Senior health figure accuses NHS of racism over care given to dying mother

A senior figure in the health service has criticised it for deep-seated racism after his mother “got a black service, not an NHS service” before she died.Victor Adebowale, the chair of the NHS Confederation, claimed his mother Grace’s lung cancer went undiagnosed because black people get “disproportionately poor” health service care.The NHS’s failure to detect her cancer while she was alive shows that patients experience “two different services”, based on the colour of their skin, Adebowale said.His mother, Grace Amoke Owuren Adebowale, a former NHS nurse, died in January aged 92. He highlighted her care and death during his speech this week at the NHS Confederation’s annual conference as an example of “persistent racial inequalities in NHS services”

People in Australia: tell us your experiences with IVF

After a second embryo implant bungle at Monash IVF, the entire industry is under new scrutiny amid concerns the for-profit model doesn’t always putting families first.Experts worry that clinics might be pushing extra IVF cycles that have little chance of working, and add-on treatments that lack evidence of their efficacy. There are also concerns that people don’t always understand how quickly their chances of a successful pregnancy drop with age.We would like to hear your experiences of IVF. Were you given an accurate idea of your chances of conceiving? Do you feel you were “oversold” extra cycles or non-essential add-ons? How much did you pay and could you afford it? Did Medicare cover part or all of your fee?You can share your experiences with IVF using this form

MPs back bill changes to prevent medics raising assisted dying with under-18s

Medics would not be allowed to raise assisted dying as an option with under-18s, and advertising it would be banned under changes backed by MPs before a final vote expected next week.The Commons voted on Friday on amendments to the assisted dying bill, which would legalise the option for terminally ill adults in England and Wales who have been told they have fewer than six months to live.The final Commons vote is scheduled for 20 June, with support and opposition finely balanced amid growing scrutiny of timelines, loopholes and who would ultimately deliver the system.A majority of MPs approved a clause tabled by the Labour MP Meg Hillier, an opponent of the bill, to ensure health professionals cannot raise the topic of assisted dying with under-18s.A separate amendment from Hillier to bar health workers from raising the option with adult patients before they have brought it up themselves was voted down

Resident doctors have good reason to strike over pay | Letters

I write in response to the letter from senior clinicians urging resident doctors to vote against strike action (8 June). During my 22-year career we have seen fundamental changes in medical training, including the introduction of tuition fees for medical school, loss of free accommodation for first-year doctors, the lack of expansion in training numbers, and pay erosion over 15 years.This has left many resident doctors with crippling debt on graduation, spiralling costs of training, deteriorating pay, and the prospect of unemployment. I, and the authors of the letter, were fortunate enough not to face such hardships during training.Hence I urge colleagues not to influence the negotiations between the British Medical Association (BMA) and the government regarding resident doctors’ pay

Suman Fernando obituary

My friend and colleague Suman Fernando, who has died aged 92, had an international reputation in the field of critical psychiatry, particularly in relation to advocating for race equity in mental health.As well as being a consultant psychiatrist in the NHS for more than 20 years, Suman wrote 14 books and many articles in which he consistently and methodically challenged institutional racism in British mental health provision.In his first book, Race and Culture in Society (1988), he explored the role that race and culture play in how people experience mental health issues and services. In his breakthrough 1991 book, Mental Health, Race and Culture, he challenged the dominance and singularity of the medical model, and argued that any service response for minority communities should also focus on social, cultural and institutional issues.Suman often juxtaposed the western, individualised notion of mental illness with those of the global south or indigenous healing systems that see fragmentation of community cohesion as causal, with responses that are more spiritual and community-based

Robert Tollemache obituary

My father, Robert Tollemache, who has died aged 88, was a well-respected psychotherapist, best known for his work at the Open Door young people’s mental health charity, the Inner City Centre psychotherapy service and the medical foundation Freedom from Torture.He completed his training at the Lincoln Clinic and Centre for Psychotherapy in 1985, and for 40 years maintained a private practice in Highbury, north London. Alongside his clinical work, he campaigned tirelessly to raise awareness on environmental issues, completing a PhD, aged 79, on climate change denial. He was still working for the Islington Climate Centre weeks before his death.Born at the Royal Marines barracks in Plymouth, Robert was the youngest of the four children of Nora (nee Taylor) and Maj Gen Sir Humphry Tollemache