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The latest local and national UK and International news.
Investigation launched as patient dies waiting to be treated at Midlands hospital
An investigation has been launched after a man died in a waiting room for Accident and Emergency in a hospital in Dudley in the Midlands. The person died in Russells Hall Hospital's emergency waiting room in November, the NHS trust confirmed today. BBC Midlands reported that the man was a suspected cardiac patient with chest pains. News of the investigation into the death of the patient waiting to be treated comes as new figures revealed that last week a third of...
As Boris Johnson defends Toby Young’s “caustic wit,” perhaps the sickest example yet emerges:
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has leapt to the defence of his Government’s new appointment to its universities watchdog as other prominent Tories have defended Toby Young too despite his appalling comments about working class students and women. "Ridiculous outcry over Toby Young. He will bring independence, rigour and caustic wit. Ideal man for job,” tweeted Boris Johnson - a man also renowned for crass and offensive remarks. Perhaps this is an example of Toby Young’s “rigour and caustic wit': ...
Fertility treatment could soon become more effective after scientists developed an ‘assault course’… for sperm
Fertility treatment could soon become more effective after scientists developed an 'assault course'... for sperm. It uses an obstacle course to separate the 'men from the boys' - identifying the strongest and fastest swimmers. Appropriately dubbed SPARTAN, after one of the most feared military forces in Ancient Greece, it uses obstacles to select the fastest and healthiest sperm. Already available for use in the clinic, it is hoped it will be helping women to become pregnant with fewer cycles of...
“It is a crisis. One which will lead to a breaking point” – A&E consultant’s viral plea
Theresa May was at pains yesterday to insist that a national A&E meltdown and 55 cancelled ops is NOT an NHS crisis. Even though Jeremy Hunt apologised for it, then appeared on TV again, insisting actually it wasn't a crisis as at least it’s not like last winter when loads of operations were cancelled 24 hours before. The Prime Minister and Health Secretary’s insistence that the current debacle across hospitals all over the UK is an unforeseeable consequence of winter...
Academics brand Tory members a “breed apart” as majority back death penalty and want MORE austerity
The majority of Conservatives want to bring back the death penalty as a punishment, a major study of political activists has found. Academics have branded Tory members a "breed apart" from their Labour, Liberal Democrat and SNP counterparts after research revealed stark differences between them on a range of issues. The report by Queen Mary University of London found 54 per cent of Conservatives were in favour of the death penalty, compared to 23 per cent of SNP supporters, 9 per...
Jeremy Hunt odds on to lose his job as Secretary of State for Health
Jeremy Hunt is odds-on to lose his job as Secretary of State for Health. The embattled minister is overseeing one of the worse crises in NHS history this January, with 55,000 operations cancelled. Dr Taj Hasan, President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, was one of many doctors to recently speak out about the scale of the crisis, warning that "we are seeing conditions people have not seen in their working lives." Dr Nick Scriven, President of the Society...
Bosses of top British companies will have made more money by lunchtime today than the average worker will earn in a year
Britain's fat cat bosses will have made more by lunchtime today than the average worker will earn in a year. Chief executives of FTSE 100 companies are paid a median average of £3.45m a year, which works out at 120 times the £28,758 collected by full-time UK workers on average. On an hourly basis the bosses will have earned more in less than three working days than the average employee will pick up this year, leading campaigners to dub the day...
Apparently cancelling 55K ops isn’t a crisis- it’s better than last year when patients told day before- Jeremy Hunt’s carcrash interview
As the scale of the winter crisis facing the NHS - a crisis the Government was repeatedly warned about - became increasingly apparent today, the Prime Minister and Health Secretary veered from one car crash interview to another. On Wednesday Theresa May flatly denied there was any "crisis", insisting “the NHS has been better prepared for this winter than ever before, we have put extra funding in. ''There are more beds available across the system, we've reduced the number of delayed...
“It’s simply obscene’ – Top company bosses make more in three days than average UK worker will in entire year
Big corporations are not going to volunteer to really rein themselves in, which is why we need greater restraint on the excesses of those at the top, says union. GMB, Britain’s general union, has commented on ‘Fat Cat’ pay day tomorrow – when the UK’s top bosses will have made more money than the typical UK full-time worker will earn in the entire year, according to calculations from independent think tank The High Pay Centre, and the CIPD, the professional body...