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Great Ormond Street Hospital surgeons forced to use mobile phone torches during surgery after power cut

Surgeons at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) for children were forced to use mobile phone torches during an operation due to a power outage, the NHS’s safety watchdog has found.

The leading children’s hospital has faced ongoing concerns over the maintenance of its estate and operating theatres, which have led to water leaks and power outages, according to a report by the Care Quality Commission.

The CQC warned of “recurrent” problems, including a power outage during spinal surgery and ventilation failures.

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Source: The Guardian, 4 August 2025

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New support helps parents cope with ICU trauma

Charlotte Creevy's son Seth was two weeks old when he stopped breathing and was rushed to intensive care at a London hospital.

"What kept going through my mind was, 'Is he going to live or die?'"

Charlotte said Seth had contracted three viruses and needed respiratory support.

Thankfully Seth recovered and returned home after being treated at the paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington for three weeks in October 2022.

Now a "first of its kind" support service by the charity Cosmic is being rolled out at the hospital to help parents like Charlotte cope with the trauma of experiencing their child going into intensive care.

"It was awful. I would cry because it was hard not knowing what would happen to Seth," Charlotte added.

"I was only two weeks postpartum after an emergency C-section, so I was physically not in a good way anyway."

Chief executive of Cosmic, Susannah Forland said "things like the beeping of a fridge can trigger trauma or flashbacks".

She added: "The impact can be long-lasting and far-reaching after the families return home.

"Our service will bridge the gap between hospital and home, providing a vital safety net during one of the most emotionally vulnerable times in a parent's life."

Research at St Mary's Hospital found that early intervention helped reduce symptoms of PTSD and other long-term mental health issues among parents, following their child's discharge from intensive care.

After a successful pilot, Cosmic is funding and delivering the post-PICU service on a permanent basis.

It involves providing parents with a booklet containing information and coping mechanisms, a follow-up telephone call by trained staff, and ongoing referral for counselling where needed.

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Source: BBC News, 5 August 2025

Further reading on hub:

How a charity in France is supporting intensive care units: An interview with Anne-Sophie Debue

 

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NHS in England told to keep Welsh patients waiting

NHS patients from Wales who need knee and hip operations in England face lengthy delays after a health board asked English hospitals to copy Wales' longer waiting times.

Powys health board announced the change as it could not afford the cost of how quickly operations over the border were being carried out, but patients have said they were not informed.

Mel Wallace, 59, from Howey, Powys, was initially told she would have a 12-month wait for her hip replacement, but now faces another 45-week wait after already waiting 59 weeks.

Health board chief executive Hayley Thomas said people in the area "should be treated in the same timeframe as residents of anywhere else in Wales".

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Source: BBC News, 4 August 2025

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Quarter of a million NHS Scotland patient falls in 5 years

New figures reveal it is becoming more likely for NHS Scotland patients to fall as a quarter of a million incidents are recorded in just five years. 

There were least 266,573 patient falls between 2019 and 2024, according to Freedom of Information data obtained by the Labour Party. When incidents in 2025 were included, this number rose to 282,385. 

With nine out of 14 health boards reporting an increase, the figures suggest that patients are becoming more likely to fall.

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Source: The Herald

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Common allergy medication’s risks outweigh its usefulness, experts say (CNN)

Dr. Anna Wolfson says she sees dangerous misuse of the allergy medication diphenhydramine in her clinic every day.

“If someone has an allergic reaction to a food, people will say, ‘Don’t worry, I have diphenhydramine in my purse,’ and I would say, ‘Really, epinephrine is the first-line treatment for food allergies,’” said Wolfson, an allergist at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Diphenhydramine can be harmful if people take it after having an allergic reaction to food, she said, because the drug – best known by the brand name Benadryl – makes them drowsy and can cause them to miss signs that their symptoms are getting worse.

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Source: CNN, 1 August 2025

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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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Three million on NHS England waiting lists have had no care since GP referral

Almost half of the 6 million people needing treatment from the NHS in England have had no further care at all since joining a hospital waiting list, new data reveals.

Previously unseen NHS England figures show that 2.99 million of the 6.23 million patients (48%) awaiting care have not had either their first appointment with a specialist or a diagnostic test since being referred by a GP.

The Patients Association described the situation as “an invisible waiting list crisis” that was “staggering” in scale, with millions living in limbo, anxious as their health deteriorates.

