Health

Four supermarkets have withdrawn egg sandwiches and salads from their shelves over fears they’ve been contaminated with an insecticide. The Food Standards Agency admitted that 700,000 eggs imported into Britain may have been affected. But questions are being asked about why it’s taken so long to learn the full scale of the problem. It’s alleged…

New figures show that three quarters of local authorities have been forced to overspend their children’s social care budgets by over half a million pounds. The Local Government Association says the councils have reached breaking point, with lack of funding leading to the closure of hundreds of children’s and youth centres in the past 5…

They are killing almost a hundred people every day. President Trump’s own commission on America’s opioid crisis has urged him to declare it a public health emergency. It’s becoming one of the country’s deadliest drug epidemics ever. Inigo Gilmore has been among one community in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania – one of the areas hit hard…

In Britain the number of drug deaths has reached a record high – much of that down to opioids like fentanyl which are often mixed with heroin and other classified drugs to bulk out supplies. So how should we tackle the problem – on both sides of the Atlantic? And is race an issue?

Game of Thrones star Kit Harington – aka Jon Snow – has joined a campaign to support charities facing a £400 million bill for back pay owed to carers who sleep over in residential homes. The charity Mencap says the ruling to pay carers the National Minimum Wage could have a devastating impact on the…

The terminally ill baby Charlie Gard will spend his last moments in a hospice, after a high court judge ruled that his life support treatment should be withdrawn soon. His parents had argued that they wanted more time with their son. Great Ormond Street hospital has issued a statement tonight and our health and social…

“We are sorry we could not save you,” said Charlie Gard’s parents today, as they ended their legal battle over treatment for their terminally-ill baby son. Chris Gard and Connie Yates said letting their son go was the hardest thing they’d ever had to do, but they hoped his life would not be in vain.

An inquiry is to be held into the contaminated blood scandal that left at least 2,400 people dead. Theresa May said it would establish the causes of what she said was an “appalling injustice” that led to thousands of NHS patients given blood products infected with HIV and hepatitis C in the 70s and 80s.

Labour MP Diana Johnson, who has long campaigned for an inquiry into the blood contamination scandal, and Andy Evans, who was infected with HIV after being given contaminated blood when he was just five, discuss Theresa May’s announcement of an inquiry. He says full compensation would make survivors’ lives easier.

Dr Clare Gerada, former head of the Royal College of GPs, says the Charlie Gard case has been turned into a media circus. Pro-life campaigner Catherine Glenn Foster says Charlie’s parents just want the best for him and are “giving hope to the world”.

The parents of the terminally ill baby Charlie Gard are being given until Thursday to set out new evidence which they believe will make a High Court judge look again at their case. The couple want to take the child to the United States for experimental treatment, interrupting today’s court hearing and telling the judge:…

In a separate development on Northern Ireland’s strict abortion rules – an appeal court has ruled that it should be left to the Stormont Assembly to decide – not judges.

The healthcare costs for retired British pensioners who return to the UK after Brexit could double to £1bn if the reciprocal EU scheme ends.

A breast cancer surgeon who lied to patients and carried out unnecessary operations has been jailed for 15 years.

With soaring costs and huge pressure on dwindling funds, it’s become clear that something needs to be done about social care. The other parties are promising billions of pounds in new spending. But after the Conservatives’ great idea backfired within a few days, where does this leave their plans for a social care shake-up?