We coped, but only just. Collapse was only narrowly avoided thanks to the extraordinary efforts of all those working in health care. To cope with another pandemic there had to be greater capacity to scale-up hospital and ambulance services, according to the inquiry.
The companies, whose directors were doctors in Tallaght University Hospital, were hired by Naas General Hospital to run extra clinics paid for by the National Treatment Purchase Fund.
We've excised the text, but suffice it to say that the whiteboard contains usernames and passwords for system access. It's a change from a Post-it note stuck to the screen, but it's no less likely to make a security professional shriek in horror. After all, not only is the account exposed, but anyone can use it, which renders an access log somewhat redundant.
While noting women 'were treated with kindness and compassion', a 'requires improvement' rating was given. Inspectors said hospital management 'did not always support staff well-being' and 'were not always visible within the service and were sometimes perceived as unsupportive'. Staff reported they were confident to report incidents, however, were not always assured action would be taken.
Work to fix hospitals built using unsafe concrete will not be completed in time to meet the government's target, a new report has warned. Seven hospitals built using Raac, or reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete, were prioritised for remedial work last year, with the government setting a deadline of 2030. The new buildings are now expected to open in 2032 and 2033 - but some are already facing pressure to meet the revised timetable, the National Audit Office (NAO) said.
Medical negligence in the NHS keeps harming and killing patients because governments and health service bosses have not acted on 24 years' worth of warnings, MPs have said. In a scathing report published on Friday, the public accounts committee (PAC) excoriates the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England for allowing the cost of mistakes to balloon to 3.6bn a year.
NHS Surrey Heartlands said the situation at three hospital trusts Royal Surrey NHS foundation trust, Epsom and St Helier university hospitals NHS trust and Surrey and Sussex healthcare NHS trust was exacerbated by increases in flu and norovirus cases and an increase in staff sickness. It added that the recent cold weather front has also impacted on more frail patients needing to be admitted to hospital.
The accounting watchdog said that, although there had been no new financial issues, it "disclaimed" the college's latest 2024-25 accounts because of the continuing "fallout" from financial reporting problems that resulted from a problematic IT project. "We were not able to provide a complete opinion on the opening position or in-year transactions for 2024-25, both of which are heavily derived from the closing position of the prior year," it added.
The worker is one of eight employees at the privately run St Andrew's Hospital, Northampton,who were arrested on suspicion of wilful neglect and ill treatment in relation to allegations of assault against a patient made in July 2025. Now, Northamptonshire Police have confirmed toThe Independent that one suspect was also arrested on suspicion of rape. They have been released on bail, and the investigation into all eight workers is ongoing.
In the last week, we have seen significant demand on our services, in A&E in particular, which is resulting in lengthy waits for patients. This follows a previous critical incident in January, where rising demand, winter infections and staff sickness all led to unacceptable delays. More than half of our adult beds are currently occupied by patients who are over 80 years old, whose health issues can impact them more than younger patients.
Dr Susan Gilby took over as chief executive at the Countess of Chester hospital in 2018 after it was rocked by the Lucy Letby case. She was awarded the payout one of the biggest in NHS history last month after a tribunal ruled she had been unfairly dismissed after raising concerns about alleged bullying and harassment by the chair of the hospital board.
Fiona Wilcox, Senior Coroner for Inner West London, issued a Prevention of Future Deaths report to Health Secretary Wes Streeting, in which she said there were not enough beds or nurses to manage demand in A&E in both cases. She warned that while hospitals like St George's had put in place measures to try to manage demand, A&E departments were still exceptionally busy and a risk of further deaths remained.