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'Life-saving' continuity of care at risk in the UK, GPs warn

Continuity of care in general practice reduces use of out-of-hours care, acute hospitalisations and mortality, researchers have shown - as GP leaders warned staff shortages and heavy workload means it is becoming harder to deliver in the UK.

Long-lasting personal continuity with a GP is 'strongly associated with reduced need for out-of-hours services, acute hospitalisations, and mortality', according to a study by researchers in Norway.

An association lasting more than 15 years between a patient and a specific GP reduces the probability of any of these factors by 25-30%, the study published in the British Journal of General Practice found.

The researchers said 'promoting stability among GPs' should be a priority for health authorities, and warned that continuity of care was under pressure.

The findings come as general practice in the UK faces intense pressure amid a shortage of GPs and intense workload after more than 18 months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Responding to the findings, RCGP chair Professor Martin Marshall said: "Continuity of care is highly valued by patients and GPs and our teams alike. It is what allows us to build relationships with our patients, often over time, and this study builds the strong evidence base of its benefits for patients and the NHS."

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Source: GP Online, 4 October 2021

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'Keep mums and babies safe by improving digital medical records'

With the distressing spate of news reports about mums and ­babies who weren’t kept safe in hospital, an initiative in the Midlands to improve patient safety in maternal and acute care settings comes as a relief.

The newly announced Midlands Patient Safety Research Collaboration will bring together NHS trusts, ­universities and private business to evaluate how digital tools can help clinical decision making and reduce danger for patients.

Problems can arise if communication is poor between medics when patients move between departments.

Professor Alice Turner of Birmingham University said: “The power of new technology available to us means that we can address one of the ongoing areas of risk for patients, which is effective communication and clinical decision making.

“The new collaboration will be looking at how digital tools can make a real difference to reduce risks and support patient safety in the areas of acute medicine and maternal health.”

Digital decision-making tools could improve prescribing and personalised management for patients needing emergency care.

Importantly, these tools should provide a smoother flow of information between healthcare professionals in acute care between hospitals, doctors and the West Midlands Ambulance Service, and hopefully reduce risks of patient harm at key points during acute care.

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Source: The Mirror, 18 December 2022

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'It's not just physical': suicidal thoughts common in those living with spinal cord injury

Suicidal thoughts are three times as common in those living with a spinal cord injury in the UK, according to new research

And yet, it’s estimated that only one third of people living with a spinal cord injury (SCI) are getting access to mental health support, and of those, 68% do not feel that support services available are able to meet their needs.

These alarming statistics are taken from a new report, ‘It’s not just physical’ which was presented to parliament yesterday (17 November).  The report shines a light on the mental health problems faced by people with spinal cord injuries in the UK today.

It's calling on the NHS, government and other health policy makers to provide better mental health support services for people with spinal cord injuries – and their unpaid carers – as a matter of urgency.  Nik Hartley, Spinal Injuries Association CEO said:

“We are at risk of failing thousands of people in the UK living with a spinal cord injury. Our new report highlights that psychological damage caused by a SCI is, at best, considered as an afterthought, and at worst, completely ignored by the medical profession. We need urgent action and for services to be sufficiently specialised to support the thousands of people living with this type of injury before it is too late.”

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Source: Spinal Injuries Association, 17 November 2021

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'It makes me sad and angry': Bereaved mother urges parents to get their children vaccinated

The mother of a 10-year-old girl who died from complications of measles has urged parents to have their children vaccinated amid a surge of cases.

Renae Archer was too young to have the MMR vaccine when she caught the infection at just five months old.

A decade later, she was diagnosed with subacute sclerosing panencephalitis, a very rare brain disease. She died in 2023.

Her mother Becky believes Renae might not have caught measles if more people had inoculated their children.

The warning comes as rates of vaccine uptake continue to fall. The recent death of a child with measles at Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool put the focus on a surge of cases in a city with low levels of vaccination.

It has left communities with rates of vaccination below the 95% level seen to provide herd immunity, where enough people are protected to prevent the virus spreading.

Becky Archer said: "It does make me quite sad and angry because they are potentially putting their children at risk.

