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Morning-after pill to be offered without charge at pharmacies in England

The morning-after pill will be available without charge on the NHS at pharmacies in England, the government has announced in an effort to reduce the “postcode lottery” of free access to the emergency contraception.

The morning-after pill is one of two forms of emergency contraception that women can use after having unprotected sex, or where other forms of contraception have failed. The sooner that emergency contraception is used, the more effective it is.

The new announcement aims to increase access to the morning-after pill; while it is already available for nothing from most GP surgeries, most sexual health clinics and some NHS walk-in centres, not all pharmacies offer it for nothing, with some women paying up to £30 for the medication.

The health minister Stephen Kinnock said: “Equal access to safe and effective contraception is crucial to women’s healthcare and a cornerstone of a fair society.

“Women across England face an unfair postcode lottery when seeking emergency contraception, with access varying dramatically depending on where they live. By making this available at community pharmacies, we will ensure all women can access this essential healthcare when they need it, regardless of where they live or their ability to pay.”

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Source: The Guardian, 30 March 2025-

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Cancer patients missed chance for treatment due to 100-day waits, trust admits

Lung cancer patients at a major trust were on waiting lists for so long that their disease progressed to a stage where it was no longer treatable.

Following a harm review, Newcastle Hospitals Foundation Trust discovered two dozen patients whose cancer had progressed to a stage where it was more serious and difficult to treat.

Within this group of 24 patients, six were moved straight to end of life care when doctors finally decided on their treatment plan.

Between 1 January 2024 and 31 January 2025, a total of 160 lung cancer patients at Newcastle FT waited longer than 104 days for treatment after an urgent or suspected cancer referral. The national target is for 85% of cancer patients to receive their first treatment within 62 days, although it has not been met since 2015. 

“Stage migration” was the biggest concern in those cases, meaning the patient’s cancer progressed while they waited for treatment, making it harder to treat.

In papers submitted to a board meeting on Friday, the trust accepted its performance on cancer was still “clearly below” the standard required. The data on lung cancer in particular “underscored” the need for a “specific and continued” focus on treatment for the disease, the trust said.

Naser Turabi, Cancer Research UK’s director of evidence and implementation, said the trust’s disclosure has drawn attention to the issue of the impact of missing waiting times standards on patients.

“Delays to treatment negatively impact patients, but it’s hard to know just how badly,” he told HSJ.

“One study suggests that for many cancers, a four-week delay to surgery increases the risk of dying by 6-8 per cent, but we know that long waits can reduce the treatment options that are available, and have significant psychological impacts too.”

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Source: HSJ, 31 March 2025

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Zero tolerance ‘won’t fix sexual harassment of staff’

“Cultural transformation” rather than “zero tolerance” is required to overcome widespread sexual harassment by ambulance service staff and patients, according to the person leading national efforts to make improvements.

The comments to HSJ from Bron Biddle, the lead for reducing misogyny and improving sexual safety at the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives, follow the publication of the 2024 NHS staff survey results.

These found 1 in 12 reported unwanted sexual behaviour from colleagues or other staff in the past year – more than double the figure across all sectors and a slight increase on 2023.

When reporting unwanted sexual behaviour at work from patients, relatives or the public, the figure totals a huge 29% of ambulance staff nationally — slightly higher than 2023 and massively above the national average for all NHS staff of under 9%.

Despite the huge issue, HR specialist Ms Biddle, who has been running a programmme to tackle the problem for several years, said rooting it out required a “reset” of cultural norms, as well as social change.

“If we just reinforce things like zero tolerance and stamping it out, we are missing the nuance of why this is happening in the first place,” she told HSJ. “It is easy for us to think of someone as a bad apple, but are they bad apples, or are we complicit in the environment they are operating in? And this is why wider culture transformation is so important if we want to prevent sexualised behaviours in the first place.”

It means action taken against perpetrators should be “proportionate” rather than always hard-line, she said, and drew a distinction between predatory and exploitative behaviour, and that exhibited by someone who is capable of adapting their behaviour.

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Source: HSJ, 28 March 2025

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Patients routinely smoking in hospitals, despite ban

Mental health patients are routinely smoking on trust premises, and do not have enough support to stop, despite the threat of tightening rules.

