EXCLUSIVE Mounjaro made me look old: I've 'aged 15 years' since losing 7st - but here's why I don't care about having 'jab face'
A mother-of-two who lost seven stone thanks to weight loss jabs has been told her 'Mounjaro face' has aged her by 15 years - but she has no regrets.
Ashley Nickson, 35, tipped the scales at 17st 10lbs after piling on the weight while she was pregnant with her children, Mally, six, and Charlie, two.
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The Independent
2 hours ago
- The Independent
Chancellor unveils £6bn NHS funding after health-centred spending review
Some £6 billion will be spent on speeding up testing and treatment in the NHS, Rachel Reeves has announced, after she placed the health service at the heart of Government spending plans. The Chancellor unveiled the investment, which includes new scanners, ambulances and urgent treatment centres aimed at providing an extra four million appointments in England over the next five years, after Wednesday's spending review. The funding is aimed at reducing waiting lists and reaching Labour's 'milestone' of ensuring the health service carries out 92% of routine operations within 18 weeks. In the review, Ms Reeves set out day-to-day spending across Government for the next three years, as well as plans for capital investment over the next four years. The NHS and defence were seen as the winners from the settlement, as both will see higher than average rises in public spending. This comes at cost of squeezing the budgets of other Whitehall departments and experts have warned tax rises may be needed later this year. The Chancellor and Sir Keir Starmer both sought to portray the review as a 'new phase' for the Government, following the criticism Labour has faced during its first year in power, including over cuts to winter fuel allowance. Ms Reeves claimed the NHS had been 'put on its knees' as a result of under-investment by the previous government, adding: 'We are investing in Britain's renewal, and we will turn that around.' The new £6 billion investment will come from the capital settlement for the NHS and will also help to speed up diagnoses with scans and treatment available in places such as shopping centres and high streets. The scale of day-to-day spending for the NHS is akin to an extra £29 billion a year. In a broadcast interview on Wednesday evening, Ms Reeves said the Government was 'confident' it could meet its pledge to reduce waiting lists after the boost to NHS spending. But while health and defence have benefited from the review, the Home Office, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Department for Transport and Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs are all in line for real-terms cuts in day-to-day spending. The Foreign Office is also in line for real-terms cuts, mainly as a result of a reduction in the overseas aid budget, which was slashed as part of the commitment to boost defence spending to 2.6% of gross domestic product – including the intelligence agencies – from 2027. Ms Reeves acknowledged 'not everyone has been able to get exactly what they want' following Cabinet squabbling over departmental budgets. She said 'every penny' of the spending increases had been funded through the tax and borrowing changes she had announced in her first budget. The Chancellor also insisted she would not need to mount another tax raid to pay for her plans, but experts warned the money for the NHS might still not be enough and the Government is under international pressure to boost defence funding further. Paul Johnson, of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, described the hospital waiting times target as 'enormously ambitious', adding: 'And on defence, it's entirely possible that an increase in the Nato spending target will mean that maintaining defence spending at 2.6% of GDP no longer cuts the mustard.' At a summit later this month Nato members will consider calls to increase spending to 3.5% on defence, with a future 1.5% on defence-related measures. Steven Millard, interim director of the NIESR economic research institute, said the Chancellor's non-negotiable fiscal rules, coupled with the 'small amount of headroom' in her spending plans, meant 'it is now almost inevitable that if she is to keep to her fiscal rules, she will have to raise taxes in the autumn budget'. Elsewhere, policing leaders warned forces may need to make deep cuts after their settlement was announced. The spending review provides more than £2 billion for forces, but ministers have acknowledged some of that 'spending power' will come from council tax hikes.
The Sun
3 hours ago
- The Sun
Addiction to ketamine rises eight-fold in a decade as powerful tranquiliser becomes popular with Gen Z
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Daily Mail
3 hours ago
- Daily Mail
NHS gets an extra £29billion a year but waiting list targets may STILL be missed, health chiefs say
The NHS is unlikely to hit waiting time targets despite getting an extra £29billion a year in the Spending Review, health chiefs said last night. Economists described the real-terms rise as 'substantial', with the health service budget now equal to the entire annual income of Portugal. But patients were yesterday told to brace for cuts to services, with much of the extra cash set to be swallowed up by inflation-busting pay rises and higher drugs costs. Rachel Reeves told the Commons she is making a 'record cash investment' in the NHS, worth an extra 3 per cent a year in real terms. The Chancellor insisted this would lead to 'more appointments, more doctors and more scanners' as Labour seeks to deliver on its manifesto promise to get the NHS 'back on its feet'. But the settlement received a lukewarm response from NHS bosses, who said they would need even more money if the Government is to achieve its aim of treating 92 per cent of patients within 18 weeks of a GP referral by the end of this Parliament. Matthew Taylor, of the NHS Confederation, which represents health organisations, said: 'Difficult decisions will still need to be made as this additional £29billion won't be enough to cover increasing costs of new treatments, with staff pay likely to account for a large proportion of it. 'On its own, this won't guarantee that waiting time targets are met.' Sir Jim Mackey, chief executive of NHS England, told the NHS ConfedExpo conference in Manchester that the health service has done 'really well relative to other parts of the public service'. But he added: 'We all know it's never enough because of the scale of advancement, all the ambition, the day-to-day cost pressures... but I think everyone's starting to accept and understand we've got what the country can afford to give us. 'We really need to get better value for that money – it is broadly the equivalent of the GDP of Portugal, so it's a huge amount.' Government documents accompanying the Spending Review show that, on average, from 2023/24 to 2028/29, the NHS in England will receive 3 per cent real-terms growth in day-to-day spending, equivalent to a £29billion increase in annual budgets. The figures suggest Department of Health and Social Care spending will rise 2.8 per cent – less than the average 3.6 per cent seen in recent years. Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said the NHS was the 'biggest winner' in the Spending Review and described the Department of Health as a 'behemoth'. But he added: 'Even here, one has to wonder whether this will be enough. Aiming to get back to meeting the NHS 18-week target for hospital waiting times within this Parliament is enormously ambitious – an NHS funding settlement below the long-run average might not measure up.' Sarah Woolnough, of health think-tank the King's Fund, said: 'It is hard to see how all the things she [Ms Reeves] mentions – faster ambulance times, more GP appointments and adequate mental health services and more – can be met on this settlement alone. 'Particularly when large parts of this funding will be absorbed by existing rising costs, such as the higher cost of medicines... and staff pay deals.' However, she said the upcoming ten-year plan could lead to better, more efficient NHS services. According to spending review documents, the Government expects the NHS to deliver 2 per cent productivity growth each year, 'unlocking £17 billion savings over three years' to reinvest and improve patient care. Sally Gainsbury, at the Nuffield Trust health think-tank, said: 'Compared to settlements for other departments... the NHS deal looks generous. 'But seen in the context of all the promises made by the Government – to drive down waiting lists, shift care closer to home, rapidly improve tech – and the commitments to meet staff pay demands and rising costs of drugs, today's settlement soon melts away. 'With capital funding staying flat in real terms for the rest of the spending review period, it will be difficult for the NHS to invest in the technology and facility upgrades it needs to meet the Government's ambitious productivity targets.' The Government said it will also invest up to £10 billion in NHS technology and digital transformation by 2028/29, plus £6 billion to speed up tests and treatments. Scanners, ambulances and urgent treatment centres are among things the additional cash – part of the overall £29 billion – will pay for, with the aim of providing up to 4 million more tests and procedures in the next five years.
