Britain still leads the world… in STDs
It will not be available for everyone. The focus will mainly be on gay and bisexual men with a history of multiple sexual partners or an STI. The vaccine is 30-40 per cent effective, but NHS England hopes it will reverse soaring numbers of infections.
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Daily Mail
3 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Now thousands give up trying to get an ambulance to A&E and 'are finding their own way to hospital'
Record numbers of patients are making their own way to A&E without waiting for an ambulance, a study suggests. Long response times and scenes of emergency vehicles queuing outside hospitals are thought to have fuelled the surge in people turning to alternative transport - even in the most urgent cases. NHS England data shows 19.5million attendances (79 per cent) were from people who walked, cycled or used public transport, a taxi or a private vehicle in 2023/24. Now new analysis from a subset of 30 NHS trusts indicate a growing proportion were the sickest patients. They recorded 2.7million non-ambulance A&E arrivals in 2024 - up 340,000 or 14 per cent since 2019. Of these, 266,460 patients were assigned the most severe category one or two ratings on arrival, meaning they were in need of 'immediate' or 'very urgent' medical attention - a rise of 50 per cent over the same period. Helen Morgan, health and social care spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats, who obtained the new data under Freedom of Information laws, said: 'These figures lay bare an Uber ambulance crisis, where people do not think they can rely on ambulance services even in the most serious of circumstances. 'This could have deadly consequences if people have lost faith that ambulances will be there when they need them.' In 2022, Dr Katherine Henderson, the then president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, admitted she would consider calling a taxi or giving a loved one a lift to hospital, rather than call an ambulance as she was 'worried' one would not arrive on time. Dennis Reed, director of Silver Voices, which campaigns for elderly Britons, said: 'Older people have lost all confidence that if they need an ambulance they will get one in time so will often resort to DIY solutions. 'A blue light ambulance used to be the quickest way to get to hospital but this is increasingly not true. 'If you live 30 minutes drive from hospital but the ambulance will take an hour to get to you then it becomes a no brainer. 'The solution is not so much not enough ambulances - as many are waiting outside hospitals because of a lack of beds. 'The solution is for the Government to stop ignoring the social care crisis.' The latest official figures show the average response time for the most life-threatening 999 calls was 7 minutes 56 seconds in July, although one in ten callers waited more than 14 minutes 12 seconds. The average target of 7 minutes has not been met for four years. The average response time for category two calls, which includes heart attacks and strokes, was 28 minutes 40 seconds and the average for category three calls, including severe pain, was 1 hour 40 minutes. The Trust that saw the largest rise in non-ambulance A&E attendances, according to the subset of Freedom of Information responses, was Sandwell and West Birmingham, where there was a 320 per cent rise since 2019, with the figures jumping from 3,900 to 16,500. Mid and South Essex had the highest number of attendances not arriving in an ambulance last year at 322,000, up from 263,000 over the same period. The Liberal Democrats also asked for figures non-ambulance A&E arrivals by those aged over 65. Last year, there were 459,000, up 22 per cent on 2019's 375,000 according to the 22 NHS Trusts which responded with full data. Of these,56,700 were rated Code 1 or Code 2. The steepest rise in over 65s non-ambulance attendances was in North Cumbria where they jumped 97 per cent to 22,305. The Liberal Democrats want the Government to create a new £50 million-a-year emergency fund to allow ambulance trusts to reverse closures of community ambulance stations and to launch a campaign to retain, recruit and train paramedics and other ambulance staff. Ms Morgan added: 'We are still seeing people being treated in A&E corridors and ambulances queuing up outside, causing delays that people are rightfully terrified by. 'Everyone should call and wait for an ambulance if they need one, but we also have to also make sure they reach people on time so no one thinks they have to take themselves to A&E in a life and death situation. 'That means protecting local ambulance stations from closure and launching a campaign to retain, recruit and train paramedics and other ambulance staff.' Daniel Elkeles, chief executive of NHS Providers and former chief executive of London Ambulance Service, said: 'There may be lots of reasons why people chose to go to hospital themselves rather than call 999. The NHS is there for anyone in an emergency. 'Latest official figures show that ambulances are getting to people more quickly despite high demand, with staff attending more than 650,000 incidents and answering more than 843,500 calls to 999 in a month. 'Meanwhile, despite 2.4million A&E attendances - the busiest July on record - the highest proportion of patients in almost four years were seen within four hours. NHS trusts and staff work flat out to see patients as quickly as possible.' Anna Parry, managing director of the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives, said: 'Data proves that NHS ambulance services have never been busier answering 999 calls and responding to more patients than ever before, something that is testament to our incredibly hard-working frontline staff, as well as those handling the calls and dispatching the most appropriate clinical response to patients in need. 'The NHS and its individual ambulance services continue to invest in the development and training of paramedics and other clinical staff, in order to manage the increase in demand for our services and provide high quality care in as timely manner as we are able.' A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: 'We inherited an emergency care system on its knees, with patients left facing lengthy waits for ambulances and often even longer handover delays when they reached hospital. 'Despite record A&E demand, we are turning things around, with ambulances getting to patients faster in July than the same time last year, and handover delays also coming down. 'Our £450 million investment in urgent and emergency care services includes new ambulances, to make sure the NHS can be there for all of us on time when we need it.'
