Top headlines
GP manslaughter case dropped due to ‘insufficient evidence’
Third of practices left out of pocket from pharmacy flu scheme fiasco
15:30 Elsewhere, a big story has broken this afternoon – with the second GP being cleared of killing a 12-year-old boy by gross negligence after he died from a rare illness.
Dr Lindsay Thomas, 42, and Dr Joanne Rudling, 45, had both been on trial for the death of schoolboy Ryan Morse after he died from the treatable disease, but the jury in the case was dismissed after Mrs Justice Nicola Davies cleared Dr Rudling of manslaughter saying there was ‘insufficient evidence’.
Read Pulse’s full coverage here
13:50 Scores of tweets have been posted on Twitter by doctors showing support for the BMA’s junior doctor committee chair Dr Johann Malawana, after reports emerged yesterday revealing the tactics used during the dispute with the Government over the junior doctor contract.
A number of doctors, including Dr Zoe Norris from campaign group GP Survival, have submitted tweets using the hash tag #IStandWithJohann.
It comes after reports surfaced yesterday claiming that the BMA intended to drag out the contract row for 18 months in a coup to tie up health secretary Jeremy Hunt’s Department of Health ‘in knots’ and impose the disputed contract, after a series of Whatsapp messages were leaked.
Reports yesterday also claim that the messages between members of the junior doctor committee show that weekend pay ‘was the only red line’ for junior doctors.
Whatever those trying to smear @johannmalawana @TheBMA hope to achieve, those who work in&use the NHS know the truth #IStandWithJohann
— Dr Zoe Norris (@dr_zo) May 26, 2016
11:15 Experts have warned that thousands of people with lung disease are ‘suffering from neglect’ by the NHS, the Daily Mail reports.
A report published by the charity, the British Lung Foundation, examining lung conditions has claimed that breathing-related illness is far more widespread than previously thought.
According to the report, there are around 115,000 deaths relating to lung disease and 550,000 diagnoses each year.
However, the charity claims that treatment for lung problems lags far behind what is available for other conditions, adding that despite some lung conditions – including lung cancer – are among the UK’s most lethal diseases, they are poorly understood and underfunded, the report authors claimed.
Dr Penny Woods, chief executive of the British Lung Foundation, said: ‘Systemic neglect of lung disease, from NHS structures to screening, data collection and research funding, means people affected are being left behind by UK healthcare institutions.’
9:45 Prime Minister David Cameron has launched a new crackdown on the inappropriate use of antibiotics, warning that failure to tackle resistance would cause ‘catastrophic consequences’.
Mr Cameron has committed the Government to halving drug-resistant bug infections by 2020 by announcing a raft of new measures including the introduction of new targets to limit the use of antibiotics, the Independent reports.
Other measures to tackle antibiotic resistance include to halve the number of the riskiest healthcare-associated bloodstream infections – such as E-coli – by 2020, which would help reduce demand for antibiotics – and the launch of a Public Health England awareness campaign on the threat posed by drug-resistant bugs and the ‘need for behaviour change to end overuse of antibiotics’.
