Health Policy InsightHealthcare management online analysis and intelligence
Health Policy InsightForthright president of the Royal College of Nursing who later became a government adviser
When June Clark was elected to the governing council of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) in 1969, becoming its youngest ever member at 28, it was still a genteel body. Many of her fellows wore hats and gloves to meetings. Clark was soon quietly taken aside and asked to stop breastfeeding her baby in the council chamber.
Although she reluctantly complied on that occasion, Clark, who has died aged 83, would go on to make a career of prodding the nursing establishment to modernise, and especially to shake off its traditional deference to doctors. She was a key figure in the campaign to make all UK nurse training degree-based, which was finally agreed in 2009, and was an early exponent of digital care records, which are slowly coming to pass.
Continue reading...David Bentley responds to an article on reaching peak fitness through the decades. Plus letters from Shirley Foster, Laurence Kaye, Janet Vaux and Huw Adams
Hannah Coates’ article (From strength training in your 20s to yoga in your 80s: how to reach peak fitness at any age, 31 May) covered ages up to 80, as did another similar article earlier in the week (28 May). What about those over 90 like myself, 94, still active on the rowing machine (11 minutes 16 seconds for 2,000 metres)? In the same week, there was also an article describing a very fit 105-year-old. Our county, Surrey, is home to Britain’s oldest person at 115. Don’t forget the over-90s in your articles on fitness.
David Bentley
Englefield Green, Surrey
• I and my 80-plus-year-old friends fell about (voluntarily) laughing when we read that we can consider ourselves “in good form” if we can walk unaided for 10 minutes. Since many of us regularly hike, garden, swim, cycle and play tennis, we clearly need to examine much more closely the fitness standards for our age group. Or maybe we should just retire to our Bath chairs?
Shirley Foster
Sheffield
Experts announce findings on immunotherapy, a breast cancer breakthrough and the value of exercise
Doctors, scientists and researchers shared new findings on ways to tackle cancer at the 2025 American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting, the world’s largest cancer conference.
The event in Chicago, attended by about 44,000 health professionals, featured more than 200 sessions on this year’s theme, Driving Knowledge to Action: Building a Better Future. Here is a roundup of the key studies.
Continue reading...Three-quarters of cases are in unvaccinated children, and this week saw the first fatality: a premature baby
Outside the emergency room of the St Thomas Elgin general hospital, about 200km (125 miles) south-west of Toronto, a large sign with bright yellow block letters issues an urgent warning: “NO MEASLES VAX & FEVER COUGH RASH – STOP – DO NOT ENTER!”
To see such an imperative in the 21st century might have been previously unimaginable for Canada, which in 1998 achieved “elimination status” for measles, meaning the virus is no longer circulating regularly.
Continue reading...Controversial additive may be in as many as 11,000 US products and could lead to diabetes and obesity
The controversial food additive titanium dioxide likely has more toxic effects than previously thought, new peer-reviewed research shows, adding to growing evidence that unregulated nanoparticles used throughout the food system present an underestimated danger to consumers.
In nanoparticle form, titanium dioxide may throw off the body’s endocrine system by disrupting hormonal response to food and dysregulating blood sugar levels, which can lead to diabetes, obesity and other health problems, the study found.
Continue reading...Move is part of £450m Wes Streeting plan to tackle long delays and end hospital overcrowding
Hundreds of thousands of patients needing urgent medical help will be treated in settings other than A&E as part of a drive to cut “corridor care” and avoid another NHS winter crisis.
The move is a central plank of a government plan to improve urgent and emergency care in England, tackle the long delays many patients face in A&E and banish overcrowding in hospitals.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Levels of ‘multi-stress’ at highest since 2008 crash, study says, with people feeling profoundly powerless
More than 5 million UK adults are experiencing a triple whammy of financial, health and housing insecurity as British households hit levels of “multi-stress” not seen since the global economic crash well over a decade ago, research shows.
One in 10 working-age adults are juggling low income and debt, insecure tenancies and high rents, and problems accessing NHS care. They are at least twice as likely as the rest of the population to report mental stress, sleeplessness and isolation.
Continue reading...Infant had ‘contracted the virus before birth from their mother’, while the country has recorded 2,755 measles cases
A Canadian infant who was born prematurely and had measles has died, officials said on Thursday without confirming a cause of death, raising heightened concern about the virus’s resurgence.
Canada has recorded 2,755 measles cases – including 2,429 confirmed and 326 probable – according to federal health data updated on 2 June.
Continue reading...Study finds medicines such as Ozempic associated with greater risk of developing age-related macular degeneration
Weight loss drugs could at least double the risk of diabetic patients developing age-related macular degeneration, a large-scale study has found.
Originally developed for diabetes patients, glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1 RA) medicines have transformed how obesity is treated and there is growing evidence of wider health benefits. They help reduce blood sugar levels, slow digestion and reduce appetite.
Continue reading...We all have questionable kitchen habits – experts break down how to avoid spreading pathogens at home
Do you use the same kitchen sponge for days on end? Let your takeout pizza languish on the counter overnight?
We all have questionable kitchen habits – but when it comes to food safety, shortcuts we think of as harmless can open the door to dangerous pathogens such as bacteria and toxins, according to microbiologists. Here’s how experts suggest staying safer in the kitchen.
Continue reading...Research finds more than 15m in US, UK, Germany and France with MASH have not been diagnosed
More than 15 million people in the US, UK, Germany and France do not know they have the most aggressive form of fatty liver disease, according to research.
Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) – the formal name for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease – occurs in people who drink no or minimal amounts of alcohol whose liver contains more than 5% fat.
Continue reading...By casting excess embryos as ‘little frozen orphans’ that needed to be ‘saved’ these programs push an alarming view of personhood
As soon as they arrived home, Tyler, seven, and Jayden, three, rushed to a small green tent perched on the living room table and pressed their faces against its mesh windows. Inside, several gray cocoons hung immobile as the boys’ eyes eagerly scanned them for the slightest sign of movement. “We’re waiting for butterflies to emerge,” explained their mother, Alana Lisano. “It’s our little biology experiment.”
Within seconds, the boys were off to play with their cars, having no patience for such waiting. But Tyler and Jayden, Alana told me, were like those butterflies not so long ago, suspended in a different kind of stasis for two decades.
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