Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that the vaccine would not be included as part of the immunization schedule for healthy children.The Covid vaccine will no longer be recommended for healthy children or healthy pregnant women, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced on Tuesday.The vaccines had been recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention since they first became available for those groups several years ago.“I couldn’t be more pleased to announce that as of today, the Covid vaccine for healthy children and healthy pregnant women has been removed from the C.D.C. recommended immunization schedule,” Mr. Kennedy said in a video he posted on X.Before becoming part of the Trump administration, Mr. Kennedy had long campaigned against vaccinating children to protect them from Covid. In making the announcement, Mr. Kennedy seems to have reneged on a promise he made to Senator Bill Cassidy, Republican of Louisiana, not to alter the childhood immunization schedule.Flanked by Dr. Marty Makary and Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, who lead the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health, Mr. Kennedy said in the video announcement that there was no clinical data to support additional shots for healthy children.However, pediatricians point out that the youngest infants face among the highest risks for hospitalization, similar to older adults.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

Listen to and follow ‘The Daily’Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | YouTube | iHeartRadioAfter the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, abortions in the United States actually went up, in part because of a novel legal strategy that pitted blue states against red states.Pam Belluck, who covers health and science for The Times, discusses that strategy and explains how proceedings against a New York doctor could take it apart.Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.On today’s episodePam Belluck, a health and science reporter at The New York Times.Abortion drugs like Mifepristone have been used to access abortions in states where it is illegal.Evelyn Hockstein/ReutersBackground readingThe Louisiana case appears to be the first time criminal charges have been filed against an abortion provider for sending pills into a state with a ban.From 2024: Abortion shield laws are a new war between the states.There are a lot of ways to listen to ‘The Daily.’ Here’s how.We aim to make transcripts available the next workday after an episode’s publication. You can find them at the top of the page.Fact-checking by

4 hours agoShareSaveShareSaveBBCTracey Meechan’s pain from an ovarian cyst is so severe she can’t bend over – she relies on her children to help her put her shoes and socks on.Every day the 41-year-old wakes up and wonders if any new symptoms are going to appear.She has been on an “urgent” NHS waiting list for surgery for 100 weeks and now feels “forgotten”.As the latest NHS Scotland waiting times data is due to be published, Mrs Meechan told BBC Scotland News that the wait for treatment has affected every part of her life.’It’s a drudge’She said: “I can’t live my life to the fullest. I can’t do the activities I want to do with my kids. I can’t do the job that I love.”I was signed off work at the end of January as a home carer because of the pain and the physicality of my job – I can’t do it.”My mental health has declined. This has been years and the symptoms have worsened. It’s impacted my life, my personal life and my family.”Mrs Meechan, from West Dunbartonshire, said she had to rely on her husband for household tasks.”There is just no end point to it,” she said. “It’s a drudge.”And there is only so much pain relief I can take and still try to be a mother to my children.”The mother-of-five first went to her GP in 2021. She was found to have a large ovarian cyst and waited a year to see a gynaecologist after a referral from her GP.After monitoring the cyst for six months, it had grown, so she was put onto the “urgent” list for surgery.It is now 100 weeks later and she has not been called for an appointment.She said: “I was under the impression it would be relatively soon as I was asked if I had any holidays planned in the immediate future. “About a year ago I was advised by the GP to try to get in touch with the gynaecology secretary myself and I have been doing that on a regular basis letting them know I am still here and still waiting.”She considered private health care but her surgery would cost £8,000 – something the family could not afford.It was then she contacted the BBC through Your Voice, Your BBC News. She says the NHS has moved the goalposts each time she has called to ask about her surgery date.”It’s another couple of months, or they are working on the routine list, or working on the long waiters,” she said. “I was told at week 