16:05 A US trial has found dogs may be able to live an extra four years if administered an ‘anti-ageing’ drug.
Earlier experiments already found mice given an anti-inflammatory drug called rapamycin lived up to 25% longer.
And the trials using dogs has found their heart health improving after the drug was added to their food.
According to scientists, this early success could mean it also works in humans, reports the Telegraph.
14:55 Local politicians are calling for a review of minor injury unit opening hours to be, well, reviewed, after finding GP practices and their patients were not consulted.
According to Gloucestershire Live, four out of five GP practices in the Forest of Dean had been ‘missed out’ when Gloucestershire Care Services NHS Trust requested opinions on plans to reduce opening hours at several of the county’s minor injury units, which it is struggling to fully staff.
Forest of Dean District Council’s health champion, councillor Craig Lawton, said: ‘Of the five [GP practices] that I have spoken to in our major towns, just one was aware of the Minor Injury Unit review and had copies of the proposals as well as feedback forms for patients to have their say.
‘The other four were not aware that the review is taking place and some even reached out to me and asked for copies to be sent to them for their patients.’
13:44 After Team GB took silver at the Olympics in Rio, the University of Portsmouth has some important advice for anyone inspired to follow in their hoof prints.
Their study looked at 1,324 female horse-riders and found 40% experienced breast pain while riding. The pain experienced increased with cup size and was experienced most frequently when trotting or cantering, due to the ‘greater breast momentum’ created.
Lead author Dr Jenny Burbage, senior lecturer in the Department of Sport and Exercise Science, advised any shapelier women (and perhaps the odd man) to strap their bad boys down if partaking in equine-based activity.
She said: ‘A correctly fitting bra for exercise is essential, as an incorrect fit can contribute to upper body musculoskeletal problems, poor posture and deep bra furrows in the shoulder caused by excessive strap pressure.’
11:15 Elsewhere this morning, leading charities have warned that NHS cancer patients are missing out on innovative treatments which are available in other countries of comparable wealth.
Breast Cancer Now and Prostate Cancer UK have said that patients are partly unable to access new treatments due to a failure by medicines regulators to negotiate with the pharmaceutical industry on the price of drugs, the Guardian reports.
The charities reviewed different drug systems and the availability of drugs for breast and prostate cancer and found that the UK’s approach was no longer ‘fit for purpose’.
9:45 Owen Smith, who is challenging Jeremy Corbyn for leadership of the Labour Party, will accuse the Conservative Party of being behind ’a secret plan to privatise the NHS’ in England, in a speech later, the BBC reports.
He will claim that spending on the private sector has doubled to £8.7bn since the Conservatives came into government in 2010 – a claim the DH says is ’simply wrong’.
Mr Smith will say in a speech in Salford: ‘The NHS is our country’s most valued institution – and people will be shocked to hear that the Tories have been putting together a secret plan to privatise it.
‘We all rightly contribute to the NHS through our taxes – but we must make sure that money is spent on doctors and nurses, and not lining the pockets of private sector shareholders.’
He will claim that the DH annual report showed that almost 8% of healthcare in England last year was bought from private sector providers, up from 4% in 2010.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health said: ‘This analysis is simply wrong – this government was the first to ensure that doctors, not politicians, make decisions about who provides care.’
