Latest news with #RebeccaThomas
The Independent
3 days ago
- Business
- The Independent
Denying joint operations to obese patients is counterproductive
We fear that there are going to be many more stories such as this about the National Health Service before the wounds of a decade of underfunding followed by the coronavirus pandemic start to heal. Rebecca Thomas, our award-winning health correspondent, reports today that obese patients are being denied life-changing hip and knee replacements, and being left in pain as the NHS attempts to cut costs. One-third of NHS areas in England and some health boards in Wales are refusing joint replacement operations to patients who exceed a given body mass index. This is contrary to guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), the body responsible for deciding whether treatments are value for money. Of course, as long as healthcare is rationed, difficult choices will have to be made. And the blunt truth is that all expensive treatments on the NHS are rationed, as they have to be in a system of limited resources. Instead of being rationed by ability to pay, the usual mechanism for rationing in the NHS is queueing. At the same time, however, treatments are also rationed by need, and it is the role of NICE to help to decide which groups of patients should be prioritised over others. We can understand why some parts of the NHS might de-prioritise obese patients for hip and knee replacements. It might be argued that obesity is the cause of joint problems and that therefore treatment should focus on weight loss, or else the problems are likely to recur with the artificial joints. But the NICE guidelines recognise that causation may not be all one way and that for many patients joint problems contribute to obesity rather than the other way round. In which case, joint replacement is the key to reducing weight, allowing patients to exercise more. This is a field of healthcare undergoing rapid transition, as the availability of weight-loss drugs such as Ozempic has changed the options available to patients, offering hope of treatment without surgery. But it remains important that overweight patients do not face a sweeping ban on joint replacement operations on the basis of arbitrary body mass index counts – especially as these BMI limits vary from area to area across the NHS. It is devoutly to be wished that this new government is beginning to turn the NHS round. Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, will confirm at the spending review on 11 June that the health service will be allocated substantial increases in resources over the next four years. Wes Streeting, the health secretary, has already taken the risk of overclaiming the improvement that has been made in just 11 months since the election. He claimed that waiting lists had fallen for six months in a row, only for the latest figure, for month seven, to show a small increase. His claim of having met his target for the number of new appointments 'seven months early' was undermined by figures obtained by Full Fact, the fact-checking charity, suggesting the rate of increase has in fact been slower than last year. We hope that resident doctors will vote against strike action, in order to allow these early, if overstated, signs of improvement to turn into real progress. In the meantime, difficult choices about whom to treat, and whom to treat first, will continue to beset the health service. In making those decisions, doctors must avoid unfair and discriminatory blanket bans based on arbitrary weight limits.
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The Independent
23-05-2025
- Health
- The Independent
The Independent's Rebecca Thomas named health journalist of the year in the Press Awards 2025
The Independent correspondent Rebecca Thomas has been named health journalist of the year at the Press Awards 2025. Ms Thomas's work exposed a case of an autistic man who had been trapped in dementia care units and A&E wards for 10 years, a 'culture of fear' that allowed nurses to abuse their patients and a scandal of sexual assault of patients within NHS mental health trusts. Judges praised her 'forensic research' and 'impressive track record in effecting change for both vulnerable people and the public at large'. Ms Thomas's work 'empowers those who would otherwise be ignored', and 'sheds a light on abuse and neglect by those in positions of power at some of our most trusted institutions', the judges said. Ms Thomas said: "I am very honoured and humbled to have received this award, thank you to the brave patients and sources who came forward and for the Indy editors who helped me share their stories." It comes after Ms Thomas won at the British Journalism Awards in the health and life sciences category in December 2024. Ms Thomas also won the Medical Journalists' Association (MJA) mental health story of the year for her 18-month investigation into sexual abuse in NHS hospitals. Nearly 20,000 reports of rape and sexual assault of patients were made across half of NHS mental health trusts. This was exposed by The Independent in conjunction with Sky News in a joint investigation and podcast. The investigation prompted former victims' commissioner Dame Vera Baird to describe the NHS abuse as a 'national scandal', with Wes Streeting calling it a 'wake-up call' for the government while he was shadow health secretary. Rape Crisis England and Wales called for a public inquiry. Ms Thomas was also nominated for the Private Eye Paul Foot Award for investigative and campaigning journalism for the same investigation earlier this year. Private Eye said her 'dogged campaign exposed systemic patient safety scandals within the UK's ailing mental health system'. Meanwhile, she investigated the case of an autistic man trapped in dementia care units and A&E wards, where he suffered abuse by nurses over a 10-year period. Ms Thomas's reporting helped the man leave after years of being trapped in mental health institutions. He has moved into his own home and has now regained the power of speech. Ms Thomas previously won in the health and life sciences category in the British Journalism Awards in 2022, when she was recognised for her 'revelatory' coverage of a crisis in A&E units.