92 that they were working on women round about week 98-99, so it should be another couple of months.”When I did get to week 99, I called up because I wanted to keep my employer up to date. I was told they couldn’t give me a date and still nothing is fixed yet.”Before the pandemic it was rare for anybody to face a wait of a whole year to start NHS treatment, but that is not the case now.We’ll have new data from Public Health Scotland this morning, but the most recent figures show almost 25% of the entire inpatient waiting list for non-urgent care is made up of waits longer than 52 weeks.In gynaecology, the specialty that Tracey comes under, there were 291 waits of over three years.Waiting always has consequences – more frequent visits to the GP to manage pain, struggles to work or stay healthy in other aspects of life.The government says tackling waits is a priority and has set a target to create 150,000 additional appointments this year.Ministers will be hoping this is achievable given they did not fulfil a previous promise to eradicate all waits over a year by September 2024.In January First Minister John Swinney pledged to bring down NHS waiting lists and make it easier to get GP appointments.He set out three priorities: to reduce immediate pressures in the NHS; shift the balance from acute services to the community and to use innovation to improve access to care, promising the health service would carry out an extra 150,000 appointments and procedures in the coming year.Then at the end of March, Health Secretary Neil Gray launched the Operational Improvement Plan, which he said would make the NHS “more accessible” and cut into backlogs for patients to be seen.This would involve an extra £200m in funding for weekend scan appointments and tests and an expansion of hospital care at home.The announcement came after the public spending watchdog, Audit Scotland, said NHS initiatives to improve productivity and patient outcomes have yet to have an impact.NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has been contacted for a response.The Scottish government said it had delivered around 3,300 additional gynaecology appointments and procedures in 2024-25 and that this year’s £21bn health and social care budget would include almost £200m to reduce waiting lists with gynaecology earmarked for extra funding.Women’s Health Minister Jenni Minto said: “Women’s health is key priority for the Scottish government, and we were the first country in the UK to publish a Women’s Health Plan, which aims to reduce inequalities in health outcomes for women, in August 2021.”Timely access to gynaecology services will be a priority in the next phase of our plan.”Excessively long waits are not acceptable, and I sympathise with any patient whose treatment has failed to reach the standards we all expect from our health system. “We are working intensively with NHS boards to reduce the length of time people are waiting for appointments and treatment.”

4 hours agoShareSaveJenny ReesHealth CorrespondentShareSaveBBCThousands of people with alcohol-related brain damage (ARBD) could be going undiagnosed, an expert says.Research suggests consuming 35 units of alcohol per week for five years or more can cause ARBD, which affects a person’s ability to carry out basic daily tasks.Lee Caldwell, 56, who was diagnosed with ARBD last year, said he struggled with short-term memory and impulse control.Prof Gareth Roderique Davies said stigma and lack of awareness led to ARBD being missed or misdiagnosed, and said adequate resources remained a challenge.The Welsh government said it was investing £67m to help people affected by drugs and alcohol, including ARBD.If left undiagnosed, patients with ARBD can end up requiring long term nursing care, but with the right intervention they can improve and live independently. Mr Caldwell was admitted to Brynawel House, a residential rehabilitation facility in south Wales, where he was diagnosed with ARBD last September.He said said at the peak of his drinking he found it “easier to cross the road to the garage” to buy alcohol than to confront the feelings of guilt and shame associated with his habit.Getty Images”The addiction became more important than living,” said Mr Caldwell, a former Royal Navy engineer and construction manager.Explaining the daily challenges ARBD could present, he said: “One day [in rehab] I couldn’t find my room.””I could see room seven, there’s eight – where’s nine?””This lad I got on with said: ‘It would help if you were in the right building – you live over there’.”Mr Caldwell said his longer term memory was unaffected but he struggled with “silly things” like whether he had taken his medication, as well as impulse control.How many units are in alcoholic drinks?Pint of lower strength lager, beer or cider – 2 unitsPint of higher strength lager, beer or cider – 3 unitsSmall glass of wine (125ml) – 1.5 unitsLarge glass of wine (250ml) – 3 unitsSingle shot of spirits (25m) – 1 unitSource: NHSMr Caldwell said since undergoing six months of rehabilitation, “I don’t wake up with cravings now and I am getting physically more and more fit”.”But I still worry about going out somewhere I’m not familiar with,” he added.”With ARBD, as you’re recovering, your memory comes back, which doesn’t happen to many people really.”Mr Caldwell had mixed feelings about leaving and returning to his home area of north Wales.”I knew I could do it – but I know I’m an addict, so I was always waiting for that demon.”Asked if he could see how far he had come, he said: “No. But I can see how far I’m going to go.””Post-pandemic we are seeing people with far more extensive brain problems because of their drinking,” said Sue Gwyn, chief executive of Brynawel House.The charity provides rehabilitation for substance misuse, but specialises in ARBD.She said patients were typically referred by local authorities and their cognitive function was then assessed.”Even as low as 35 units of alcohol a week for maybe four or five years can impact on your brain,” said Ms Gwyn.”Sometimes [patients] will have been working with community services for 18 months but ARBD hasn’t been picked up.”And that’s a worry because we know that up to 75% of people with ARBD, if they have rehab, they can make a very meaningful recovery.”If it’s not picked up the outcomes will be poorer for them, and in the most severe cases they’re going to end up in long term nursing care.”When you think that 36 units is around four bottles of wine, there are an awful lot of people who will be routinely drinking that as a minimum every week and thinking that’s OK because they haven’t got obvious liver problems.”But we are as worried about people’s brains as we are about anything else.””We see a massive change in people by the time they leave,” said occupational therapist at Brynawel House, Jan Bevan.”Life evolved around alcohol and when they could get their next drink. But they’re actually looking at a future and what’s meaningful, because they’d forgotten what meaningful is.”She said part of her work was to help patients to build routines, with prompts to aid memory.”My job is to ensure that when they go from here they have strategies and support to enable them to carry on.”As a charity and the only not-for-profit providing ARBD rehabilitation in Wales, Ms Gwyn said funding arrangements were not clear cut.While area planning boards have ringfenced funding for addiction support, she said few would fund ARBD rehabilitation.Support at Brynawel House, which includes a multi-disciplinary team and costs £1,760 a week, is provided for a minimum of six months.”If you look at the long-term impact of somebody having to go into residential care for maybe 10 or 20 years, then six months or a year spent in rehab here, I think it is money well invested,” she said.Prof Gareth Roderique Davies is co-lead of the addictions research group at the University of South Wales, where work is being done to better understand ARBD and its prevalence.He said as co-author of the Welsh government’s substance misuse treatment framework, published four years ago, he was frustrated with the lack of progress creating clinical pathways into treatment.”In many ways Wales is leading the way in terms of recognising ARBD as an issue, but there is the road block of putting the appropriate resources in place in order to deal with it,” he said.”We did some research a few years ago which suggested a prevalence of about 34 per 100,000 in south Wales, which is almost certainly a huge underestimation.”So just scaling up those figures, you’re talking about thousands of people in Wales with a potential diagnosis.”Prof Davies said stigma played a “big role” in people being correctly diagnosed.”Individuals who are drinking excessively may present as confused and chaotic and possibly even aggressive and that immediately means they’re treated in a stigmatised way,” he said.”Whereas in fact they’re exhibiting signs of alcohol related brain damage. But the pathways to recovery are really, really ill defined.”There is some evidence suggesting some individuals with ARBD are being misdiagnosed with early onset dementia. But memory clinics are not necessarily the right place for them because that’s dealing with a degenerative disorder – whereas if interventions take place at the right time, ARBD doesn’t have to get any worse.”In many circumstances it can improve with correct intervention.”The Welsh government said it was investing more than £67m “to help people affected by drugs and alcohol, including people with alcohol related brain damage, to ensure a range of services and support is in place”.A spokesperson added: “Clinical pathways are a matter for each area planning board area to determine and it is important they work closely with all appropriate organisations to ensure early identification of ARBD.”

