Shrewsbury park-and-ride hospital buses to be made permanent
A hospital park-and-ride service will be made permanent in Shropshire after a successful trial.Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust started offering bus journeys to Royal Shrewsbury Hospital in January, using an existing staff service.It said the route would remain free until it became permanent from 19 May, at which point users would be charged £1 per return journey. People with a disabled person's bus pass and children under the age of 16 will be free, if accompanied by an adult.
Interim chief nursing officer Paula Gardner said the trust had been "really pleased with the feedback" from people during the trial.Patients and visitors will be able to use the buses at any time from 06:20 until 21:25, and they will run between the Oxon park-and-ride car park and the hospital's main entrance.The services will leave every 15 to 20 minutes.However, the hospital advised passengers buses would be busy before 10:00 and after 15:00, because staff would be using them.There is currently no service on Saturdays, Sundays and bank holidays.
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Telegraph
29 minutes ago
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The £12 at-home prostate cancer test that could save you weeks of waiting for a GP
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There are two kinds currently available – the pin-prick quick response that I am trying, and those that require a larger sample to be sent to a lab. Other commercial screenings exist, but have not been rolled out for home use yet. The commercial laboratory tests are much the same as an NHS blood test, only without the doctor to interpret results and place them in context (many provide this as an optional extra). Both measure PSA, a naturally occurring protein that can be an indicator of cancer. Testing at home for medical conditions is a booming business, with the global at-home medical testing market estimated at $7.4 million (£5.5m) in 2024. I have to confess, the idea of peering into my health in the privacy of my own home is very appealing – especially while there is no national screening programme. The faff of arranging appointments, the vulnerable feeling that overtakes you as you walk through the door of the surgery, and the worry about managing feelings: all of this makes lightly stabbing myself at the kitchen table feel more than worth it. Pros of self-test kits They are (reasonably) accurate Nick James, professor of prostate and bladder cancer research at the Institute of Cancer Research, and the Royal Marsden Hospital in London says, 'We did a bit of research on tests of this type and they weren't bad, to be honest. We dual-tested 50-100 [patients], comparing our lab results with their results – there was some inaccuracy at the borderline between normal and abnormal, but did that matter? Probably not. Once you have a properly abnormal PSA they will be accurate'. They are quick Prof James says: 'It is quite a good way of circumventing the initial chat with the GP. Most things in life you have control of, you want a pizza you pick up the phone and it arrives. It's only in medicine where you have to be grateful for what the NHS gives you, which might be great or it might be rubbish.' They are a useful start 'There's not much you can do wrong with them really,' says Prof James. 'If you have the test and it's normal, probably the NHS test would be normal too, if it's abnormal that should allow you to drive a referral. I tried to get an NHS PSA just to see the process, and it took me weeks and weeks.' They are cheap and easy Frederick Manduca is a director of Newfoundland Diagnostics, which makes the lateral flow PSA test I used. He says: 'There's a convenience factor, you can buy the test in Sainsbury's with your shopping and the result is there within ten minutes. It retails at £12, so you can screen regularly. It's easy to use. You only need a few droplets of blood and you can put it through the lateral flow test.' They are set up for the most at-risk group Newfoundland tests record any PSA score up to four as normal. 'We chose four as the dividing line,' says Manduca. 'It's all based on what we see as the most helpful cut-off for age. If we were screening 20-40 year olds the cut off would be much lower, but because that group is at such low risk, we weren't focused on them. At 70-plus, an abnormal result comes in between 4 and 5 PSA, between 50 and 70, anything from 4.00 upwards is definitely raised. It's the mid-point for that age range.' Cons of self-test kits Interpreting the results It's about self-education. PSA is not a cancer indicator in itself. Manduca says: 'The key is people understanding when they should test and what the results mean – this is a test for a protein the body produces, it's not a test for prostate cancer.' The Newfoundland tests come with a leaflet produced in conjunction with a cancer charity. How do the self-test kits compare to a clinical screening? There has been some controversy about this. A BBC report into the rapid response tests (no brands were specified) said: 'Of the five kits analysed by the BBC, one did not produce a readable result; three came back all clear; but one did show a solid dark line, indicating a PSA level above 4.0 ug/l. A private blood test taken the same day and sent to a laboratory, showed a much lower reading of 0.27 ug/l.' Manduca says the Newfoundland kits are tested against approved independent lab results: '92 per cent of the time the lab tests and the rapid tests were agreeing. There are slight deviations and cut-offs, if you were right on a boundary number, say 3.9.' He warns, however, that there are less reliable tests sold online and consumers need to check