Retired banker from Devon in running challenge hits halfway point
He started the challenge on 16 April in Topsham and is due to end it there after nearly seven months."Reaching the halfway stage is a milestone I could only have dreamed of when I set off 100 days ago," he said."It's overwhelming looking back on what I've achieved."I feel so proud of myself and hope I can inspire others over 60 that you are never too old to attempt the impossible no matter how ridiculous it seems."
The Exeter research team assessed him before his departure and continue to monitor him throughout the challenge, evaluating his calorie intake, blood, oxygen and muscle measurements.
Dr Freyja Haigh, nutritional physiology researcher at the university, said the challenge "gives us a real insight into how this type of endurance affects the body of an older person"."Having reached this point would be an incredible achievement for anyone, but doing it in your 60s is a whole different ball game," she said."What Steve is doing really challenges the stereotypes of ageing and redefines what's possible later in life."It's been such a privilege to work with him so far and I can't wait to see how he gets on in this next stage."The record for running the British coastline is held by Nick Butter, who completed the feat in 128 days at the age of 31.Mr James is the first person aged over 60 to attempt the feat.
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Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
Pay doctors more – by slashing the salaries of useless bureaucrats
British state dysfunction is so all-encompassing that working out where one problem begins and another ends is a time-consuming activity all on its own. Take the threatened resident doctors' strikes. It's not an unreasonable stance to point out that salaries are below their 2008 peak, and ask for a pay rise to make up for this. It is difficult to hand these out, however, when NHS productivity is down somewhere between 5pc and 11pc on 2019/20 levels, making pay awards hard to justify. This is particularly so when the Government is spending £111bn on debt interest this year alone, local council budgets have already been shredded and social care is a mess. If you're confused about how these things tie together, bear with me. Let's start with the doctors. The British Medical Association (BMA) claims that below-inflation pay rises means that resident (junior) doctors are worse off in pay terms today than they were 17 years ago. This is hard to dispute: whether you prefer to measure inflation with the Consumer Price Index or the Retail Price Index (RPI), the broad thrust is that prices have risen faster than pay for residents. In a market system, this would simply be how supply is matched to demand. In the UK healthcare system, however, there is no real market. The NHS is by far the largest provider of medical services in the country, which gives it an enormous degree of power over the wages of trained doctors. For those starting out, the deal is even worse. In order to qualify to practice in Britain, med school graduates must complete two years of training. This, in turn, takes place with NHS employers. It's not particularly difficult to see how this might lead to unwelcome compression of the wage premium for people who've just slogged through years of strenuous education: foundation year one doctors earn above median but below mean UK wages, with foundation year two still falling below the 75th percentile for the economy as a whole. That there could be a relatively straightforward way to raise the pay of doctors: abolish the NHS, and let the market work. Unfortunately, given that Sir Keir Starmer has insisted that he would never, under any circumstances, pay for a loved one to be treated privately rather than wait their turn on an NHS list, this option is probably off the table. This same opposition to reform and private sector involvement makes it hard to see a clean route to restoring lost productivity in the health service in the near future. In other words, if we're going to give doctors a pay rise, the money will have to come from other budgets. Quite a lot of money, as it happens. The BMA wants 'pay restoration' to 2008 levels. So do many others: it is a testament to almost two decades of economic mismanagement that private sector wages earlier this year were also below their 2008 peak. With the BMA increasingly aggressive in its negotiating stance, its critics are entitled to note that countries like Australia and Canada are far more stringent in restricting the ability of doctors to strike. Carry on in this vein, and they may well lose the sympathies of the public altogether. Assume for a moment though that we choose to grant this rise. The increase the resident doctors are asking for is enough to make up for a 21pc fall in wages, so a raise in the region of 27pc. According to the Nuffield Trust, each 1pc uptick in resident doctors' pay costs around £51m. The total cost of a 27pc rise would be somewhere in the region of £1.4bn. This is excessive, but it's a fair point that doctors may well feel undervalued relative to other jobs. It can't feel particularly good for resident doctors on £46,000, for instance, to see the NHS hiring in diversity commissars on salaries of £122,000. And it doesn't seem quite right for highly skilled workers who work long hours in unpleasant conditions, risking exposure to