Public health charity Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) surveyed mental health trusts at the end of last year and found  that although the vast majority of had smoke-free policies, fewer than half were able to support their patients to stop smoking.

ASH found mental health patients still routinely smoked on trust sites, often with the support of staff, and with “patchy” tobacco dependence treatment.

The charity warned implementation of “tobacco dependence treatment services” had been inhibited by “staff attitudes and beliefs, lack of capacity and resources, lack of leadership, and inadequate or poorly enforced policy”.

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Source: HSJ, 18 March 2025

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Almost 1.7 million hernia mesh implanted in NHS in 20 years

Almost 1.7 million people have had hernia mesh surgery in the NHS since 2004, figures released by the NHS have revealed.

The statistics do not include people who’ve had hernia mesh in private hospitals.

Nobody can say how many are now suffering complications – because patients are not tracked for their lifetime.

Yet campaigners and academics globally say it can take many years for mesh to cause problems- so the scale of suffering falls into a black hole of missing data.

Moreover, support groups show that patients are being implanted with hernia mesh in their thousands ever year – but nobody is being given fully informed consent of the potential risks such as pain, loss of mobility, loss of sex life and losing the ability to have children. Also autoimmune diseases and allergies caused by the plastic mesh material.

The figures came to light thanks to a Written Parliamentary Question asked by MP Sharon Hodgson, chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for First Do No Harm.

In its response, The Department of Health say: “Clinicians are expected to inform patients about risks associated with recommended treatments, including reasonable alternatives, to enable informed consent and a balanced patient decision.”

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Source: Sling the Mesh, 25 March 2025

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NHSE vows to end ‘bombardment’ of trusts

NHS England has vowed to “reduce duplication and prevent providers from being bombarded with conflicting instructions”, including by removing integrated care boards’ performance management role.

A new draft NHS Performance Assessment Framework, published today, promises to “streamline oversight” by “providing consistent and co-ordinated oversight to reduce duplication and prevent providers from being bombarded with conflicting instructions”.

The document attempts to set out how integrated care boards and trusts will be regulated by NHS England, starting from July. 

It confirms that NHSE, not ICBs, will be responsible for provider performance management – a move announced late last year but met with anger from many ICBs.

The new paper says: “Discussions about performance will be led by colleagues at NHS England, who are experienced in addressing delivery challenges.”

The proposal that NHSE performance management will be carried out “with and through” ICBs — included in earlier versions of the framework — has gone.

In addition, trusts’ performance “segments” will no longer take into account wider system performance, nor a proposed judgement of their “capability”, as they will “solely [be] linked to delivery metrics”.

ICBs will still have to “hold their partners to account using the system levers that bind them together, such as their joint system plans, partnership agreements, joint committees and collaboratives”, however.

The framework is subject to consultation, and new NHSE CEO Sir Jim Mackey told its board today it was likely to be changed. There will “absolutely be some things we need to change and adjust”, he said. “This isn’t something that can be perfect at the first go.”

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Source: HSJ, 27 March 2025

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Baby deaths trust claimed £2m 'good care' payments

An NHS trust criticised over the avoidable death of a newborn baby was paid £2m for providing good maternity care, the BBC can reveal.

A senior coroner ruled on Friday that University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay (UHMB) NHS trust contributed to Ida Lock's death and had failed to learn lessons from previous maternity failures.

Despite this, the trust claimed it had met all 10 standards under an NHS scheme aimed at promoting safe treatment.

Ida's mother Sarah Robinson said it was "another kick in the teeth" while her father Ryan Lock labelled it "disgusting". The trust, which has previously apologised for its failings in Ida's care, declined to comment about the NHS payment scheme.

Senior coroner for Lancashire James Adeley concluded that Ida had died due to the gross failure of three midwives to provide basic medical care.

Ida, who was born at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary (RLI) on 9 November 2019, died a week later after suffering a serious brain injury due to a lack of oxygen.

Dr Adeley ruled her death had been caused by the midwives' failure to deliver the infant "urgently when it was apparent she was in distress" and contributed to by the lead midwife's "wholly incompetent failure to provide basic neonatal resuscitation".

