Published12 hours agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Getty ImagesBy Becky MortonPolitical reporterThe Liberal Democrats have called for everyone over 70 or with a long-term health condition in England to get access to a named GP. The party said a “return to the family doctor” would help avoid hospital appointments and save the NHS money.Patients in England over 70 have had a named GP since 2013, with this extended to all patients in 2015. But Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey told the BBC this was “a tick-box exercise” that had not been implemented. The Conservative Party said the “huge unfunded spending commitment” from the Liberal Democrats was “just another empty promise”. The Liberal Democrats said their policy would ensure over-70s and those with long-term health conditions – an estimated 18.7 million people – would be offered appointments with their named GP as a first option wherever possible. It said these groups had been found to benefit the most from having access to the same GP. The Lib Dems have already pledged to give everyone a legal right to see a GP within a week or 24 hours if in urgent need. Sir Ed said: “We want to see the return of the family doctor, so patients with long-term care needs see the same GP and don’t have to waste time repeating their details from scratch at every appointment.”He told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme 8,000 more GPs would be needed to deliver the scheme, which would take “at least four years” and an extra £1bn each year to implement. However, he argued it would save the NHS money in the long term as people would not need to go into hospital so often. Under the current system a patient’s named GP has overall responsibility for the care provided by the surgery. However, people are still able to see any doctor who is available. Minister for public health Andrea Leadsom said: “Just like the Labour Party, the Liberal Democrats can’t say how they will pay for their NHS promises because they don’t have a plan and would take us back to square one.” She said the government was “sticking to the plan to deliver the very best care for patients”, including through their scheme to increase the number of GP training places by 50%. Labour has also promised to cut red tape so patients can see the same GP each appointment if they choose, with shadow health secretary Wes Streeting saying GP practices would be provided with incentives to offer patients continuity of care.Mr Streeting said: “Labour will train thousands more GPs a year so patients can easily book an appointment with their regular GP. “We will cut the red tape that ties up their time, to bring back the family doctor.”More on this storyLib Dems promise right to see a GP within a weekPublished4 November 2022Millions wait more than a fortnight to see a GPPublished21 April 2023

Published24 minutes agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Getty ImagesBy Becky MortonPolitical reporterMore training for door staff and funding for testing kits are among a package of measures announced to crack down on spiking. The Home Office has said the law will also be “modernised” to make it clear spiking – putting alcohol or drugs into another person’s drink or body without their consent – is a crime. The plans have broadly been welcomed by campaigners. But they stop short of calls from some to make spiking a specific offence. The measures announced by the government include: Training hundreds more door staff to stop potential perpetrators and signs someone may have been spikedInvesting in research into testing kits to detect if someone’s drink has been spikedIntensive operations by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) across England and Wales, targeting key weeks when spiking tends to be prevalentAn online tool to be rolled out to all police forces to make it easier for people to report spiking anonymouslyHome Secretary James Cleverly said: “Spiking is a perverse crime which can have a lasting impact on victims. “Our comprehensive new measures are designed to help police and staff in bars, restaurants, pubs and other premises to protect victims and bring more offenders to justice.”Spiking: ‘I’m losing out on my 20s and having fun’What’s being done to stop drink spiking?On Sunday the government announced it would amend the Criminal Justice Bill to make clear “without any doubt” that spiking is illegal. It said this would be backed by separate guidance, set in law, to provide an “unequivocal” definition of spiking. The change will update parts of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, which already makes it an offence to maliciously administer poison so as to endanger the life of someone or inflict grievous bodily harm.Earlier this year the government said there were already several offences which covered spiking so it was not necessary to create a new law. MPs on the Home Affairs Committee are among those who have called for the creation of a specific offence of spiking, arguing it could help increase reporting of incidents and improve police data. Asked why the government was not planning to do this, Mr Cleverly told reporters: “This is a law that police officers understand, they’re familiar with, but it is very, very old.”So what we’re doing is we’re updating the law to make it more relevant, to make it explicit to spiking, so the police officers can understand it and deploy it, so that people hear that it is completely unacceptable.”Official statistics on spiking are not routinely published but last year the NPCC said almost 