maternity and neonatal system (LMNS), following an increase in rates since 2020. 

The review, dated March 2024, has just been published by the integrated care board, after repeated requests from HSJ  and others.

It states that stillbirths and neonatal deaths were both continuing to increase in 2023, but “this is at a more significant rate for stillbirths”.

More than a fifth (22.5%) of the reviews identified “significant modifiable factors” – where different management might have saved the baby’s life – and 42.5% found “minor modifiable factors”, which are issues that may have contributed but are unlikely to have changed the outcome.

The review, carried out by a panel of senior local clinicians, sets out a wide range of shortcomings in the cases, and recommendations.

It gives several examples where there is a failure to pursue apparent concerns and warning signs during pregnancy.

Under issues with “risk assessment”, the report says: “There was a concern that there appeared to be a lack of professional curiosity. Particularly in relation to medical problems that occurred during the pregnancy and the discord between the plans for pregnancy care and the implications of the medical problems and their effect on the pregnancy and care.”

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Source: HSJ, 25 September 2025

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‘Know, Check, Ask’ before you take medication urges Northern Ireland's Minister

Both patients and healthcare staff have a central role to play in ensuring the safe use of medicines, Health Minister Robin Swann has said.

Minister for Health Robin Swann was speaking at an event to mark the roll out of the ‘Know, Check, Ask’ Campaign across all healthcare sectors in Northern Ireland. The aim of the campaign is to increase awareness and understanding about the importance of using medicine safely.

The call for action of the campaign is for:

Patients to Know Check Ask – Before you take it:

  • KNOW your medicines and keep an up-to-date list.
  • CHECK that you are using your medicines in the right way.
  • ASK your healthcare professional if you’re not sure.

Health Care staff to Know Check Ask – Before you give it:

  • KNOW your medications.
  • CHECK you have the right: patient, medicine, route, dose and time.
  • ASK your patient if they understand and ask your colleagues when you are unsure.

Minister Swann added “I want to encourage and help patients to be more curious about their medication, know what medication they are using, how to use it safely and feel able to ask their health care professionals questions about their medicines.  Patients should also feel able and confident to report problems with their medication early and so help reduce avoidable harm.”

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Source: Department of Health, 30 September 2022

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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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‘It’s weird how white you are’, Alliance boss tells ambulance leaders

Ambulance chiefs have been urged to take greater efforts to ensure their workforce is more diverse by NHS Alliance chair Lord Victor Adebowale.

Lord Adebowale told the Ambulance Leadership Forum that it was “weird” to be in an environment which was so predominantly white.

The NHS Alliance is the body formed by the union between NHS Providers and the NHS Confederation. 

Its chair told the annual forum of ambulance chiefs: “I can’t believe how white you are”, noting most of the other meetings he went to had at least 5 per cent non-white participants.

He praised the work ambulance trusts had been doing to improve the treatment of LGBT+ and neurodiverse staff but added the sector had a “problem” with racial diversity.

Lord Adebowale said: “It is not sustainable, it’s not credible. So whatever you are doing it is not working fast enough.”

Rates of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic staff in ambulance trusts are lower than in other parts of the NHS. In part, this reflects a paramedic population that is predominately white, with overseas recruitment tending to focus on countries like Australia which have similar training.

There is only one BAME CEO in the sector – North West Ambulance Service’s Salman Desai – and a sprinkling of executive directors. None of the 10 English ambulance trusts are led by a woman. 

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Source: HSJ, 23 March 2026

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‘It’s terrifying’: parents’ struggle to get help for children with long Covid

On Christmas Day, Gail Jackson’s 16-year-old daughter said she was in so much pain she thought she would die. Liliana had been briefly admitted to hospital with Covid in September. Her symptoms never went away and, as time went on, new ones had emerged.

“For months she had a relentless, agonising headache, nausea, tinnitus, fatigue and insomnia, but the worst thing was the agonising nerve pain,” said Jackson. “I couldn’t even touch her without her screaming in pain.”

On Christmas morning, Jackson drove to hospital with her daughter vomiting from pain in the passenger seat. When they got to the hospital, however, the A&E doctor said there was no such thing as long Covid in children. “He said she just needed to go home and get on with her life,” Jackson said. “It was jaw-dropping.”

