Fundamental flaws in the NHS psychiatric system | Letters

I am disappointed to read such a scathing review of Bella Jackson’s book Fragile Minds (A furious assault on NHS psychiatry, 30 June). It is a difficult read, and yet I thought that Jackson wrote about her experiences with compassion for both patients and staff unwittingly caught up in erratic and overstretched services.I am a doctor, with experience as a psychiatric patient and as a senior “staff grade” doctor on an acute psychiatric ward. My memoir, Unshackled Mind: A Doctor’s Story of Trauma, Liberation and Healing, confirms Jackson’s claims that abuses do happen in these places. More subtly, there is a continued reliance on the disease-centred model of biomedical psychiatry without sufficient attention paid to the circumstances and adversities suffered by patients before they ever came in contact with psychiatry

The toxic effect of poverty on children’s health | Letters

In the last 18 months I’ve found myself having to respond to claims that mental health culture has gone too far, that we’re over-diagnosing mental health problems and that we’re simply medicalising the ups and downs of life. I hope the children’s commissioner’s report (Children in England ‘living in almost Dickensian levels of poverty’, 8 July) is a moment for everyone to reflect on what the “ups and downs” of life look like for too many young people: going without food, cold and mouldy homes, and not feeling safe in the area you live.There is a toxic relationship between poverty and mental health. A fact reinforced by the latest NHS data, showing that mental health problems among adults are at record levels, with people in the most deprived areas hardest hit.As the report itself cites, young people are understandably concerned about waits for mental health treatment

Pain relief is available for gynaecological procedures – so why isn’t it used? | Letters

Your article about oesophageal cancer (NHS pharmacies to pilot ‘sponge on a string’ test to spot cancer precursor, 9 July) reminds me of the recent one about poor uptake of cervical screening (One in three across UK are overdue for cervical cancer screening, 20 June). You cite embarrassment and pain as major barriers to improving screening, but the misogyny of healthcare is of crucial importance.Women wait months to see gynaecologists then are given no pain relief for painful procedures. They put up with this as they don’t want to be put back in a queue. There is access to topical lidocaine spray and entonox, and it should be routine

Doctors in England: what are your views on the planned strike action?

Resident doctors in the NHS in England are planning to strike for five days later this month from 25 to 30 July, as they push for a 29% pay rise over the next few years.The doctors’ union, the British Medical Association (BMA), says it will not accept a lower figure than 29% – because it says that’s the extent of the real-terms loss of earnings resident doctors, formerly known as junior doctors, have suffered since 2008.The health secretary Wes Streeting has said the industrial action is “completely unreasonable”, and the government will not revisit the 5.4% salary increase it gave resident doctors for 2025-26.Turnout in the ballot was 55%, with 90% of those who took part backing strike action

Church must ‘turn back’ public opinion on assisted dying, says archbishop

Members of the Church of England should work to “withstand and even turn back” the forces of public opinion “that risk making … assisted dying a reality in our national life”, the archbishop of York has said.Speaking to the church’s General Synod on Friday, Stephen Cottrell said permitting assisted dying would change “forever the contract between doctor and patient, pressurising the vulnerable and assuming an authority over death that belongs to God alone”.MPs voted last month to pass a bill giving some terminally ill adults in England and Wales the legal right to be assisted to end their lives. It will now pass to the House of Lords, where 26 Anglican bishops sit by right, for further scrutiny.Cottrell is in the second most senior clerical position in the Anglican church and is currently its de facto leader after the resignation of Justin Welby as archbishop of Canterbury last year

Resident doctors’ 29% pay claim is non-negotiable, BMA chair says

Resident doctors’ 29% pay claim is non-negotiable, reasonable and easily affordable for the NHS, the new leader of the medical profession has said.Strikes to ensure resident – formerly junior – doctors in England get the full 29% could drag on for years, according to Dr Tom Dolphin, the British Medical Association’s new council chair.The doctors’ union will not negotiate on or accept a lower figure because that is the extent of the real-terms loss of earnings resident doctors have suffered since 2008, which they want restored – in full – Dolphin told the Guardian in his first interview since taking over last month.The 29% demand is not up for negotiation “because it’s based on a principle”, said Dolphin, a consultant anaesthetist. “If we picked a different number, that wouldn’t achieve the pay restoration