Has Alistair Darling really left the public finances in an even worse state than we thought?> The public purse is pretty threadbare, but it is unfair to suggest Darling left hundreds of skeletons to tumble out of the cupboard – and the former chancellor takes the idea as a personal affront. The figures bear him [...]
The maternity ward at Soroti hospital, Katine, Uganda. Photograph: Guardian/Martin Godwin Giving birth in the UK is complicated. Antenatal checks, ultrasounds, blood tests, BMI indices, dating scans and more – and that’s before delivery. Giving birth in sub-Saharan Africa is simple by comparison. You can walk five hours for a basic check-up, if able. Then [...]
Danny Smith, 26, from Billericay, Essex, was shot dead in Spain in a suspected contract killing. Photograph: Enterprise News and Pictures It could have been a scene straight out of a bad British geezer film. A dark-haired young man having a drink on the terrace of a Spanish resort bar on a balmy Mediterranean night. [...]
The Guardian has been investigating the Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) data that infoms the NHS Choices website. Photograph: Alamy Currently the public can use the NHS Choices website to help them choose a hospital for treatment. NHS Choices, and the information used by Dr Foster, is based on “Hospital Episode Statistics” (HES) data, which the [...]
Eric Pickles announced where the 1.166bn in cuts to local government budgets will fall this year. Photograph: Martin Godwin The Equality and Human Rights Commission, charged with tackling discrimination and safeguarding human rights, has been ordered to cut 15% from its budget as part of the coalition government’s austerity measures, the Guardian has learned. The [...]
Charlotte Moore and her three sons, George, Jake and Sam. Sam and George are autistic. Photograph: Linda Nylind for the Guardian As the mother of two sons with autism and a third son without it, do I welcome this news? Yes, if it helps kill the idea that autism is somebody’s “fault”. Autism isn’t caused [...]
The Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture has urgent questions about the UK Border Agency’s plan to forcibly return unaccompanied child asylum seekers to Afghanistan on a monthly basis (Report, 8 June). We have seen an increasing number of Afghan children arriving in this country suffering extreme trauma after horrendous experiences, including [...]
Lord Lawson: ‘It’s the government’s job to decide what is to be done.’ Photograph: Martin Argles for the Guardian Chancellor George Osborne’s plan to build a consensus behind his cuts agenda by consulting the public, civil society and opposition parties was dismissed today as a PR ploy by the former Conservative chancellor, Lord Lawson. The [...]
Relatives of some of those who died at Stafford hospital stand in front of a tribute wall. Photograph: Rui Vieira/PA A full public inquiry will be held into “appalling events” at Stafford hospital which resulted in hundreds of patients’ deaths between 2005 and 2008, David Cameron announced today. The prime minister told parliament that the [...]
Doctors have said using penalies in the NHS could have unforeseen consequences. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images The health secretary, Andrew Lansley, has outlined his plan impose financial penalties on hospitals if a patient has to be readmitted for emergency treatment within 30 days of discharge, despite a prominent Department of Health (DH) study claiming there [...]
