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 […]

Same-day hip replacements, one stop shops and mobile cataract units are just some of the ways NHS staff are helping hundreds of thousands of patients receive faster care. Despite pressure on various fronts, treating COVID-19 patients and increasing numbers of emergency patients, the NHS has carried out an additional 230,000 vital diagnostic tests through one […]

Thousands of patients with COVID-19 who are most likely to be admitted to hospital are receiving a cutting-edge NHS antiviral treatment at home that improves symptoms “within hours”. Game-changing COVID treatments, which cut the risk of serious illness from the virus and have been praised by at-risk patients as “brilliant”, have been provided to more […]

Over one million people have received a spring booster in just over two weeks since the latest phase of the NHS COVID-19 vaccination programme kicked off. Since 95-year-old grandad Devraj Jhalam became one of the first people to receive their latest dose on 21 March, 1,023,750 spring boosters have been delivered. As part of the […]

Black and minority ethnic (BME) representation in senior positions in the NHS are at their highest ever level according to an annual report into race equality across the NHS. The NHS Workforce Race Equality Standard published today shows the number of BME staff at very senior manager level has almost doubled between 2020 to 2021 […]

A joint National Patient Safety Alert has been issued by the NHS England and NHS Improvement National Patient Safety Team and the British Association of Dermatologists on the risk of inadvertent oral administration of potassium permanganate. National Patient Safety Alert – Inadvertent oral administration of potassium permanganate About this alert Potassium permanganate is routinely used […]

Leading Muslim NHS doctors are today stressing that having a life-saving COVID vaccine during Ramadan does not break the daylight hours fast with the NHS spring booster campaign now underway. Resident TV doctor Dr Nighat Arif, a GP in Buckinghamshire, and Dr Farzana Hussain, a senior GP in East London and 2019 GP of the […]

The NHS will start vaccinating children aged 5-11 today, as the biggest and most successful vaccination drive in health service history moves to the next phase. Almost five million children in this age group are eligible for two doses of the vaccine following updated JCVI guidance, which recommended children can benefit from non-urgent offer of […]

Parents and carers of 5 to 11 years olds will be able to book a COVID vaccine for their children today, as the biggest and most successful vaccination programme in NHS history expands again. The service will open at 7am for bookings with appointments available at hundreds of sites from Monday and more coming online […]

A world-first genetic test that could save the hearing of hundreds of babies each year has been developed and successfully piloted in the NHS. Taking just 25 minutes, the bedside machine identifies whether a critically ill baby admitted to intensive care has a gene that could result in permanent hearing loss if they are treated […]