"We just want people to open their eyes to someone that's actually been through it and not the nonsense that's being spread out on social media or on telly.

"I just want people to be knowledgeable of how serious a situation can be."

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Source: Sky News, 31 July 2025

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'Injustice' as man left in Nottinghamshire care home for months

A man was left in a care home for five months without regard for "basic human rights", an investigation has found.

The Nottinghamshire man, who had dementia, was placed in the home for two weeks as respite for his family. But the county council failed to properly assess whether he could return home, leaving his family with a £15,000 care bill, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman said.

The authority has apologised and said it would make improvements.

The ombudsman launched an inquiry after complaints from the man's family.

He was placed in the care home by his wife while she struggled to look after her son, who had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. The investigation found that after the first two weeks, the man's wife said she still could not cope with his return.

But instead of carrying out a review or assessment to judge what support was needed for him to potentially go home, the council allowed the case to "drift".

The ombudsman, Michael King, said: "The man had a right to respect for his family life, and to enjoy his existing home peacefully."

"But the council did not have any regard for the man's human rights during those five months he was away from his family."

In its report, the watchdog said it found "fault causing injustice".

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Source: BBC News, 4 March 2021

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'Ignored' women in 'excruciating' pain, says Hull MP Emma Hardy as she slams 'unacceptable' care

Emma Hardy MP has secured a Westminster debate on gynaecological wait times.

Gynaecology waiting lists across the UK have now reached a combined figure of more than 610,000 – a 69% increase on pre-pandemic levels. New analysis by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) shows that in England, gynaecology waiting lists have grown the most by percentage increase of all elective specialties.

Emma is co-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs) for Surgical Mesh and Endometriosis - both come under the heading of ‘gynaecological conditions’ and both are being impacted by increased waiting times.

Through her involvement with these APPGs, Emma has heard the testimony of so many women whose lives have been impacted by conditions that can be so painful and debilitating that they impact on every aspect of family, social and work life. Emma will ask the minister to launch an investigation into possible gender bias in the prioritisation of gynaecology services and ensure that elective recovery will address the unequal growth of gynaecology waiting lists compared to other specialties.

Emma said: "It is completely unacceptable that 610,000 women are waiting for gynaecological care across the UK. The reality is that many of these women will be in excruciating pain awaiting treatment, unable to go about their day-to-day lives."

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Source: Hull Daily Mail, 5 July 2022

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'I'm well enough to leave hospital - but I can't'

"It would be much better if I was out there than in here," said Roger.

The 69-year-old looked wistfully across Newport from the window next to his bed at the Royal Gwent Hospital in Wales.

He has been here for three weeks after being admitted with an infection and although he is now well enough to leave, and desperate to do so, he can't.

Roger has cerebral palsy and the impact of his recent illness means he needs extra care to be arranged before he can safely go home.

Roger is not alone.

"At least a quarter of patients in our care of the elderly beds are in a similar position," explained Helen Price, a senior nurse at the hospital.

"It is very much a waiting game for that care to be available," she said.

Hospitals in Wales are fuller than ever, according to the latest statistics. In the final week of January more than 95% of all acute beds in the Welsh NHS were occupied, which is the highest figure ever recorded.

Paul Underwood, who manages urgent care in Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, said there are well over 350 patients medically fit enough to leave hospital.

"Roughly a third of patients do not need to be accommodated on those sites and that's extremely difficult," he said.

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Source: BBC News, 16 February 2023

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'I'm utterly lost': Patients' anger over doctors strike cancellations

The resident doctors strike in England begun after a dispute over pay between the government and the British Medical Association (BMA).

Thousands of doctors walked out over five days, with Health Secretary Wes Streeting insisting that disruption would be kept to a minimum.

But several NHS patients have told the BBC they fear their conditions could become worse after delays to scheduled procedures, while some have also expressed sympathy over the concerns the doctors are raising.

Peter Plant, 58, of Tamworth, who has kidney cancer, said his surgery to remove the organ on Friday was cancelled on Thursday morning. The operation has been rescheduled for 20 August, but he fears the delay could be a "death sentence".

"Resident doctors do not care that delaying operations like mine are very likely a death sentence," he said.

"I'm absolutely angry and frustrated. It is not just about me, it's about our whole family.

