Gareth Iacobucci

An adult in England has died from measles, bringing the total number of fatalities from the disease so far this year to three.The fatality, which officials said occurred in an adult with an underlying immunological problem, follows the deaths of two children in June.Latest figures from the UK Health Security Agency show 883 confirmed measles cases reported in England so far this year, up to 6 July. In 2025 there were 959 confirmed measles cases across …

An “aggressive” drive by NHS England to remove so called “ghost patients” from GP lists is posing an “existential threat” to practices and could even force closures, family doctors have warned.“Ghost patients” are those who remain on a practice patient list for some time despite having moved or died, because of the practice not being notified.The BMA estimated that over 344 000 such patients have been stripped from practice lists across England in the past year since the health service launched a targeted drive to accelerate removals.1But because funding for general practices is based on the size of their patient lists, the BMA has warned that such cleansing is not without consequence. The union estimated that 344 000 patients being removed equates to practices losing just under £40m in core funding for GP services at a time when practices are more financially stretched than ever, it warned.Under the process of list cleansing, NHS England sends letters …

The UK is raising one of the unhealthiest generations of children in decades, with progress stalling or declining across all key metrics of child health, a landmark report warns.1The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health’s (RCPCH) State of Child Health 2026 report says that it is a “national embarrassment” that the UK lags firmly behind other European nations in all areas of health, ranging from infant mortality and mental health to obesity, immunisation, and asthma.While the Labour government has pledged to create the “healthiest and happiest generation ever in Britain,” this will not be achieved without “significant change” in policy, the report warns.The report assessed child health across 12 indicators, using national data, clinical expertise, and policy evidence to identify trends, inequalities, and priorities for action. It concludes that widening inequalities, with poor data collection making it difficult to measure trends and develop evidence based …

Plans to slash £16.7m in funding for clinical academics in universities will be “disastrous” for medical education, the doctors’ union has warned.The BMA, alongside the British Dental Association, has now written to the secretary of state for education, Bridget Phillipson, outlining its concerns over the planned reductions.Announced 6 July, the reductions include cuts of £15.8m to consultant clinical academic pay and £900 000 to senior academic general practitioner pay.The letter noted that this funding supports pay parity between NHS practitioners and medical and dental academics with “a long standing …

Ministers must stand up to the food industry to tackle England’s decades long obesity epidemic, an influential committee of MPs has said.The health and social care committee said that the health of the nation must be prioritised over the interests of the food and drink industry, with obesity costing the country tens of billions a year in both health and economic costs.MPs said that attempts to tackle obesity through food policy had been repeatedly thwarted by industry lobbying against potential restrictions.Examples they listed included advertising restrictions on high fat, sugar, and salt being repeatedly delayed and watered down, which allows companies to still advertise using their brand name or logo, and the government increasing its proposed minimum sugar content in soft drinks after feedback from industry.Tougher regulation on advertising, promotions, and labelling of food, with action to make it easier for people to access healthier options, are essential to tackling obesity, MPs said.The cross party committee’s report,1 published on 15 July, highlights that in 2024, 28% …

Women with polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS) face four times the risk of heart disease compared with women without the condition, a study has found.PMOS is a lifelong condition already associated with several health risks such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, sleep apnoea, fatty liver disease, mental health problems, and pregnancy complications.Formerly known as polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), the condition was renamed earlier this year to better reflect the hormonal, metabolic, and reproductive effects of the condition.1An estimated one in eight women have PMOS, but experts say that the condition is often underdiagnosed and inconsistently managed.2In the new study, US researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Rochester carried out a retrospective, longitudinal, cohort study of health …

A legal challenge to a review that recommended limiting the scope of physician assistants (PA) and anaesthesia assistants (AA) has been dismissed on all grounds in the High Court.Brought by the PA/AA union, United Medical Associate Professionals (UMAPs), the challenge claimed that Gillian Leng’s review was unlawful and that its recommendations had been designed to appease the BMA. But Mr Justice MacDonald ruled that this allegation was baseless and that the review had been lawfully produced.1The BMA welcomed the decision and urged ministers to swiftly act on Leng’s recommendations for protecting patient safety, many of which have still not been implemented2 a full year after the review was published.Leng’s review, which assessed the …

Medical students face official accusations of “unprofessionalism” to manage dissent or in retaliation for providing feedback about their education, a report warns.Students shared how they had been reported as being unprofessional for going home while sick, while others faced similar sanctions for legitimate complaints about their placement.These experiences were detailed in a report by the BMA, with the union warning that the practice left students afraid to raise concerns, including on patient safety, as doing so could harm their future careers.1This increasingly “punitive” and inconsistent enforcement of professionalism standards in UK medical schools is having a silencing effect across medical education and damaging trust in university leadership, the BMA warned.The report drew on survey data from 2573 UK medical students and data gathered from freedom of information (FoI) requests to medical schools.Nearly half (45%) of the students surveyed said they would feel uncomfortable raising concerns within their medical school, while 40% said the same about speaking up while on clinical …

Numbers of adults and children being prescribed medication for attention deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have risen to record levels, national data show.The latest annual data from the NHS Business Services Authority show a sharp rise in the number of adults being given prescriptions of central nervous system (CNS) stimulants and other drugs for ADHD.1The authority recorded a 40% rise in adults taking the drugs, from 190 000 in 2024-25 to 267 000 in 2025-26.With England having around 46.4 million adults, this is equivalent to about one in 200 adults now taking ADHD medication.In the same period the number of children with prescriptions of these drugs rose by 17%, from 135 000 to 158 000, equivalent to about one in 100 children in England.Collectively, there were 4.2 million prescribed items for ADHD in 2025-26, a 25% increase on the previous 12 months, when it was 3.4 million. By comparison, the number in 2016-17 was 1.4 million.ADHD prescriptions have increased every year …

A landmark review of social care in England will be brought forward by a year to accelerate much needed reforms to the system, the prime minister has announced.In a major speech on social care1 Andy Burnham said that he had asked the crossbench peer Louise Casey to bring forward her review of social care from 2028 to 2027, to “rise to this challenge with the urgency it requires.”The review will explicitly outline a blueprint for delivering the Labour Party’s promise to set up a National Care Service that provides consistent care across England, said Burnham.Casey was originally tasked in 2025 with making recommendations for how the government could rebuild the adult social care system to meet the current and future needs of the population.Burnham’s announcement came after he had warned earlier this week that unless social care was reformed the health service would “collapse under the weight of trying to care for people …