New figures out today show the NHS performed its highest ever number of diagnostic tests for the month of May, while A&E attendances and emergency ambulance call-outs hit an all-time high for any June on record. Monthly performance data released today show 2.1m diagnostic tests were carried out in May – the most checks ever […]

The COVID-19 backlogs in routine NHS treatment are being addressed, despite staff helping patients during the busiest winter ever, new figures show today. Despite record 999 volumes and ambulance call-outs for life-threatening conditions between December and March this winter, staff ensured that the number of patients waiting over one year for treatment had fallen by […]

It was a record week for the number of booster vaccines delivered with 2.1 million boosters delivered, compared to 1.7 million during the previous seven days. Alongside a record busting number of COVID-19 vaccine boosters given from Saturday 6 to Friday 12 November, more than 797,568 doses were booked in a single day as the […]

More than 600,000 appointments for a lifesaving COVID jab were booked in just 48 hours after the NHS vaccination programme was opened up to people in their thirties. Those aged 38 and 39 have been able to arrange a jab through the National Booking Service since Thursday. Since then, 611,863 first and second dose appointments […]

Dexamethasone, an inexpensive and widely available steroid, has saved around one million lives worldwide since its discovery as an effective treatment for COVID-19 in a clinical trial in the NHS. New figures, published today, show that use of the drug has so far saved 22,000 lives in the UK and an estimated one million worldwide. […]

NHS hospitals cared for more than one million patients without COVID while battling the peak of the winter wave of infections, new figures showed today. More than 100,000 patients seriously ill with the virus needed hospital admission for treatment in January, a third of all those who had been admitted, up to that point, since […]

People aged 56 to 59 are being invited to book a life-saving COVID jab this week as the NHS vaccination programme, the biggest in health service history, continues to gather pace. Letters to 850,000 people aged 56 to 59 began landing on doorsteps from yesterday (Saturday) with another 850k due to land tomorrow (Monday). The […]

Famous faces from the nation’s favourite cookery shows have joined forces with the NHS to tackle COVID vaccine hesitancy and boost uptake. Great British Bake Off star Nadiya Hussain, Asma Khan from Netflix’s Chef’s Table and MasterChef’s Saliha Mahmood are all backing the vaccine drive focused on the British Bangladeshi community. Launching the campaign in […]

Nine out of 10 people aged 65 and over have now had their first COVID vaccine, NHS England announced today, as invites to those aged 60 to 63 began landing on doormats. The NHS vaccination programme, the biggest in the health service’s history, has jabbed more than more than 17 million people in a matter […]

A London-based GP is taking the fight against vaccine hesitancy into her own hands by phoning every patient from her surgery who has been offered but not yet accepted their jab, as part of the NHS’ battle against vaccine hesitancy. Dr Farzana Hussain, GP at the Project Surgery in East London, kicked off her drive […]