Cosmopolitan
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Cosmopolitan
Pit-stop facials and fast-track spending – why the beauty industry is finally taking notice of women in sport
It wasn't too long ago the closest the beauty industry got to the world of sport was in recreating a gentle 'post gym flush' on skin at fashion week. Here, the makeup artist would explain the look was the merest impression of sweat that alluded to some physical effort. Honestly, I would look at this 'post gym skin' and think it didn't even remotely resemble what I looked like after partaking in sport. For me, there's way more redness and sweat involved and as someone who has always had a passion for sport and an obsession with all things beauty, it was small instances like this that made it feel at times the two halves of my personality were incompatible. My childhood was set to the soundtrack of fast cars speeding around a circuit in a Grand Prix or the overwhelming roar of Highbury Stadium. New Formula 1 cars are now a bit quieter, though barely, and we're cheering on The Arsenal from the Emirates. But the soundtrack to my weekend is the same now as it always has been. I'm not the only one ensconced in the beauty industry who experienced this disconnect. Rebecca Thomas, Communications Director at beauty specialists, SEEN Group, also grew up in a football mad household and went on to work in beauty. 'My grandad grew up in the Highbury and Islington area and was an Arsenal season ticket holder. 'Arsenal' was a word I quickly learnt and understood to be an important part of the family.' Beauty came a little later. 'It started with Miss Sporty clear mascara and Benetint. But beauty and sport felt completely different and the only time I felt those areas collided would be in the PE changing rooms, when myself and my friends would pass around new finds from Superdrug.' Fast forward to 2025 and that seemingly impenetrable barrier between beauty and sport has finally given way and the fallout is being felt far and wide. The grooming industry has long had its ties to sport, sponsoring athletes and tournaments with typical male personal care fare like deodorants, body wash, and aftershave. But now, the beauty industry has sized up sport and recognised it as a worthwhile collaborator, in part due to its now proven ability to draw a huge female fanbase. Recently appointed top of the Sunday Times UK beauty rich list, Charlotte Tilbury, affirmed beauty's entrance into the world of sport last year with her historic sponsorship of a driver in F1 Academy, the all-female racing series founded by Formula 1 to aid young drivers in their pursuit of a career in the top levels of motorsport. Tilbury is back for a second season, this time sponsoring driver Chloe Chong. 'I'm so proud that we're the first female-founded beauty brand to sponsor F1 Academy,' she tells me. 'The impact so far is just incredible. Last year our collaboration had a global reach of over 14.3 billion. We have more than 12 million followers on social media which has really allowed us to amplify the incredible work of F1 Academy.' Like me, Tilbury grew up on a steady diet of F1 but while I was watching the race from our living room, she was experiencing it IRL. 'My father introduced me to the sport, and it was really such a thrilling part of our lives growing up. He was friends with [late racing champion] Niki Lauda, and they would often talk about racing while driving me around Ibiza, where I grew up.' I had to ask, why F1 Academy? Why not football, or tennis? 'As a female founder, it is so important to me to empower the next generation of women to become trailblazers in their own fields. Women have been so underrepresented in motorsport. Over 40% of F1 fans are female yet more women have orbited the earth than driven an F1 car! I want to change that.' Chloe Chong, the young F1 Academy driver sponsored by Charlotte Tilbury is all for beauty's newfound interest in her sport. 'This kind of sponsorship helps other brands recognise the opportunity in women's sports. There are many brands involved in male dominated sports, so Charlotte Tilbury's entry into Formula 1 Academy is a powerful gesture, one that signals to other beauty brands that they too can invest in female athletes and see a massive return on that investment.' For Chong, this is more than business, it's personal. 