Image copyright Getty Images The owner of Boots has rejected claims it overcharged the NHS for a mouthwash used by cancer patients. An investigation by the Times newspaper said the high street chemist charged the NHS £3,220 for the medicinal mouthwash, which can cost £93. Walgreens Boots Alliance said its businesses complied with the law. […] More
Image copyright AFP Despite its vast size and dilapidated health system, the Democratic Republic of Congo is confident that it will be able to contain the current outbreak of the deadly Ebola disease, which is thought to have killed 22 people. There has been one case in Mbandaka, a densely populated city of one million. […] More
Image copyright Getty Images Taxes are going to have to rise to pay for the NHS if the UK is to avoid “a decade of misery” in which the old, sick and vulnerable are let down, say experts. The Institute for Fiscal Studies and Health Foundation said the NHS would need an extra 4% a […] More
Image copyright Getty Images A judicial review by a group of campaigners challenging government health policy in England gets under way at the High Court later. The group, which was backed by Prof Stephen Hawking before his death, is fighting the creation of accountable care organisations (ACOs). These are to act as partnership bodies incorporating […] More
Image copyright Andrei Malov/Getty Images More than £13m has been withheld from three health boards for failing to meet targets on cutting patient waiting lists in Wales. An extra £50m funding was announced in August 2017 by the health secretary to deliver faster improvements in routine surgery, diagnostics and therapies. Earlier this month it was […] More
Image copyright SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY Our modern germ-free life is the cause of the most common type of cancer in children, according to one of Britain’s most eminent scientists. Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia affects one in 2,000 children. Prof Mel Greaves, from the Institute of Cancer Research, has amassed 30 years of evidence to show the […] More
Image copyright Getty Creative The diagnosis of cancer and other diseases in the UK can be transformed by using artificial intelligence, Theresa May is to say. The NHS and technology companies should use AI as a “new weapon” in research, the PM will urge in a speech later. Experts say it can be used to […] More
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Should we be eating earlier to boost our health? We’ve been warned repeatedly about the health perils of being out-of-sync with our body clocks. Are we eating in the right way for these circadian rhythms, and could changing our mealtime habits boost our health and help us lose weight? […] More
Image copyright AFP Image caption Suspected cases are being treated at isolation hospitals in the Democratic Republic of Congo An Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is not yet an international public health emergency, the World Health Organization has said. It said there was a “strong reason to believe that the outbreak can […] More
Image copyright Science Photo Library Image caption Candida auris is responsible for increasing invasive fungal infections in hospitals Scientists are warning that levels of resistance to treatments for fungal infections are growing, which could lead to more outbreaks of disease. Intensive-care and transplant patients and those with cancer are most at risk because their immune […] More
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption People with mild to moderate dementia took part in strength exercises Exercise programmes for people with mild to moderate dementia “don’t work”, according to researchers writing in the British Medical Journal. They found no improvements in thinking skills or behaviour in more than 300 people in their 70s who […] More
When David Ferran left school at the age of 17, he was encouraged to learn a trade and become a bricklayer or an electrician. But that wasn’t for him. He went into nursing, bucking the trend in what is still a female-dominated profession. David, who works in the dermatology department at the Royal Victoria Hospital, […] More