dangerous infectious diseases, to be paid less than unemployable Whitehall apparatchiks dialling into Zoom calls in their dressing gowns. Here, then, is a modest proposal. The total public sector pay bill was £270bn in 2023/24. If we can cut it by 0.5pc, then the doctors can have their pay rise. Figures from the Taxpayers' Alliance suggest that local government spending on diversity roles cost roughly £23m in 2023, alongside £13 million in the NHS. Thirty-six million towards a £1.4bn black hole is not a promising start. In fact, even taking the maximal savings implied by one estimate of public sector spending on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) jobs – £557m a year – would still only get us a third of the way towards paying for it. And not all of these savings would be free to spend. Local government finances are in a shambolic state, with real budgets down 9pc on their 2010 levels. The slow squeeze of rising social care, school transport and housing costs, meanwhile, is eroding waste simply by erasing discretionary spending. Any savings made on woke waste might have to go towards social care, or if it does go to the NHS, it may actually risk making it worse. How, you ask? The single biggest productivity challenge facing NHS executives is discharging patients on time. Blocked beds stymie the flow of patients through hospitals, in turn slowing the flow of patients off waiting lists. These delays are most often caused by waiting for support for the patient at home – often adult social care arranged by local government bodies scrabbling for cash. Spending more on social care might be better for NHS productivity than actually spending on the NHS itself. At this point, however, I have some good news: we can do this, and still restore doctors' pay in real terms. The BMA's calculation of the fall in doctors' pay since 2010 is fundamentally flawed. It uses the now discredited RPI measure of inflation which is known to overestimate rises in the price level (among other problems, when prices rise and then fall back to their starting level, the RPI can still show prices as having risen). This is obviously absurd, and after years of dragging its heels, the Government conceded as much. As a result, from 2030 onwards the RPI is set to simply mirror an alternative, better-calculated measure of inflation, saving the Government a couple of billion each year in the process. In other words, the doctors' pay demands seemed excessive because they were excessive. If the BMA had used better measures of inflation, they would be looking for a 5pc pay rise, or £255m – less than half of the estimated DEI spend. And this, in turn, gives us our desired outcome: we can give the doctors actual pay restoration, pay for it by cutting public sector jobs that shouldn't exist in the first place, and have some money leftover to ease the strain on social care into the bargain, improving NHS productivity – an all-round win for taxpayers.
Telegraph
2 hours ago
- Telegraph
GPs threaten Streeting with winter strike
GPs are threatening winter strikes over Wes Streeting's plan to save the NHS. Leaders of the British Medical Association 's (BMA) GP committee have warned the Health Secretary they will consider re-entering a dispute this autumn if their demands are not met. Family doctors want to lead new 'community hubs' announced as part of Mr Streeting's 10-year health plan, as well as a new funding agreement for practices. They could be joined on the picket lines by other doctors and NHS staff this autumn, with resident doctors – formerly junior doctors – consultants, nurses, and other healthcare workers all eyeing ballots later this year. The threat came as a five-day walkout by junior doctors came to an end on Wednesday morning, with Mr Streeting telling union leaders the strikes were 'self-defeating' and had 'a detrimental impact on patients, your members, your colleagues and the NHS'. But the BMA's GP leaders were undeterred, writing a letter to Mr Streeting and Stephen Kinnock, the health minister, setting out six demands they want met by mid-September to avert industrial action. Family doctors took 'collective action' last year over contract funding, which saw them take 'work-to-rule' measures, such as limiting patient appointments per day and only seeing people in person. The fresh dispute covers pay, contract funding, and how much extra money they will get to work in and to run new health hubs, among other issues. The ambitious health hubs plan to offer a range of services under one roof, including same day GP appointments and walk-in dental slots, but little guidance has been given about who will run them. GPs are said to be 'alarmed' by hospital leaders' early efforts to make themselves central to the plans, sparking a request for clarity on who is in charge as a demand by the BMA. Dr Katie Bramall-Stainer, the chair of the BMA's GP committee, told ministers that the landmark 10-year health plan and current contract situation meant the profession was at a 'critical juncture'. She said the plan, which was unveiled by Sir Keir Starmer at a pilot health hub in east London in July, threatened the existence of 'the traditional NHS partnership model of general practice'. 