16 minutes agoShareSaveAnna MeiselBBC File on 4 InvestigatesShareSaveBBCA secret recording, leaked to the BBC, reveals a senior police officer had serious concerns over the controversial arrest of a woman who took abortion pills when about 26 weeks pregnant – when she believed the pregnancy was only about six weeks along.Nicola Packer was arrested in hospital at the height of the Covid pandemic, a day after delivering a stillborn baby at home. The day after her arrest she was taken into custody in the back of a police van, still bleeding, having had major surgery.In April this year she went to court accused of having an illegal abortion. She was acquitted earlier this month.In the audio – from a 2020 meeting between Metropolitan Police officers and healthcare professionals – the Met’s child abuse investigation lead at the time can be heard saying: “It’s not a comfortable area for police to be operating in… any criminalisation around abortions.”He also questions whether the arrest was “the best for Nicola” under the circumstances.Despite the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) deciding not to prosecute initially, Ms Packer was charged in 2023 after police asked the CPS to review the case.A Met Police spokesperson said it was “not unusual and is standard practice” for detectives to request that the CPS reviews its decisions.The force does not comment on the content of internal meetings, it added, which are designed to allow for full and frank discussions so that issues can be explored thoroughly and decisions made in a considered manner.The Met Police acknowledged how “incredibly difficult” the case had been for Ms Packer, but said its officers had conducted an evidence-led investigation “impartially and without favour”.”The public rightly expects us to pursue the truth – even in sad and complex circumstances”, the spokesperson said.Ms Packer has told the BBC she is also angry at midwives “for calling the police when they really didn’t have to”.The online meeting took place for three hours, nearly a week after Nicola Packer’s arrest, and was attended by 20 professionals.The Met’s child abuse lead at the time was joined by the officer who made the arrest, child death and neonatal specialists, and a senior midwife at London’s Chelsea and Westminster Hospital – who first called the police.Such meetings are routine after the death of a child – aiming to establish what happened, learn lessons, and make sure mothers are provided with support.Ms Packer had taken abortion medication she had received through a pills-by-post system available during the pandemic. Based on her last period, it was estimated that she was about six weeks pregnant.When the pills took effect, she ended up delivering a stillborn baby at home – and then sought medical help in hospital.”I did say that I’d had a late miscarriage – because I was really scared to tell them I had taken abortion pills,” she tells File on 4 Investigates, in her first broadcast interview since her arrest.”I didn’t know if they were going to help me get the medical support I needed.”Nicola eventually told a senior midwife at the hospital that she had taken the abortion medication. The midwife then called the police.Getty Images”I went in in a very supportive manner,” the midwife can be heard saying in the leaked recording of the 2020 meeting.”I essentially said to her, ‘We’re here to care for you, and we need to know all the information… to support you in the right way.'”She goes on to explain to the group that Nicola had told her she was shocked when she had given birth to a stillborn baby.By then, the midwife says in the recording, Nicola was “looking like she wanted the conversation to end, and I didn’t want to interrogate her as such”. “I then advised her, because of the gestation assessment of the baby, that we would need to refer to the coroner for an investigation and also to inform the police.”The legal limit for abortion in the UK is 24 weeks of pregnancy. The stillborn baby was assessed to be about 26 weeks.If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, help and support is available via BBC Action LineNicola had to have surgery after giving birth. Shortly after the operation, she was arrested and then taken into custody the next day. She was held for about 24 hours in a police cell.Ms Packer says the midwife should be investigated.”To me, she just went in there to try and gain my confidence, just so she could then use it against me.”There is no legal duty for medics to report suspected crimes and the midwife was in breach of patient confidentiality for reporting to the police, says Prof Emma Cave, an expert in healthcare regulation who has read a transcript of the recording.She says the midwife’s initial assurance to Ms Packer that her care was going to be the “first concern” seems “at odds” with then being told that police will be informed.”If people think that by attending hospital they’ll be reported to the police, they might avoid treatment and suffer serious health consequences,” says Prof Cave.In response to what happened to Ms Packer and other women, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists released guidance to remind healthcare professionals that it is never in the public interest to report women to the police who might have terminated pregnancies illegally.It is and always has been doctors’ legal duty to respect patients’ confidentiality, said the college.Staff at the Chelsea and Westminster “acted in line with the processes and guidance available to them”, said a hospital spokesperson. “Their first priority, as in all cases, was to support and provide care to the patient.”Nicola’s case came to court last month – four and a half years after her arrest. She says she was “terrified” of going on trial, but also felt the process had gone on so long, that she just wanted it “over and done with”.”They [prosecutors] were trying to say that I knew how far along I was when I took the first abortion pill. I did not,” Nicola says.When the jury foreman said “not guilty”, Ms Packer says she “just burst into tears”.”But then you do sort of start to feel anger, the fact that it even got that far in the first place.”Prosecutors exercise “the greatest care when considering these complex and traumatic cases”, a CPS spokesperson said.”Our role was not to decide whether Nicola Packer’s actions were right or wrong; but to make a factual judgement about whether she knew she was beyond the legal limit when she accessed abortion medication.”Ms Packer believes those who were involved in her case now “need to be held accountable”. She plans to file a complaint with the Metropolitan Police, the CPS and the NHS over her treatment.”It’s really making me feel sick – the way everything was handled. I did not need to go straight from the hospital to the police station. I could have gone home and recuperated for a couple of days.””It just could have been handled much more compassionately,” says Ms Packer, “causing less trauma than they did.”