"You try and gear yourself up for it and then it's utter deflation."

Mr Plant said he and his family had been living in "limbo" and that he felt "utterly lost".

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Source: BBC News, 25 July 2025

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'I'm traumatised now': Covid bereaved call for inquiry into NHS 111

Hundreds of people believe the helpline failed their relatives. Now they are demanding their voices be heard. 

Families whose relatives died from COVID-19 in the early period of the pandemic are calling for an inquiry into the NHS 111 service, arguing that many critically ill people were given inadequate advice and told to stay at home.

The COVID-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group says approximately a fifth of its 1,800 members – more than 350 people – believe the 111 service failed to recognise how seriously ill their relatives were and direct them to appropriate care.

“We believe that in some cases it is likely these issues directly contributed to loved ones dying, due to causing a delay in receiving treatment, or a total lack of treatment leading to them passing away at home,” said the group’s co-founder Jo Goodman, whose father, Stuart Goodman, died on 2 April aged 72.

Many families have said they had trouble even getting through to the 111 phone line, the designated first step, alongside 111 online, for people concerned they may have COVID-19.

The service recorded a huge rise in calls to almost 3m in March, and official NHS figures show that 38.7% were abandoned after callers waited longer than 30 seconds for a response. Some families who did get through have said the call handlers worked through fixed scripts and asked for yes or no answers, which led to their relatives being told they were not in need of medical care.

“Despite having very severe symptoms including skin discolouration, fainting, total lack of energy, inability to eat and breathlessness, as well as other family members explaining the level of distress they were in, this was not considered sufficient to be admitted to hospital or have an ambulance sent out,” Goodman said.

Some families also say their relatives’ health risk factors, such as having diabetes, were not taken into account, and that not all the 111 questions were appropriate for black, Asian and minority ethnic people, including a question to check for breathlessness that asked if their lips had turned blue.

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Source: The Guardian, 21 September 2020

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'I'm terrified of food - but I can't get specialist eating disorder treatment'

A woman whose wait for a diagnosis of a lesser known eating disorder left her feeling like a "problem that cannot be solved" has called for reform of how the condition is treated by Northern Ireland's health service.

Sinead Quinn, from Londonderry, said binge eating compulsions had made her "a prisoner in her own home, afraid of food and afraid of herself".

Binge Eating Disorder (BED) is not currently treated by eating disorder services in Northern Ireland - patients are instead referred to general mental health services.

The Department of Health said regional adult eating disorder services were commissioned to treat anorexia, bulimia and atypical presentations of these conditions.

BED is the second most common eating disorder in the UK, after atypical eating disorders, according to UK health assessment body NICE, external.

The Department of Health said it did not collate data on how many people in Northern Ireland are living with BED.

It also said there was no current review of the way the condition is treated.

Experts say specialist care within the health service is urgently needed to help people get a formal diagnosis and recover from BED.

Prof Laura McGowan, from the Centre for Public Health at Queen's University, hopes the recently announced roll-out of a regional obesity management service for Northern Ireland would include screening of eating disorders like BED.

"BED is simply not widely recognised and the services for it not widely commissioned," she said.

"For BED patients, especially those living with obesity, there is such an unmet need."

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Source: BBC News, 5 June 2025

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'I'm still haunted that he died alone': The last voices of the Covid inquiry

Rivka Gottlieb said she still felt "haunted" by the fact that her father, Michael, died alone.

He was a fit and active 73-year-old, she said, working part-time in a golf shop and teaching children at his local synagogue.

Her story was one of the last to be told at the Covid inquiry, which heard its final evidence this week.

In March 2020, Michael and Rivka's mother, Mili, were admitted to different wards of the Royal Free hospital, in north London, with Covid symptoms - just as the first lockdown was announced.

"We were just expecting him to be given a bit of oxygen and then he'd be sent home," Rivka said.

Michael deteriorated in hospital. His cough became so severe he had to send a WhatsApp message to tell her he was being put on a ventilator.

Two weeks later, the family was told he would never recover and that doctors were going to reduce his life support.

"It was a dark and terrifying time and difficult to get updates from the hospital. I feared the worst every time the phone rang," recalled Rivka.