'The current trajectory threatens the survival of the independent contractor model and, with it, NHS general practice and the trusted family doctor relationship our patients rely on and want to protect,' she said. Dr Bramall-Stainer also said there was 'disappointment and confusion around the Government's failure to explicitly commit or even mention the delivery of a new GMS [General Medical Service] contract within the plan's pages'. GP funding for the current financial year increased by £1bn on the year before following an extra cash injection worth £123m to cover family doctors higher-than-expected 4 per cent pay rise, as revealed by GPonline. The committee voted against re-entering a dispute on July 17 but with a view to holding another vote in September. Its other demands include a reimbursement scheme to reduce the number of GPs who are currently unemployed, despite rising demand for family doctors, an extension of the clinical negligence scheme, and for the Government to be 'explicit in its preference for general practice to lead single neighbourhood providers'. Dr Bramall-Stainer told The Telegraph that the BMA's GP committee 'remains resolute in pressing for urgent action'. 'We will continue to develop a set of clear, deliverable demands – including restoring core funding – and we are actively listening to our members as we consider the next steps,' she said. 'This is a critical juncture whilst the Department of Health is allocating its additional £29bn from the comprehensive spending review between now and the end of August. We look forward to working with Government to secure these solutions.' Mr Streeting is facing pressure from staff across the NHS over pay, with salaries rises ranging from 3.6 per cent for most staff, to 5.4 per cent for junior doctors. The Royal College of Nursing will reveal results on Thursday that show the overwhelming majority of members want to 'reject' its 3.6 per cent rise, with the potential for a ballot on striking later this year. Healthcare workers represented by Unite and GMB trade unions, which represent other staff from paramedics to cleaners, have also rejected the pay award. The BMA's resident doctors' committee is demanding a 29 per cent pay rise to return the medics to 2008 levels of pay – despite receiving a 28.9 per cent uplift in just three years. And consultants are also holding an indicative ballot on their appetite to strike, with results due in September, although this will not give them a mandate for action. The resident doctors also entered a secondary dispute with the Government on Tuesday over 'training bottlenecks'. Data on the scale of disruption is set to be released later this week by the NHS. Tensions between health officials and doctors escalated throughout the strike as the union refused to accept at least 18 emergency strike exemption requests for doctors to return to work. Sir Jim Mackey, the NHS chief executive, accused the BMA of demanding 'extortionate pay' to get striking doctors to help. The BMA said this was 'untrue and unfounded'. A Department of Health spokesman said: 'This Government is fixing the front door of the NHS – we have made great progress together with GPs so far, including recruiting 2000 extra GPs in a year, securing a record funding boost for GP practices, and public satisfaction with GP services is finally on the rise. 'We are committed to working constructively with the BMA's GPC. GPs are front and centre of our 10 Year Health Plan but we can only realise the benefits for general practice by working together.'
BBC News
2 hours ago
- BBC News
Devon youth charity sees rise in mental health struggles
A youth charity is raising awareness of what it says is a growing mental health crisis among children and teenagers driven by social media pressures, global anxieties, and a lack of meaningful adult Devon, a charity supporting young people across the county, reported a 4% rise in inquiries for help over the past year, with 3,227 new cases between April 2024 and March 2025. Ros Arscott, director of youth work, said the nature of these struggles is evolving: "It's not just about introspection anymore."Young people are fearful, about wars, climate change, and the future they see unfolding in front of them every day." Increasing social media and mobile phone use were compounding these issues, creating constant pressure and few safe spaces for self-expression, she said. "Everything is so micro-managed now for young people, everything they do is really emphasised," said Ms Arscott."As a teenager, you're learning who you are, and your body grows and your mind grows, and you want to test things out and explore things, and there isn't safe spaces to do that. "You make a mistake and everybody knows about it. You're not quite who you want to be because you've seen that's what somebody says you should be doing."Belle, 13, shared her frustration: "If I go to talk to someone, they say they only have 10 minutes because they're busy." The Youth Enquiry Service in Barnstaple has become a vital lifeline for many. Des, 24, has been using the service for several years. "It's a safe, non-judgmental space where I can be myself," he said. "Just knowing there's somewhere I can open up when I need to, it means everything."When asked what would improve their mental health, young people did not ask for therapy or counselling, said Ms Arscott."They said they want more family time," she said."They want affordable activities they can do together. It was obvious when they said it, of course that's what they need. We don't have to fix people. We have to help them stay well."
