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Work and pensions secretary attacks system of dealing with minor mental health problems as PM takes aim at ‘sicknote culture’Nearly everyone who gets signed off work for feeling “a little bit depressed” is classified as incapable of work, according to a senior government minister, as Rishi Sunak prepares to announce a new drive to get sick people back into employment.Mel Stride, the work and...

Exclusive: Tactics include proposals to raise smoking age to avoid outright ban, and exemptions for cigars, says Cancer Research UK chiefTobacco firms are lobbying MPs and peers in an effort to derail Rishi Sunak’s flagship policy to phase out smoking, the head of Britain’s biggest cancer charity has said.The prime minister’s landmark legislation – which would bar anyone born after 2009 from buying cigarettes...

RCEM calculates 268 people are likely to have died each week in 2023 while waiting up to 12 hours for a bedAlmost 14,000 people died needlessly last year in England while waiting in A&E for up to 12 hours a new estimate suggests.Calculations by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) based on a large study of excess deaths and waiting times show that...

Royal College of Nursing survey shows NHS nurses’ distress as 77% say they are worse off than a year ago‘I can’t do another one like last year’: nurses on cost of living crisisSix out of 10 NHS nurses have had to use credit or their savings over the last year to help them cope with the soaring cost of living, according to new research.Acute...

Long hours spent at desks and sofas leads to 21,000 deaths a year in the Netherlands from cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancerThe Dutch are perceived as a nation of healthy giants, leaping on their bikes to cycle energetically across flat lands. But new research suggests they are in fact the “sitting champions of Europe”, with a sedentary lifestyle that causes thousands of early deaths.Health...

Exclusive: King’s Fund issues challenge as poll finds two-thirds of people want firms to be forced to cut sugar, salt and fatBritain’s political parties have been urged to show courage by forcing food producers to make their products healthier, as new polling shows two-thirds of voters back the move.Compelling food manufacturers to strip out large amounts of fat, salt and sugar would help “denormalise”...

Treatment for ailments including sore throats, earaches and shingles to be offered without a GP appointmentPatients in England can get treatment for seven common conditions without needing to see a GP, under a shake-up of pharmacy services.From Wednesday, thousands of pharmacists will be able to assess and treat patients for sinusitis, sore throat, earache, infected insect bites, impetigo, shingles and uncomplicated urinary tract infections...

Draft legislation will aim to stop firms trying to get around legislation, says health secretaryUK ministers will aim to stop firms from skirting around an upcoming ban on disposable vapes by eliminating ruses such as attaching charging points to them, the health secretary has said.The draft legislation, being introduced in parallel with an already announced ban on selling tobacco products to anyone born on...

Bloc plans to bulk-buy key drugs for all 27 countries, potentially leaving Britain ‘behind in the queue’The EU is to stockpile key medicines that will worsen the record drug shortages in the UK, with experts warning that the country could be left “behind in the queue”.The EU is seeking to safeguard its supplies by switching to a system in which its 27 members work...

NHS Confederation boss calls on government and unions to end dispute in England before six-day action beginsPatient safety will be put at risk in the next round of junior doctors’ strikes in England, a health leader has warned while pleading for ministers and the British Medical Association (BMA) to end the dispute.Junior doctors have returned to work after a three-day strike, with the next...