'When I started karting, I believed that to be in motorsport you had to be a Tom Boy – you had to enjoy speed, you had to enjoy racing, and nothing else. It had to be your entire personality. Now I'm at a place where I feel it's possible to enjoy beauty and sport simultaneously.' Beauty brands are throwing in with sport across the board, but there's little debate that motorsport is the hot ticket. Earlier this year Elemis announced a multi-year partnership with Aston Martin Aramco Formula 1 Team, seeing a synergy between the cutting-edge technologies in motorsport with rapidly evolving innovations in skincare. 'This partnership demonstrates how two leaders and innovators, in our respective fields, can work together to shift perceptions and empower others,' says Séan Harrington, Elemis Co-Founder and CEO. 'Both Elemis and Aston Martin Aramco have a hunger to win, bringing together leading beauty innovation with the high-performance world of Formula 1. Our partnership is the first of its kind and will promote inclusivity within the world of F1, which has recently seen a shift in fan demographic with the fastest growing fanbase being women aged 16 to 24.' Jessica Hawkins is the team's head of F1 Academy, driver ambassador and Elemis ambassador. She tells me, 'Honestly, the new interest in the sport is exciting and ultimately provides more opportunity for everyone. It's hard to imagine partnerships like this in F1 if it wasn't for the new generation of fans. This partnership with Elemis is a unique collaboration and a further opportunity to showcase inclusivity within the sport. It's a privilege to be a part of it.' The partnership will see Elemis launch exclusive, limited-edition collections, as well as offering guests the ultimate trackside experience at the Aston Martin Aramco Paddock Club Suite at the British Grand Prix with experiential 'pit stop' treatments. I'll be trackside at Silverstone in July and will gladly offer up my face for an Elemis pit stop treatment in the name of research. As the 2025 F1 season hits its stride there are smaller, but still impactful, partnerships being announced almost every day. Givenchy Parfums have announced Alpine driver, Pierre Gasly, as the face of Gentleman Givenchy, a line of men's fragrances; La Roche Posay have partnered with young rookie Haas driver Ollie Bearman on the brand's Effaclar franchise to address the problematic skin, including blemishes, that occur as the result of intense driving conditions; and L'Oréal Paris Elvive have tapped the best hair in F1, Atlassian Williams Racing, driver, Carlos Sainz, to be their new global ambassador. This budding new relationship between beauty and sports, particularly women's sports, has all the hallmarks of becoming a lasting one. Take for example the newly founded arm of communications and marketing agency, Good Culture, called Good Sport. Steered by co-founders Jordan Mitchell and Liz McCuish, and entirely self-founded, the division is rapidly signing well known female athletes and sports personalities, like Formula 1 ambassador Naomi Schiff and British tennis star Katie Boulter. Mitchell and McCuish are doubling down on female athletes at an exciting moment. Global management and representation agency, Wasserman, report that 58% of female sports fans are more likely to think positively toward a brand that sponsors women's sports and 34% want to see more companies get involved. Ultimately, like all industries, it's a numbers game. Brands and sponsors need to see a return on their investment and what we have seen recently, is that despite what many CEOs and investors long convinced themselves, women are always worth investing in. The Women's Sport Trust conclude that in 2024, a record 20.9 million people in the UK watched three minutes or more of women's sports coverage, with a third of those viewers being new to watching it. Meanwhile, the Wasserman report found that globally 72% of women identify as avid fans of more than one sport and those fans are more engaged with brands who invest in teams, leagues, and athletes. If made to feel welcome, women fans will turn out in their droves to support their favourite athletes and teams, they'll buy the tickets, they'll buy the kits and merch and endorsements. They are eager to spend and eager to support, as proven by the fact the