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Source: The Guardian, 1 August 2025

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Obstetricians and gynaecologists: Suicidal thoughts and burnout rose after pandemic, survey suggests

Obstetricians and gynaecologists have become more likely to report suicidal thoughts since the Covid pandemic, a UK survey has found.

Researchers at Imperial College London surveyed 1400 practising doctors who had been registered with the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) from June to August 2022 and compared the findings with the previous questionnaire results from 2018.

They found that 72% (805) of respondents met the criteria for burnout, up from 36% (1116) in 2018. Trainees experienced the highest levels of burnout at 80% (344), while consultants reported the lowest levels at 67% (393).

The proportion of doctors reporting anxiety and depression had also risen: anxiety increased from 33% of doctors (1008) to 62% (643), and depression rose from 14% (416) to 31% (317). Doctors having suicidal thoughts rose from 3% (90) to 9% (98).

However, researchers highlighted that the post-pandemic study had a smaller response rate of 19% (1400 of 7388 members)—much lower than the 55% rate (3102 of 5661) in 2018. 

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Source: BMJ, 30 July 2025

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Neighbourhood health ‘can’t be line managed’

A government neighbourhood health lead has warned the service “can’t line manage organisations outside the NHS into change”, which will instead rely on “frontline involvement” organised in relatively small patches.

Sir John Oldham, a former GP who is chairing the government’s neighbourhood health implementation programme, launched a call three weeks ago for applications to join its first wave.

The “large-scale change programme” will be joined up with parallel national 10-Year Health Plan  delivery work, including developing two neighbourhood health provider contracts, and changing funding flows.

But Sir John told HSJ that successful implementation “requires the meaningful frontline involvement of partners at a neighbourhood level… You can’t line manage organisations outside the NHS into change, you have to engage and facilitate. Yet it is their contribution that will be needed [to achieve] the hard deliverables”. 

The senior adviser to health and social care secretary Wes Streeting also said the programme would not accept applications from multiple places working as one, because they would be too wide to properly engage local teams. “The connectivity between place and neighbourhood will be very important, which is why a single application from multiple places won’t be accepted,” he said. “The definition of a place is up to local people.

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Source: HSJ, 1 August 2025

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ICBs can scrap chief nurse and medic, says NHSE

Integrated care boards can now scrap the roles of chief nurse and chief medical officer – despite previous guidance saying they are required – NHS England has indicated.

NHSE told HSJ it was “for each ICB to determine which specific roles they require at board level to deliver their core functions”, after saying systems should reduce executive headcounts as part of its “model ICB blueprint”.

It comes as North East London ICB announced to staff it was scrapping its chief nurse and chief medical officer roles from its executive management team. It is restructuring in order to cut its costs in half and focus on “strategic commissioning” (see below), as instructed by government and NHSE.

The Royal College of Nursing has criticised NEL ICB’s removal of the chief nurse role – and said other systems may follow suit.

Patricia Marquis, executive director of RCN England, said: “The decision to remove the chief nurse post by the North East London ICB shows poor insight into the importance of nursing in ensuring safe patient care. Worryingly, we are now hearing that other ICBs across England are planning to follow suit. The RCN is monitoring the situation and will be supporting members to challenge decisions locally.

“As the biggest and most trusted profession in the NHS workforce, it is vital that nursing continues to have leaders in place to influence decision-making. Failure to do so risks devaluing the nursing profession and undermining the delivery of the NHS 10-Year Health Plan, which is so heavily dependent on the expertise and leadership of senior nursing staff.”

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Source: HSJ, 1 August 2025

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First NHS AI-run physio clinic in England halves back-pain waiting list

The first NHS AI-run physiotherapy clinic has halved the waiting list for back pain and musculoskeletal services, according to the NHS trust where the pilot has taken place.

More than 2,500 patients living in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough were able to access Flok Health, a physiotherapy platform run by AI, over a 12-week period starting in February.

The platform, which was created using video footage of a human physiotherapist, provides same-day automated video appointments with a digital physiotherapist via an app that responds to information given by a patient in real time.

When the clinic was first launched in Cambridgeshire, waiting times for elective community musculoskeletal (MSK) services in the region were about 18 weeks.

The waiting times for all MSK conditions decreased by 44% over the course of the 12-week period due to the use of Flok combined with other initiatives such as community assessment days, according to Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS trust (CCS), which deployed the services in those areas of England.

Anna-Marie Cooper, from Cambridge, had a positive experience using Flok despite being initially sceptical when she was referred to the AI physio for her back pain.