It is extremely rare for children and young people to contract severe Covid, but recent research has shown that even mild or asymptomatic infection can lead to long Covid in children. A study at UCL is investigating long Covid in 11- to 17-year-olds who were not hospitalised with the disease.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended more research to produce guidance on how children and young people are affected and how they can be treated. However, there is no case definition of long Covid in children and young people in the way there is in adults.

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Source: The Independent, 3 May 2021

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‘It’s soul destroying’: why so many NHS staff are off sick with burnout

“Frustration with the system was why I went off in the end,” said Conor Calby, 26, a paramedic and Unison rep in southwest England, who was recently off work for a month with burnout. “I felt like I couldn’t do my job and was letting patients down. After a difficult few years it was challenging.”

While he usually manages to keep a distinct divide between work and home life, burnout eroded that line. He also lost his sleep pattern and appetite.

The final straw came when what should have been a 15-minute call resulted in three hours on the phone trying to persuade the services that were supposed to help a suicidal patient to come out. “I was on a knife edge. That was due to the system being broken. That’s the trigger.”

Doctors and nurses are struggling under the strain too. After her third time with burnout - the last resulting in her taking six months off work – Amy Attwater, an A&E doctor, considered leaving the profession altogether.

Attwater, 36, said in the Covid crisis, during which a colleague killed himself, she started having suicidal thoughts and doubting her own abilities. She twice reported that she was being bullied but said no action was taken.

“The only thing I was left with was to take time off work. I ended up having therapy, seeing a psychiatrist and being on two antidepressants,” said Attwater, the Midlands-based committee member for Doctors’ Association UK.

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Source: The Guardian, 5 February 2023

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‘It’s scary’: Epilepsy patients fear for their lives amid UK medicine supply issues

Epilepsy patients are living with the risk of having “life-threatening” seizures as drug supply problems are forcing some to skip their medication.

There are hundreds of drugs, including those for epilepsy, blood pressure, blood thinning and some cancer medicines, that patients are finding harder to get hold of in England.

For the 630,000 people with epilepsy living in the UK, these medicines help them safely live their lives and skipping a dose can have potentially deadly consequences.

“It’s really scary to think that through no fault of my own, this could be the reason I don’t wake up in the morning,” Beth Baker-Carey told the Independent.

The 28-year-old from Doncaster, who has suffered from seizures since she was two, once had ten seizures a day, but medication keeps her stable.

Although medicine shortages are common, she explained it has worsened since the start of the war in Iran. The department of health and social care is aware of supply issues with some epilepsy medications, but has said these are not directly linked to the war.

Ms Baker-Carey has been notified several times by pharmacies that they have no stock in recent months.

“I’ve had to jump through hoops and go to different pharmacies to get medication,” she said.

“A couple of times it has been quite late at night and I’ve not been able to get it. I’ve been told to just skip it for the night, which is not really wise for a person with epilepsy, skipping can be really dangerous and sometimes fatal."

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Source: The Independent, 6 May 2026

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‘It’s really only the beginning’: are we on the cusp of a breakthrough in endometriosis?

After generations of inaction and very few novel ideas, researchers and activists are hopeful a new path is being charted in understanding and treating the crippling chronic condition

“There’s an excitement at the moment,” says Andrew Horne. After decades of inaction, something is happening in endometriosis.

Now, says the professor of gynaecology and reproductive sciences at the University of Edinburgh, “I do think things are changing. There are more people working on it, so it’s bringing in people from different disciplines with new ideas.”

In the space of a few months, from gatherings in Edinburgh and Washington DC, labs in Sydney and Japan, there is a sense that new ideas are bubbling to the surface, including a fundamental rethinking of endometriosis not as a disease of the pelvis, but rather, says Horne, “a whole-body disease”.

It’s hard to pinpoint the exact moment when despair turned to hope in the research and patient community. There was no single breakthrough. No one person responsible.