Barclays Women's Super League sells out stadiums and the outrage directed at Nike when it was revealed they wouldn't be producing a Mary Earps goalie kit after the last World Cup – a decision they later corrected with a kit that quickly sold out. Football, both men's and women's, is a natural fit for brand partners like Il Makiage who have a longstanding partnership with Arsenal Women's FC and The Arsenal Academy. More recently, L'Oréal Paris Elvive have partnered up with the men's team on their Growth Booster. Thomas agrees, 'It truly feels that this is only the beginning of beauty's integration with football. The Women's World Cup and Euros no longer feel like pigeonhole tournaments, but instead a time to inspire the next generation of women globally to chase their dreams and let them know they can do it all at the same time. I was lucky enough to go to an Arsenal women's game last year and the roar from the crowd is truly magic. What's more, seeing players such as Alessia Russo, Leah Williamson, and Chloe Kelly have a presence both on and off the pitch is extremely exciting. We aren't just seeing football and beauty show up in the same places, but they are now intertwining and showing up together.' It feels like we're only now benefiting from long overdue recognition that women are multifaceted, perhaps because more women are occupying leadership roles in the brands we buy from. We can enjoy more than one thing. Radical, I know. Yes, I can watch the Grand Prix, wearing my McLaren shirt, while treating my skin to a face mask. In fact, I usually watch the race or the game with a hair mask in. Knowing you're stuck to your screen for 90 minutes, or somewhere between 44 and 78 laps (depending on the circuit, obvs) is the perfect opportunity for a beauty treatment or two. Long may this relationship between sport and beauty continue.
Yahoo
01-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Measles in Texas: Austin doctor speaks on recent virus outbreak
The Brief West Texas continues to deal with a measles outbreak Now, Austin has confirmed its first case of the virus An Austin doctor spoke about the recent outbreak AUSTIN, Texas - West Texas continues to deal with a measles outbreak. State health officials say, since January, 146 people, mostly children, have been infected across nine counties. More than 20 people in Texas have been hospitalized, and all of them are unvaccinated. RELATED:Unvaccinated infant in Austin tests positive for virus Also, this week, the state confirmed a young unvaccinated child died while being treated at a hospital in Lubbock. It is the first measles death in the U.S. in 10 years. Dr. Elizabeth Douglass, an infectious disease expert and assistant professor of internal medicine at Dell Medical School at UT Austin, joined FOX 7 Austin's Rebecca Thomas to discuss. Local perspective Rebecca Thomas: Dr. Douglass, for those who don't know what measles is, and what are the symptoms? Elizabeth Douglass, MD: So measles is a very highly contagious respiratory virus which affects if you're unvaccinated, 90% of individuals would be ill. Typically the symptoms range from they begin with a fever, headache, runny nose and then the patient develops a rash. Sometimes it could be a mild illness, but often it can be complicated as well, depending on the health status of the patient or even patients that do have a normal immune system. Some patients can get pneumonia. Some patients can have a brain infection. And there are various complications of measles. Rebecca Thomas: Well, there is concern here in central Texas after an infected person from West Texas visited San Marcos and New Braunfels around Valentine's Day. What is the incubation period and how long does someone remain contagious? Elizabeth Douglass, MD: So the incubation ranges from about 6 to 21 days. And a patient is contagious for 4 to 5 days before they have symptoms. And then up to four days after they have the rash. So there's a pretty long period. Rebecca Thomas: Now, the CDC says two doses of the measles vaccine is 97% effective. How contagious, again, is measles if someone isn't vaccinated, and they're exposed to it? Elizabeth Douglass, MD: So nine out of ten people will get sick. So it's highly contagious. Rebecca Thomas: If you were vaccinated as a child, do you need a booster as an adult? Elizabeth