Labour’s Lord Kinnock: Slap VAT on private healthcare August 4, 2025 Labour's Lord Kinnock has called on the government to start charging VAT on private medical insurance in order to raise funds for the NHS
Should the wealthy always go private to save the NHS? July 28, 2025 It’s no secret that the NHS has been under pressure for years and the strain on its resources looks like not letting up any time soon. With staffing shortages, long waiting times, funding issues, an aging population and a rise in demand, the NHS has its back up against the wall. But should those who [...]
Physician associates union takes government to court over planned role changes July 27, 2025 A union will take the Government to court over its decision to implement recommended changes to the roles of physician associates (PAs) within the NHS, the United Medical Associate Professionals (UMAPs) has said. It follows findings by a Government-ordered report that PAs have been used as substitutes for doctors despite having significantly less training. The [...]
Ransomware ban won’t save councils or NHS without urgent cyber investment July 27, 2025 The UK government’s recent ban on ransomware payments by the public sector is a pivotal moment in cybercrime policy. While hailed as a decisive step, experts caution that without parallel investment in resilience, hospitals, councils, and schools remain dangerously exposed. Announced on 22 June, the policy prohibits pay-outs by NHS trusts, local authorities, and other [...]
Five day doctors’ strikes begin as Wes Streeting-BMA talks break down July 25, 2025 Resident doctors – formerly known as junior doctors – led by the British Medical Association (BMA) began a five-day strike on Friday morning, set to last until 7am on Wednesday. Health secretary Wes Streeting said on Thursday evening that strike action should have been a “last resort”, and “we did not need to be in [...]
Doctors strike: Streeting floats student loan write-off in BMA meeting July 18, 2025 Wes Streeting could offer to write off student loan debt for doctors to persuade the British Medical Association (BMA) to call off a planned strike. The idea came up in an extended meeting between the health secretary and the medical union, just a week out from a five day walkout which could involve as many [...]
ABPI: UK aims high on life sciences, but investment lags behind July 16, 2025 The government’s newly unveiled Life Sciences Sector Plan lays out an ambition to position the UK as a global life sciences leader by 2030. But the pharmaceutical industry has pushed back, warning that without major reforms to medicine funding and pricing, the strategy risks underdelivering. Published on Wednesday as part of government’s Industrial Strategy, the [...]
Doctors’ strikes prove militant BMA is prepared to put patients’ lives at risk July 16, 2025 Resident doctors are endangering their patients’ lives with immoral strikes based on distorted calculations. The British public must finally see their militant union for what it really is, says Alys Denby “Resident doctors” as we must now call them (‘junior’ being a term fit for barristers but far too demeaning for these life savers) will [...]
The NHS is in terminal decline – a social insurance model is the only cure July 16, 2025 Compared to similar countries, the NHS ranks second to last in terms of life expectancy, healthy life expectancy, and preventable and treatable mortality. There is a better way, says Ben Ramanauskas The NHS is not fit for purpose and is in urgent need of reform. That is the conclusion of a new report from Policy [...]
Sajid Javid joins calls to replace ‘unfit’ NHS with insurance model July 14, 2025 Former health secretary Sajid Javid has joined calls for a major overhaul of the National Health Service (NHS) that would see it replaced by a universal social insurance-based model. Javid said a “serious conversation with taxpayers” about how to fund the institution was “long overdue,” throwing his weight behind a paper by Policy Exchange which [...]