NHS was ‘on brink of collapse’ during pandemic, Covid inquiry finds

The NHS “teetered on the brink of collapse” during the Covid pandemic and only managed to survive thanks to the “superhuman” efforts of healthcare workers, an official inquiry has concluded.In a damning assessment of how the UK’s healthcare systems dealt with the unprecedented pressure of the pandemic, the Covid-19 inquiry chair, Heather Hallett, said the impact of the virus was “devastating” due to the NHS being in a “parlous state” before the outbreak.She said Covid patients did not always receive the care they needed, with some diagnoses and treatments coming too late to save lives.“Healthcare systems coped with the pandemic, but only just,” said Lady Hallett, a former court of appeal judge. “On a number of occasions, they teetered on the brink of collapse and only coped thanks to the almost superhuman efforts of healthcare workers and all the staff who support them

‘She didn’t want that pain’: Paola Marra’s brother despairs of Lords block on assisted dying bill

Two years after Paola Marra, on the eve of her death, appealed to politicians to change the law on assisted dying, the terminally ill adults (end of life) bill is stuck in the House of Lords. For her brother, the second anniversary of her death will be spent protesting outside parliament.Marra died aged 53 on 20 March 2024. She documented her solo journey from north London to Dignitas in Switzerland in photographs and a short film by the photographer Rankin, released posthumously, as well as in a powerful interview with the Guardian.The Canadian-born former music industry and charity worker ended her life after suffering with terminal breast and bowel cancer

Ministers announce huge expansion of electronic tagging in England and Wales

Tens of thousands of offenders will be released from prisons in England and Wales wearing tags that track their location in real time as part of the biggest expansion of electronic tagging in British history, ministers have announced.The prisons minister, James Timpson, said a new pilot scheme would track domestic abusers and stalkers, alerting authorities if they approached their victims, while other offenders will wear geolocation tags that will enable probation officers to track their live location.Under the plans, the vast majority of ex-offenders leaving prison will be tagged under a “presumption … as part of intensive supervision with the Probation Service”, but probation officers will have fewer meetings with “low-risk” prisoners to focus on the most prolific and high-risk offenders such as terrorists, murderers and prolific sex offenders.“This is the biggest expansion of tagging in British history and means the most dangerous offenders will now be watched more closely than ever before,” said Lord Timpson.The government has taken the dramatic move after an overcrowding crisis in prisons, which last year saw tens of thousands of prisoners released early under an emergency government scheme

Watchdog takes over running of home for adults with learning disabilities

The charity watchdog has taken control of a learning disability care home in Northamptonshire that is under investigation after residents’ families raised concerns over its management, including payments of £1m to a trustee.The Charity Commission has appointed an interim manager to run William Blake House, which faces potential insolvency in three weeks’ time if it cannot head off a winding-up order brought by the tax authorities over £1.6m in unpaid tax bills.The move, which freezes out the current board of trustees, is a victory for an activist group of families whose adult children are residents at the home. They campaigned for change after discovering the parlous state of the charity’s finances last autumn

Women and girls bearing brunt of water shortages globally, UN warns

Women and girls are bearing the brunt of water shortages and a lack of sanitation around the world, hindering the economic and social development of poorer countries, the UN has warned.Women are responsible for collecting water in more than 70% of rural households that do not have access to mains water across the developing world. Women and girls collectively spend 250m hours a day collecting water globally.The climate crisis is exacerbating the problem, according to a new report from the UN. A 1C rise in temperature reduces incomes in female-headed households by 34% more than in male-headed ones, while also causing women’s weekly labour hours to increase by an average of 55 minutes relative to men’s

Kent meningitis outbreak has been contained, health officials believe

Health officials increasingly believe they have contained the fatal outbreak of meningitis in Kent, with no cases emerging that are not linked to the original cluster of 20.In another boost to efforts to contain the infection, the bug that caused it has been identified as a known strain of meningitis B, the Guardian understands.That should mean that the MenB vaccine offered to 5,000 students living in University of Kent halls of residence in Canterbury, hundreds of whom received it on Wednesday, will prove a good match.There is growing confidence among the NHS, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and county council public health staff tackling the outbreak that the people infected in Kent, many of whom visited a nightclub on 5, 6 or 7 March, have not passed it on to anyone outside the area.“All cases to date are linked to the current outbreak in Kent,” a UKHSA spokesperson said