Douglass, MD: Now, if you received the two recommended vaccines, it's felt that you have lifelong immunity. There have been cases of measles in patients that are vaccinated, but they tend to be extremely mild. So at this point, it is not recommended that the general population get boosters. Rebecca Thomas: From my understanding, if you were born prior to 1957, you were probably exposed to the measles, probably had it. But there was also a period in the 60s where the vaccine was not effective. Do you want to talk about that? Elizabeth Douglass, MD: Yeah. They used to use a different vaccine. It was a killed vaccine, and it may not have been as effective. Patients that get sick with measles that had that vaccine, still get sick. It's a little bit different. They call it a typical measles infection. So, if you did not receive the two current vaccines two doses, it would be recommended that you receive another MMR vaccine. Rebecca Thomas: If you do come down with measles, how is it typically treated? Elizabeth Douglass, MD: So most of the treatment is completely supportive. There are rare cases where people, especially in children, very young children that have severe pneumonia, may be treated with an antiviral. But that's not the standard of care. It's usually supportive treatment. There's other rare instances where we give intravenous immunoglobulin, but generally it's supportive, which means just like when you have a cold, you just treat the symptoms. Rebecca Thomas: How concerned are you that this current measles outbreak is going to expand further? Elizabeth Douglass, MD: I am concerned. And hopefully, this will prompt individuals that are not vaccinated, or even if you're not sure that you're vaccinated to, at least in this period, receive another vaccine. There's no harm in getting an extra vaccine. Rebecca Thomas: All right. Dr. Elizabeth Douglass with Dell Medical School at UT Austin, thank you so much for sharing your time and your expertise with us tonight. The Source Information from an interview conducted by FOX 7 Austin's Rebecca Thomas
The Independent
18-02-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
The Independent journalists shortlisted for top gongs at Press Awards 2025
The Independent has been recognised as a publisher of provocative opinion articles, hard-hitting investigations and in-depth feature reporting in this year's prestigious Press Awards. This newspaper's social affairs correspondent Holly Bancroft was shortlisted for the UK's investigation of the year after exposing UK-Afghan special forces abandoned to the Taliban. Rebecca Thomas, The Independent 's health correspondent, was also tipped for health journalist of the year for her work prompting an overhaul of the UK's nursing regulator. Zoë Beaty, who joined The Independent in 2024, is in the running as broadsheet feature writer of the year for her ' uncanny ability to tap into the zeitgeist '. Independent columnist Alan Rusbridger was also shortlisted for broadsheet columnist of the year for his provocative work challenging everyone from Elon Musk to Laurence Fox. 'Rebecca Thomas has an impressive track record when it comes to effecting change for both the public at large and for vulnerable people,' Ms Thomas's nomination read. This newspaper's special correspondent Ms Beaty was recognised for her 'her uncanny ability to tap into the zeitgeist and bring it to life through razor-sharp writing on the issues that truly matter to her audience'. 'Zoe Beaty is hard to beat. While our industry is now crammed with London-centric writers, Zoe's background in local reporting from a tough Northern beat means that her work as special correspondent for The Independent often tells important stories about the UK that are regularly ignored by her peers,' it read. The Press Awards also recognised Mr Rusbridger as one of 'few people in the UK who can claim to understand the media, free speech and the role of journalism'. 'His columns are designed to provoke debate – and we hope the judges will recognise his work,' it read. The nomination cited Mr Rusbridger's prescient column which hit out at Elon Musk's role in the riots following the Southport attack in July last year. 'Alan immediately targeted his column on Elon Musk, almost a week before the owner of X made the story personal between him and Keir Starmer,' it said.