Daily Mail
17 hours ago
- Daily Mail
BBC is forced into embarrassing U-turn over 'false statistics' on Lucy Letby Panorama documentary after 'sloppy and amateurish' journalism
The BBC has been forced to correct and re-edit a Panorama programme on Lucy Letby after being accused of 'sloppy and amateurish' journalism and producing 'false statistics'. The documentary repeated discredited claims that when Letby worked as a nurse at Liverpool Women's Hospital between 2012 and 2015, the dislodgement of breathing tubes occurred at a rate 40 times higher than normal during her shifts. The claims had first been aired by Richard Baker KC, who represented the victims' families at the Thirlwall Inquiry, but were heavily contested by Jane Hutton, a professor of statistics at Warwick University, who wrote to the inquiry to express her 'concern at your very poor presentation of statistics relating to accidental dislodgement of endotracheal tubes'. Professor Hutton wrote: 'Your statements implied that an evaluation of shifts shows a substantial increase in events when Letby was on shift. This is a fine example of statistical illiteracy which can mislead juries and the general public.' However, Monday's Panorama, presented by Judith Moritz and Jonathan Coffey, described the figures as 'empirical' and suggested they damaged Letby's claims of innocence. The presenters are this month publishing an updated paperback version of their book, Unmasking Lucy Letby, which partly back-peddles on the original version's presumption of Letby's guilt. After several experts, including Professor Hutton, complained to the BBC about the segment, the corporation has now retracted the figure and edited the version of the programme available on iPlayer. In a statement released in response to an inquiry from The Mail on Sunday, the BBC said: 'We stated that babies' breathing tubes came out 40 times more often than normal when Lucy Letby was on shift. 'We have now removed that line from the programme and some associated commentary. We have also made clear that Lucy Letby was in training during both periods at the Liverpool Women's Hospital. 'We originally stated that her supporters questioned the review's findings around Liverpool Women's Hospital, and this has now been changed to say that critics say the hospital's findings are not credible and that there are any number of reasons why breathing tubes could become dislodged more often.' Dr Amy Wilson, a lecturer in statistics at Edinburgh University, described the segment as 'very concerning'. She told the corporation in a formal complaint: 'You state that the 1 per cent background rate is per ventilated baby per shift (a 'ventilation shift') and yet you compare this to a 40 per cent 'per shift' rate for Letby. 'This comparison is incorrect – Letby's rate should also be calculated as per ventilated baby per shift. Using the assumptions in your programme of ten ventilated babies per shift and 50 shifts, this would mean Letby was present for 500 ventilation shifts with 20 dislodgements. 'She would then have a rate of 4 per cent per ventilated baby per shift, not 40 per cent. The assumptions used also need to be checked – for example, if there were more than ten ventilated babies per shift, Letby's rate would be lower still.' Mark McDonald, Letby's lawyer – who says he was rebuffed by the BBC when he warned them not to air the statistic – said: 'The documentary was sloppy, amateurish and full of errors. 'It made mistakes on statistics and failed on basic maths when it came to incidents at the hospital. This may have gone down well at a literary festival to sell the presenters' new book but when it comes to journalism it was grossly misleading. 'The most egregious failing yet again was in producing false statistics which were used to implicate Lucy in further invented crimes. The statistics weren't just false, they were internally illogical.'