4 hours agoShareSaveFi Lamdin & Emma PetrieBBC NewsShareSaveCaters PhotographicA man with a rare form of blood cancer has travelled 10,000 miles to meet the stranger who saved his life.Luke Melling, 31, from Melbourne, Australia, says he was “staring death in the face” before receiving a stem-cell transplant from Alastair Hawken, of Grantham, Lincolnshire.The match between the pair was so perfect that the men now believe they could be distantly related, as both their families hail from Preston, Lancashire – the town they chose for their emotional first meeting.They are sharing their story to encourage more people to join the NHS Stem Cell Donor Registry.Three years ago, Luke, who was then 28, was desperately ill in hospital with Hodgkin lymphoma.He had been living with the condition since he was 16 and, despite being in remission four times, the cancer kept coming back.After exhausting all other treatments, he was told he needed a transplant of stem cells – which can be found in the bone marrow and produce essential blood cells – to survive. But no-one in his family, and no-one in Australia, was a match, so doctors started searching global stem-cell registries for a donor.”It was pretty much like, ‘This is it – this is the only option you have. It’s either this or you’re going to die’,” Luke says.Luke Melling”Finding out that my sister wasn’t a match was terrifying – we just didn’t know if there would be anybody registered who would be a suitable match for me.”But then, after a six-month wait, Luke was told there was hope. The register had discovered a potential donor on the other side of the world.”When we found out we had the perfect match, that was an emotional moment,” Luke recalls. “I remember mum – she was in hysterics, crying.”For Alastair, then 48, the phone call came out of the blue. A regular blood donor, he had signed up to the NHS registry in 2008.When he was asked if he was still willing to donate, the father-of-three did not hesitate.”It was no problem at all,” he says. “What can I do, where can I be? It was nice to be wanted, or to feel that I could be of use to someone.”Alastair HawkenBefore the donation, Alastair was injected with a high-strength cell-generating drug. After a couple of days he could barely move, but he was told that showed the process was working and the body was “over-generating stem cells”.He then went to a hospital for the stem cells to be “harvested” in a process similar to blood donation, while he was fed snacks and watched television.”There’s no discomfort,” he says. “The stem cells are taken out and packaged up, and then they’re counted in the laboratory – 85 million is what we needed for Luke, and that’s what was taken.”I felt amazing – my body was made up of fresh stem cells – and then my [harvested] stem cells went on their journey.”The cells were cryogenically frozen within hours to be sent to Australia, where Luke was waiting.Caters PhotographicLuke had his transplant a month later, but all he knew about the donor was that he was a 48-year-old man from the UK.He was not allowed to contact Alastair until two years had passed and the treatment was considered successful.At that point, Alastair did not know whether Luke had survived.”I just hoped. I hoped and prayed that he had,” he says.And then an email dropped into his inbox via the stem cell registry. “It was like all my Christmases had come at once,” Alastair recalls. “It was a really beautiful moment.”The men were put in contact with each other and finally met in Preston on Friday.Luke told Alastair: “To have someone like you, who is so beautiful, lovely and kind, having done all this, I’m glad it’s your cells. I just can’t thank you enough.”For his part, Alastair, who runs a gingerbread business, describes the donation as his “legacy”.He told Luke: “If I achieve nothing more than just seeing that smile on your face, then I’ve achieved everything I need to achieve.”Caters PhotographicPreston was a fitting place to meet as Alastair’s grandparents lived in the town and Luke’s family also have roots there.Luke, who is now 31 and back to full