He said eight opportunities had been missed "to alter Ida's clinical course".

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Source: BBC News, 26 March 2025

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NHS hospital too slow to treat doctor’s son who died of sepsis, coroner rules

A hospital failed to treat the son of one of its consultants with antibiotics and fluids with the required urgency hours before he died of sepsis, a coroner has ruled.

It was unclear whether mistakes and delays in the treatment of William Hewes, 22, on 21 January contributed to his death, the coroner, Mary Hassell, said.

The death of Hewes raised similar issues to the death of 13-year-old Martha Mills in 2021, Hassell said. Martha’s death led to the adoption of Martha’s rule, which gives families the right to a second opinion on medical treatment.

Hewes, who was studying politics and history at Leeds University, died of meningococcal septicaemia at Homerton hospital in east London, where his mother, Dr Deborah Burns, was a consultant paediatrician.

Burns told the inquest she had been unable to work at the hospital since her son’s death because of feelings of “betrayal” towards colleagues who ignored her warnings about his treatment.

Burns repeatedly asked medics to administer lifesaving antibiotics in the vital first hour of his treatment. But antibiotics were not given until 1.25am due to a misunderstanding between a doctor and nurses, the inquest at Bow coroner’s court heard. There was also a delay of about 90 minutes in transferring Hewes from the resuscitation area of A&E to the intensive care unit amid a disagreement between medics about escalating his care.

The hospital admitted these mistakes were “suboptimal”. Hassell said Hewes was not treated “with the urgency he should have been” but added: “It is unclear whether, if he had been administered all appropriate treatment promptly, his life would have been saved.”

She said she would issue a prevention of future deaths report to Homerton hospital on the basis that the work it had done since Hewes’s death should be shared nationally.

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Source: The Guardian, 27 March 2025

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AI pregnancy scans twice as fast and just as accurate as traditional sonograms, study finds

Artificial intelligence is being hailed as a potential game-changer in prenatal care, cutting down the time it takes to identify fetal abnormalities by almost half, according to a groundbreaking new study.

Researchers at King’s College London and Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust found as well as being faster, AI is just as accurate as traditional methods, offering the potential to revolutionise the 20-week scan.

The technology, tested in the first trial of its kind, could significantly reduce scan times, easing anxiety for expectant parents and freeing up sonographers to focus on potential problem areas.

The AI also proved more reliable than human sonographers in taking crucial measurements.

This improved accuracy offers the potential for earlier detection of potential issues, allowing medical professionals to intervene sooner if required.

The AI tool was also found to alter the way in which the scan is performed, as sonographers no longer needed to pause, save images or measure during the scan.

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Source: The Independent, 27 March 2025

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Trusts with persistently high baby deaths revealed

Two hospital trusts have recorded high adjusted mortality rates for five of the past seven years, according to HSJ  analysis of maternity safety audit findings.

The annual MBRRACE (Mothers and babies: reducing risk through audits and confidential enquiries) study of perinatal mortality and stillbirths compares adjusted death rates using a range of factors — such as health conditions, deprivation, and ethnicity — and then measures each hospital against a comparator group. 

A trust is given a “red” rating if its adjusted death rate is at least 5% above the average of its group of trusts with similar facilities and numbers of births.

HSJ  analysis of the seven years for which the audit has comparable data shows there are seven trusts that had at least three “red” ratings.

Several of the trusts said they believed their case-mix and populations were not fully adjusted for. 

Some argue they take births where the baby has a very low chance of survival because of a heart or other condition, for example, and that this is not accounted for by MBRRACE. 

The MBRRACE spokesperson added: “It is essential that care providers review their own data alongside other sources and conduct systematic reviews of each death using the perinatal mortality review tool. We strongly recommend this for all providers.”

Pauline McDonagh Hull, a research analyst at the University of Calgary in Canada, who led a similar review of audit ratings published in the Journal of Public Health, told HSJ: “MBRRACE recommended local reviews or investigations at all those falling into red or amber bands. We need to ask whether these have been taking place, what they found, and what, if any, changes were implemented, and if they haven’t been happening, why not?

