PROUD MEDIA NEWS CENTRE

  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 ...

  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...

  More than £2 billion saved from “wasteful” NHS spending is to be diverted to “working class communities that need it most”, the Health Secretary will announce. Wes Streeting will use a speech in Blackpool on Wednesday to set out how poorer communities will benefit from more medicines and equipment – and a bigger share of GP funding – under reforms in the upcoming NHS 10-year plan. The Department of Health said NHS leaders have spent recent months driving cuts to NHS spending, such as on “back office” functions and agency staff, while reducing forecast deficits by health trusts. Around £2.2 billion previously set aside to plug financial holes will now be spent on staff, medicines, new technology and equipment in rural communities, coastal towns and working-class regions, according to the Department. Mr Streeting will say: “The truth is, those in greatest need often receive the worst quality healthcare. “It flies in the face of the values the NHS was founded on. The circumstances o...

  Assisted dying is a step closer to being made legal in England and Wales after the proposed legislation cleared the House of Commons in a historic vote. A majority of MPs backed a Bill that would allow terminally ill adults with a life expectancy of less than six months to end their lives. Despite warnings from opponents around the safety of a Bill they argued has been rushed through, the proposed legislation took another step in the parliamentary process. MPs voted 314 to 291, majority 23, to approve Kim Leadbeater’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill at third reading. This means the Bill has completed its first stages in the Commons and will move to the House of Lords for further debate and scrutiny. Both Houses must agree the final text of the Bill before it can be signed into law. Due to the four-year implementation period, it could be 2029 – potentially coinciding with the end of this Government’s Parliament – before assisted dying is offered. Encouraging or assisting ...

Air pollution negatively affects almost every organ in the body and around 30,000 UK deaths will be linked to toxic air in 2025, according to a new report from leading doctors. Air pollution negatively affects almost every organ in the body and around 30,000 UK deaths will be linked to toxic air in 2025, according to a new report from leading doctors. The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) said that there is “no safe level” of air pollutants as it warned that around 99% of the UK population are breathing in “toxic air”. Exposure to air pollution can shorten people’s lives by 1.8 years, which is “just behind some of the leading causes of death and disease worldwide”, including cancer and smoking, the authors wrote. The report highlights some new research findings about air pollution and ill health over the last decade, including that even if low concentrations air pollution can have impacts on foetal development, cancer, heart disease, stroke, mental health conditions and dementia. The r...

  The number of nurses and midwives registered to work in the UK has “decelerated” due to a “significant slowdown” in international recruitment, according to a new review. The number of nurses and midwives registered to work in the UK has “decelerated” due to a “significant slowdown” in international recruitment, according to a new review. Over the past year, 20,671 nurses and midwives who were educated outside the UK joined the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) register for the first time – 30% fewer than the previous year, according to a new review of nursing numbers in Britain. Officials said that changes to visa rules may have played a part, as well as a drive to recruit locally. But the regulator warned that domestic recruitment is not enough to offset international slowdown. “The number of UK-educated professionals joining our register for the first time has continued to grow but at a slower rate and not by enough to offset the fall in international recruitment – hence the ...