for official approvals before buying. The Prostate Cancer UK site says: 'We recommend that if you're worried about prostate cancer and want a PSA blood test, you should speak to your GP. It's crucial that, before you have a PSA blood test, you get balanced information or counselling from a healthcare professional, and that you get professional follow-up about your result and what to do next.' How to read your self-test kit results Any PSA is far from conclusive. Using a cheap and reasonably accurate home test can allow you to track your number and spot any changes. An NHS PSA test is also not definitive, and a high number should mark the start of an investigation. Figures for 'normal' PSA scores by age are available online, but any worries need full investigation with MRI scans via the doctor. Fredrick Manduca says: 'It's a tool in an overall toolkit. A lot of men don't know that if do they have a raised PSA only one-in-four of them will have prostate cancer. The general concept is for someone to test every year or every two years depending on how at risk they are, and see if there's a change.' 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Daily Mirror
36 minutes ago
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UK households told to close windows and doors from 10am until 3pm
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BBC News
42 minutes ago
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Cardiff University job cuts a health and safety crisis, says UCU
Planned job cuts at Cardiff University have led to a "total health and safety crisis" with staff feeling their wellbeing has been inadequately considered, a union UCU has reported Cardiff University's University Executive Board (UEB) to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) following a "comprehensive breakdown of trust and morale" between university bosses and university initially announced that 400 jobs were at risk and some courses were to be axed in the cost-saving measures, but later reduced this and pledged there would be no compulsory redundancies this university said it was working to increase support on offer to staff members. On Monday, the university issued an update which stated 151 staff had voluntarily resigned, meaning 69 full-time equivalent job losses would now be needed for it to meet its union said university management had failed to respond to concerns its members had raised, beyond offering "mainly cosmetic" the HSE referral submitted on 5 June, the union described the situation as a "total health and safety crisis".It said some members had reported suffering from mental health concerns, including suicidal thoughts, struggling in their caring duties or worrying about their pregnancy due to said the Academic Futures process, to be considered by the University Council on 17 June, was "an unfolding and comprehensive disaster for staff health, university workload, day to day operations, and academic community". In March, a union questionnaire - which was sent to more than 1,500 members across the university and received 197 responses - highlighted cuts had "negatively affected" the health and wellbeing of staff, it reported by union members included anxiety and depression, not sleeping or eating properly, nausea, panic attacks, weight loss, stomach problems, lack of clear thinking and concentration, exhaustion, increased heart rate and blood pressure, struggling with caring duties, drinking, taking medication, taking sick leave, and feeling respondent wrote: "I considered having an abortion as a result of the panic".One staff member said they had "felt suicidal more than once over the last few weeks", while another described the support on offer from the university as "woeful".The latest update on cuts does not prevent compulsory redundancies beyond 2025, and the UCU has called on the university to go a step further and bring the remaining staff out of the "scope for redundancy" added it wanted to see bosses write an all-staff communication "acknowledging the crisis and taking full responsibility for the consequences of choices made during the cuts process", as well as "addressing staff mental health as a matter of urgency and invest considerably more resources in mental health and wellbeing support". It said it acknowledged the university's wellbeing team was "overstretched", but added it had not seen any signs this issue would "be addressed in a concrete way"."Given what we have found about the impacts of Academic Futures on staff health, we are very concerned that over 400 people are still in scope for redundancy. "Management's current plan, up for consideration by the University Council next week, allows for them to be left at risk for years to come," the union said."This is a recipe for disaster that could mean the nightmarish findings of our survey may become the new normal."Quite frankly, this could be a matter of life and death."Cardiff University said the institution understood the impact the last few months had had on colleagues, adding it faced "significant challenges to our sustainability" which had "necessitated some very difficult decisions".It said the questionnaire results "make for difficult reading", adding: "Following further meetings with UCU, a draft action plan has been developed at pace, in collaboration with our trade unions."We are listening and are committed to working in partnership with the trade unions on actions to address specific points, to improve wellbeing for all members of our community and to ensure we continue to provide timely communication."They said the university was "surprised" by the referral but would "provide any information required by the HSE".If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this story you can visit BBC Action Line.