“Similarly, has MBBRACE-UK, NHS England, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the Care Quality Commission or anyone else followed up on these annual recommendations?”

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Source: HSJ, 28 March 2025

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Failed CQC transformation cost £99m

The Care Quality Commission spent £99m on a transformation programme that failed to achieve most of the promised benefits, a highly critical independent report has revealed.

In 2021, the regulator launched its transformation programme under the oversight of former chief executive Ian Trenholm, which it said would simplify the assessment process for health and social care providers.

It entailed major changes to the organisation and operations of the CQC’s inspection regime, but also the introduction of new IT, including a “regulatory platform and provider portal”. 

An independent review by IT expert Peter Gill and published after a CQC board meeting yesterday found the transformation programme was to blame for widespread IT failures that have caused “significant organisational disruption”.

“The vast majority of the benefits expected to be delivered have not yet been achieved,” it said.

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Source: HSJ, 27 March 2025

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Baby slings unsafe for hands-free feeding, charities warn

Childbirth charities are warning parents that hands-free breastfeeding or bottle feeding, when a baby is being carried in a sling, is unsafe.

The National Childbirth Trust (NCT) and the Lullaby Trust say the risks are highest for premature babies and those under four months old because their airways can be easily blocked.

Their updated guidance follows an inquest into the death of a six-week-old boy who was being breastfed in a baby carrier while his mother moved around their home.

The baby, Jimmy Alderman, from London, was being breastfed in a sling in October 2023, but was in an unsafe position too far down the sling and lost consciousness after five minutes, the coroner found.

A coroner's report to prevent future deaths like his found there was very little information on safe positioning of babies in slings or the risks of suffocation when feeding.

Senior coroner for west London, Lydia Brown, issued a warning, external about the dangers of baby slings following an inquest held last year into his death.

She said there appeared to be no helpful visual images of "safe" versus "unsafe" postures for babies in slings or carriers, adding that "the NHS available literature provides no guidance or advice".

The NCT said it "immediately reviewed" its online information on baby slings and carriers after receiving the coroner's report and hearing feedback from Jimmy's parents.

The NCT's online advice now says: "Hands-free breastfeeding or bottle feeding, where the wearer moves around and does other jobs while the baby is feeding, is unsafe.

"This is especially true for babies under four months old. It also applies to babies born prematurely or those with a health condition."

The charity says young babies do not have strong necks and cannot lift their heads, meaning that their airway "can easily be blocked" in baby slings and carriers.

It adds that a sling's fabric or the fabric from a parent's clothes "could cause suffocation very quickly".

"If the sling or carrier is not correctly fitted and adjusted, babies can experience traumatic head injuries," the charity's advice says.

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Source: BBC News, 26 March 2025

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USA: RFK Jr. prepares 10,000 more job cuts across HHS, outlines office consolidations

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is set to slash 10,000 full-time jobs and further remake the agency in the Trump administration’s vision.

These cuts—in line with the Department of Government Efficiency's (DOGE's) "workforce optimization" efforts—will save the agency $1.8 billion per year, HHS said in a Thursday morning news release. 

Approximately 300 cuts will hit the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). These layoffs will prioritize “reducing minor duplication,” but promising the reorganization will not impact Medicare and Medicaid services.

At the Food and Drug Administration, 3,500 workers will be let go. HHS said the cuts will not affect drug, medical device or food reviewers. Inspectors will also not be impacted.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will fire 2,400 employees, while the National Institutes of Health will slash its workforce by 1,200 workers and “centralize procurement, human resources and communications” across 27 institutes and centres, a fact sheet explains.

HHS said they do not anticipate cuts beyond these, but the department will seek additional opportunities to “streamlines its operations and agencies.”

"This will be a painful period for HHS as we downsize from 82,000 employees to 62,000, but we are keenly focused on paring away excess administrators while increasing the number of scientists and frontline health providers so we can do a better job for the American people," Kennedy said.

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Source: Fierce Healthcare, 27 March 2025

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USA: HPV-linked cancer is becoming common in one group

Cancer caused by the common human papillomavirus infection, also known as HPV, is increasing in some women in the U.S., researchers said this month.

