HEALTH DIRECT

The number of people facing “long waits” for hospital treatment in England has more than doubled in the past four years, figures show. Patients needing routine care such as knee and hip replacements are meant to be treated in 18 weeks under NHS rules. But the numbers waiting longer than that now top 350,000 – […]

There are calls for more to be done to stop people smoking at hospitals and promote healthy living. Health boards say they are powerless to enforce smoking bans on their grounds as they are not yet backed up by law. BMA Cymru said a decision had to be made on whether hospitals were “places of […]

Delays in discharging people from hospital are rising more rapidly in mental health trusts than other parts of the NHS in England, a study shows. NHS England data found a 56% rise in the number of bed days lost to delayed discharge in psychiatric trusts in October 2016 compared to November 2015. There was a […]

Senior doctors say they are concerned about the number of cancer patients having their operations cancelled amid “tremendous pressure” facing the NHS in England this winter. Ian Eardley, from the Royal College of Surgeons, said a shortage of beds was one of the causes. Such surgery is usually protected under treatment time guidelines, he added. […]

People who live near major roads have higher rates of dementia, research published in the Lancet suggests. As many as 11% of dementia cases in people living within 50m of a major road could be down to traffic, the study suggests. The researchers, who followed nearly 2m people in Canada over 11 years, say air […]

The government wants surgeries to open between 08:00 and 20:00, seven days a week, unless they can prove the demand is not there. Some GPs in England have been warned they could lose extra funding if they fail to meet their commitments to keeping surgeries open for longer. It said many patients were going to […]

Hospitals in England collected more than £120 million in car parking fees in the last year. NHS hospitals appear to be making more money than ever from parking fees. A report from the Press Association says hospitals in England collected more than £120m last year – up by 5%. Many trusts defended the charges, saying […]

The NHS has disputed claims from the Red Cross that there is a “humanitarian crisis” in its hospitals in England. One of NHS England’s specialist directors said he thought the service was not “at that point” of crisis, but admitted demand was higher than ever. The Red Cross helps some hospitals with patient transport and […]

After the festive season- when people often over indulge there is a new warning on the damage that alcohol does. Women who regularly drink more than three-and-a-half bottles of wine a week should get their livers checked, says new draft advice for England. For men, the threshold is five bottles of wine a week or […]

Surgeons have described a new treatment for early stage prostate cancer as “truly transformative”. The approach, tested across Europe, uses lasers and a drug made from deep sea bacteria to eliminate tumours, but without causing severe side effects. Trials on 413 men – published in The Lancet Oncology – showed nearly half of them had […]