RECENT NEWS

In a new report on support for people with, or at risk of, frailty, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) voices concern that GPs might not be prioritising care for this group, with limited capacity taken up with delivering NHS England’s priorities on improving patients’ access and digital access to general practice.

A group of MPs have called on the government to intervene over what they describe as the “rationing” of continence products across the NHS, warning that thousands of patients are being left without adequate support, and may be costing the health service more in the long run.

A new way of designing antibiotics could support the discovery of new treatments for drug-resistant infections. It could also help revive antibiotics that have lost effectiveness because bacteria have evolved over time to survive the drugs meant to kill them.

A major new national study is launching to transform care for people living with aortic stenosis, a serious heart valve condition that affects tens of thousands of people in the UK. The research will investigate whether two established heart failure medicines can improve recovery after aortic valve replacement, the standard treatment for severe aortic stenosis.

NICE has recommended mirvetuximab soravtansine (also called Elahere and developed by AbbVie) for treating folate receptor-alpha-positive platinum-resistant epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube or primary peritoneal cancer. Until recently, there have been limited treatment options for this type of ovarian cancer when it stops responding to standard chemotherapy treatment.

New findings from the landmark FLOW trial, presented at the 63rd ERA Congress, show that once-weekly semaglutide significantly improved health-related quality of life in adults with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and chronic kidney disease (CKD), equivalent to around eight additional days in full health per year.

Men at highest risk of prostate cancer will benefit from research to find the best screening strategy and more treatment choices under a major new £20 million package. A landmark prostate cancer screening trial will be expanded so that for the first time, all eligible Black men will be invited to take part.

A Mount Sinai-led research team has demonstrated that autoimmunity is responsible for the often-debilitating and confounding symptoms of long COVID in a subset of people.

A consultation has begun on draft guidance recommending 4 specialist liver preservation machines for routine NHS use, which could help more of the 600 people in England waiting for a life-saving transplant.

​The chair of the NHS’s groundbreaking new online hospital trust has been named as business leader and former supermarket chief executive John Browett. NHS Online, which will provide virtual specialist care for patients through the NHS App and video consultations, has now been formally established as the Online NHS Trust.

Patients travelling overseas for cosmetic limb lengthening can face serious complications that place additional pressure on NHS services, according to new research published in The Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

​New data published by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) shows a fall in sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in England, with overall diagnoses down 8.3% — a positive sign that system-wide efforts to tackle STIs are making a real difference. Among the most encouraging findings, syphilis diagnoses in gay and bisexual men have fallen to their lowest level since 2016 — an 18.7% decline from 6,349 in 2024 to 5,164 in 2025.

Eastwood Park Training and Mangel Klicks are delighted to announce the formation of a trading partnership for the delivery of high level advanced Clinical Engineering training across the countries of Ghana, Botswana, Nigeria and Mauritius.

Why do some people recover easily from bacterial infections while others rapidly deteriorate into life-threatening sepsis? According to a new study, the answer may lie not only in the invading pathogen itself, but also in the microorganisms already living inside the gut.

The high-stakes worlds of space and medicine will meet when pioneering first British astronaut in space, Helen Sharman CMG OBE, takes to the stage for the third annual Marx Lecture at the Royal College of General Practitioners in London.

Hundreds of thousands of babies will be screened as part of a new NIHR-funded trial evaluating newborn screening for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). This marks a significant milestone which will bolster the evidence base that could pave the way towards national rollout of SMA screening across the UK.

The NIHR has announced a £11.6m investment to bolster the UK’s pharmacy, radiography and nursing research workforce. According to the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI), pharmacy and imaging workforce capacity is a particular challenge that impacts the delivery of commercial clinical research in the UK.

​Following the successful launch in 2024, Healix Health has enhanced its specialist skin cancer screening service with private hospital operator Circle Health Group. The improved pathway will offer Healix members an enhanced dermatology assessment from the comfort of their own home with the reassurance of fast access to face-to-face appointments across the Circle Health Group hospital network if further investigation is required.

Cromwell Hospital has performed a European and UK first in heart surgery after utilising new technology to treat heart conditions. Dr Riyaz Kaba, leading Consultant Cardiologist at Cromwell Hospital, was the first consultant to successfully use the FARAPOINT pulses field ablation novel catheter to treat abnormal heart rhythms.

A new report by the Health Services Safety Investigations Body (HSSIB) warns that NHS trusts are managing complex digital safety risks related to electronic prescribing and medicines administration (ePMA), with significant unwarranted variation in how this software is designed, procured and regulated across acute hospitals. This could increase the risk of medication related harm to hospital patients if it’s not addressed.