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Hospitals advertise personal injury lawyers, coach-potato Britons and why Russian women are being offered holiday leave

Hospital trusts have been given a reminder not to advertise personal injury lawyer services in wards, after a Sky News investigation found that 40 trusts were still doing so despite Government advice against it.

Sky News suggested some trusts were earning tens of thousands of pounds from the arrangements, but a DH spokesperson warned that the adverts ‘implied endorsement’ of these firms and can ‘undermine the relationship’ between staff and patients. The spokesperson said: ‘We have been clear it is not acceptable for this sort of advertising in NHS hospitals. Any trusts behaving in that way need to immediately review their procedures.’

Britons don’t get enough exercise, a University of Bristol study has shown. As much as 80% don’t reach the Government target of taking moderate exercise at least 12 times in a four-week period, BBC News reports.

Researchers found only around half had walked for more than 30 minutes consecutively in the past four weeks, while nine-in-ten had not been to a gym, or gone swimming. But Tam Fry, spokesman for the National Obesity Forum and honorary chairman of the Child Growth Foundation, said: ‘No-one should be at all surprised by these woeful statistics.’

Meanwhile, in Russia, women’s rights campaigners think one MP took things a bit too far with a suggestion that women should have two days of paid leave a month - during their periods.

Nationalist LDPR party MP Mikhail Degtyaryov said he proposed the draft law to increase the protection of women at the workplace, the Daily Mail reports. But Russian women who were hoping for an extra weekend a month will likely be disappointed as human rights groups slammed the proposals as ‘sexist’ and said they had not seen any Kremlin support for the outlandish ideas.