Resident doctors in England vote to go ahead with strike

Resident doctors in England will strike as planned this week after they voted to reject the government’s latest offer to end the long-running pay and jobs dispute.Resident doctors – formerly called junior doctors – will strike for five days starting on Wednesday after refusing to accept the deal in a survey by their union, the British Medical Association.The health secretary, Wes Streeting, had proposed the deal last week. It would have increased the number of training places to enable early-career doctors to start training in their chosen medical speciality but not increased their pay for the current financial year.Resident doctors overwhelmingly rejected the offer, by 83% to 17% on a 65% turnout

Tell us: have you ever had an allergic reaction caused by your clothes?

Have you suffered any personal health repercussions you suspect may have been caused by your fashion purchases?Research has shown that synthetic fabrics, particularly from fast fashion retailers, are often treated with a range of hazardous chemicals - including dyes containing heavy metals such as lead, antimicrobial agents, and anti wrinkle treatments - that can cause allergic reactions such as skin irritation or respiratory issues in some people.If you have had an allergic reaction, or more serious health effects, that you suspect have been caused by your clothes we want to hear from you. We want to know what kinds of clothes caused the effect, where you got them from, and whether you faced any longer term impacts. Did you have to seek medical help? Has it changed the way you now approach shopping for clothes?You can share your experience of allergic reactions to clothes using this form. Please include as much detail as possible

Europe’s housing costs akin to ‘new pandemic’, warns Barcelona mayor

The soaring cost of housing is akin to a “new pandemic” sweeping across Europe, the mayor of Barcelona has said, as he and 16 other city leaders urged the EU to respond to the crisis by unleashing billions in funding for the hardest-hit areas.The EU is expected to present its first-ever housing plan on Tuesday, after consultations with experts, stakeholders and the public. For months, those on the frontlines of the crisis have warned the problem is too big to ignore.“The new pandemic affecting European cities is called the cost of housing,” said Jaume Collboni, the mayor of Barcelona, who launched the Mayors for Housing alliance last year with the support of his counterparts in Paris and Rome.“And in the face of this new pandemic, European institutions – as they did with Covid – must allocate extraordinary funds to promote the construction of affordable housing for young people, working families and the urban middle classes

People pulling own teeth due to lack of urgent NHS dental care in England, watchdog finds

People needing emergency dental care in England are being denied help from the NHS despite guidance saying that it should be available, in some cases resorting to risky self-treatment such as pulling out their own teeth, the patient watchdog has found.Patients who experience a sudden dental crisis such as a broken tooth, abscess or severe tooth pain are meant to be able to get help from their dentist or by calling NHS 111.But research by Healthwatch England shows that people in pain are unable to get an appointment and in some cases are being forced to travel more than 100 miles, spend hundreds of pounds going private or even travel abroad to get care.In some cases people are turning to self-treatment including pulling out teeth or taking unprescribed antibiotics.The Department of Health and Social Care has been contacted for comment

Hospitals in England ‘face dangerous winter overcrowding due to discharge delays’

Hospitals in England face dangerous overcrowding this winter because even more patients than last year are “stranded” in a bed, according to an analysis of NHS figures.The health service is struggling to cope with the early onset of its usual winter crisis driven by a crippling “flu-nami”, while the NHS in England is bracing itself for a five-day strike by resident doctors starting on Wednesday.Hospitals will have fewer beds available this winter than usual because “delayed discharges” – beds occupied by people who are medically fit to leave but have nowhere to go – have been even worse in the run-up to the cold season than they were last year, research by the Health Foundation has found.Senior doctors and NHS leaders said the lack of beds identified by the thinktank would make an already “truly shocking” situation this winter harder still for hospitals. They said it would lead to ambulance queues building up outside A&E departments, patients facing long waits to be seen, widespread “corridor care”, an increased spread of the flu virus – and even greater risk that seriously ill patients would die because of delays in finding them a bed

Wes Streeting is right to examine questions of overdiagnosis | Letters

John Harris is misguided in his criticism of Wes Streeting’s review of UK mental health services (The right’s callous overdiagnosis bandwagon is rolling. Wes Streeting should not be on it, 7 December). While this review will inevitably examine questions of overdiagnosis, Harris is wrong to imply that Streeting’s main motivation is political. There is nothing unusual, of course, about ministers making decisions based on political considerations, but there is rather more to the review than Harris indicates.It hardly needs restating that mental health services are grossly overstretched and underresourced, and an inquiry is necessary