health, feels he can put the last 15 years behind him. He has even run a marathon.”Meeting Alastair in person is a dream come true,” he says. “What do you say to the person who has given you your life back by literally giving a part of themselves? “Me being able to get on that plane and fly across the world is possible only because of him.”The moment I got to give him that huge hug and thank him in person is a moment I’ll never forget.”Alastair, now 51, hopes their story will encourage others to sign up to the stem cell registry.”Meeting Luke today really brings home just what a difference that simple act can make,” he says.”I just wish more people would put themselves forward to be on the register to donate, whether it’s platelets or organs or blood or stem cells – that is just the gift of life.”There’s nothing that makes you feel more complete as a human being – and when it’s a success story, like it clearly has been in our case, it makes everything all worthwhile.”Additional reporting by Paul JohnsonThe NHS is encouraging more people aged 17-40, from all ethnic backgrounds, to join the NHS Stem Cell Donor Registry, to give more patients a better chance of finding the life-saving matches they need.Related storiesRelated internet links

Health Secretary Wes Streeting has urged doctors in England to “vote no” in a ballot on industrial action which gets under way on Tuesday.In a BBC interview, he urged resident doctors, the new name for junior doctors, to “work with the government” and warned strikes risked hampering the progress being made in the NHS.He said it was in no-one’s interests for strikes to take place.Last week it was announced resident doctors would be getting a 5.4% average pay rise this year – more than other doctors, nurses and teachers.But resident doctors, who took part in 11 strikes in 2023 and 2024, said it was not enough to make up for below-inflation pay awards since 2008.The union is urging members to vote for industrial action, with sources saying strikes would be the likely action taken.This year’s pay rise comes after resident doctors were awarded rises worth 22% over the previous two years.Streeting agreed to that deal shortly after coming into office, ending a dispute which had lasted more than a year.Taking account of this year’s pay rise, it means the starting salary for a doctor fresh out of university has risen by £9,500 over the past three years to around £38,800, the government said.But the British Medical Association (BMA) said even after the latest pay rise another 20% was needed to bring wages back to where they were in 2008.Resident doctors’ committee co-chairs Dr Melissa Ryan and Dr Ross Nieuwoudt said: “We are urging doctors to vote yes to strike action. “By voting yes they will be telling the government there is no alternative to fixing pay – this cannot wait for different fiscal circumstances and a healthier NHS. The answer is to fix it today.”The vote on industrial action runs until 7 July.Streeting said his door was always open but added there was no more money to increase salaries above the latest award.And he said a fresh bout of strikes would put attempts to rebuild the NHS at risk.Speaking to the BBC, Streeting said: ” I don’t think strikes are in their interests, in patients interests and I certainly don’t think it’s in the interest of the NHS overall.”Streeting has often cited the deal he reached last year to end the previous round of strikes as evidence of the government’s ability to reform the health service and cut waiting lists. Meanwhile, BMA sources said consultants were likely to start a dispute process over their 4% rise – the first step towards moving to an industrial action ballot.Other staff including nurses, midwives and physios have been given a 3.6% increase. The Royal College of Nursing said it was “grotesque” nurses were getting less than doctors for the second year in a row.The Scottish government has agreed a deal worth 8% over two years with health unions representing all staff apart from doctors and dentists. There have been no strikes by health workers in Scotland.

