Rate rises by 19% compared with 2020, prompting fresh concerns about NHS maternity care

The risk of women in England suffering severe bleeding after giving birth has risen to its highest level for five years, prompting fresh concern about NHS maternity care.

The rate at which mothers in England experience postpartum haemorrhage has increased from 27 per 1,000 births in 2020 to 32 per 1,000 this year – a rise of 19%.

A super flu epidemic is sweeping the country. Let us come together to protect the institution we all love

• Keir Starmer is the British prime minister

I am a Labour prime minister who believes in workers’ right to strike. But let’s be clear about the strikes planned by resident doctors next week. They should not happen. They are reckless. They place the NHS and patients who need it in grave danger.

I remain hopeful they can be averted. A good deal is on the table, and the British Medical Association (BMA) is putting it to members this weekend. My message to the doctors is simple – take it.

Keir Starmer is the prime minister of the United Kingdom

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Exclusive: PM’s outspoken attack on stoppages planned for 17-22 December risks inflaming tensions with medics

• Keir Starmer: Resident doctors, a fair deal is on the table. Please do not strike at this moment of crisis for the NHS

Keir Starmer has said it is “frankly beyond belief” that resident doctors would strike during the NHS’s worst moment since the pandemic, in remarks that risk inflaming tensions with medical staff.

Writing for the Guardian, the prime minister made an outspoken attack on the strikes planned for 17-22 December for placing “the NHS and patients who need it in grave danger”.

We want to hear from the public and healthcare workers about the impact of the ‘worst-case scenario’ flu crisis

Flu cases rose 55% in one week in England this month, as the NHS braces for a “worst-case scenario” in the next fortnight as hospitals, GP surgeries and ambulances services come under intense strain.

It comes as the British Medical Association has lined up strike action for resident doctors in England next week over concerns on pay.

Mark Rowley says capital is a safe city, and claims of no-go areas are ‘completely false’

Members of the House of Lords have proposed “totally unnecessary” and “very cruel” amendments to the assisted dying bill in a bid to scupper it, Kim Leadbeater, the MP leading the campaign for the legislation, has said. Kiran Stacey has the story.

I have beefed up the post at 9.08am to include the direct quote from Wes Streeting about not being able to guarantee patient safety in the NHS if the strike by resident doctors in England goes ahead. You may need to refresh the page to get the update to appear.

Health secretary urges resident doctors, who are to strike from 17 December, to accept his offer to end dispute

Wes Streeting has told resident doctors that strikes and a sharp rise in the number of flu cases over the Christmas period could be “the Jenga piece” that forces the NHS to collapse.

The health secretary said the NHS faced a “challenge unlike any it has seen since the pandemic” and urged resident doctors to accept the government’s offer and end their action.

For her directorial debut, Winslet assembled a cast including Toni Collette, Timothy Spall, Johnny Flynn and Andrea Riseborough to tell a story inspired by her own family’s bereavement. The actors talk mourning, immortality and hospital vending machines

In 2017, Sally Bridges-Winslet died of cancer. She was 71. It was, her youngest daughter said, “like the north star just dropped out of the sky”.

It would have been even worse, says Kate Winslet today, had the family not pulled together. “I do have tremendous amounts of peace and acceptance around what happened because of how we were able to make it for her.”

With a record number of flu patients in hospital, Britons are weighing up the merits of face coverings

The number of patients in hospital with flu in England has reached a record high for this time of year. The latest data puts the daily average at 1,717, with 69 in critical care.

Speaking to Times Radio this week, Daniel Elkeles of NHS Providers, which represents health trusts, said anyone with flu or cold symptoms “must” wear a mask in public.

Health secretary announces investigation into Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys trust that has seen young patients take their own lives

A public inquiry will be held into the failures of a north-east NHS foundation after the deaths of several patients, Wes Streeting has confirmed.

The health secretary made the announcement in Darlington, speaking to the families of patients who died while receiving treatment from hospitals run by Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS foundation trust, which is headquartered in the County Durham town.

Hospitals treating record numbers of flu patients but worst is yet to come as medical bosses urge people to get vaccinated

The NHS is bracing for its worst ever winter crisis in the next fortnight because of a worsening “flu-nami” that has left hospitals, GP surgeries and ambulances services under intense strain.

Hospitals are already treating record numbers of people seriously ill because of flu for the time of year. But things will get worse in the days ahead, NHS leaders said, as medical bosses urged people to get vaccinated against the virus so they can enjoy Christmas gatherings more safely.

It would be absurd to claim the UK has suddenly become a life-sciences leader thanks to the new pricing and tariffs pact

That’s gratitude, eh? It’s not even a fortnight since the government agreed to raise the prices the NHS pays for new medicines and here comes the boss of GSK, Britain’s second largest pharma firm, to extol the virtues of doing business in the US.

The US is “still the leading market in the world in terms of the launches of new drugs and vaccines”, said the chief executive, Emma Walmsley, in a BBC interview, explaining why GSK invests about three times as much over there as it does at home. Alongside China, the US is also “the best market in the world to do business development”.

