Hospital league tables will harm, not heal, the NHS | Letters

Wes Streeting does not seem to understand the complexity of healthcare funding. League tables will exacerbate regional differences rather than abolish them (Norfolk hospital worst in country as NHS league tables reintroduced, 9 September). The problems are not unknown but, sadly for this government, will not be solved in the next four years. It should not be a surprise, especially for Mr Streeting, that the NHS cannot function efficiently until social care is fixed.There is a massive shortage of staff in all specialities, which take 10 to 15 years to get from university to skilled professional

Letter: Sir Kenneth Calman obituary

During his tenure as chief medical officer for England, Sir Kenneth Calman visited our medical careers research group, led by Michael Goldacre, in Oxford in the 1990s.This was at a time of long and arduous work demands on newly qualified doctors and many had written to us expressing their fears and concerns personally and for their patients. Ken sat down and read the carefully anonymised comments of the doctors for some time and was visibly moved.As he went on his way, we were hugely impressed by his evident compassion for the junior doctors and steadfast determination to improve working conditions and support for doctors at the beginning of their careers.

Mothers and babies at risk of harm in ‘toxic’ NHS cover-up culture, health leader to say

Mothers and babies being harmed in the NHS risks becoming normalised because of its toxic cover-up culture, a health leader will say, as it emerged that 14 trusts are the focus of a national maternity investigation in England.Charles Massey, the chief executive of the General Medical Council, will tell a conference on Monday that “something must have gone badly wrong” when trainee obstetrics and gynaecology doctors are fearful of speaking up.The “tribal” nature of medicine with doctors and other staff pitted against each other could be preventing people from raising their concerns or admitting when things go wrong, Massey will say.His stark warning came as the government named 14 NHS trusts that are being examined as part of its rapid inquiry into maternity and neonatal services in England.They are:Barking, Havering and Redbridge university hospitals NHS trust

Three in four English hospitals failing to hit two cancer targets in league tables

Three in four NHS hospital trusts are failing cancer patients, according to the first league tables of their kind, prompting experts to declare a “national emergency”.Labour published the first league tables to rank hospitals in England since the early 2000s this week. The overall rankings score trusts based on a range of measures including finances and patient safety, as well as how they are bringing down waiting times for operations and in A&E, and improving ambulance response times.Guardian analysis of the underlying data has found that about three-quarters of trusts are failing to hit either of the two cancer targets in the tables.Ninety of the 118 trusts (76%) are missing the first target of ruling cancer in or out within 28 days of urgent referrals in at least 80% of cases

Get tough on tobacco and alcohol firms to improve public health | Letters

The “timid” approach by the government when it comes to regulating businesses is a shift from the promises of just a year ago to face down the nanny-state jibes to secure the long-term future of the NHS (Editorial, 9 September). This approach is also at odds with public sentiment. Recent polling showed 74% of people want the government to prioritise people’s health over business growth.With millions of people affected by preventable diseases caused by tobacco, alcohol and unhealthy food, we need stronger action from the government to match the rhetoric – including minimum unit pricing to prevent strong alcohol being sold cheaply, a levy on the profits of the tobacco industry and the implementation of mandatory policies to improve food and drink.This will not just benefit the NHS but support the government’s growth ambition, given the heavy toll of poor health on productivity and the wider economy

Reasons for rise in caesarean births | Letter

The rise in the rate of medically assisted births in the UK, particularly caesareans, is laid firmly at the feet of women for being older, larger and having more complex medical problems (Report, 11 September). This ignores a range of clinical and societal factors that contribute. Maternal factors play a part, but so does the rise in defensive clinical practice, the loss of midwives’ and obstetricians’ skills and confidence in supporting physiological birth, and the proliferation of misinformation and scare stories on social media that increase parental anxiety.All these factors have led us to the current crisis, where more than 50% of babies are born with surgical intervention, with no concomitant improvement in maternal or perinatal mortality and with unknown consequences for the health and wellbeing of future generations. Dr Debbie GarrodMidwife and antenatal educator, Abingdon, Oxfordshire Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section