Specialist mental health crisis centres will be opened across England over the next decade in a bid to reduce crowding in accident and emergency departments (A&E), the NHS has confirmed.Ten hospital trusts have been piloting new assessment centres to deal with people experiencing a mental health crisis.The aim is to get these patients to appropriate care in a calm environment, avoiding long waits in A&E. NHS England said the new units would reduce overcrowding in hospitals and relieve pressure on emergency services, including the police.But Andy Bell, the CEO of the Centre for Mental Health, said any new provision needed to be properly funded.The scheme is expected to be expanded nationally to “dozens of locations”, the government said, as part of its ten-year NHS plan.These clinics will be open to walk-in patients as well as those referred by GPs and police, with specialist staff present to treat people in acute mental distress. Speaking to the Times newspaper, NHS England chief Sir Jim Mackey hailed the “pioneering new model of care”, where people can “get the right support in the right setting”. “As well as relieving pressure on our busy A&Es, mental health crisis assessment centres can speed up access to appropriate care, offering people the help they need much sooner so they can stay out of hospital.”Andy Bell told BBC Breakfast he was sceptical of the scheme because it was untested. He said it was impossible to separate out physical and mental health problems so simply, calling for separate facilities to be put in place “carefully”.”We need to robustly test the model at every stage before we even think about rolling it out nationally,” Mr Bell added.Calling for better funding of NHS mental health services, he noted the share of health spending on mental health treatment had gone down last year and was set to do so again. A recent study of emergency care in England found that the number of people waiting 12 hours or more in A&E after a decision to admit to a ward was the highest since modern records began. It topped 60,000 in January, or 11% of emergency admissions.The government also announced the expansion of a scheme last month to help GPs provide care and advice to patients, without them joining long NHS hospital waiting lists in England.

17 minutes agoShareSaveRuth CleggHealth and wellbeing reporterShareSaveCara HallinanCara Hallinan says she and many of her friends are feeling very nervous about the looming disposable vape ban.In fact, she says: “I’m not sure what we are going to do.”The 25-year-old took up vaping five years ago.One of her friends gave her a puff on theirs and that was it, she could finally wean herself off cigarettes.Cara says it was cherry fizz flavoured vapes which helped her quit her 20-a-day smoking habit, and now, as the ban looms, she’s buying as many as she can before they become illegal to sell or supply across the UK.”I’ve been buying boxes of them from my local discount store. They’re trying to get rid of them, so I’ve been getting ten vapes for £20.”Cara says she’s got about 40 vapes now, enough to last a few weeks, but she wants to stockpile enough to get her through the summer.Cara HallinanFrom 1 June, it will be illegal to buy or sell disposable vapes. Only devices considered to be reusable will be legal. They must have a rechargeable battery, a replaceable coil and be refillable.Cara understands there will still be a wide variety of vapes out there to buy, but she’s not convinced they will work for her.”With everything else going on in my life, what if I forget to recharge my vape? And then I wake up one morning without a vape, or I run out of charge at work?”I’m used to the ease of being able to buy a disposable one when I need.”Cara is one of more than three million ex-smokers who have made the switch from cigarettes to vapes over the past few years.While vapes are considered a healthier alternative to cigarettes, there are concerns that vaping provides a gateway into nicotine addiction – with disposable vapes enticing children and young people with their fruity flavours and cheap prices.Even though rechargeable vapes are the most popular, there are still around 30% of vapers who prefer to use disposable vapes.”One of the big attractions is ease of use,” Dan Marchant, owner of online retailer, Vape Club, and co-founder of the UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA), says.”Buying a disposable vape is like buying a packet of cigarettes – just nip to the shop and get one over the counter.”He says he’s seen sales of the most popular flavours of vapes double over the past few weeks as some customers stock up.Another online retailer, Haypp, has also seen sales rise ahead of the ban.Haypp’s scientific director, Dr Marina Murphy, said: “Daily sales are now regularly surpassing even our Black Friday peaks, which had previously been our biggest sales days.”Some are worried about the change in taste. Disposable vapes tend to be sweeter than refillable vapes due to them often having more sweeteners and nicotine salts in the E-liquid.’Smoker of the year award’After 40 years of chain-smoking cigarettes, Baroness Claire Fox of Buckley says it was the strawberry and banana flavour disposable vapes that finally helped her