Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) spent more than £26 million on maintaining grounds and gardening services in 2013-14 despite a huge budgetary black hole. The figures were calculated by the Tax Payers’ Alliance (TPA) who said that 43 hospital trusts in
Discrimination against elderly people within the NHS is set to worsen thanks to new “highly unethical” targets being set by the UN which prioritise treatment for younger people, senior medics have warned. Charities have spoken out against an “alarming” cultural
Police investigators have warned that thousands of foreign nurses with faked qualifications could be working in the NHS right now. The revelation comes following the conviction of Filipino nurse Victorino Chua for the murdering two patients and poisoning 20 others in
Fat parents must shape up or “face the music”, the chief executive of the NHS has declared. Urging the government to back plans designed to coerce people into healthier lifestyles, Simon Stevens also said that the NHS isn’t just a health service,
Clinical staff at two scandal-hit NHS hospitals have been handed millions in performance bonus payments, despite delivering poor care leading to the deaths of hundreds of patients. Freedom of Information requests submitted by the Taxpayers’ Alliance (TPA) uncovered more than
A mixed-race HIV positive Londoner has written a letter of support to Nigel Farage following the Ukip leader’s remarks on HIV health tourism. The anonymous author, who describes himself as a “victim of HIV immigration”, details how his health is being put
A charity boss has had her pay increased to a whopping £420,000 despite the homes her charity provides to vulnerable elderly people coming under criticism for being inadequate. At the same time, it has emerged that NHS bosses awarded themselves an
Finally, in this dullest and most dishonest of general elections, I’ve spotted a clear campaign winner. It’s the Get UKIP party. Possibly Get UKIP’s finest hour so far was during and after the Leaders’ Debate in which Nigel Farage pointed
The government has introduced new guidelines to clamp down on health tourism just days after UKIP leader Nigel Farage was slammed by his political opponents for raising the subject. The new rules advise hospitals that they have a “legal obligation”
Fresh calls have been made for an inquiry into claims that a senior NHS boss put patients lives at risk in order to meet Labour health targets and then gagged a whistleblower. Dame Barbara Hakin, who earns £205,000 a year
Over 9,000 people die each year needlessly thanks to the unwillingness of Britain’s political classes to embrace public-private partnerships in healthcare, a new report has found. Far from being the “envy of the world”, the report’s authors highlight the fact
A Welshman who fell ill after visiting family in Cambridgeshire was shocked to discover that NHS England would not be picking up the bill for his treatment. Nicholas White, 64, from Gwynedd in North Wales was given a bill for
How much do you think Britain’s amazing, selfless, tireless, angelic nurses should be paid for the incredible work they do caring for sick people in our National Health Service hospitals? Should it be a) a thousand pounds an hour b)
Britain outside the EU would be like North Korea, former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown has claimed. His comments come as the shadow Chancellor Ed Balls stands accused of having “lost his marbles” for painting an “apocalyptic” vision of life under
And so today we are moved to say the unsayable. We suggest that the NHS, the institution that, according to Nye Bevan, gave us ‘the moral leadership of the world’, is not working. And we go further. We suggest that
As a frequent visitor to Hindustan, the cows in the market place wandering, grazing on cut flowers and fruit on the market stalls are an amusing and rather endearing sight. No great damage is done to the sub continent’s economy
Editor’s note: in this comment piece Matt Ridley calls for a radical new private-sector ethos for Britain’s state healthcare service. It first appeared in today’s edition of the Times. The latest report into Jimmy Savile’s astonishing freedom to roam the
DJ and TV presenter Jimmy Savile raped or sexually assaulted at least 60 patients at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, including seriously ill children, a report has concluded. Savile, who is now accepted to have been one of the most notorious sex
Ministers are stalling the publication of a report that heavily criticises NHS management as they are determined to avoid bad press for the health service ahead of the election, it has been claimed. The paper’s author Stuart Rose is said to
Medical experts have recommended that exercise is something which GPs should be prescribing more often, describing it as “a wonder drug” which is important in the prevention of many common diseases. The report from the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges
A row has blown up between Labour and UKIP in Bolton over a controversial election leaflet which UKIP says contains “blatant lies” about their manifesto. The Labour Party has distributed thousands of leaflets entitled “Local Voice — Winter 2015” in
NHS trusts have been spending hundreds of thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ money on luxury foreign trips to recruit NHS nurses, many of which then leave their jobs after only a few months in the post. A Telegraph investigation reveals
A Conservative Member of Parliament has called for the NHS to be reformed by introducing charges for those who lead “unhealthy lifestyles” by drinking too much, eating junk food or leading promiscuous lives.Dr Philip Lee MP, a practicing GP, has
Ministers have ordered an annual review of the National Health Service after it was revealed poor standards of care lead to 12,000 early deaths a year. The figures came after the NHS regulator, the Health Ombudsman, was described as “inadequate”
General Practitioners will be asked to check whether patients are eligible for free NHS care in a new pilot scheme to be rolled out in ten areas with high populations of EU migrants. According to GP magazine Pulse, surgeries will
The dire state of the National Health Service has been brought close to home for Prime Minister David Cameron after his own brother-in-law has warned of ‘unprecedented’ pressure on the health service. Carl Brookes, a cardiologist who is marries to
In an interview on BBC Newsnight last night, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham admitted that his party would put the ideology of socialised care ahead of patient choice and quality of healthcare. He also slammed the Coalition government for
Labour has been accused of “rank hypocrisy” over the NHS as Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham has admitted that the party plans to close hospitals and reduce the number of beds available if it takes power in May. His party
Thirty babies and mothers are believed to have died in an NHS hospital over the last decade – because doctors and midwives refused to speak to each other. Giving evidence to a government enquiry into the deaths, midwives have said
The leader of the Scottish National Party Nicola Sturgeon has said her MPs will vote on English health matters to protect funding for Scotland’s NHS. The separatist party, which has six MPs in the House of Commons, traditionally has a
Britain’s most senior doctor has cast doubts on the sustainability of a healthcare service that is free for all. His comments come at the same time as UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage called for a debate on the idea
A Christian woman is taking her employer, an NHS Trust, to an employment tribunal after they disciplined her for misconduct because she prayed for a Muslim colleague who was unwell. She is accusing the trust of discrimination, and wants them
Health, immigration and the economy far outstrip other issues in terms of importance to voters, a new poll by YouGov for the Times Red Box has found. However, the pollsters yesterday discovered that issues come second in voters’ minds to
Mere weeks after Miliband was accused of wanting to ‘weaponise’ the NHS – a phrase which he has not denied using – patients and doctors working in Labour-run NHS Wales have called on him to stop being hypocritical, and to
The NHS hospital that was being managed by a private firm may have been given a negative care report by left wing campaigners opposed to any non-state involvement in the health service. Hinchingbrooke Hospital in Cambridgeshire was a British health
The Scottish National Party (SNP) has been accused of attempted to silence staff in the Scottish NHS in order to distance themselves from the chaos surrounding emergency health provision. In an email seen by the Telegraph, a member of staff
Fourteen NHS Accident and Emergency departments have now declared major incidents, cancelling all but the most essential operations and calling in extra staff to cope with the surge in demand that winter brings. Yet NHS bosses are still insisting that
A man who was given a free nose job on the National Health Service, then threatened to sue it because he was unhappy with the result, has announced his bankruptcy. Sam Barton from Sutton Coldfield, in Birmingham blew a total of
Nigel Farage says that nurses working for the NHS should be able to speak English. I agree. What a pity that this is about the most daringly controversial criticism of the NHS we’re likely to hear from almost any politician,
The NHS is suffering an Accident & Emergency crisis this week, with five hospitals having to declare states of emergency after being overwhelmed by demand. One official described the scenes at some hospitals as a “war-zone”, as patients were left