Sandie Peggie won harassment claim against NHS Fife but tribunal dismissed claims of discrimination and victimisation

Sandie Peggie, the Fife nurse who was suspended after she complained about sharing a female changing room with a transgender doctor, will appeal against a “hugely problematic” employment tribunal ruling, her solicitor has confirmed.

On Monday, the ruling of a lengthy employment tribunal found that Peggie, who has worked as a nurse for more than 30 years, had been harassed by NHS Fife when she was expected to share the changing room with Dr Beth Upton.

Aamir Ahmed, Dr Graham Simpson, Adrian Bell and David Gollancz respond to a letter by a reader whose husband died of the disease after delaying getting a PSA test

It is understandable for patients suffering from a late diagnosis of prostate cancer, or families who have lost loved ones, to demand that something should be done (Letters, 5 December). I, however, respect the UK National Screening Committee’s recommendation not to screen most men using the prostate specific antigen (PSA) test.

The job of the committee was to weigh up the benefits and harms of any available test for routine screening. PSA testing, as a first step to diagnose cancer, results in false negatives and a significant number of false positives, meaning it has both low sensitivity and low specificity, making it a poor screening marker. PSA screening has been conducted in the US; there are varying estimates that, over three decades, it has resulted in more than 1 million patients receiving treatment (eg surgery or radiotherapy) they did not need.

US visa edict | 1 No Trump | Flu advice | Costly candles | Christmas spirit

Oh dear! Now I will never get a visa to go to the US as I am sure that I have emailed quite a few letters to the Guardian critical of Donald Trump in the last few years (Tourists to US would have to reveal five years of social media activity under new Trump plan, 10 December).
Michael McLoughlin
Wallington, Surrey

• The latest US visa requirements would be a nightmare. Imagine trying to hold an international bridge tournament in the US. Where would you find players who haven’t bid “1 No Trump” in the last five years?
Steen I Petersen
Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada

As corridor care has become the norm, safest option for those with flu symptoms is to contact GP or NHS 111 and try to stay home

As cases of flu rise sharply across the UK, the Guardian spoke to Amir Hassan, an emergency medicine consultant and the divisional medical director at Epsom and St Helier University hospitals NHS trust, who shared his views.

“We’re seeing increased numbers of patients coming through, a lot of them with respiratory-type illnesses. It means we need to try to isolate these patients and treat them – so they’ll come in with shortness of breath, [and a] cough.

Emma Walmsley’s praise for US pharmaceutical market piles pressure on UK government

• Business live – live updates

The chief executive of GSK has declared that the US is the best place for pharmaceutical companies to invest.

Emma Walmsley said the US led the world in launches of drugs and vaccines and, alongside China, was the best market for business development.

Letters arguing research could harm participating children sent to medical regulators, health secretary and NHS

Campaigners have begun a legal process intended to suspend a clinical trial of puberty blockers on the grounds that the research could prove harmful to the children taking part.

The study was commissioned in response to last year’s review of gender identity services by Dr Hilary Cass, which found that gender medicine was an “area of remarkably weak evidence” and “built on shaky foundations”.

Number of people in England being treated remains at record level for this time of year with daily average of 2,660

The NHS is facing its “worst-case scenario” for flu cases this month across England after the number of people in hospital with the illness increased by 55% in a week.

An average of 2,660 patients a day were in an NHS hospital bed with flu, up from 1,717 last week and the highest ever for this time of year. By comparison, in the same week last year the number of patients in hospital with flu stood at 1,861, compared with 402 in 2023.

More than £3bn that could have been used for UK patients will go to big pharma for its branded products – money for care siphoned off for profit

Of Arthur Scargill it was said that he began each day with two newspapers. The miners’ leader read the Morning Star of course, but only after consulting the Financial Times. Why did a class warrior from Yorkshire accord such importance to the house journal of pinstriped Londoners? Before imbibing views, he told a journalist, he wanted “to get the facts”.

In that spirit, let us parse a deal just struck by the governments of Donald Trump and Keir Starmer. You may not have heard much about this agreement on medicine, but it is huge in both financial and political significance – and Downing Street could not be more proud.

A “world-beating deal,” boasts the science minister, Patrick Vallance. It “paves the way for the UK to become a global hub for life sciences,” claims the business secretary, Peter Kyle, with the government press release adding: “Tens of thousands of NHS patients will benefit.”

Aditya Chakrabortty is a Guardian columnist

BMA puts health secretary’s offer, which includes pledge to double number of extra training places, to resident doctors

Wes Streeting has made an improved offer to end the long-running dispute with resident doctors before their strike next week that threatens to bring chaos to the NHS as it battles a flu surge.

The health secretary has pledged to double the number of extra places that early career doctors in England can apply for in order to train in the area of medicine they have chosen to specialise in.

Exclusive: Experts warn mixed messaging from Daniel Elkeles causes confusion and could undermine public faith in official guidance

• Should people wear a mask in public if they feel unwell with flu?

An NHS leader who said people with flu symptoms “must wear” a face mask in public risks causing “confusion” among the public over official guidance on how to fight the virus, health experts have warned.

