Burnham: "Social care in England is as unfair as American healthcare." It's a very good line.
Paul Howard
@paulhoward.bsky.social
Consultant in Palliative Medicine (Isle of Wight, UK); Palliative Care Formulary Editor (neuropharmacology sections)
My thoughts are with everyone affected by the horrific attack in Berlin and their families. This appalling act of violence has no place in our society. London stands in solidarity with Berlin’s LGBTQ+ community. This is why Pride matters. Those who seek to spread hatred and division will never win.
Unless this “honesty” involves the recognition that immigrants are *not* the root cause of the UK’s problems *but* actually a part of the solution to them, this will be completely pointless. I cannot stress this enough. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Burnham to say UK must be honest about its challenges as he prepares to become PM
Labour leader will visit king to accept role on Monday and will start making cabinet appointments that afternoon
theguardian.com
Latest measles deaths data shows three deaths so far this year with 883 infections so far confirmed:
3 new papers on Covid boosters today 1. Less major adverse cardiovascular events in US Veterans jamanetwork.com/journals/jam... 2. High effectiveness for older adults jamanetwork.com/journals/jam... 3. Improved outcomes across all adults jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
2024-2025 COVID-19 Vaccine and Major Adverse Cardiovascular Events Among US Veterans
This cohort study evaluates the effectiveness of the 2024-2025 COVID-19 vaccine against COVID-19–associated major adverse cardiovascular events.
jamanetwork.com
Published in The New England Journal of Medicine. Peer-reviewed. Large sample size. Sound methodology. An antiviral pill has, for the FIRST time, been shown to PREVENT COVID-19 in individuals exposed to SARS-CoV-2. Ensitrelvir blocks the enzyme coronaviruses need to make new copies of themselves.
Clever use of a complex behavioral task to show that BLA dopamine tracks emotional salience, not value or prediction error. Threat/Safety cues drive larger, sustained signals than reward/neutral cues. Dopamine in the BLA is very much different than in the striatum.
🚨 Two children in England have died from measles this year. One child died from “acute measles” and another linked to the late effects of measles. So far this year there have been 736 cases compared with 959 cases for the whole of 2025.
Tyneside folk: #CompassionateGateshead is asking for your experience of workplace support (or lack of), while caring for someone terminally ill or after their death. Responses before 12th June please. This questionnaire takes ~5mins. Please pass it on. forms.gle/aYf6DiD6TU5q...
Supporting Employees through Bereavement and Caring Responsibilities
Compassionate Gateshead is exploring how employers in Gateshead can be better supported to help employees returning to work after bereavement or during periods of (caring for someone with) a terminal ...
forms.gle
🚨 INVESTIGATION: Private clinics delivering NHS cataract surgery face investigation over claims they have artificially inflated costs for the taxpayer, performed unnecessary operations and incentivised high-street optometrists to refer patients to them: www.thetimes.com/article/245f...
Private cataract clinics investigated while making millions from NHS
Health service bosses fear price inflation and unnecessary operations are costing the taxpayer. Now a fraud unit is getting involved
thetimes.com
“An internal briefing prepared for NHS leaders in February 2026, seen by Democracy for Sale, says that even after ‘optimisation’, ‘processing time is reported as taking 4-5 minutes’ while similar processes take only ‘30 seconds’ with current systems.” https://goodlaw.social/i108
BREAKING: Palantir software is 10 times slower than NHS tools | Good Law Project
Palantir claims its software saves medics time they can spend on patient care, but an NHS leak shows the spy-tech firm’s products put doctors and nurses in the slow lane
goodlaw.social
Celebrities, rich people and ex-prime ministers should not make health policy. Prostate cancer screening is just not as simple as some are making out. There are real harms caused when people are treated unnecessarily.
Section 28 was passed on this day in 1988. It didn’t come out of nowhere. It came from a society where 75% of people thought homosexuality was wrong. It came from a society that believed ignorance was better for children than any knowledge of lesbian or gay lives. 🧵 1/16
Not sure if this is one of my most rightwing or my most leftwing takes, but if you believe there is such a thing as “excessive profits” in a sector you really should just go ahead and insource the service you’re paying for:
Social care providers may face caps on ‘excessive’ profits
Steve Reed, the local government secretary, says he will crack down on ‘unreasonable cost escalation’
thetimes.com
In research from the OECD group of developed countries, Britain ranks joint bottom for nursing pay when compared with the average UK wage.