“I have used private physiotherapy services in the past, but I found my experience with the AI physio as good as, if not better than any care I’ve received before,” she said. “Flok’s service was so intuitive, and having the flexibility to schedule and rearrange appointments whenever I wanted really suited me.”

But the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) said that although AI holds great potential for the future of healthcare treatments, it was concerned about widening health inequalities for other patients who couldn’t or didn’t want to access physiotherapy care via an app.

John Cowman, the chief executive of the CSP, said: “When tackling the problem of waiting times, it is important to address the root causes, one of which is the recruitment freezes currently stopping graduate physiotherapists from finding work in the NHS. We have a workforce ready to provide proven, safe care which will help cut waiting times and ensure people get the appointments they need.

“AI will certainly play an increasing role in healthcare in the coming years as a tool to support services, but should be run in conjunction with increasing the physiotherapy workforce.”

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Source: The Guardian, 31 July 2025

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Review uncovers misogyny and paternalistic culture at major trust

An independent review of a major trust has uncovered claims of misogyny and a failure to deal with “unwanted romantic advances”, HSJ can reveal. 

The damning report into University Hospitals Sussex Foundation Trust found that multiple women reported eye-rolling and dismissiveness in meetings. Female surgeons in particular felt “constantly excluded” by their male colleagues.

The review team also learnt that no action was taken after a female staff member reported unwanted romantic advances and inappropriate comments from senior male colleagues.

The report was written by Niche Health and Social Care Consulting, which specialises in independent investigations. It was commissioned after a poor Care Quality Commission report and “undertakings” from NHS England. It was based around interviews and focus groups with staff, governors and leaders, a survey of board members and a wider survey of more than 1,000 staff members.

The review team found senior leaders said there was a “paternalistic culture” in the organisation, with all decisions passed through the executive.

It called on the trust to build “psychological safety” in the organisation, which was also described as having a “medically dominated culture”, where doctors were “pandered” to.

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Source: HSJ, 31 July 2025

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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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Yusuf Nazir: New report examines death of boy who was sent home from hospital due to a 'lack of beds'

The mother of a five-year-old boy who died after being sent home from hospital because of a "lack of beds" has told Sky News that the second report into his death "has not brought closure for the family". 

Yusuf Nazir died in November 2022. His mother Soniya had rushed her son to Rotherham Hospital's A&E, only to be told "there were no beds available".

Yusuf was eventually seen by a doctor but then sent home. Soniya says the doctor told her that "Yusuf had the worst case of tonsillitis he had ever seen".

But the child's health continued to deteriorate, and his desperately worried mother called an ambulance to rush him to the nearby specialist children's hospital in Sheffield.

It was here, the report says, that a number of critical interventions were missed. Yusuf's family say that, if doctors had acted sooner, he would still be alive.

Speaking in her first interview since Yusuf's death, Soniya described the panic she felt as a mother watching her son "dying in front of her eyes".

"I carried Yusuf to the nurse, floppy with his eyes rolled back, struggling to breathe, myself to the nurse," Soniya said.

"She said: 'We're too busy, we can't get a doctor, you'll have to wait.'"

This second independent report was backed by Wes Streeting when he was shadow health secretary.

A previous internal NHS report found no wrongdoing on the part of Rotherham Hospital. The family have described that report as a "whitewash".

Their claim will be supported by this second report, which says: "It's clear that across all settings - primary care, pre-hospital, emergency and inpatient - the healthcare system failed to truly hear the family's voice."

It also says staff should have listened to the "mother's instinct".

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Source: Sky News, 31 July 2025

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Major healthcare equipment firm on brink of failure

A major supplier of healthcare equipment to people who are being discharged from hospital or need support in their own homes, is on the brink of going bust.

NRS Healthcare, which works with the NHS and about 40 councils in England and Northern Ireland, is expected to run out of cash by the end of the week, the BBC understands.

The government said it was working with local authorities to minimise "any potential disruption" and find alternative suppliers.

In a letter, sent to the government early in July and seen by the BBC, councils warned of "a devastating impact" and "risk to life" and asked for a short-term loan for NRS while new arrangements were put in place.

It is believed no loan was offered, but most councils have now managed to get plans in place to keep services running.

Council leaders and social services bosses have since confirmed they are "exploring all options to maintain services, including alternative providers and local solutions".

"We are committed to ensuring that services remain as reliable as possible, especially to those people with the highest levels of need during this period of uncertainty," said the Local Government Association, which represents councils in England, in a joint statement with the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services.

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Source: BBC News, 30 July 2025

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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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Parents 'horrified' by maternity services report

There are "significant'' concerns about the safety and quality of maternity services at an NHS trust, a report has revealed.

