Private parking firms have been threatening vulnerable patients with bailiffs over minor offences in hospital car parks. The companies manage around half of NHS car parks, and their profits have soared as they aggressively pursue patients over fines. One firm, Parking Eye, whose pre-tax profits have doubled in two years to £13million, has spent 17 … Read more
How to NOT put on weight during Christmas week: Experts reveal how simple food swaps and a 20-minute stroll after dinner can save your waistline Tim Walker, who runs Evolve Fitness, told Femail how to avoid winter weight gain He said upping your gym routine in the run-up to Christmas is a key factor Personal … Read more
The ‘care navigator’ will see you now. When your number is called, please speak to your GP’s receptionist, who is taking an ‘enhanced role’ in ‘active signposting’. Those peculiar euphemisms were coined by NHS England this year as part of the so-called General Practice Forward View, a scheme to cut the workload on overstretched GPs. … Read more
Switching to vaping doesn’t help smokers give up nicotine – it’s just a replacement for tobacco, expert warns Consultant psychiatrist says people take up vaping as a ‘substitute’ for tobacco Adam Winstock from UCL called for vapers to be given same support as smokers He added vaping is less damaging to health but smokers should try … Read more
Button batteries for toys can kill children if they are swallowed and must be kept hidden away, an NHS chief has warned. Professor Stephen Powis, NHS England medical director, urged parents to be vigilant this Christmas, when there will inevitably be more batteries around. They are found in festive lights, musical Christmas cards and flashing … Read more
A gel made from blood could rapidly speed up the healing of chronic wounds. Problem foot ulcers treated with the gel, made from the patient’s own blood, are more likely to heal than those treated traditionally, according to a new study. Many of the 2.2 million wounds treated by the NHS each year are open wounds … Read more
The NHS paid £1million to the hospital at the centre of a baby deaths scandal for providing ‘good maternity care’. Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust claimed to be meeting 10 safety standards set out by NHS Resolution to be awarded the sum in September 2018. Weeks after the £953,391 payment was made, however, the trust’s childbirth … Read more
Thousands of patients with Type 2 diabetes are to be put on a radical liquid-only diet after research showed it can put the condition into remission Five thousand obese patients will be restricted to 800 calories a day on the diet Nine out of ten who stuck to the diet for 12 months put disease … Read more
The family of a young woman critically ill with cystic fibrosis have issued a plea to NHS chiefs and drug firm bosses to provide her with a breakthrough drug that could save her life. Nicole Adams, 28, from Belfast, is in the end stages of the genetic disease that affects 10,000 Britons and kills half … Read more
The NHS will start prescribing its first cannabis medicine for epilepsy in less than three weeks’ time, it has announced. Health bosses have officially confirmed the drug combination Epidyolex with clobazam will be available on prescription from January 6 in England. The drug has been hailed as a game-changer for children with severe epilepsy and … Read more
Haemin Sunim is a Zen Buddhist teacher, and author of in Love For Imperfect Things (pictured) Should it all get a bit much for you this Christmas, console yourself with the thought that at least you’re not working as a doctor in an NHS maternity ward. Such was the fate for several years of Adam … Read more
Families are being encouraged to talk about organ donation this Christmas, before a change in the law next year. The NHS has crafted a moving advert that symbolises the gift of donating your heart to patients desperately waiting for the organ. It shows a woman passing a heart-shaped balloon to a young patient reaching out … Read more
Tens of thousands of patients with heart conditions miss out on vital care that could prevent an early death, a report has warned. British Heart Foundation has today revealed 68,000 people eligible for ‘heart rehab’ classes were not enrolled on the programme. It is recommended for heart attack and heart surgery patients, and involves exercise, … Read more