Shaun Lintern@shaunlintern.bsky.social · 3mo ago🚨 EXCLUSIVE: Nurses across England could carry out targeted strikes against “rogue” hospital trusts that try to avoid upgrading pay for band 5 nurses. Chief of @theRCN interview in Sunday Times: www.thetimes.com/article/86e1...
@tflondon.bsky.social I left my laptop in a London blackcab yesterday (🤦♂️) The driver's dropped it back to the venue where I'd been speaking. What a kind man! Thank you so much
INVITATION: The Art of Living & Dying Well Centre at St Marys University is seeking insights about awareness of practice of care at the end of life in diverse Faith Communities. All welcome. Sessions are online: May 15 May 21 June 1 Scan QR code or email: marianne.rozario@stmarys.ac.uk
There is understandable concern with potential risks of data sharing in the NHS. There is also actual & real harm that happens regularly because there isn’t enough NHS data sharing. Changes to improve data sharing for NHS & social care services will make real positive difference to people’s lives.
Shaun Lintern@shaunlintern.bsky.social · 3mo agoMinister Zubir Ahmed, a transplant surgeon, told me that in January he had to decline a kidney for someone because a lack of access to GP records at a weekend meant he couldn't be sure the organ was safe. GPs meanwhile still rely on letters from hospitals to know what happened to their patient.
Yet another economic analysis finding palliative care improves patient experience, reduces bed days and saves money. Cheaper and better - we're a solution to the funding crisis. Yet the NHS continues to cut our budgets. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Specialist palliative care improves patient experience, reduces bed days and saves money: An economic modelling study of home- and hospital-based care - Peter May, Elham Nikram, Therese Johansson, Gem...
Background: High-quality evidence suggests that specialist palliative care reduces the odds of dying in hospital. The economic implications have not been establ...
journals.sagepub.com
Geriatricians & physios: can you recommend videos to teach 1. Getting up from a fall 2. Practice exercises to build/maintain strength to get up after a fall. The faller has a sensory peripheral neuropathy affecting joint position sense but not fine touch or pain. Thanks! #falls
If you were horrified watching elected leaders run & scramble because of gun violence, just imagine how my daughter Jaime felt in school running from an active shooter before she was killed. Now, become a part of the solution & only vote for people determined to address gun violence in America.
@hayfestival.bsky.social April book club choice is Paul Kalanithi's When Breath Becomes Air. I'll be discussing the book with @drrachelclarke.com & Sarah Perry, both writers I admire enormously. Please join us online, Thursday 23rd : 7 - 8pm BST It's free: book for tix share.google/FOowlQLkNNzM...
I start most palliative care consultations with "what's bothering you the most" NHS critics should know that the answer for my American colleagues is often "money". Since health insurance doesn't pay for all chemo, bankruptcy (eg mortgaging own home to pay for chemo) is common ("financial toxicity")
BladeoftheSun@bladeofthes.bsky.social · 4mo agoNigel Farage doesn't want the NHS to be funded by general taxation. Or to put it clearly, he wants to get rid of the NHS.
"By moving money away from delivering care that generates health gains more cheaply to drugs that generate health gains at greater expense, the NHS could end up less able to improve overall health from the same budget" - @healthfoundation.bsky.social www.health.org.uk/features-and...
health.org.uk
Would switching the NHS to an insurance model fix it? Our new research says no. 🎥 IPPR head of health, @sebrees1.bsky.social breaks down why changing the funding model is a distraction, and what would actually make a difference. 🔗 Read more: www.ippr.org/articles/bismarck-versus-beveridge-revisited
Private firms providing services to NHS made £1.6bn profit in two years, research finds www.theguardian.com/society/2026...
Private firms providing services to NHS made £1.6bn profit in two years, research finds
Exclusive: MPs say profit-making levels in England are ‘scandalous’ and call for cap on amount private companies can make from NHS
theguardian.com
As guest editor of an EoL & palliative care special edition of @futurehealthj.bsky.social from @rcphysicians.bsky.social, it was important to me that a patient voice was given space. Mark has #MND (ALS). He wrote his entire article using eye-gaze technology. Read on ⬇️
