Health Policy InsightHealthcare management online analysis and intelligence
Health Policy InsightMore of us are turning to products containing mushroom extracts, with the medicinal fungi market now worth billions of pounds. Promises of benefits to mental and physical health have seen its popularity spill over from wellness influencers to the shelves of Marks & Spencer – but is there any scientific evidence behind these claims?
Ian Sample chats to Madeleine Finlay about the appeal of mushroom drinks and supplements, and hears from the mycologist Prof Nik Money on what we really know about how fungi can affect our minds and bodies
Continue reading...Study commissioned by NHS finds that sickle cell disease care lags behind that for conditions such as cystic fibrosis
People living with sickle cell disease face substandard care as its treatment significantly lags behind advances relating to other genetic disorders such as cystic fibrosis, a report has found.
The study, commissioned by the NHS Race and Health Observatory and carried out by researchers at Imperial College London, analysed various measures of care for sickle cell disease between 2010 and 2024, including clinical trials, approved drugs and reviews of existing studies.
Continue reading...Department of Veterans Affairs says the changes come in response to a Trump executive order ‘defending women’
The Department of Veterans Affairs has imposed new guidelines on VA hospitals nationwide that remove language that explicitly prohibited doctors from discriminating against patients based on their political beliefs or marital status.
The new rules, obtained by the Guardian, also apply to psychologists, dentists and a host of other occupations. They have already gone into effect in at least some VA medical centers.
Continue reading...Two years after the devastating fires, many lack access to food, stable housing, work and healthcare
Mental health problems and economic hardship remain widespread among survivors of the Maui wildfire, as access to food, stable housing, work and healthcare remains a struggle for many, according to a study tracking 2,000 survivors.
Two in every five (41%) adults report declining overall health since the August 2023 fire, with the burden falling heaviest on those still exposed to ash, smoke and debris, according to the latest findings of the Maui Wildfire Exposure Study (MauiWES), a pioneering longitudinal research initiative by the University of Hawaii (UH) and local community groups.
Continue reading...Supreme court ruled that Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming treatment did not discriminate on basis of sex
The US supreme court on Wednesday ruled to uphold a Tennessee ban on gender-affirming care for minors – a decision, legal analysts say, that is sure to have a sweeping impact not only on transgender and non-binary individuals across the US, but on anybody who wants to argue that they have been discriminated against on the basis of their sex.
Forty per cent of trans people between the ages of 13 and 17 live in the 27 states that have so far enacted bans or policies that restrict youths’ access to gender-affirming care. Although advocates have launched more than a dozen lawsuits over the bans, most remain in effect. Wednesday’s decision in the case, United States v Skrmetti, may pave the way for the rest to take effect.
Continue reading...My friend Ondine Sherwood, who has died from lung cancer aged 65, was one of the earliest campaigners for the recognition of Long Covid. Having failed to recover fully from Covid-19 in March 2020, she discovered that others were suffering similarly and GPs did not seem to know how to diagnose them. Ondine rapidly became the main spokesperson for the patient-created term “Long Covid”. She founded the group Long Covid SOS that June and secured charitable status and trustees.
Ondine lobbied politicians, doctors and civil servants for recognition of the illness. She stressed that the narrative of Covid being mild and flu-like unless the patient was vulnerable was not true.
Continue reading...Tooth extraction and root canal work among procedures offered by self-taught 22-year-old and two family members
A fake dentist and two assistants who treated dozens of patients after learning the trade on the internet have been charged in the Czech Republic.
The three family members opened a fully equipped dental practice, without a licence or the necessary expertise, in the central Czech town of Havlíčkův Brod in 2023, police said on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Anger is rarely thought of as positive – but the emotion itself exists to protect us, says author of Good Anger, Sam Parker
My friends and I sometimes rank the seven deadly sins in order of personal relevance. For me, “wrath” always comes last. (I shan’t say what’s first – too revealing.)
Anger doesn’t feature in my day-to-day life. I even struggle to feel wrathful when it’s appropriate. World events make me fatalistic and depressed; when my gym instructor says to “let loose” on the ski machine, my effort remains constant. The time I visited a rage room, my main takeaway was that the Metallica song I selected as the soundtrack sounded fantastic on big speakers.
Continue reading...Readers respond to an article by Gordon Brown in which he urged MPs to reject the assisted dying bill in the vote on Friday and called for better end-of-life care
I do not disagree with Gordon Brown that palliative care should be better funded, but to present palliative care as the alternative to assisted dying is to present a false equivalence, since the principles behind the two are quite different (MPs have personal beliefs, but also solemn duties: that’s why they must reject the assisted dying bill this week, 16 June).
The principle behind the entitlement to good palliative care is that one should be entitled to good medical care – in this instance, as death approaches. The principle behind the right to an assisted death is that one should be entitled to determine the time and manner of one’s passing.
Continue reading...Yvonne Ford, from Barnsley, had contact with stray animal while on holiday, UK Health Security Agency says
A woman from Yorkshire has died from rabies after contact with a stray dog while on holiday in Morocco, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has said.
Yvonne Ford, from Barnsley in South Yorkshire, was diagnosed in Yorkshire and Humber after returning from the north African country in February.
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