3 days agoAbout sharingAditi is taking no anti-rejection medication - and her new kidney is working wellBy Michelle RobertsDigital health editor
Eight-year-old Aditi Shankar has become the first child in the UK to receive a special type of kidney transplant that does not require her to take long-term drugs to stop rejection of the organ.
Doctors at Great Ormond Street Hospital say the breakthrough was made possible by reprogramming her immune system before giving her the new kidney.
To do that, they used bone-marrow stem cells from the donor - Aditi's
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2 days agoAbout sharingBy Jim ReedHealth reporter
A teenager who died while challenging an NHS decision over her life-preserving treatment can be named for the first time.
Sudiksha Thirumalesh, 19, had mitochondrial disease and died earlier this month during a legal battle.
She wanted to raise money for an experimental treatment she thought might help her rare genetic disorder.
As reporting restrictions were lifted, her family spoke of their anger at being prevented from speaking out.
Ms Thirumalesh's brother Varshan Thirumalesh said: "We were gagged, silenced and prevented
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2 days agoAbout sharingBy Dominic HughesHealth correspondent, BBC News
People living with long Covid after being admitted to hospital are more likely to show some damage to major organs, according to a new study.
MRI scans revealed patients were three times more likely to have some abnormalities in multiple organs such as the lungs, brain and kidneys.
Researchers believe there is a link with the severity of the illness.
It is hoped the UK study will help in the development of more effective treatments for
1 day agoAbout sharingBy Jim ReedHealth reporter
The number of people in hospital has gone up. Google searches have doubled in a month and booster vaccines have been brought forward because of a new variant. It might all feel a bit 2021. But - these days - how much do we really need to worry about Covid?
Marjorie from Pembrokeshire had gone through the whole pandemic without catching the virus - until this month.
"I thought I had natural immunity," she says.
"But I caught it from my granddaughter who had the same symptoms as mine."
In her case, that meant
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2 hours agoAbout sharingBy Nick Triggle and Elena BaileyBBC News
More than one million NHS treatments and appointments have been cancelled in England due to strike action by staff.
NHS England announced the milestone had been reached following last week's walkout by consultants and junior doctors.
The true scale of the disruption is likely to be higher - many hospitals reduce bookings on strike days to minimise last-minute cancellations.
It comes amid renewed calls to find a solution to the long-running dispute.
A total of 1.01 million hospital appointments have
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1 day agoAbout sharingInspectors were told that crews often responded to calls "without the medicines they needed"
Ambulance crews in the North East frequently responded to emergencies without access to life-saving drugs, a damning inspection report has found.
The study of North East Ambulance Service NHS Trust (NEAS) concluded patients were potentially put at risk by the poor management of medicines.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) found a deterioration of services and rated NEAS's urgent care as "inadequate".
In response, NEAS said it had faced a year of
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12 hours agoAbout sharingBy Gem O'ReillyDigital reporter
Anne Vivian-Smith used to be well and work full time. She and her partner were earning good money and able to afford their own home and car.
But several years ago, Anne started to get ill with a neurodegenerative autoimmune disorder. Within two years, she ended up in a wheelchair and her partner became her carer. They both lost their careers.
The couple went from earning £40,000 each a year to £20,000 and receiving disability benefits.
Two weeks ago,
20 hours agoAbout sharingThe Court of Appeal increased Paterson's prison sentence to 20 years
A further 1,500 patients of convicted breast surgeon Ian Paterson are to be recalled and their treatment investigated.
Spire Healthcare, which runs private hospitals, said patients were being contacted after a trawl of IT systems.
Paterson was jailed for 20 years in 2017 for 17 counts of wounding people with intent.
The healthcare provider said it remained committed to tracking down all "outstanding patients".
The former surgeon, originally from Bangor, County Down,
11 hours agoCommentsAbout sharingFolic acid is set to be added to non-wholemeal wheat flour under UK government proposalsBy Philippa RoxbyHealth reporter
Leading scientists say adding higher levels of folic acid to all flour and rice would stop hundreds more UK babies being born with lifelong disabilities.
They say current levels being proposed are too low and will not help some groups of women, while any concerns over potential harms are unjustified.
The government says
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1 day agoCommentsAbout sharingBy Nick TriggleHealth correspondent
Members of two unions representing ambulance staff have voted for strike action in England and Wales as the NHS pay dispute deepens.
Paramedics, call handlers and other staff at 10 ambulance services have backed a walkout in the ballots run by Unison and the GMB.
Strikes are likely to start before Christmas, but the rules requiring emergency care to be provided mean their impact will be
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1 day agoAbout sharingBy James GallagherHealth and science correspondent
The first drug to slow the destruction of the brain in Alzheimer's has been heralded as momentous.
The research breakthrough ends decades of failure and shows a new era of drugs to treat Alzheimer's - the most common form of dementia - is possible.
Yet the medicine, lecanemab, has only a small effect and its impact on people's daily lives is debated.
And the drug works in the early stages of the disease, so most would miss out without a revolution in spotting it.
Lecanemab
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16 hours agoAbout sharingKoulla's family have received an apology from the hospital over the problems with her careBy Nick Triggle and Jim ReedBBC News
When 85-year-old Koulla fell at home, her family immediately rang for an ambulance. She was in agonising pain - she had broken her hip.
It was around 8pm. It took another 14 hours for an ambulance to get to her, leaving her pregnant granddaughter to care for her through the night.
When they arrived the crews were able to give her pain relief and quickly transported her to the Royal Cornwall Hospital.
But there the wait continued -
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11 hours agoAbout sharingBy Michelle RobertsDigital health editor
The Covid virus can reside on some ready-to-eat groceries for days, UK experts have confirmed.
Scientists carried out tests for the Food Standards Agency (FSA), purposely smearing the virus on to packaging and food products, including fruit, pastries and bottled drinks.
They chose items that people might put in their mouth without cooking or washing.
The risk to consumers remains very low, they say.
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13 hours agoAbout sharingUniversity Hospitals Birmingham is one of the largest teaching hospital trusts in EnglandBy David Grossman and William McLennanBBC Newsnight
Whistleblowers at one of England's worst performing hospital trusts have said a climate of fear among staff is putting patients at risk.
Former and current clinicians at University Hospitals Birmingham (UHB) NHS Trust allege they were punished by management for raising safety concerns, a BBC Newsnight investigation found.
One insider said the trust was "a bit like the mafia".
The trust said it
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