In the last week, the inquiry has heard more than eight hours of emotional testimony from bereaved relatives.

The inquiry heard how families were "torn apart" by social distancing rules, which prevented them from being with their loved ones at the end of their lives.

Others spoke about huge difficulties accessing information from care homes and hospitals. Families said they were often unable to ask questions about their relatives or felt the true situation was not properly explained to them.

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Source: BBC News, 6 March 2026

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'I'm in control of my sexual health' - UK gonorrhoea vaccine rollout begins

Gonorrhoea vaccines will be widely available from today in sexual health clinics across the UK, in a bid to tackle record-breaking levels of infections.

The jabs will first be offered to those at highest risk - mostly gay and bisexual men who have a history of multiple sexual partners or sexually transmitted infections.

NHS England say the roll out is a world-first, and predict it could prevent as many as 100,000 cases, potentially saving the NHS almost £8m over the next decade.

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Source: BBC News online, 4 August 2025

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'I'm in constant pain after vaginal mesh surgery'

"I walked into the hospital able-bodied and came out on crutches."

Susan McLarnon is one of thousands of women across the UK who have experienced serious complications after being given a vaginal mesh implant to treat a prolapse and urinary incontinence

She says she now lives in "constant pain" and is calling for the government to commit to a deadline for a redress scheme.

McLarnon is one of several women travelling to Downing Street later to hand a letter to the prime minister asking for "urgent action" to be taken on compensation for those harmed by pelvic mesh implants.

Some women were left in permanent pain, unable to walk, work or have sex, after the surgery to treat incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse.

Two years ago, a major report, external called for urgent action but campaigners are still waiting.

Kath Sansom, founder of Sling The Mesh, who will be handing in the letter at Downing Street with the other women, said pelvic mesh had "stolen women's health, irreversibly ruined their quality of life, their independence, and their future".

They are calling for a timescale for a funded, government-backed compensation scheme for all women who have been harmed.

The UK Department of Health and Social Care said it is "carefully considering" the recommendations in the report and aims to provide an update in due course.

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Source: BBC News, 10 March 2026

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'I'll keep fighting for dad over botched dentistry'

The daughter of a man who took his own life after experiencing years of pain linked to botched dental surgery said she had "lost faith in the system".

Clive Worthington, from Harlow, Essex, travelled to Hungary for dental implants in 2008.

Several follow-up procedures from the same dentist back in the UK over the next seven years were unsuccessful.

The government said it was addressing a so-called loophole which meant the 81-year-old missed out on compensation.

Last week, an inquest concluded Mr Worthington's death in 2022 was a suicide.

Senior Essex coroner Lincoln Brookes said the "long-term consequences" of Mr Worthington's unsuccessful dental surgery "impacted significantly on his mental health and ability to cope with daily life".

In 2017, the General Dental Council (GDC) found Dr Eszter Gömbös, who was employed by Perfect Profiles, at fault for the work.

Mr Worthington was awarded £117,378 in damages and legal costs at Chelmsford County Court in November 2019 - one of the highest pay-outs for dental negligence in the UK.

But the insurer which covered Dr Gömbös - the Dental Defence Union (DDU) - argued "discretionary indemnity" and refused to pay.

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Source: BBC News, 12 October 2023

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'I wouldn't bring a member of my family to this hospital,' says medic

Steve Barclay is back as England's health secretary, just as the NHS prepares for what its chief executive Amanda Pritchard says could be a "very, very challenging winter".

The government has said "intensive work" is under way in the 15 most under-pressure hospital trusts in England, to speed up ambulance delays, free up beds and reduce waiting times in A&E.

Emergency departments across the UK are struggling to quickly treat patients.

Only 57% of people who turned up at major A&E departments in England last month were seen, admitted or discharged within four hours, well below the 95% national target.

The latest figures from Gloucestershire Royal show it performs slightly worse than average, with 55% dealt with in four hours.

One medic, speaking anonymously to the BBC, said: "I wouldn't bring a member of my family to this hospital. And winter is going to be worse unless something changes fast."