In March, the largest ever study on the genetics of endometriosis was published in Nature Genetics, which found genetic links to 11 other pain conditions as well as other inflammatory conditions. The study, involving DNA from more than 760,000 women, found ovarian endometriosis is genetically distinct from other types and indicated there may be a genetic predisposition to excessive inflammation in people with the condition. One of the researchers, Dr Nilufer Rahmioglu from the University of Oxford, described the data as a “treasure trove of new information”.

Weeks later on the other side of the world, researchers from Sydney’s Royal Hospital for Women attracted international attention after they grew tissue from different types of endometriosis and compared how each responded differently to treatments. Jason Abbott, professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at the hospital, likened the development to those made in the treatment of breast cancer three decades ago.

Two weeks on from the Australian discovery, Japanese researchers found a common form of bacteria may be contributing to the growth of endometriosis via inflammation.

The frisson was, by then, hard to miss.

Read the full article here: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/aug/10/its-really-only-the-beginning-are-we-on-the-cusp-of-a-breakthrough-in-endometriosis 

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‘It’s not medical tourism, it’s desperation’: rising number of Britons resort to treatment abroad

Cathy Rice had been in all-consuming pain for 18 months when she decided to fly to Lithuania. “I was going up the stairs on my hands and knees. I couldn’t get to the shop. I had no quality of life,” she says.

Rice, 68, who has four grandchildren, had been told she needed a knee replacement for an injury caused by osteoarthritis but – like millions of NHS patients – faced a gruelling wait.

At a clinic in Kaunas, Lithuania’s second largest city, the operation was arranged within weeks and cost €6,800 (£5,967) – around half the cost in the UK. The price included a pre-travel consultation, return flights, airport transfers, two nights in an en suite hospital room, pre-surgery check-ups and post operative physio.

“I thought, ‘Just look at your choices. You can stay here and be in this kind of pain for another couple of years or you can take a decision’,” Rice says.

The former health sector worker, from Glasgow, is one of a growing number of Britons going abroad for routine medical care. She had never gone private before and never had a desire to. But last week, a year after the first surgery, she returned to Lithuania to have the same procedure on her other knee. This time, she says the wait she faced on the NHS was three years.

She explains tearfully that to cover the costs of the surgeries in Lithuania, she sold her house. “People think that if you’re doing this you’ve got a wonderful pension or you’re very well off. But the driver here is that people are in pain,” she says. “This is not medical tourism; it’s medical desperation.”

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Source: The Guardian, 21 January 2023

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‘It’s not just about dying’: Uganda’s pioneers of palliative care undaunted by huge challenges

 

Morphine was first introduced in Uganda 30 years ago, but as the burden of cancer increases, thousands of people still lack access to even basic treatment or pain relief.

About 70% of the 2,000 patients on Hospice Africa Uganda (HAU)’s programme have cancer, and some are HIV positive, too. Few can afford tests or treatment for their conditions and, even when they can, it is not uncommon for doctors to misdiagnose or fail to prescribe adequate pain relief. Often, by the time a patient is referred to HAU, their condition is incurable, much to the frustration of the team, whose goal is to offer palliative care from the moment a person is diagnosed with a life-limiting condition.

“One of our biggest challenges is to remove the stigma [around palliative care]. Some people think it is about dying, but it is for anyone with a chronic illness that is not going away,” says Antonia Kamate Tukundane, programmes manager at HAU’s Mbarara site in south-west Uganda. “Palliative care focuses on holistic care: How are you? How is your family? What other things are affecting your illness? We provide something the doctors and nurses have no time for.

Dr Anne Merriman at home in Kampala. She founded Hospice Africa Uganda in 1993, with a vision to introduce “palliative care for all in need in Africa”

“Sometimes the patient comes to us very ill and passes on, but if we had known the patient earlier we could have explained what was happening to their body; agreed on realistic goals; all this is so helpful for the patient. Those who find us are glad they did.”

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Source: The Guardian, 6 March 2023

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‘It’s like the NHS would rather pay a hospital bill over a cheap jab’

Independent readers expressed frustration and disbelief over the government’s decision to restrict free Covid booster jabs to a smaller group of people, describing the move as “a national scandal”.

