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Demand for private treatment booms as NHS waiting lists remain long, while more people also sign up for dental cover Britain’s health cover market has grown by £385m in a year as the NHS crisis prompted more people to seek out private medical treatment and demand for dental insurance increased, according to a report.The total health cover market, including medical and dental insurance and...

Health Foundation report also predicts people in poorest areas will be three times more likely to die by the age of 70A record 3.7 million workers in England will have a major illness by 2040, according to research.On current trends, 700,000 more working-age adults will be living with high healthcare needs or substantial risk of mortality by 2040 – up nearly 25% from 2019...

Leading consultant paediatrician says unproven treatments and ‘toxicity’ of trans debate damaging outcomesKey findingsAnalysisThousands of vulnerable children questioning their gender identity have been let down by the NHS providing unproven treatments and by the “toxicity” of the trans debate, a landmark report has found.The UK’s only NHS gender identity development service used puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, which masculinise or feminise people’s appearances, despite...

Nuffield Trust says system for treatment is ‘obsolete’ as number of patients in England awaiting assessment hits record highThe NHS is experiencing an “avalanche of need” over autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), but the system in place to cope with surging demand for assessments and treatments is “obsolete”, a health thinktank has warned.There must be a “radical rethink” of how people with...

Only private jabs are available to most, but annual shots could reduce healthcare costs and prevent deathsCheaper private Covid jabs may end up as costly as pricier ones, say expertsPrivate Covid boosters are available for people who do not qualify to receive these vaccines on the NHS. But is it worth paying for a shot?With most people now having been exposed to Sars-CoV-2 through...

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...

Yearly cost to people, business and public sector found to be twice as big as NHS England’s annual budgetMental illness costs England £300bn a year, equivalent to nearly double its NHS budget, according to research.Researchers for the Centre for Mental Health thinktank analysed the economic, health and care impact of mental ill health, as well as human costs from reduced quality of life and...

In today’s newsletter: Amid many other crises, the standard of NHS care for patients’ families is declining – this is what it feels like• Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First EditionGood morning. It is no secret that NHS England has many problems: it is crumbling (literally), patient care backlogs are at record highs, there is a recruitment and retention crisis, and quality...

Doctors told to ration liquid form of salbutamol, which plays vital role in treating asthma, emphysema and bronchitisNHS hospitals have been hit by a UK-wide shortage of a life-saving drug used to keep alive patients who are at risk of dying because they cannot breathe without medical intervention.Doctors have been told to ration their use of the liquid form of salbutamol, which plays a...

Exclusive: findings raise concerns over ‘two-tier service’ with poorer people also feeling less heard by medicsPoorer people find it much harder to access NHS care than the well-off and have a worse experience when they do get it, research by the health service’s consumer watchdog has found.Those on the lowest incomes have much more difficulty getting a GP appointment, dental care or help with...

Fears for impact on NHS workforce as leaked letter reveals ministers stall on aim to increase trainee doctors to 15,000 by 2031Ministers have dramatically stalled plans to double the number of doctors being trained in England by 2031 in a move that has caused dismay across the NHS, as well in medical schools and universities, the Observer can reveal.In June last year, ministers backed...

Clinics de-listed people without warning, forcing them to go private or find another NHS practicePatients across England who failed to visit their dentists since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic have been systematically barred by some clinics from getting NHS treatment.Dental practices across the country informed patients they could no longer get NHS treatment, citing non-attendance over a period of two years or more...

Exclusive: As NHS targets are being missed nearly 300,000 people paid for chemotherapy in last five yearsHundreds of thousands of cancer patients in the UK are being forced to pay for private treatment amid record NHS waiting times, according to data obtained by the Guardian.The figures emerged as King Charles began treatment for the disease within days of being diagnosed. Buckingham Palace has not...

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...

More than 1.5 million women in the UK are affected by the painful condition - but new study says NHS is failing themWomen with endometriosis who have endured years of excruciating pain are being “fobbed off” by doctors and told their symptoms are “all in their head”, leading them to give up seeking NHS treatment, new research has found.A study carried out by academics...

Union says government’s plans for General Medical Council regulation diminishes role of doctors and could confuse patientsSenior doctors are urging MPs to reject government plans to regulate “physician associates”, whose growing use in the NHS has divided the medical profession.The British Medical Association has said that allowing the General Medical Council (GMC) to regulate physician associates (PAs) would “blur the lines” between doctors and...

At least four experts quit Great Ormond Street team after disputes over text of training module for recruits, sources say A string of resignations from a team preparing for the launch of the new NHS children’s gender clinic has further complicated plans to open the services in April.Disagreements over the text of a training module for medical recruits to the new gender service have...

Exclusive: Hospitals and GP surgeries forced to rely on agency personnel and paying staff for expensive extra shifts Ministers are facing calls to tackle the NHS’s chronic lack of staff as figures reveal that the bill for hiring temporary frontline workers has soared to more than £10bn a year.Hospitals and GP surgeries across the UK are paying a record £4.6bn for agency personnel and...

Experts say being discharged prematurely can be ‘disastrous’, setting back chances of full recoveryThousands of patients are being readmitted to NHS mental health units in England every year soon after being discharged, raising concerns about poor care, bed shortages and increased risk of suicide.Experts say being discharged prematurely can be upsetting, set back the patient’s chances of making a full recovery and be “disastrous”...

Figures show NHS falling behind on target to reduce hefty post-pandemic waiting list in EnglandThe NHS must treat at least 10% more non-emergency hospital cases a month if it wants to reduce the hefty backlog caused by the pandemic, according to new analysis.From February 2020 to October 2022, the waiting list for non-urgent care in England grew by 2.6m cases – a projected 1.8m...

Chief executive says further industrial action by junior doctors will hamper progress to reduce health service waiting listsAn NHS boss has warned that his trust is now “stretching to the limit to provide safe care” in the face of continuing junior doctors’ strikes – and warned that further walkouts would halt efforts to cut long waiting times.Cutting waiting lists was one of Rishi Sunak’s...

Exclusive: Cancer leaders and oncologists increasingly alarmed at impact of strikes on treatmentThousands of cancer patients could die early if ministers and junior doctors do not urgently resolve their bitter pay row, health officials have warned.Oncologists and cancer leaders are becoming increasingly alarmed and frustrated at the devastating impact of NHS strikes on care and treatment. Tens of thousands of patients have had cancer...

Co-chair says members would be ‘very happy to look over deals that would span a number of years’While junior doctors are on strike, some of their work will be covered in hospitals by consultants. But Dr Layla McCay, director of policy at the NHS Confederation, which represents NHS trusts, told LBC this morning that contingency plans at individual hospitals would be in “jeopardy” if...

Health bosses raise alarm as junior doctors begin the longest strike in NHS history. But how will the action actually affect patients?Junior doctors’ strike – latest updatesThis article is extracted from our First Edition newsletter. Sign up hereAlmost a year after the first strike over pay and conditions, junior doctors in England are going out on strike again for six days. (A pay deal...