Issues with staffing, a "challenging'' culture and a lack of learning from previous incidents were identified at Leeds Teaching Hospitals (LTH) NHS Trust.

NHS England published its findings following a visit to the trust in March this year. It made 101 recommendations to improve the quality of care and ensure the "wellbeing'' of mothers and babies.

NHS England placed the trust under its national Maternity Safety Support Programme (MSSP). Its teams work to improve services where serious concerns have been identified.

Areas of concerns the MSSP report highlighted included:

  • Staff describe safety concerns being de-escalated without resolution, and learning from incidents was not robust which meant there was a continuation on previously identified themes.
  • Lack of cardiotocography (CTG) machines to enable women to be effectively and safely monitored.
  • Issues with escalation process especially out of hours with no clinical or midwifery management on call.
  • Challenge in responding to families who have experienced harm and poor outcomes.
  • Poor communication and staffing issues with maternity leadership needing improvement.

A group of Leeds bereaved families said the MSSP report, which also highlights good practices, is "truly shocking and horrifying reading".

"As bereaved and harmed families this most recent report, yet again, totally vindicates what we have been saying for years. The culture of denial, the failure to listen and the absence of real accountability are systemic and persistent," a spokesperson said.

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Source: BBC News, 29 July 2025

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I've stopped life-saving medication says man exhausted by fight for NHS care

Tim Hull can point to many achievements during his 56 years. But it is a life Tim has decided to end. His quality of life, he says, is "very, very low". Tim has a medical condition that weakens his muscles, and his health has declined rapidly over the past two years.

It is the battles to get the health and care support he needs which have driven him to make the desperate decision, says Tim. He feels abandoned by health professionals, has been moved from one waiting list to another, has not been provided with the right equipment to help him and has been bed-bound for nearly seven months.

In February, he stopped taking the medication that prevents his kidneys from failing. They are now beginning to give up and he knows he has months, if not weeks, to live.

"I don't feel that things are going to get any better than this," he tells BBC News. "I just feel [ending my life] would be a better option than lying in bed 24 hours a day."

Tim's neurological condition is rare, however, many of the difficulties he has faced feel familiar to many.

Over the past two years, BBC News has been contacted by the families of more than 250 people with serious disabilities or illnesses about their struggles to access health and care services.

Many described the impact of very long waits for assessments, appointments, and for vital equipment that can help them cope at home.

They also highlighted the frustrations of trying to get someone to signpost the right services, being passed from department to department, and the feeling that they were only listened to when they reached a crisis.

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Source: BBC News, 30 July 2025

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GPs urged to join forces to avoid ‘imposition’ of neighbourhood providers

GPs should rapidly start “collaborative discussions” with peers about developing joint “models” to fit in with the government’s proposed development of “neighbourhood health”, the British Medical Association’s GP committee has said.

The GPC has previously issued strong criticism of the government’s 10-Year Health Plan, because it does not commit to a new core GP contract, and opens the door to trusts running more GP practices.

However, a document issued by the committee on Friday says GPs should “quickly” begin talks with other practices, federations and primary care networks, with a view to “develop[ing] collaborative models”. They should “think about how they may operate” in neighbourhood systems.

The 10YHP proposes the introduction of two new “neighbourhood” contracts from next year to coordinate and provide local services, which it says will also encourage GPs to work across larger areas.

Some believe there are few parts of the country where large-scale GP providers are mature enough to take on these roles, meaning NHS trusts and foundation trusts are likely to step in.

The BMA’s GPC England appears to be encouraging GP practices to accelerate “collaboration” – such as creating or developing larger providers and federations – with a view to taking on neighbourhood contracts. 

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Source: HSJ, 30 July 2025

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Coroners reveal concerns over trust safety investigations

Trusts are beginning to run parallel safety investigations because a compulsory new national process does not meet the demands of coroners, HSJ has learned.

One provider said it had already established a separate process for deaths likely to result in an inquest, while others confirmed they were reviewing how they carry out investigations.

National officials admitted separate investigations might be required.

It follows the rollout in recent years of NHS England’s new “patient safety incident response framework” (PSIRF) for all NHS trusts, as well as other providers on the NHS standard contract.

It is meant to be a more “proportionate” process than the previous “serious incident framework”, with a focus on learning and engaging with those affected, rather than attributing blame. One consequence is that fewer incidents – including some deaths – are likely to receive a full investigation.

