nhs

NHS trusts are handing over more than £205m a year to the Government in interest payments after being forced to take out loans, i can reveal. Critics accused the Conservatives of “starving the NHS” by charging unreasonable interest rates on the loans they make to hospitals and other...

Plans for new cuts sent same day Boris Johnson reinforced NHS spending commitments. GPs will be urged against referring patients to hospital specialists and consultants, and some outpatient appointments will be axed, as part of a controversial programme of NHS “rationing” to be introduced in...

Health leaders have written to Boris Johnson issuing new warnings on the impact of a no-deal Brexit. In a letter to the prime minister, the heads of 17 royal colleges and health charities across the UK say clinicians are "unable to reassure patients" their health and care will not be affected...

Morale among community nurses is low and many are leaving the service due to stress and an increased workload, a report has claimed. The report from a Welsh assembly committee said the changing nature of healthcare, in particular the move to provide more help in the home and the ageing...

A dedicated doctor who began working as an NHS surgeon in the month of its inception continues to work as a medical professor five days a week – 71 years later. Professor Harold Ellis, 93, qualified as a doctor in July 1948 and immediately began training as a surgeon in the service’s earliest...

Trials of new digital alert technology to monitor hospital patients with sepsis have saved hundreds of lives, the NHS has said. Plans to roll out the “action and alert” technology across England as part of the NHS Long Term Plan are under way after trials at three hospitals. The results showed...

Student nurses are the unseen workforce and vital to patient care. While I am pleased for the thousands of students who will soon be starting their journey to become a registered nurse, it comes with a stark reminder. In November 2015, ministers announced the NHS Student Bursary and tuition fee...

Babylon GP at Hand should no longer be allowed to register patients and instead be used as a partner to NHS 111, the BMA has said. In its response to NHS England's consultation on digital-first primary care, the union said that the best way to resolve the problems created by Babylon GP at Hand...

The Government has set aside £25million to pay for an "express freight service" to deal with potential medicine shortages after Brexit . Critics of an increasingly likely no-deal exit say that the UK crashing out of EU could see drug shortages and spiraling costs for the NHS. But the contract...

A health boss who stayed off work for nine months while being investigated over accusations of bullying continued to receive his £300,000 salary, it has been revealed. George Thomson pocketed the cash from struggling Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust despite being absent between March and...

The NHS has responded to academic claims that a 'miracle' weight-loss jab could help overweight patients lose up to 10lbs within 4 weeks. It comes following a new study, conducted by institutions in London and Copenhagen, which suggested that the hormone cocktail treatment could be an...

With several Tory leadership contenders sympathetic to its ideology, the Institute of Economic Affairs is closer to power than it has been for decades. In an exclusive investigation, Jonathan Gornall reveals how the organisation is funded by British American Tobacco and has links with senior...

Hundreds of low-paid hospital staff have voted to strike indefinitely over plans to effectively strip them of their NHS status in what could prove to be a test case over “backdoor privatisation” and the creation of a two-tier workforce. Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust wants to...

Boris Johnson successfully captured the weekend headlines with his announcement of a £1.8bn “cash injection” for the NHS capital budget – which covers buildings and equipment. But the prime minister quickly became bogged down in allegations that the £1bn pledged upfront this year wasn’t quite...

Vital drugs for asthma, diabetes and cancer could cost up to seven times more under a UK trade deal with Donald Trump’s America, according to new analysis by Labour. President Trump and senior members of his cabinet have said they are tired of ‘foreign freeloading.’ They say any new trade deal...

Under the new NHS Community Pharmacist Consultation Service, which comes into effect from 1 October, patients calling NHS 111 seeking help for minor conditions will be offered an appointment at their local pharmacist. The service will be expanded over the next five years to include direct...

The amount of the NHS budget going to private healthcare firms has reached unprecedented levels, despite the health secretary’s pledge to roll back outsourcing of patient care. The Department of Health and Social Care handed a record total of £9.2bn last year to private providers such as Virgin...

Health and social care secretary Matt Hancock could set a new deadline by the end of the year for adding 5,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) GPs to the NHS workforce. The health and social care secretary told MPs on the House of Commons health select committee that he could set a new deadline as...

The NHS reportedly refused to hand over a dead baby's body to the parents because they couldn't pay the £10,000 medical fees. Dr Joe Rylands told how he was working in an unnamed maternity hospital when a pregnant woman from Western Europe on holiday in the UK was admitted. At eight months...

The NHS has partnered with Amazon to its use voice-assisted technology, Alexa, to provide healthcare information from the NHS website. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) says the technology will allow patients, including older people and people with visual impairment, to receive...