They found that rates of cervical cancer — which is one of the most preventable cancers and largely caused by HPV infection — have been rising among women in their 30s and 40s: many of whom weren’t eligible for HPV vaccines when they were first released in 2006.

Approximately 42.5 million Americans are infected with HPV and there are at least 13 million new infections reported each year.

The vaccines, which protect individuals from getting several cancers associated with different strains of America’s most common sexually transmitted infection, were originally only recommended for girls and women between the ages of nine and 26. Since then, eligibility has expanded to include individuals between the ages of 27 and 45. It is now recommended for routine vaccination starting at age 11 or 12.

Although vaccination has proven to be both safe and effective, vaccine hesitancy and resistance has persisted. In recent years, it has been tied to social media. A December study from USC found that Americans are under-vaccinated for HPV, with 7% of eligible adults completing the full course.

Screening is also an issue tied to the American Cancer Society study’s findings, with the percentage of women falling from 47% in 2019 to 41% in 2023. Women between the ages of 21 and 29 are the least likely to be up to date with their screenings, previous research found.

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Source: The Independent, 25 March 2025

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Warning issued over ‘untreatable’ gonorrhoea amid rise in cases

Health officials in England are raising concerns about a surge in antibiotic-resistant gonorrhoea cases, warning that the sexually transmitted infection could become “untreatable” if the trend continues.

Some infections have shown resistance to ceftriaxone, the primary antibiotic used.

More alarmingly, some cases are classified as "extensively drug resistant" (XDR), meaning they don't respond to ceftriaxone or the secondary treatment.

New data from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) reveals a concerning increase in resistant cases. Between January 2024 and March 2025, 17 cases of ceftriaxone-resistant gonorrhoea were reported, 13 in 2024 and four in the first three months of 2025.

Dr Katy Sinka, consultant epidemiologist and head of the STI section at UKHSA, said: “Gonorrhoea is becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics, which could make it untreatable in future.

“If left untreated, it can cause serious problems like pelvic inflammatory disease and infertility.”

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Source: The Independent, 27 March 2025

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Thousands have sought second opinion after NHS hospitals adopted Martha’s rule, MPs hear

Thousands of patients or their loved ones have sought a second opinion about their NHS care as result of hospitals adopting Martha’s rule, MPs have heard.

This includes more than 100 patients taken to intensive care “or equivalent” since the patient safety procedure was introduced in many parts of the NHS in England last April, the Commons health and social care committee heard on Wednesday.

The patient safety commissioner for England, Dr Henrietta Hughes, told MPs that Martha’s rule was “improving safety” and “reducing harm”.

Families have described how the lives of loved ones have been saved by the scheme, named after Martha Mills, who died in 2021 aged 13. It gives patients and their loved ones the right to request an urgent review of the person receiving hospital treatment, which triggers their care being looked at by a team of specialists, who offer a second opinion.

Prof Sir Stephen Powis, NHS England’s national medical director, said the initiative “is already one of the most significant changes in patient safety in recent years, with hundreds of calls leading to improvements in patient care – and undoubtedly lives saved”.

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Source: The Guardian, 26 March 2025

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AI outperforms surgeons in writing post-op reports

A study has demonstrated that AI can create more accurate operative reports than surgeons.

Published in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons, it is the first report on fully automated, video-based AI surgical documentation.

The research highlights the potential of AI-driven solutions to reduce administrative burdens and improve surgical documentation.

Surgeons frequently regard the creation of operative reports as essential yet time-consuming. These reports are inevitably subjective and may contain inaccuracies or incomplete information.

The administrative task of documentation has also been recognised as a potential factor in physician burnout.

Recent advancements in AI, especially in computer vision, have allowed automated systems to accurately detect surgical steps from video footage.

Researchers aimed to create a platform that automates the generation of video-based AI surgical operative reports for robotic-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP).

Using an AI-powered algorithm, surgical steps were automatically identified in video recordings and mapped to pre-specified text to generate narrative AI operative reports.

The accuracy of these AI-generated reports was then compared to traditional surgeon-written reports using an expert review of raw surgical video footage as the gold standard.

The findings suggest that AI-driven operative reporting can enhance accuracy, reduce the documentation burden, and improve transparency in surgical procedures.