5,000 cases of needle and drink spiking incidents were reported to police in England and Wales in the 12 months to September 2022.Dawn Dines, who founded the campaign group Stamp Out Spiking, welcomed the announcement as “monumental”. “Spiking being clearly recognised in law and the language being modernised will give a clear message to the perpetrators that giving someone any drug – including alcohol without that person’s knowledge or consent – can result in a criminal conviction and not be tolerated,” she said. Former Love Island contestant Sharon Gaffka, who has campaigned on the issue after being a victim of drink spiking herself, said: “While urging legislative updates has been my primary request for some time, the introduction and investment in preventive measures like venue staff training and drink testing kits is crucial.”Labour said the Conservatives were “finally moving in the right direction but there is more work to do”.The party pointed to figures suggesting spiking reports have increased five-fold in the past five years but the proportion leading to a charge is falling. Shadow minister for domestic violence and safeguarding Alex Davies-Jones said: “Labour have called for spiking to be made a separate offence to increase people coming forward and the chance for convictions, and for every police force to have a rape and serious sexual offence unit.”More on this storyNo need for specific spiking law, government saysPublished11 JanuarySpiking: ‘I’m losing out on my 20s and having fun’Published28 December 2022What’s being done to stop drink spiking?Published12 November 2021

SharecloseShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Getty ImagesFuture pandemics could be more lethal than the current Covid crisis, one of the creators of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has warned. Prof Dame Sarah Gilbert, delivering the 44th Richard Dimbleby Lecture, said there needed to be more funding for pandemic preparedness to prevent the advances made from being lost.She also warned vaccines could be less effective against the Omicron variant.Dame Sarah added that people should be cautious until more was known about it. She said: “This will not be the last time a virus threatens our lives and our livelihoods. The truth is, the next one could be worse. It could be more contagious, or more lethal, or both.”We cannot allow a situation where we have gone through all we have gone through, and then find that the enormous economic losses we have sustained mean that there is still no funding for pandemic preparedness,” she added. “The advances we have made, and the knowledge we have gained, must not be lost.”Who is the woman who designed the Oxford vaccine?Bogus reports, accidental finds – the Oxford vaccine storyUK’s Covid vaccine creator: Let’s take on more diseasesSpeaking about the Omicron variant, she said its spike protein contained mutations known to increase the transmissibility of the virus.”But there are additional changes that may mean antibodies induced by the vaccines, or by infection with other variants, may be less effective at preventing infection with Omicron.”Until we know more, we should be cautious, and take steps to slow down the spread of this new variant.”However, Dame Sarah said reduced protection against infection and mild disease would not necessarily mean reduced protection against severe illness and death. She also called for the rapid progress seen in delivering vaccines and medicines during the pandemic to become the norm. There was no reason why a universal flu jab could not be developed in order to wipe out the threat from influenza, she said. Is Omicron more harmful than other Covid variants?Covid variants: Do we need new vaccines yet?On Saturday, the government announced that travellers heading to the UK will now have to take a Covid test before their departure in an effort to limit spread of the Omicron.From 04:00 GMT on Tuesday travellers aged 12 and over will be required to show proof of a negative PCR or lateral flow test taken no earlier than 48 hours before departure.And Nigeria has now been added to the travel red list after a growing number of Omicron cases were linked to the country.But a scientist advising the government said the travel rule changes were “a case of shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted”.Prof Mark Woolhouse said the new rules had come too late to make a “material difference” to a potential wave of the Omicron variant in the UK.Prof Woolhouse, a member of the government’s Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling (Spi-M), told the BBC’s Andrew Marr show that Omicron was “spreading pretty rapidly” in the UK, and if current trends here and in South Africa continued in the coming weeks and months, it could replace Delta as the world’s dominant strain. The UK recorded 86 new cases of the Omicron variant on Sunday, taking the total so far to 246. In total, 43,992 cases and 54 deaths within 28 days of a positive coronavirus test were recorded on Sunday.Dame Sarah – who was recognised with a damehood in the Queen’s Birthday Honours earlier this year – began designing a coronavirus vaccine in early 2020 when Covid first emerged in China.The Oxford-AstraZeneca jab is now the most widely used around the world, with doses sent to more than 170 countries. The lecture, named after the late broadcaster, Richard Dimbleby, features influential speakers from academia, arts and business and the Royal Family.The 44th Richard Dimbleby Lecture will be broadcast on BBC One and iPlayer on Monday 6 December at 22:35 GMT.

SharecloseShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingimage copyrightGetty ImagesThe health secretary has said he hopes to exempt fully vaccinated people from the requirement to isolate for 10 days if they come into contact with someone who has Covid. A current trial is offering daily rapid testing as an alternative to isolation.Matt Hancock said the approach would be adopted for people who have had two doses of a coronavirus jab, if the pilot was effective.The PM said the government was also looking at using it for travellers.Asked whether ministers were considering allowing double-vaccinated travellers to be exempt from quarantine on their return to the UK if they took daily tests, Boris Johnson told reporters: “When it comes to travel, we’ll certainly be looking at that. “But I want to stress this is going to be, whatever happens, a difficult year for travel – there will be hassle, there will be delays, I’m afraid, because the priority has got to be to keep the country safe and to stop the virus coming back in.”Currently, people arriving in the UK from a country on the government’s amber list must quarantine for 10 days – regardless of whether they have had a coronavirus jab.However, in England an individual may be able to end their quarantine period early if they pay for an additional test under the test-to-release scheme. How does the test-and-trace system work?Who has to self-isolate?What are the rules for travelling abroad?Mr Hancock told BBC Breakfast the government was piloting daily tests as an alternative to isolation for people who come into contact with someone who has tested positive for Covid. “We’re piloting that now to check that will be effective and it is something that we’re working on,” the health secretary said.”We’re not ready to be able to take that step yet. But it’s something that I want to see and we will introduce, subject to clinical advice, as soon as it’s reasonable to do so.”As part of a study by Public Health England and NHS Test and Trace, launched in May, as many as 40,000 people who have been in contact with someone who has tested positive for Covid will be given daily tests to gather evidence on alternatives to self-isolation. Instead contacts will be required to test themselves with a rapid lateral flow test every morning for seven days – and will be allowed to leave their home if they test negative. The trial is not expected to be completed until later in the summer. Currently, anybody who has been told by NHS Test and Trace that they are a contact of somebody who has tested positive for the virus must self-isolate for 10 days.This means not leaving home at all – even to buy food or medicines, or for exercise. The rule applies to people regardless of whether they have received a coronavirus jab. So far, nearly 60% of UK adults have had two doses of the vaccine, meaning they are fully vaccinated, and more than four in five adults have had their first dose.More than one million jabs were booked on Friday and Saturday in England, after vaccinations opened to all over-18s. image copyrightReutersMeanwhile, the prime minister said plans to ease Covid restrictions in England on 19 July were “looking good”. Speaking on a visit to a laboratory in Hertfordshire, Mr Johnson said: “At the moment it still looks to me as though 19 July is a terminus point.”Asked whether he could rule out further lockdowns this winter, he said: “You can never exclude that there will be some new disease, some new horror that we simply haven’t budgeted for, or accounted for.”But looking at where we are, looking at the efficacy of the vaccines against all variants that we can currently see – so Alpha, Delta, the lot of them, Kappa – I think it’s looking good for 19 July to be that terminus point.”The original date the government had planned to remove all legal limits on social contact in England was 21 June – but this has been delayed to allow more people to be vaccinated. However, some restrictions have still been eased. The number of guests at a wedding is no longer limited to 30 (although there are capacity rules depending on a venue’s size), visiting arrangements for care homes are changing, children can go on overnight trips in groups of 30, and pilots of large events like Euro 2020 games will continue.And in Wales, rules are also being lifted slightly, including capacity restrictions for music and comedy and the limits on weddings changing in line with a venue’s size.In Northern Ireland, a planned easing of restrictions has been pushed back to at least 5 July, and current rules in Scotland are expected to be extended until mid-July. POSE: The ground-breaking drama shining a light on 1980s New York ball culture “I WAS JUST FALLING FURTHER AND FURTHER BEHIND”: Heartfelt stories from people across the UK who struggle to read and write