Health

There’s an international relief effort under way to contain an outbreak of the Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Three experts from the UK are among those being deployed, with 45 people believed to have been infected by the disease. Some 25 people have died, but the World Health Organisation has said the…

The mother of a little boy who died from a rare form of childhood cancer has appealed to Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt to intervene in a funding row over a drug which could cure other children. Gemma Lowery, whose six-year-old son Bradley suffered from neuroblastoma, wants an antibody treatment to be made available on the…

Children with a rare form of cancer will not get a new drug on the NHS. The treatment offers hope of extending life, or even curing the disease. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, or NICE, issued interim guidance today saying the drug was too expensive. Now families say they are faced with…

Thousands of calls have been made to a helpline following revelations that a computer error may have led to 450,000 women in England missing out on breast screening invitations. One man has spoken out saying he believes his wife could still be alive if the issue was spotted sooner.

It’s not just the big cities that suffer from air pollution – new data from the World Health Organisation has revealed that the steel town of Port Talbot is the most polluted place in the country. The WHO has a safety limit of 10 micrograms per cubic metre of fine particle emissions. In Port Talbot…

Dr Jenny Harries is deputy medical director at Public Health England. She talks to Krishnan Guru-Murthy about the revelation that 450,000 women missed out on breast cancer screening tests due to NHS errors.

SNP MP Dr Phillipa Whitford is a breast cancer surgeon and co-chair of the all-party parliamentary group on breast cancer.

Around 450,000 women patients in England didn’t undergo a final, routine breast cancer screening because of NHS technical errors. These errors were IT issues which meant the women weren’t sent an invitation for a breast scan. The failings started in 2009 but were only discovered this January. And it’s now thought that up to 270…

There’ll be no more cheap booze in Scotland from today: it’s just become the first country in the world to impose a minimum price for alcohol. Health campaigners have described it as the biggest public health breakthrough since the smoking ban.

Too many patients end their days in hospital, when they would far rather be at home with loved ones. Now, for the first time, a secure on-line system links patients with GPs, hospitals and even paramedics, so that everyone can instantly see where patients want to go – and whether they want to be resuscitated. The…

The parents of Alfie Evans have lost their latest appeal against a ruling stopping them taking their seriously ill son to Italy for treatment. At the Court of Appeal in London, three judges dismissed their challenge after hearing legal arguments this afternoon. Twenty-three-month-old Alfie, who has a neurological condition which has damaged his brain, has…

Parents of children with a rare form of cancer were told their treatment could be stopped mid-course, because the highly expensive drug might no longer be available for free. Doctors feared that the company which provides the Neuroblastoma drug, and has already spent £6 million on, might have to start charging. They’ve now agreed to…

NHS buildings – inside and out – can be uninspiring, even bleak places. But now a charity is transforming secure and locked mental health units by bringing what they call ‘museum quality art’ on to the wards. Hospital Rooms was set up by two artists, after a close friend was sectioned under the Mental Health…

Research show that if you’re a black adult male you’re 10 times more likely to be diagnosed with a psychotic disorder. But why? And is there enough support available to those with mental health issues before they reach the point of crisis. Because too often it’s only when the breakdown happens that contact is made…

A week after the nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy in Salisbury, hundreds of people who went to the city’s Zizzi restaurant or the Mill pub have been told to wash their clothes and possessions. The risk is very low, but some members of the public want to know why the advice wasn’t issued earlier.