Daily Mirror
17 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Married Brit couple terrified to wake up in unknown hotel room after accident
Stephen and Sara Ridgewell headed for a well-deserved mum and dad night out but reveal how their evening out with friends became a nightmare after their drinks were drugged The atmosphere on the mini bus was electric as husband and wife Stephen and Sara Ridgewell headed out for an ex-colleague's engagement party. Little did they know their evening off from parenting duties would quickly turn into the night from hell. The couple, who have been married for 19 years, left their son Sid, who was four at the time, in the safe hands of Sara's sister Katy Hood, 30. They headed to nearby Chelmsford, Essex – only half an hour from their home – for a night of drinks, dancing and celebration. But in less than two hours, their night took a terrifying turn. 'We had a can of G&T on the dedicated minibus, as you do, then we arrived at the venue,' says Sara, an events florist. Stephen, a maintenance engineer, adds, 'I bought Sara a bottle of prosecco and I had a couple of pints. The only drink we shared was when I had a glass from her bottle.' Sara says they weren't even planning to drink much when they went out on that night back in February 2023. 'We had a four-year-old at home – it's never worth it the next day,' she explains. But the pair believe their drinks were spiked and hours later they found themselves lying in a random hotel room – with no recollection of how they got there and no memory of their night out. Sara, 43, and Stephen, 46, say they didn't share drinks with anyone else at the party and although there were some faces they didn't recognise there, for the most part they were surrounded by friends and they certainly didn't feel uncomfortable at any point. 'We didn't exactly sit with our hands over our drinks. But we didn't think we had to in that environment,' says Stephen. Anti-drink- spiking company CounterSpike has revealed that spiking has reached epidemic levels in the UK. Worryingly, 6.6 million Brits have been spiked in their lifetime, while 11.7 million say they know someone who has been spiked. Out of control The next day, Sara and Stephen started to have confused flashbacks of the night before, including memories of sitting by the minibus, which Stephen believes was an attempt to get back home. They both vaguely remember being at the train station too, probably trying to find a safe route back. Their only clear memory of the night's events is when they were woken up at 2am by Sara's phone ringing – and found themselves in the strange hotel room. Sara's sister was calling to find out when they would be returning home to relieve her of babysitting duties – but Stephen and Sara had absolutely no idea where they were. 'I had to go outside just to figure out where on earth we were. We knew it was a Premier Inn room because they all look the same, but we could have been anywhere,' says Stephen, who then discovered he had cuts to his head from falling over. At some point he had also lost control of his bladder – something he says has never happened before. 'Even during all my years of partying, I've never wet myself.' Strangely, Stephen discovered he had paid for the hotel room, which was in Boreham – a distance from the party that would have required transport. 'I checked my bank balance. I paid for the room and we must have got a taxi, but we can't remember a thing,' he says. The pair eventually made it home at 4am and took turns to sleep for two hours, in order to look after Sid but also to ensure that they were both OK. 'We felt horrendous for a couple of days afterwards,' says Stephen. 'I know what a hangover is – that wasn't a hangover – and we both felt exactly the same.' Nothing had been stolen and there were no photos or videos on their phones – or any that had been posted on social media afterwards – so the pair have no idea what someone would have gained from the act. Stephen was horrified to hear from a friend the next day that he had been acting 'very out of control' and 'stumbling around'. 'It's a fear of what could have happened,' Sara reflects. 'We were very lucky to not be seriously hurt. Thank goodness we stuck together. It could have been horrendous if one of us had gone wandering off.' Feeling paranoid Fear and anxiety around spiking is fuelled by the perception that it's hard to prove, alongside the shame and embarrassment felt by victims. A recent survey found that in the previous two years, a fifth [22%] of victims neither reported nor told anyone about being spiked and only 11% reported the incident to the police. Sara and Stephen were no different. Despite the incident being no fault of their own, they decided against checking CCTV footage or calling the police as they felt embarrassed. 'You can feel a bit stupid or worry that people think you're making excuses for just being really drunk,' explains Sara. The couple were fortunate they were able to get themselves to safety, but that traumatic night two years ago means they now treat social occasions very differently. 'It's given us a different outlook on going out,' says Sara. Stephen agrees and says going out now makes him really anxious. 'I'll often not drink and just take the car.' The unnerving event has left Sara feeling paranoid in social situations. 'I was at my sister's hen do and some blokes bought us shots on the dance floor,' she says. 'I panicked and shouted, 'Don't drink them!' You can't trust anyone these days.' She adds, 'We like to stay at home these days. This experience brought to light how vulnerable you can be.' New Spiking Legislation The government has introduced spiking as a specific, stand-alone offence under the Crime and Policing Bill, aiming to make it easier to prosecute those who administer harmful substances without consent. The new bill modernises the language used, increases the maximum penalty and updates how and in which courts these offences are dealt with. CounterSpike believes this measure is just one part of the solution and 'solution' providers like itself, the government, venues, the police and charities such as Spike Aware UK also need to work together in order to build public awareness, promote safety measures and encourage reporting of spiking so perpetrators can be found and prosecuted.