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Source: Surgery News, 24 March 2025

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Patients being put at risk in hospitals by staff relations 'breakdown'

A “serious breakdown” in relationships among staff and management at a Scottish health board is likely having a detrimental effect on patient care, a review has found.

The probe by Healthcare Improvement Scotland looked at emergency departments (ED) in three hospitals in the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) health board, which serves a population of 1.2 million people and employs 44,000 staff.

Staff within NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde have raised a range of DATIX reports about crowding, corridor care and patient safety concerns associated with delays in providing care.

The negative impact of corridor care was highlighted by many staff in terms of insufficient staffing, dignity, privacy, direct view of patients and consequent harm.

These descriptions reflected a common observation that patient experience was impacted by high workload which meant staff were unable to spend time providing person-centred care.

The report finds that a culture of “disrespectful behaviours, poor teamwork and incivility” is having a negative impact on staff morale and wellbeing, and it is likely having a detrimental impact on patient care.

The report concludes that relationships need to be repaired between various groups of staff, supported by compassionate leadership.

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Source: The Herald, 27 March 2025

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Global first as NHS hospital uses AI for instant skin cancer checks

An NHS hospital is pioneering the use of artificial intelligence to diagnose skin cancer, enabling patients to get lifesaving checks for the disease without seeing a doctor.

In a global first marking a “new era” of cancer care, staff at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital are now using an iPhone with a magnifying lens to take photos of any suspicious-looking moles, with the image analysed in seconds by an AI app.

Nearly half of patients get the all clear and are automatically discharged with no further appointments, while those with cancer or who need further investigation are booked in to see a specialist doctor and begin treatment.

Thousands of NHS patients have had urgent cancer checks using the AI tool, freeing up doctors to focus on the most serious cases and helping to bring down waiting lists.

The system conducts the checks in five minutes, compared with around 20 minutes required for face-to-face examinations with a consultant dermatologist.

Trials show the device called Derm, developed by UK firm Skin Analytics, is 99.9 per cent accurate at ruling out melanoma — the most serious type of skin cancer.

It is the first AI technology in the world to be approved to make clinical decisions on cancer treatment autonomously, without requiring a doctor to double-check its findings.

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Source: The Times, 21 March 2025

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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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Apology over delay to maternity report publication

The healthcare watchdog has apologised over delays to the publication of its report into maternity services in Nottingham, which is subject of the largest inquiry of its kind in the NHS.

Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspections - in June and July - found seven breaches of regulation in safe care and treatment at Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust's two main hospitals.

Overall, maternity services have been rated as requires improvement for being safe and well-led.

Following criticism from Donna Ockenden, who is leading the review into maternity deaths and injuries at the trust, the CQC has admitted the report was not published "as soon after the inspection as it should have done".

Following publication of its report, the CQC apologised for the delays, which senior midwife Ms Ockenden labelled "unacceptable" last month.

"Due to a large-scale transformation programme at CQC, this report [was] not published as soon after the inspection as it should have done," a CQC spokesperson said.

"The programme involved changes to the technology CQC uses but resulted in problems with the systems and processes rather than the intended benefits. The amount of time taken to publish this report falls far short of what people using services and the trust should be able to expect and the CQC apologises for this."

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Source: BBC News, 26 March 2025

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Mapped: The stark north-south divide in UK life expectancy

Men across the country are, on average, living four fewer years than women – but there are stark disparities across the UK, new analysis shows.

Research from the Centre for Ageing Better found from 2021-2023, the average life expectancy at birth is 79 years for men and 83 years for women.

The charity’s 2025 State of Ageing report found men living in the bottom fifth of areas of the country in terms of wealth can expect to live 4.4 fewer years on average than those living in the wealthiest areas of England.

There is a clear north-south divide in average life expectancy at birth across England, the report found. The lowest life expectancy at birth for men and women is in the North East (77.4 and 81.4 years respectively), according to the Centre for Ageing Better.

