PROUD MEDIA NEWS CENTRE

  The number of dog attacks on postal workers has increased over the past year, new figures reveal. Royal Mail said there were 2,197 dog attacks on its staff, a 2% increase compared with the previous year. The figure equates to an average of 42 attacks every week across the UK, with some leading to permanent and disabling injuries for victims. There were 74 significant injuries recorded in 2024/25 compared with the 82 reported in 2023/24, according to the figures, released at the start of the annual Dog Awareness Week, aimed at encouraging responsible dog ownership. Royal Mail urged dog owners to ensure they understand the often-devastating impact of dog attacks on postmen and postwomen and take proper measures to ensure their pets pose no threat to delivery postal workers. The highest-risk location in the past year was the S (Sheffield) postcode where 66 postal workers suffered dog attacks, followed by the PO (Portsmouth) postcode area with 60 attacks and the TN (Kent/Sussex/Surre...

  The risk to patient health from medicine shortages is the “distressing new normal”, pharmacists have warned. A report from Community Pharmacy England, which represents more than 10,000 community pharmacies, said drug shortages are causing “unprecedented” issues for patients. The organisation polled the owners of more than 4,300 pharmacies in England, alongside more than 1,600 pharmacy workers, and discovered a worse situation than when it surveyed three years ago. It found: – Some 95% of pharmacy workers said patients are still being inconvenienced by ongoing shortages, while 73% said supply issues are putting patient’s health at risk; – Many are faced with frustrated patients, with 79% reporting incidents of patient aggression when medicines were unavailable or delayed; – Some 86% of pharmacy owners said shortages are leading patients to visit multiple pharmacies in search of medicines; – Looking for medicines is time-consuming for staff, with 39% of pharmacy staff now spending ...

  Supermarkets could be fined if they do not sell healthier food, under a new Government plan to tackle obesity. The “healthy food standard” will apply to retailers and manufacturers in England as part of a 10-year strategy to cut diet-related diseases, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said. Initially developed by innovation agency Nesta, the policy introduces mandatory health targets for retailers while giving them flexibility in how to meet them, such as by tweaking recipes, running price promotions on healthier items, or redesigning store layouts. Supermarkets will be required to report sales data and those that fail to hit targets could face financial penalties, Nesta suggested. Nesta analysed 36 million supermarket transactions, finding an average shopping basket health score of 67 out of 100, and has set a target to raise this to 69. Its modelling shows that raising the score by just two points would cut obesity by around a fifth over three years, helping more ...

Highs of 34C are possible on Monday - with a 20% chance of beating the hottest June day on record of 35.6C from 1976. Temperatures could reach 30C today as the UK braces for four days of hot weather, with an amber heat health alert in force. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) alert - the second in two weeks - which covers London, the East Midlands, South East, South West and East of England, will last until 6pm on Tuesday. A yellow heat health alert also covers Yorkshire and The Humber and the West Midlands over the same period. The previous amber health heat alert was issued for all parts of England on 19 June, the first time it had been used since September 2023. The UKHSA alerts are designed to warn health and social care workers about the impacts of hot weather on their services, including possible weather-related deaths in those aged 65 or with long-term conditions. They are not public weather warnings. Europe is also facing severe weather - with wildfires breaking out just sou...

  Attempts by successive governments to improve bus services and attract more passengers have failed, according to the spending watchdog. Services have been reduced and passenger numbers are below pre-coronavirus levels, a report by the National Audit Office (NAO) said. The study, which covers England outside London, warned that the sector’s commercial viability has weakened as revenues have fallen and costs have risen. It warned that rural and suburban areas face a “cycle of decline” whereby services are withdrawn because of low demand, which leads to a further fall in passenger numbers and more cuts. Most local bus services are run by private companies, who set routes and timetables aimed at making a profit. Some services seen as socially necessary are financially supported by local transport authorities. Public funding to bus operators accounted for half their revenue in 2023/24, at £1.8 billion. In February 2020, then-Conservative prime minister Boris Johnson pledged £3 billion...

  Former health secretary Matt Hancock is among witnesses to appear before the UK Covid-19 Inquiry as it investigates the pandemic’s impact on the care sector. Mr Hancock, who resigned from government in 2021 after admitting breaking social distancing guidance by having an affair with a colleague, has given evidence to the inquiry multiple times. He will return on Wednesday for a full-day session to face questions specifically about the adult social care sector. In a previous appearance before the inquiry he admitted the so-called protective ring he said had been put around care homes early in the pandemic was not an unbroken one and insisted he understands the strength of feeling people have on the issue. At a Downing Street press conference on May 15 2020, Mr Hancock said: “Right from the start, we’ve tried to throw a protective ring around our care homes.” Bereaved families have previously branded this phrase a “sickening lie” and a “joke”. When the pandemic hit in early 2020, h...

Highs of 30C are expected across the UK this weekend with heatwave conditions likely to be met on Sunday and Monday. An amber heat health alert has been issued for some parts of England - days before what could be the hottest June day on record. Sky News weather producer Joanna Robinson said highs of 34C are possible on Monday - with a 20% chance of beating the hottest day in June record of 35.6C from 1976. The likelihood of a record-breaking temperature on Monday could increase over the weekend as the day approaches. If the temperature does exceed 35.6C it would make it the hottest start to Wimbledon ever - with the world-famous tennis tournament beginning on Monday. The highest temperature for the opening day of the tournament so far came on 25 June 2001, with 29.3C at Kew Gardens. Heatwave criteria are likely to be met in a few places on Sunday and Monday, mainly across parts of central and eastern England. A heatwave is recorded when an area reaches a certain temperature - the leve...

  Nurse Colin Campbell, formerly known as Colin Norris, who was jailed for life in 2008 for the murders of four elderly patients and attempting to murder a fifth, has lost appeals against his convictions at the Court of Appeal. Nurse Colin Campbell, formerly known as Colin Norris, who was jailed for life in 2008 for the murders of four elderly patients and attempting to murder a fifth, has lost appeals against his convictions at the Court of Appeal. He was found guilty in 2008 of killing Doris Ludlam, Bridget Bourke, Irene Crookes and Ethel Hall. They were inpatients on orthopaedic wards where Campbell worked in Leeds in 2002 before they died, and had developed severe, unexplained hypoglycaemia. Campbell denied any wrongdoing and said he did nothing to cause hypoglycaemia in any of the patients. His case was referred to the Court of Appeal in London by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) in 2021, which said previously that the prosecution relied on “wholly circumstantial” e...