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HealthFunding social care is a collective responsibility | Letters
Roger Steer says the solution is to adopt the NHS model, Janet Dubé suggests an audit, while Sally Byers says language that respects people living with dementia is crucialPolly Toynbee asks a seemingly difficult question and discusses a knotty issue (In Liverpool I saw the tough choices Louise Casey faces on social care – starting with who will pay?, 13 October). Her question is framed as an issue of individual choice inviting the response: “Not me if I can avoid it.”The responsible answer is, of course, all of us – collectively. It is an uninsurable risk that can only be solved equitably and efficiently as a collective solution. By entangling the issue of funding with provision of services, moral clarity is lost. Issues of matching funding distort and influence the level of care provided and ensure that progress toward resolving the question of who determines the need for care is delayed. Continue reading...
HealthJim Churm obituary
My father, Jim Churm, who has died aged 102, was a D-day veteran and former Royal Navy medic; he later enjoyed a long career in nursing and physiotherapy.Jim joined the navy as an 18-year-old during the second world war and trained as a sick berth attendant before being assigned to landing craft operations. On D-day, 6 June 1944, he sailed from Newhaven in East Sussex as the leading medic aboard a landing craft involved in the assault on Sword Beach, one of the five main landing areas along the Normandy coast during the allied invasion of France. Continue reading...
HealthCharity offers to meet James McClean over therapy comments
Michael Lynch, from Men's Action Network (MAN) offered to meet the Derry City footballer James McClean.
HealthBorn in jail to a mum with a heroin addiction - how US teenager Abby has been affected by drugs
The BBC's Quentin Sommerville spoke to the daughter of a former heroin addict about the effect drugs have had on her family.
HealthRural lives cannot be an 'afterthought', healthcare campaigners say
Campaigners warn that rural communities face being cut off from vital hospital services.
HealthNHS bosses say smaller maternity units may have to close
The NHS Alliance said "difficult decisions" lie ahead and some maternity services may have to be consolidated.
HealthBurnham urged to launch inquiry into unequal health impacts of air pollution
Letter from 150 scientists, MPs and activists calls for action to protect lower-income and minority-ethnic communitiesThe government must hold an inquiry into the unequal impacts of air pollution, 150 scientists, MPs and activists have urged.Research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies shows that across England, lower-income areas have persistently higher levels of air pollution than wealthier areas. Continue reading...
HealthUp to 20 maternity units in England may have to shut, NHS leader warns
Exclusive: NHS Alliance’s acute care director says centralisation of services ‘inevitable’ to ensure safe careWhy are some NHS maternity units facing closure?Up to 20 maternity units in England will have to shut to ensure mothers and babies receive safe care amid shortages of doctors and rising caesarean section rates, an NHS leader has warned.Matthew Hopkins, the NHS Alliance’s director for acute care, said centralising childbirth services into fewer hospitals was “inevitable” and the “right thing”, but would lead to a political backlash against unpopular changes. Continue reading...
HealthCompanies exploiting welfare system by using residents as 'cash cows', BBC finds
Agents try to attract people on housing benefit by using social media videos that offer free rooms and holidays.
Health‘You reach a tipping point’: New Zealand’s strained healthcare system at centre of election battle
With care shortfalls biting across the country, the National-led coalition has been accused of letting chronic underfunding worsenBack when she was healthy, Jane Harrison worked for the community – securing money for playgrounds, getting kids into sport and making sure her small town in New Zealand’s South Island was ready if an earthquake struck.Now, she and her husband, Shaun Fitzgerald, 65, are both on disability assistance. Last year, when Fitzgerald – a roofer – was waiting for back surgery for spinal stenosis, Harrison left her job to help look after him at home. The operation in August 2025 was not as effective as hoped. He has since been back into the emergency department in intense pain, waiting for hours with severe cramping, she says. “We called the paramedics recently and they said: ‘There’s no beds in hospital, if we take you you’ll have to sit and you clearly can’t, you’re better off at home.’” Continue reading...