Many shared stories of being denied the vaccine despite chronic or respiratory illnesses, saying the policy risks leaving vulnerable people like Ella Halpern-Matthews – who has caught Covid three times since losing eligibility – without adequate protection.

Several said they had been forced to pay privately for the jab, effectively creating what they saw as a two-tier health system.

One reader remarked that it felt “as if the NHS would rather pay the hospital bill than for a cheap jab”, while others highlighted the inconsistency of vaccinating care home residents but not staff, and the false economy of cutting the rollout.

Some questioned why countries such as France and Germany continue to offer free or low-cost boosters to wider groups, while the UK “quietly withdrew” access.

Overall, readers urged the government to review eligibility urgently – calling for clearer communication, fairer access, and stronger protection for those still at risk.

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Source: The Independent, 3 November 2025

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‘It’s incredible’: HPV vaccine saves thousands of women from cervical cancer, UK study shows

The NHS vaccination programme to prevent cervical cancer has so far stopped thousands of women from developing the disease and experiencing pre-cancerous changes to cells, a study has found.

In the first proof that the programme launched in England 13 years ago is saving lives, the Cancer Research UK-funded study found that cervical cancer rates in women offered the vaccine between the ages of 12 and 13 (now in their 20s) were 87% lower than in an unvaccinated population.

Researchers said cases in this age group, which are rare, dropped from about 50 per year to just 5.

There were also reductions in cervical cancer rates of 62% in women offered vaccination between the ages of 14 and 16, and 34% in women aged 16 to 18 when vaccination was introduced.

Professor Peter Sasieni, lead study author, from King’s College London, said: “It’s been incredible to see the impact of HPV vaccination and now we can prove it prevented hundreds of women from developing cancer in England.

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Source: The Guardian, 4 November 2021

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‘It’s going to get worse’: view from inside the NHS as winter approaches

Bed occupancy in England’s hospitals has already reached normal peak winter levels, NHS leaders have warned.

While modelling suggests that the rise in Covid infection levels appears to have stalled for now, the chief executive of NHS Providers has stressed that bed occupancy levels at acute hospitals are already at 94-96%, an “unprecedented” situation not normally seen until the middle of winter.

It comes as long waiting times in England’s emergency departments are becoming normal, with the number of patients waiting for more than 12 hours increasing tenfold since 2019. Meanwhile, the NHS is undergoing a mounting workforce crisis and an enormous backlog of routine treatments that have built up over the pandemic.

Six healthcare workers describe to the The Guardian the pressures they are facing at the moment, highlighting staff shortages, rising wait times and abuse toward NHS workers.

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Source: The Guardian, 8 November 2021

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‘It’s absolute anarchy’: Oxygen therapy chambers have led to horrific deaths. Why are Maha elite raving about them?

The FDA has approved hyperbaric oxygen therapy to be marketed as a treatment for only 13 conditions – but some clinics are claiming that it can be used for more than 100.

Touted as a cure for everything from wrinkles to autism, the treatment has been hyped by Robert F Kennedy Jr and various celebrities. Experts say it needs to be regulated.

Warning: this article contains distressing content.

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Source: Guardian, 4 December 2025

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‘It was horrific’: Women given saline instead of fentanyl, US lawsuit says

When a couple decides to try to have a child by in vitro fertilisation, it’s often accompanied by anticipation, anxiety and worry about whether the egg and sperm will unite and produce a healthy baby.

So when the procedure to retrieve eggs from a woman’s ovary turns out to be physically painful, it can create long-term emotional pain as well, according to a lawsuit and two women who underwent the procedure at the Yale University Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility Clinic.

They are among dozens of women and spouses who are suing Yale University, claiming the staff at the clinic should have known that, instead of receiving fentanyl to relieve pain during the procedure, they instead were being injected with saline — salt water.

“The result was that dozens, perhaps hundreds, of women underwent the most painful fertility surgeries and procedures offered at the REI Clinic with little or no analgesia,” the lawsuit states.

Angela Cortese, 33, of Vernon, who first had her eggs retrieved on Dec. 3, 2019, said the pain was “excruciating” as a nurse wiped tears from her eyes and Cortese tried “not to flinch every time they’re using this giant needle to retrieve the follicles.”