HSJ has uncovered seven cases – covering nine people – where coroners have issued Prevention of Future Deaths (PFD) reports which raised concerns that the PSIRF is producing inadequate reports or there had been no safety investigation at all.

Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals Trust has reverted to using root cause analysis as a parallel process for all cases that may be subject to a coroner inquest. This was required “to ensure the coroner received the necessary information, while maintaining the integrity of the PSIRF investigation”, the trust’s board heard last month. Chief medical officer Andrew Deaner said: “Nationally coroners were finding some issues with the PSIRF process.”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “Under the [PSIRF], all deaths thought likely to be down to problems in care must be subject to a patient safety incident investigation.” However, they added: “It is vital that NHS trusts continue to engage with coroners and work with them to ensure that coroners get the information they need.”

NHS England has also said it is aware some coroners had raised concerns, although it consulted the chief coroners’ office in developing the PSIRF. It acknowledged the methodology may differ from a coroner’s remit, and said NHS organisations could use other methods in addition.

The judiciary office and the Coroners’ Society did not want to comment.

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Source: HSJ, 29 July 2025

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Lifestyle changes and vaccination ‘could prevent most liver cancer cases’

Three in five liver cancer cases globally could be prevented by reducing obesity and alcohol consumption and increasing uptake of the hepatitis vaccine, a study has found.

The Lancet Commission on liver cancer found that most cases were preventable if alcohol consumption, fatty liver disease and levels of viral hepatitis B and C were reduced.

The commission set out several recommendations for policymakers, which it estimated could reduce the incidence of liver cancer cases by 2% to 5% each year by 2050, preventing 9m to 17m new cases of liver cancer and saving 8 million to 15 million lives.

Prof Jian Zhou at Fudan University in China, who led the research, said: “Liver cancer is a growing health issue around the world. It is one of the most challenging cancers to treat, with five-year survival rates ranging from approximately 5% to 30%. We risk seeing close to a doubling of cases and deaths from liver cancer over the next quarter of a century without urgent action to reverse this trend.”

The commission author Prof Hashem B El-Serag of Baylor College of Medicine in the US said: “Liver cancer was once thought to occur mainly in patients with viral hepatitis or alcohol-related liver disease. However, today, rising rates of obesity are an increasing risk factor for liver cancer, primarily due to the increase in cases of excess fat around the liver.”

The commission’s recommendations included that governments boost HBV vaccination and implement universal screening for adults; introduce minimum alcohol unit pricing and sugar taxes along with warning labels; invest in early detection of liver damage and cancer; and improve palliative care for sufferers.

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Source: The Guardian, 28 July 2025

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New study says self-test could prevent up to 1,000 cervical cancer cases a year

About a third of women are overdue for their appointment for life-saving cervical cancer screening – due to embarrassment, discomfort or simply not having enough time to attend.

But offering women an at-home self-test could prevent as many as 1,000 cases of cervical cancer every year, a study led by Queen Mary University of London with King’s College London found.

More than 3,000 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer each year in the UK. It has been estimated that the number would be 5,000 higher if it weren’t for cervical screening.

The number of women participating in cervical screening has been falling, and in 2024, only 66% of those eligible for screening were up to date.

In the study, published in the journal EClinicalMedicine, researchers recruited 13 GP practices in West London to find out the benefits of offering women a take-home test.

One group of GP practices made in-person kit offers to women who were at least six months overdue for their cervical screening, the other group did not. For the first group, when women attended their GP practice for any reason, their doctor or nurse was encouraged to offer them a self-sampling kit.

In the study, people who were 15 months overdue for cervical screening were randomised each month. Half received no special communication, a quarter were mailed a self-sampling kit, and a quarter were sent a letter offering a kit.

Of the 449 women opportunistically offered a kit in a GP appointment, 234 (52%) accepted and returned a sample.

However, the uptake of self-sampling after a postal offer was lower: 12% among those sent a kit, and just 5% for women sent a letter offering a kit.

Researchers estimate that if this approach were adopted across the NHS, 1,000 cases of cervical cancer could be prevented.

dings are directly relevant to current efforts to modernise cervical screening in England. Self-sampling gives women greater control over how and when they get screened.

“This study reinforces that many women welcome the option - particularly when it’s offered in person by a trusted healthcare professional. A simple change like this could have a major impact on preventing cervical cancer.”

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Source: The Guardian, 29 July 2025

Further reading on the hub:

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Children’s heart unit in ‘very precarious state’

A surgeon at one of England’s largest teaching trusts has had their practice restricted following the deaths of two children, amid a “worrying and significant deterioration” in mortality rates for its children’s heart service.

Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust commissioned a review of its paediatric congenital cardiac service after the clinical team raised concerns about the surgeon’s performance as well as overall mortality rates, waiting lists, patient flow and culture.

The review found mortality rates at LTH were around three times the national average and had shown a “worrying and significant deterioration” over the past two years.

The findings have been published in the trust’s papers for its board meeting this week. It comes as its chair and CEO are leaving, and major problems have emerged in its maternity services. 

The service review was carried out by consultant cardiothoracic surgeon Massimo Caputo and paediatric intensive care consultant James Fraser, both of whom work at Bristol Royal Hospital for Children. They found that rates of significant complications, reoperation and protracted length of stay after surgery had increased since April 2023.

A separate review, by Andrew Parry, a paediatric cardiac surgeon in Bristol, looked into seven specific cases of particular concern that all involved the same surgeon – who the trust has declined to name. Two of the children died, and the remaining five continue to receive care from various specialities including congenital cardiac surgery.

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Source: HSJ, 29 July 2025

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'My dad started spying on my mum' - the drugs causing sexual urges

When "Sarah" climbed up into the attic of her father's house - she was completely unprepared for what she would find.

Her father, "James", was a modest man who worked most of his life for the same company. He retired about 20 years ago when he was diagnosed with Parkinson's.

He had managed the tremors and balance difficulties caused by the disorder by taking a prescription drug called Ropinirole.

But during the Covid-19 pandemic, Sarah had grown increasingly alarmed about her father's secrecy and wanted to see what he had been spending his time doing.

In the loft, she discovered reams of handwritten notes and a dozen recording devices he had been using to bug his own home.

In writing and on tape he had documented innocent sounds his wife had made as she moved around the house, and while she slept, to try to prove she was having an affair. He had also catalogued details of numerous chat lines and porn websites he had been obsessively using.

It was only when Sarah took him to see his specialist nurse five years ago that she learned the medication her father was on could have such extreme side effects.

James lives in a specialist care home and Sarah says she has been told that he has sexually assaulted staff there.

"This medication has torn my family apart," says Sarah - whose name we have changed along with her father's.

James's case is one of 50 the BBC has now been contacted about, the majority concerning men being treated for movement disorders whose behaviour changed dramatically after being prescribed medication from a specific family of drugs.

The risk of impulsive behaviour side effects of dopamine agonist medication have long been known - but the BBC has discovered that doctors are still not warning all patients who have been prescribed the drugs for a variety of conditions.

In March we revealed how British drug company GSK had found a link between Ropinirole and what it called "deviant" sexual behaviour - including paedophilia - in 2003.

GSK told the BBC it had shared these findings with health authorities, included this safety advice in medication leaflets, and conducted extensive trials for the drug which has been prescribed for 17 million treatments.

But warnings about such behaviour were not included in leaflets until 2007 - and, even now, only specify "altered" sexual interest and "excessive" or "increased" libido as risks.

Safety advice about the medication's "toxic" side-effects needs to be strengthened immediately because their impact can be "devastating", according to the acting chair of the Health Select Committee, Labour MP Paulette Hamilton.

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Source: BBC News, 26 July 2025

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Demand for weight loss drugs is becoming unsustainable, say pharmacists

Demand for weight loss drugs is becoming so “unsustainable” that demand may soon outstrip supply, pharmacists have warned.

The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) said supply problems could encourage people to turn to unregulated online sources, despite the risks involved.

The number of people in the UK using drugs such as Wegovy and Mounjaro has soared to well above a million, with most patients paying to get them privately.

During April, 1.6m packs of Mounjaro and Wegovy were bought in Britain, with the number thought to correlate closely with the number of people using them.

“Spiralling demand for weight loss medication risks going far beyond what is clinically deliverable”, the NPA said.

“Weight loss jabs are one of the biggest drug innovations this century but growing demand for weight loss treatment highlights the need to make sure this is appropriate for those who want it,” said Olivier Picard, the NPA’s chair.

“It’s clear from this polling that more people are interested in getting weight loss jabs than can benefit from weight loss medication.”

Supply of the medicines has been hit by shortages in some parts of the UK, including for higher doses of Mounjaro, the NPA said. Supply has been restricted to some pharmacies, which has stopped some new patients from going on to the drugs.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the UK’s drugs watchdog, has warned patients to obtain the drugs only with a doctor’s prescription, and not from beauty parlours or websites.

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Source: The Guardian, 28 July 2025

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