The number of people in hospital with flu in England is at a record level for this time of year. At least six hospitals across the UK have told patients to stay away due to a surge in flu cases sweeping the country this week.

Dr Sarah Davies, Sarah McCulloch, Jean Farrer and Charlie King respond to articles on the progress of the bill and the role of hospices

The opinion piece by Dave Sowry, a board member of My Death, My Decision, highlights the risks of treating autonomy as an ethical principle in isolation (I accompanied my wife to Dignitas. The Lords’ filibustering is an insult to all like her who have suffered, 3 December). While it is sad that he was widowed early, he and his wife were able to travel and make choices – choices shaped principally by fear. That does not mean the law should be altered.

What his account overlooks are the thousands of patients in the UK denied genuine choice because they lack access to palliative care. The House of Lords is rightly undertaking line‑by‑line scrutiny of the proposals, and expert testimony has raised serious concerns and widespread opposition. The current law already affords dignity and protection to vulnerable, elderly and disabled people. What we lack is sufficient palliative care and hospice provision, as repeatedly shown by Hospice UK and National Audit Office reports.

Until you create an environment where staff have access to all the necessary resources to do their job, you will not fix bullying, writes an anonymous former NHS worker

I write in response to your article on Blackpool Victoria hospital (Leaked report reveals culture of bullying and harassment at scandal-hit NHS hospital, 3 December). I joined the NHS as a research fellow at a large teaching hospital after completing my PhD in public health. I wanted to make a more meaningful impact in the most deprived communities in England but, after two gruelling years of continuous bullying by senior leadership, I was forced to leave.

If I could describe my time at the hospital, it would be soul-destroying – not from working with extremely poor and marginalised communities, but from the toxic culture imposed by senior management. Bullying was widespread, with senior management (who were mostly consultants that had pivoted to research) being the main instigators. On day one I was told that I was going to be made to work “until I drop” by my manager. I had comments made about clothing, which followed the dress code but was labelled “too bright” and “parrot-like”. I tried speaking up, and quickly realised that the director was just as much part of the bullying as the rest. I left and have never looked back.

Women say fears were dismissed and help was unavailable at crucial moments during labour

Almost one in five women feel their concerns were not taken seriously by healthcare professionals during childbirth, according to the “concerning” results of a national survey of maternity experiences.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) survey of almost 17,000 women who gave birth across England in NHS settings this year found that 15% felt they had not been given relevant advice or support when they contacted a midwife at the start of their labour, while 18% said their concerns had not been taken seriously.

They face long hours, mediocre pay and, at worst, no job, but their optimism is astonishing – let’s support them better

• Prof Devi Sridhar is chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh

When I mentioned to colleagues in the NHS that I was helping with admissions interviews for medical students, several responded with the same wry smile and weary shrug: “Do they know what they’re getting into?” Anyone working with the health service over the past few decades has seen the job conditions get tougher, salaries stagnate and idealism erode within a crumbling system. Brexit, Covid, austerity and the rise in the cost of living haven’t helped.

From the students’ perspectives, they’ve gone through a lot to get here too. Not just the usual high-level academic performance and résumé-building either. This is a group who dealt with school closures and lockdowns during impressionable years, many come from crowded schools with little support and coaching, and yet they’ve found a way to persevere.

Prof Devi Sridhar is chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh

Fit Forever: Wellness for midlife and beyond: On Wednesday 28 January 2026, join Annie Kelly, Devi Sridhar, Joel Snape and Mariella Frostrup, as they discuss how to enjoy longer and healthier lives, with expert advice and practical tips. Book tickets here or at guardian.live

Wes Streeting’s plan to make booking easier made sense. Then I encountered an AI triagist, a stubborn receptionist and a Kafkaesque vicious circle

A couple of months ago the health secretary, Wes Streeting, rolled out his latest master plan to save the NHS. From 1 October, it became compulsory for all GP practices in England to offer the online option for patients to request non-urgent appointments or medical advice throughout core working hours (8am to 6.30pm, Monday to Friday).

The doctors’ union might not have much liked it, but it made sense to regular punters like me. It seemed like a common sense means of avoiding the maddening early morning scramble for the few available appointments, hanging on for an age, only to be told all the slots have gone. Or worse, just have the phone go dead on you.

Simon Hattenstone is a features writer for the Guardian

One in five patients treated in hallways, offices and cupboards at almost every A&E, according to research

Corridor care is “endemic” in the UK, doctors have said, as a major study found one in five patients were treated in hallways, offices and cupboards.

Millions of patients are enduring undignified and unsafe care, with almost every A&E department in the country deploying the approach routinely, contravening national guidance, research reveals.

NHS Providers boss says those who are ‘coughing and sneezing’ should wear face coverings on public transport

People experiencing flu or cold symptoms should wear a mask in public places as the UK grapples with a “tidal wave” of illness, an NHS leader has said.

Daniel Elkeles, chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents NHS trusts, said the country was facing a “very nasty strain of flu” that had occurred earlier in the year than normal, and face coverings should be worn on public transport, as during the Covid pandemic.