Brits have their say on whether 10-year health reforms will improve NHS
The poll found that 35 per cent of respondents believe the plan will have no impact on GP access, with 14 per cent anticipating it will make appointments more difficult.
Despite this widespread scepticism, key proposals within the plan, including the establishment of neighbourhood health centres and the expansion of the NHS app, garnered significant public support.
Over three-quarters of those surveyed backed the creation of neighbourhood health centres and a ban on the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks.
The Department of Health and Social Care affirmed the plan's popularity, stating it resulted from extensive consultation and aims to deliver improved care for all patients.
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The Independent
27 minutes ago
- The Independent
The five-day doctors' strike will only do harm
Between 7am on Friday 25 July and 7am on Wednesday 30 July, there will be a significant deterioration in healthcare in England and Wales. Whatever else may be claimed about patient safety protocols and safeguards, people in pain and distress will suffer more than they would if the resident doctors were working and not going on strike. After all, if the coming five days of industrial action were likely to go unnoticed, the strike would not be taking place. It is hard to see how, over the next week or so, lives will not be put at more risk than if the hospitals and clinics were working normally – and that is still, sadly, an unsatisfactory situation to start from. Indeed, there will be unwelcome extra pressure on the NHS for some time to come, because of the backlog of postponed procedures that will have to be cleared. These may not be as severe as after past disputes, because this time hospital managers are not prioritising emergency care to the same extent, and are protecting scheduled, 'elective' surgery to a greater extent. There is clearly a will on the part of management to ensure that those who cause this interruption in service do not then go on to receive generous overtime for reducing the backlogs they themselves have created. None of this is anything that the striking doctors desire, and there's no reason to doubt that many feel they are being forced into this position. Those on duty will still do their very best for their patients. Nonetheless, the doctors should ask themselves whether all of the misery, and worse, that will inevitably occur is necessary this time. There are strong reasons why this round of industrial action will not be worth it. First, no group of strikers can succeed without public support. In the past, under the Conservatives, the incessant NHS strikes by resident doctors, nurses, support staff and consultants were, in fact, solidly backed by the public, who sympathised with their cause even if it meant that the medical treatment they needed might be postponed. Now, the support is much softer, and a majority of the population opposes the strikes. There have been major changes, too, since the previous round of strikes, all connected to the election of a Labour government committed to the survival of the NHS. One of the first things the new chancellor, Rachel Reeves, did on arriving at the Treasury last July was to pay the salary increases recommended by the independent pay review body in full – a 22 per cent uplift over two years, a startling settlement by comparison with most other workers. Not long after that, Ms Reeves raised taxes to pay for an immediate programme to reduce waiting lists, recruit and train more staff, and invest for the longer term in the NHS. The new health and social care secretary, Wes Streeting, also announced his plan to abolish NHS England, and to implement radical reforms to improve productivity. Taken together, these developments should have signalled to NHS staff that this was a government that wanted the best for the service. In this context, at the start of the journey to a renewed NHS, and with that sizeable pay rise having been implemented, it feels very wrong that the doctors should undermine these efforts, and the progress that has already been recorded, by setting things back again for weeks, if not months, to come. Worse than that, to many it will seem as though the NHS is unfixable, and that it needs more fundamental change. If it appears that Labour can't do much better than the Conservatives at making the NHS work, people will wonder whether it is time for a more radical approach. If they cannot get the treatment they need, when they need it, then they will be more receptive to the siren calls from figures such as Nigel Farage for a French-style insurance system (but, he never adds, without French-style funding). The doctors, in other words, may or may not win a bigger pay award, but they are gambling with the future of the very thing they profess to love – the National Health Service itself, free at the point of use, and paid for by general taxation. The striking doctors should also examine once again the merits of their claim – for a 29.2 per cent award. To everyone else, this looks like an outlandish figure, even as a starting point for talks. It is not part of any pay review recommendation. It is based on a calculation of how much doctors' pay scales would have to change (on a disputed measurement of inflation) to bring them back in real terms to levels prevailing in 2008, before they were eroded. But how many groups of workers would like their pay restored in real terms to some advantageous point in the past, when times were better? The doctors reply that they'd love for everyone to get such a rise, but everyone knows that's not possible – and, given public sentiment, it's not realistic for them either. In short, the chances are that the doctors will not win their strike. Any improvements they do secure will be modest when set against their tarnished reputation and the damage they will do to the trust the public want to place in the NHS. If the doctors do force a pay increase that requires another hike in taxes and causes a reduction in NHS services, then it is not going to be sustainable – because the public will not tolerate it, and the NHS won't survive for the coming decade. The more this strike hurts, the more chance there is that it will, in the long run, fail. It is not worth it.
Sky News
38 minutes ago
- Sky News
Dermot Murnaghan 'fell through the gaps' with prostate cancer diagnosis
Former Sky News presenter Dermot Murnaghan has said he "fell through the gaps" with his prostate cancer diagnosis, calling it a "massive wake-up call". He revealed last month he has stage-four cancer, meaning it has spread to other areas of the body. However, he said he was responding positively to treatment. Speaking at an event for Prostate Cancer UK, Murnaghan urged men to get tested - and to insist on one if they're in a high-risk group. "For years I thought 'that will do me'. I'm getting tested basically once a year or every couple of years," he said. "It never occurred to me that they weren't testing for PSA (prostate-specific antigen) and I never went to my GP because I was getting other tests privately through the production company. "So that's how I fell through the gaps and that's how I had a massive wake-up call and want to share the message." A PSA test is a blood test that can indicate if there's a potential problem with the prostate but there's currently no national screening programme. The NHS says men over 50 can ask their GP for one, and Murnaghan, who's 67, said some people below that age should also push for one. "You can get to the stage I have with no symptoms," he said. "Get the test, insist on the test. You can insist on the test if you are in a high-risk group and under 50. If you are not, I'd still get the test at 50." Murnaghan - who worked at Sky News for 16 years - added: "Go to your GP and they say you don't need it, but say 'but I want it'. It is your right to have it. "Just keep doing that every year or couple of years. Once you've got that marker where your PSA is, keep monitoring it. "The earlier you find prostate cancer the easier it is to treat, so check your risk in just 30 seconds with Prostate Cancer UK's online risk checker to see if you are at risk and what you can choose to do about it." Those at higher-risk of prostate cancer include men over 50, black men and people with a family history of the disease. Murnaghan is currently preparing for a charity bike ride in September, the Tour de 4, organised by Sir Chris Hoy - who revealed his own diagnosis last year.
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Why you should think twice about hugging lambs this summer
Health officials have issued a warning against kissing, cuddling, or holding lambs due to an outbreak of cryptosporidiosis. Cryptosporidiosis is a severe parasitic infection that causes serious gastrointestinal illness, with symptoms including watery diarrhoea and stomach pains. Public Health Wales has advised farmers to prevent close contact between visitors and lambs this summer to curb the spread; people should also wash their hands after contact with animals. The alert follows an investigation into 74 cases of cryptosporidium linked to a petting farm in Vale of Glamorgan earlier this year, which led to 16 hospitalisations, including a four-year-old boy. There were also 17 outbreaks of the infection connected to farms across England and Wales in the previous year.