quit.”They worked a treat and for the past 18 months I have been smoke-free.”The 64-year-old peer admits it wasn’t easy, but after being advised by two doctors to try vapes, she’s gone from being the “proud winner of the smoker of the year award” to a life free from the harms of tobacco.Andrew FirthAnd now, she says, she is dreading 1 June when the disposable vape ban comes in.”I’ve been stocking up with stashes of brightly-coloured vape boxes both at home and at work.”The rechargables have a metallic, battery taste which I don’t like.”She says disposable vapes have had a “miraculous impact on smoking levels”.”Finally, we have a smoking cessation device that works and we ban it – it’s counter- productive and daft.”The outspoken peer, who often berates legislation she sees as infringing civil liberties, says environmental concerns are clearly trumping public health concerns.The UK government wants to reduce the impact on the environment – an estimated five million disposable vapes were thrown away last year – and cut the number of children and young people vaping.Health experts agree anyone who does not smoke should not start vaping, as it may cause long-term damage to lungs, hearts and brains.A Censuswide poll, commissioned by Vape Club, asked 2,000 vapers across the UK how their habits were going to change in the wake of the ban next month.While 49% of people who use disposable vapes said they were going to switch to different types of rechargeable devices, and 16% said they were going to stop vaping altogether, it has also produced some “worrying results”, Mr Marchant says.”We found that 11% said they were going to stockpile after the ban – by going abroad and buying from countries where disposables are sold legally and then bringing them back into the UK.”And more worryingly, 18% said if they couldn’t get hold of disposable vapes they would go back to smoking after the ban comes in.”Ruth CleggThis is something, Nick, who owns Mist Vapes, recognises, as he points to the local newsagent a few shops down the road in Whalley Range, south Manchester.”Many of my regular customers say they will stop vaping when the ban comes in, instead of coming here, they’ll go to Booze and Cigs down the road and pick up a pack of cigarettes and go back to smoking.”He is worried about the future of his business.He points to the rows of pastel-coloured boxes, lined up on shelves that cover a whole wall in his shop. There are popular flavours like pineapple ice, rainbow and blueberry sour.”They’ll have to go,” he says. “And that’s nearly £6,000 worth of stock down the drain.”I only set up my business a year ago, so it’s relatively new. I knew the ban was coming, but with 90% of my sales being disposable, I’ve had to keep on restocking.”He believes the government has failed small retail shops like his own.”I don’t think it’s going to make much difference to vaping habits – many of the rechargeable vapes now look the same as the disposable, you can buy them pre-filled and charged.”He turns one over – the only difference he says is the charging point at the bottom.”I’m selling the rechargeable at the same price but with less of a mark-up.”Ruth CleggThe government says disposable vapes “blight our towns and cities”. Circular economy minister, Mary Creagh, says the ban will boost the economy long-term.”This is an important step on the road to a circular economy, where we use our resources for longer, clean up our communities, accelerate the path to net-zero and create thousands of jobs across the country.”

Joel said he had normal pressure hydrocephalus, which has led to “problems with hearing, vision and balance.”Billy Joel, the arena-filling Everyman singer-songwriter, has canceled all of his upcoming concerts, including a large-scale tour scheduled for this year and next, because of a brain disorder known as normal pressure hydrocephalus, he announced on Friday.“This condition has been exacerbated by recent concert performances, leading to problems with hearing, vision and balance,” said a statement that was posted to the singer’s social media accounts. “Under his doctor’s instructions, Billy is undergoing specific physical therapy and has been advised to refrain from performing during this recovery period.”Normal pressure hydrocephalus, or N.P.H., is a rare condition that occurs when excess cerebrospinal fluid builds up in the brain, causing symptoms that include trouble walking and controlling one’s bladder. It can also lead to cognitive impairment, including memory problems.If N.P.H. is diagnosed early enough, it can be treated successfully through surgery that creates a path for the fluid to flow out of the brain, alleviating symptoms. But in later stages of the disease, some of its effects can become irreversible.In his statement, Joel, 76, added, “I’m sincerely sorry to disappoint our audience, and thank you for your understanding.” A representative for Joel declined to comment further.A mainstream music mainstay since the early 1970s, Joel is best known for songs like “Piano Man,” “Scenes From an Italian Restaurant,” “She’s Always a Woman” and “Big Shot” — just a sampling of the crowd-pleasing singalongs in his catalog, which included 43 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.