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Source: BBC News, 28 October 2022

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'I will never be the same': RaDonda Vaught speaks out after sentencing

RaDonda Vaught has spoken out about her criminal case for the first time last week in an exclusive interview with ABC News.

Ms. Vaught, 38, was sentenced to three years of supervised probation on 13 May. She was convicted of criminally negligent homicide and abuse of an impaired adult for a fatal medication error she made in December 2017 after overriding an electronic medical cabinet as a nurse at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn. The error, in which vecuronium, a powerful paralyser, was administered instead of the sedative Versed, led to the death of 75-year-old Charlene Murphey. 

"I will never be the same person," Ms. Vaught told ABC News, "It's really hard to be happy about something without immediately feeling guilty. She could still be alive, with her family. Even with all the system errors, the nurse is the last to check."

Ms. Vaught immediately took responsibility for the medication error after it occurred but contends that her actions alone did not cause the error. Her case has spurred an outcry from nurses across the country, many of whom have expressed concerns about the likelihood of similar mistakes under increasingly difficult working conditions. 

"So many things had to line up incorrectly for this error to have happened, and my actions were not alone in that," Ms. Vaught said. 

When Ms. Pilgrim asked her if she felt like a scapegoat, Ms. Vaught said, "I think the whole world feels like I was a scapegoat."

"There's a fine line between blame and responsibility, and in healthcare, we don't blame," she said. "I'm responsible for what I failed to do. Vanderbilt is responsible for what they failed to do."

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Source: Becker's Hospital Review, 23 May 2022

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'I will find peace knowing my husband's death was avoidable. He should be here today - but we can't go back... we have to go forwards'

Dr Shivani Tanna has been working in the NHS for 18 years. "Everything [she] always had concerns about played out" in the care of her husband, who died after NHS hospital failures. A passionate doctor from a circle of acclaimed medics, Dr Tanna was thrust into life ‘on the other side’ as a ‘patient and a relative’ when her husband, Professor Amit Patel, was struck by a life-threatening illness.

That experience, the devastated mum-of-two claims, "corroborates what [her] own patients have told [her] about the fact that, currently, the NHS is not fit for purpose".

In the wake of her husband's death, Dr Tanna says his case reveals fundamental issues in the health service. “We have been indoctrinated as doctors, service users, and as a society in general to believe that this is a wonderful entity and we are so lucky to have a national health service," she says.

“However, nobody wants to address the elephant in the room - that it is operating on less than full staff constantly... there is so much poor practice that it’s become normalised."

Three years on and a long-running inquest to find answers later, Prof Patel’s wife is fighting to make changes to the NHS.

“It has not been fit for purpose for decades,” Dr Tanna told the Manchester Evening News.

"It is operating on less than full staff constantly, relying on bank staff and locums, and we’ve got doctors leaving in droves because they’ve not been nurtured or given the opportunity to work, I think, in a safe and appropriate environment.”

The Area Coroner for the Manchester City concluded that the death of a 43-year old Consultant Haematologist and father of two, Prof Amit Patel, would have been avoided were it not for ‘inexplicable’ failures by clinicians to provide a national-level Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT) with relevant and readily available information about the patient.

Prof Patel was suffering from Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (‘HLH’), a rare disorder in which he himself was an expert. The Coroner found that the local clinicians at Wythenshawe Hospital had failed to provide a National HLH MDT with relevant and readily available information that would have influenced the decision making about Prof Patel’s care. As a result the National MDT, operating on incomplete information, recommended that Prof Patel undergo an Endobronchial Ultrasound guided biopsy  (EBUS) procedure, a complication of which ultimately led to his death.

The Coroner also found that there were failures in the process by which Prof Patel’s consent was obtained to undergo the procedure and as a result he was not given the opportunity to provide his informed consent to the EBUS that ultimately led to his death.

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Source: Manchester Evening News, 17 June 2024

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'I will fade away without vital pancreas medication'

A Kent man who has had three-quarters of his pancreas removed says he will "fade away" without a medication that there has been a nationwide shortage of since 2024.

Paul Elcombe, from Hartley, takes Creon three times a day, after major surgery three years ago left him no longer able to create enough enzymes to break down food.

As it stands, he has three and a half weeks worth of tablets left, having only had one prescription filled this year.