Dr Carole Easton OBE, Chief Executive at the Centre for Ageing Better, said: “The substantial regional inequalities highlighted in our new State of Ageing report are truly a matter of life and death. Living in a part of the country where good quality jobs and opportunity is scarce, and where financial insecurity and poverty is rife, is robbing people of their health in later life and depriving them of years spent with loved ones. This is the true human cost of our very unequal society.

“The really worrying trend is that inequality in life expectancy is increasing almost everywhere. The bombardment of shocks from austerity, Covid and the cost-of-living crisis have compounded longer-term health and inequality issues to ensure we truly are the sick man of Europe.”

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Three-quarters of UK fertility patients using unproven add-on treatments

Almost three-quarters of people undergoing fertility treatment in the UK are using “unproven extras” to increase their chances of having a baby, despite little evidence that they work.

The findings, from the UK’s fertility watchdog, mean that about 40,000 people a year wanting to conceive are spending money on acupuncture, supplements and drugs, even though they are largely unproven.

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) issued the caution in its latest annual national patient survey, which captures patients’ experiences of NHS and private fertility care.

Overall, 73% of patients are using at least one additional test, treatment or emerging technology when undergoing IVF or donor insemination treatment, the survey of 1,500 people showed.

The regulator has been trying since 2017 to reduce the use of such extra treatments “since almost all remain unproven in increasing the chance of having a baby for most patients”.

More than half (52%) of patients who opted to pay for what the HFEA calls an “unproven extra” did so after discussing with their doctor how effective it was likely to be. Even more (59%) went ahead based on their clinic’s recommendation, the HFEA found.

The regulator voiced concern about the fact that “only 37% of patients said their clinics explained the risks of using an additional test, treatment or emerging technology”.

“It’s disappointing to see a significant number of patients are still using add-ons and emerging technologies, and particularly disappointing that only half of patients had the effectiveness explained to them, let alone the risks”, said Julia Chain, the HFEA’s chair.

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Source: The Guardian, 26 March 2025

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Nearly 400 people killed by mental health patients in six years

NHS mental health trusts are refusing to say how many of their patients go on to kill, saying they do not want to risk identifying offenders.

Figures provided via freedom of information requests revealed that an average of 65 mentally ill people carry out homicides in England every year. However, this figure is thought to be a significant underestimate because nearly a quarter of trusts refused to give exact numbers.

Julian Hendy, founder of the charity Hundred Families, which made the FoI requests, said some trusts denied the full request, claiming that the small numbers of homicides in question could lead to the identification of offenders.

NHS England was recently accused of attempting to suppress details of serious failures in the treatment of Valdo Calocane, the paranoid schizophrenic responsible for the deaths of three people in Nottingham.

It had intended to publish a bland 30-page summary that did not contain damning details in the case of Calocane, who fatally stabbed Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar, both 19, and Ian Coates, 65, in June 2023.

NHS England reversed its decision after the plan was exposed by The Times. The full review detailed how Calocane had been discharged with no follow-up the year before the attacks — despite having been sectioned four times, possessing a history of violence, and staff being aware he was not taking his medication.

Dr Sanjoy Kumar, Grace O’Malley-Kumar’s father, warned that “there is no accountability when there is no transparency”.

He said that in other areas, such as maternal deaths, specific figures were published annually. “To not have this information published is a cover-up. They are covering up their failures. These are avoidable deaths.”

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Source: The Times, 20 March 2025

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UK draws up new disease-threat watch list

The UK has a new watch list of 24 infectious diseases that could pose the greatest future threat to public health.

Some are viruses with global pandemic potential - like Covid - while others are illnesses that have no existing treatments or could cause significant harm.

Avian, or bird, flu is on the list, as well as mosquito-spread illnesses that may become common with rising temperatures from climate change, according to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).

The aim is to steer scientists and investors into making new tests and vaccines or medicines in preparation.

"When Covid arrived, it took too long to adjust our response to a different threat, which was part of the reason we ended up in lockdown," Prof Mark Woolhouse, director of the Tackling Infections to Benefit Africa, University of Edinburgh, said.

"Since the pandemic, there have been many initiatives to better understand the diversity of pandemic threats that the UK and the world may face in the coming years.

"The UKHSA's pathogen prioritisation exercise is a welcome contribution to this global effort."

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Source: BBC News, 25 March 2025

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