“I want to say it was probably around 45 minutes that I was very much aware of what exactly was happening and feeling every pinch and prod,” she said. “And it doesn’t feel like somebody’s just pinching you. It feels like somebody’s stabbing you through your vagina. It was horrific.”

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Source: ctpost, 31 May 2022

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‘It should have been safe’: twin of woman found under coat in A&E says death avoidable

Inga Rublite died after being found unconscious under her coat in an A&E waiting room more than eight hours after arriving.

Learning what happened to Rublite in the hours before her death has been gut-wrenching for her friends and family. She sat through the night at Queen’s Medical Centre (QMC) in Nottingham after arriving at 10.30pm on 19 January with severe headache, dizziness, high blood pressure and vomiting. When her name was called seven hours later, at about 5.30am, she did not respond and staff discharged her believing she had tired of waiting and gone home.

But over an hour later she was discovered having a seizure after falling asleep, and then unconscious, under her coat. She was rushed to intensive care but had suffered a brain haemorrhage, and the bleeding was so severe it was inoperable. She was declared dead two days later on 22 January, when her life support was switched off.

Inga's twin sister said, “In all those years, the one time she went to the hospital to ask for help, no one was looking at her. I can’t describe how that feels. That you can’t get help in the place where you’re supposed to go for help.”

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Source: Guardian, 26 April 2024

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‘It is not right to normalise the current GP workload’, says RCGP chair

It is ‘not right to normalise’ the current workload in general practice as numbers of GPs and practices goes down, the RCGP chair told delegates at Pulse Live this week. 

Professor Kamila Hawthorne highlighted the pressure GPs are under with general practice appointments increasing most last year, compared to A&E and outpatients. 

She also said her priority from a new GP contract would be better resourcing for GPs working in deprived areas. 

Her speech looked at the challenges facing general practice and imagined what the future could look like, including what the college can do to bring about change.

Professor Hawthorne said: ‘The workload that we’re facing – it’s not right to normalise it. The sort of work days that we have in general practice, it is not right to normalise this.

‘The number of GPs is going down because they’re leaving the profession faster than they’re entering it. The number of practices in England is going down, and compared with affluent areas, GPs in deprived areas earn less but see more patients with more chronic illness.’ 

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Source: Pulse, 21 March 2023

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‘It feels very unsafe’: the NHS staff bracing for winter as cuts loom

Further funding cuts to the NHS will unavoidably endanger patient safety, an NHS leader warned last week after the chancellor’s promise of spending cuts of “eye-watering difficulty”.

Matthew Taylor, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said his members were issuing the “starkest warning” about “the huge and growing gulf between what the NHS is being asked to deliver and the funding and capacity it has available”.

The warning came as figures showed that paramedics in England had been unavailable to attend almost one in six incidents in September due to being stuck outside hospitals with patients. Service leaders say wait times for A&E and other care are being exacerbated by an acute lack of nurses, with a record 46,828 nursing roles – more than one in 10 – unfilled across the NHS.

"Patients are presenting more unwell," says a GP from South Wales,

"Wait times in A&E have become unmanageable, so we’re seeing patients who have waited so long to be seen they’re bouncing back to us. Things we can’t deal with, like injuries and chest pain. We tell them they have to go back to A&E.

"Abuse of surgery reception and admin staff began last year and it’s just scaled up from there. We’ve had staff members who have been verbally and physically threatened and we’re struggling to recruit and retain staff – people are hired and quit in a couple days. A lot of people are going off sick with stress."

Five healthcare workers describe the pressures they are facing, including ambulance stacking, rising A&E wait times and difficulties discharging patients.

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Source: The Guardian, 1 November 2022

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‘It feels like a war zone’: exhausted ambulance service workers in England tell their stories

Paramedics in England cannot respond to 3,500 urgent 999 calls every day because they are stuck outside hospitals waiting to hand over patients, putting other lives at risk, a Guardian investigation has found.

Here two ambulance service workers describe their experiences on the frontline that they say “feels like a war zone at times” amid the worst NHS winter crisis in years.

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Source: Guardian, 12 January 2025

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