He said: "You need it to survive, without it [Creon] your body can't break down the food...it's as important as insulin is to a diabetic."

The nationwide shortage, which the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) says is a "European-wide" supply issue, has forced the 63-year-old and his wife to spend time travelling to different pharmacies in a bid to get the medication.

He said: "I know it sounds dramatic, but without it you will just fade away...it's very scary."

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Source: BBC News, 5 June 2025

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'I was repeatedly ignored' - report finds maternity racism

Black and Asian women are being harmed by racial discrimination in maternity care, according to an inquiry.

The year-long investigation into "racial injustice" was conducted by the charity Birthrights.

Women reported feeling unsafe, being denied pain relief, facing racial stereotyping about their pain tolerance, and microaggressions.

The government has set up a taskforce to tackle racial disparities in maternity care.

Hiral Varsani says she was traumatised by her treatment during the birth of her first child.

The 31-year-old from north London developed sepsis - a potentially life-threatening reaction to an infection - after her labour was induced, which she says was only spotted after a long delay.

"I was shivering, my whole body was aching, my heart was beating really fast and I felt terrible. But everyone kept saying everything was normal," she says. "It was almost 24 hours later before a doctor took my bloods for the first time and realised I was seriously ill."

She believes her race played a role in her care: "I experienced microaggressions and was stereotyped because of the colour of my skin.

"I was repeatedly ignored, they just thought I was a weak little Indian girl, who was unable to take pain."

While death in pregnancy or childbirth is very rare in the UK, there are stark racial disparities in maternal mortality rates. Black women are more than four times more likely to die in pregnancy or childbirth than white women in the UK, while women from Asian backgrounds face almost twice the risk.

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Source: BBC News, 23 May 2022

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'I was left lying in my own urine'

A 73-year-old patient has said he was neglected at an NHS hospital and left to cry for help in "excruciating pain" during an ordeal that lasted months.

Martin Wild was admitted to Salford Royal last year due to a spinal infection and claims he was denied pain relief and left lying in his own urine.

Consultant Glyn Smurthwaite said Martin was "the most neglected acute patient I have ever seen".

The trust that runs the hospital has apologised for failings in his care.

Mr Wild came home from Salford Royal Hospital in January after an eight-month stay because of an infection following a private spinal operation.

He said he was forced to phone 999 from his hospital bed when first admitted to the acute medical ward in May 2023 after struggling to get staff to give him pain relief and his Parkinson's medication.

"I was left on my own in excruciating pain, with little pain relief, and I was laying on this bed for over a week before I saw a consultant."

Mr Wild was discharged despite warning staff he was not well enough and no one could look after him at home, and ended up being readmitted days later via A&E.

He said his poor care continued during his second stay, and Mr Wild recalled that he was shaking so much in pain that he knocked bottles of urine on to his bed after they had been left on the table with his food.

Mr Wild was left lying in the urine-soaked sheets for hours before they were changed.

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Source: BBC News, 3 March 2023

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'I waited 30 years for my endometriosis diagnosis'

"It's barbaric. That's how bad the pain is, It's absolutely barbaric."

A woman who waited 30 years to be diagnosed with endometriosis describes how she struggles in pain.

Nichola Howells from Manchester started experiencing extremely heavy periods at the age of 14 but spent decades being "dismissed" by doctors and even gynecologists.

The 47-year-old said it meant that by the time she was diagnosed she was "literally riddled" with the disease.

Nichola is not alone, with many other women reporting they were not taken seriously by health professionals.

The Department of Health and Social Care said it was trying to change things by investing in training and women's health hubs, adding that "waiting decades for an endometriosis diagnosis is unacceptable".

In the UK, one in 10 women have endometriosis, according to the World Health Organisation.

The average waiting time for a diagnosis has now reached nine years and four months, according to a new report by the charity Endometriosis UK.

Nichola, who grew up in London, started taking contraception to try and manage the bleeding but as time went on her symptoms got worse.

She said she was ignored or dismissed by health professionals, with one doctor telling her to "rid herself of her crippled mentality".

By the time she was diagnosed, she had reached stage 4, with deep infiltrating endometriosis spread across her ligaments, intestine, pelvis, ovaries and uterus.

She said: "Three decades is absolutely insane, to the point where I am literally riddled with endometriosis."

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Source: BBC News, 23 March 2026

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'I thought I was going to die' - Woman calls for tighter weight-loss jabs checks

Emma Dyer remembers the moment she clicked "buy now" on a set of weight‑loss jabs she found online.

She had no medical consultation, no ID checks, and no questions about her history of anorexia and bulimia.

"It was just so easy - too easy," she says. "They never asked for my medical history or what medication I was taking. It was like buying groceries."

Within days of taking the injections, Emma collapsed on her bathroom floor and thought she was going to die.

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Source: BBC News, 23 February 2026

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'I had to be sectioned': the NHS staff broken and burned out by Covid

In April, when the coronavirus outbreak was at its peak in the UK and tearing through hospitals, junior doctor Rebecca Thornton’s mental health took a turn for the worse and she ended up having to be sectioned.

Even now, three months later, she cannot face going back to her job and thinks it will take her a year to recover from some of the horrors she saw while working on a Covid ward in a deprived area of London.

“It was horrendous,” Thornton recalls. “It’s so harrowing to watch people die, day in, day out. Every time someone passed away, I’d say, ‘This is my fault’. Eventually I stopped eating and sleeping.”

Thornton’s case may sound extreme but her experiences of working through Covid are far from unique. More than 1,000 doctors plan to quit the NHS over the government’s handling of the pandemic, according to a recent survey, with some citing burnout as a cause.

A psychologist offering services to NHS staff throughout the UK, who asked to remain anonymous, has witnessed the toll on staff. “I’ve seen signs of PTSD in some healthcare workers,” she says. “Staff really stood up to the plate and worked incredibly hard. It was a crisis situation that moved very quickly ... After it subsided a little bit, the tiredness became very clear.”

Roisin Fitzsimons, who is head of the Nightingale Academy, which provides a platform to share best practice in nursing and midwifery, and consultant nurse at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS foundation trust, also worries about the looming threat of an uncertain future. “Are our staff prepared? Do they have the resilience to go through this again? That’s the worry and that’s the unknown. Burnout is hitting people now. People are processing and realising what they’ve gone through.”

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Source: The Guardian, 8 September 2020

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'I get nightmares': Child tells BBC of botched surgery by disgraced GOSH surgeon

A former patient of Yaser Jabbar has spoken to the BBC about his experience with the limb reconstruction surgeon when he was just six years old.

"We saw some mistakes on my leg and we realised something happened wrong", 12-year-old Vivaan Sharma said.

An investigation, published by London's Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) into Jabbar, found widespread evidence of unacceptable practice in the botched operations he carried out.

Jabbar worked at the hospital between 2017 and 2022, providing care to 789 children – 94 of them came to harm, GOSH's report concluded.

"We had to have even more surgeries and more surgeries... this is stuck for life, I've got so many scars on my leg", Sharma shared.

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Source: BBC News, 31 January 2026

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'I feel forgotten after 100 weeks on urgent surgery list'

Tracey Meechan's pain from an ovarian cyst is so severe she can't bend over - she relies on her children to help her put her shoes and socks on.

Every day the 41-year-old wakes up and wonders if any new symptoms are going to appear.

She has been on an "urgent" NHS waiting list for surgery for 100 weeks and now feels "forgotten".

As the latest NHS Scotland waiting times data is due to be published, Mrs Meechan told BBC Scotland News that the wait for treatment has affected every part of her life.

She said: "I can't live my life to the fullest. I can't do the activities I want to do with my kids. I can't do the job that I love.

"I was signed off work at the end of January as a home carer because of the pain and the physicality of my job - I can't do it.

"My mental health has declined. This has been years and the symptoms have worsened. It's impacted my life, my personal life and my family."

Before the pandemic it was rare for anybody to face a wait of a whole year to start NHS treatment, but that is not the case now.

Waiting always has consequences – more frequent visits to the GP to manage pain, struggles to work or stay healthy in other aspects of life.

The government says tackling waits is a priority and has set a target to create 150,000 additional appointments this year.

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Source: BBC News, 27 May 2025

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