The Times • 12th May 2024

Birth trauma inquiry: Good pregnancy care exception not the rule

New mothers risk suffering lifelong injuries as hospitals cover up endemic failures in Britain’s maternity system, according to a landmark inquiry which found good care for pregnant women “is the exception rather than the rule”.

The Times • 7th July 2023

I was ignored after traumatic birth — no mother should experience that

Lying on a hospital bed and bleeding heavily, Theo Clarke was sure she would never get to properly meet her daughter.

ITV News • 30th March 2022

Ministers told to 'get a grip' over PPE - two years into Covid pandemic

“Get a grip” of personal protective equipment (PPE) stocks and contracts, the government has been told, as procurement issues are laid bare once again.

Press Association • 5th October 2021

Get back to the office to stop colleagues gossiping about you, PM tells workers

Boris Johnson has said young people should get back to the office to stop their colleagues gossiping about them.

Press Association • 28th September 2021

Starmer: Mental health help would be available within a month under Labour

Mental health treatment would be available within a month for all who need it under a Labour government, Sir Keir Starmer is to announce.

Press Association • 22nd September 2021

Johnson: Grandchildren will blame us for climate destruction if we don’t act now

Coronavirus proved that “gloomy scientists” will be shown to be right on the devastation set to be caused by climate change, Boris Johnson is expected to tell world leaders in a speech in New York.

Press Association • 11th September 2021

Johnson set to announce winter Covid plan with focus on vaccinations

Mr Johnson is expected to say that vaccines will continue to be the first line of defence over the autumn and winter, a high-risk time for coronavirus as other respiratory illnesses circulate.

Press Association • 10th September 2021

Starmer moves to set out Labour’s alternative for social care

Sir Keir Starmer is expected to use a speech at a summit for Labour leaders in local government to set out his stall for the reform of social care.

Press Association • 9th September 2021

NHS salaries fuel fears that social care cash will be absorbed by health service

The Government will be keeping a “really close eye” on how extra funding will be spent by the NHS a minister has said, amid fears cash eventually destined for social care could be swallowed up by the health service.

Press Association • 8th September 2021

Government’s manifesto-busting social care announcement set for Commons test

The Prime Minister took a political gamble on Tuesday as he scrapped an election promise by raising national insurance contributions to deal with the backlog in the NHS built up during Covid and to deliver long-overdue reform of the social care system in England.

Press Association • 7th September 2021

Boris Johnson to reveal long-awaited social care reform plans to MPs

Boris Johnson has promised his Government “will not duck the tough decisions” to fix the broken social care system as he prepares to unveil his long-awaited plan to MPs on Tuesday.

Press Association • 6th September 2021

Extra £5.4bn announced to help NHS tackle Covid and pandemic backlog

The NHS will be given an extra £5.4 billion over the next six months to continue the response to coronavirus and tackle the backlog caused by the pandemic.

Press Association • 3rd August 2021

Traveller demands refund from Government for ‘rat-infested’ quarantine hotel

A traveller has appealed to the Government to issue full refunds to those staying in a quarantine hotel which he says is infested with rats.

Press Association • 3rd August 2021

Covid jabs for 16 and 17-year-olds could be approved within days – Sturgeon

Labour has said the Government must have a plan to roll out coronavirus vaccines to 16 and 17-year-olds following suggestions experts were about to approve the move.

Press Association • 26th July 2021

Compulsory jabs for students to attend lectures not ruled out

An education minister has repeatedly refused to rule out that students could be required to be double-vaccinated in order to attend university lectures in person and live in halls of residence.

Press Association • 25th July 2021

Taxpayers to face Covid bill for decades to come, MPs warn

Taxpayers will be facing the costs of Covid for decades while an inquiry will not come quickly enough to learn the lessons needed from the pandemic, MPs have said.

Press Association • 23rd July 2021

Pressure mounts to bring forward relaxation of self-isolation rules

Self-isolation is still a key part of the fight against coronavirus, a Government minister has said after more than 10,000 critical workers in the food sector were told they would not need to quarantine if “pinged”.

Press Association • 26th June 2021

Thousands fail to fill out coronavirus passenger tracing forms correctly

Almost 2,500 people who arrived in the UK and tested positive for coronavirus over the course of three months could not be properly traced because they gave authorities the incorrect contact information.

Press Association • 28th May 2021

No-test discharge to care homes like ‘putting live explosive in tinder box’

Colleagues of Matt Hancock have flocked to his defence as the Health Secretary came under sustained pressure from the social care industry over the decision to discharge people from hospital into care homes at the start of the pandemic without a coronavirus test.

Belfast Telegraph • 25th May 2021

‘There are no local lockdowns’, say public health directors in variant hotspots

Residents in eight Indian variant hotspot areas have been told “there are no local lockdowns” after the Government was accused of bringing in new Covid-19 restrictions “by stealth”.

Press Association • 25th May 2021

New guidance for Covid-19 hotspots after mixed messages on local lockdowns

Guidance for eight areas considered hotspots for the Indian variant of coronavirus is to be updated to make clear there are no local lockdowns imposed, the Government has said.

Press Association • 21st May 2021

Boris Johnson calls for new international treaty on pandemic preparedness

Boris Johnson has said the world was “just as disunited as Achilles and Agamemnon” before the coronavirus pandemic as he called for a new international treaty to tackle not just this global threat, but any in the future too.

Eastern Daily Press • 25th July 2019

Still not good enough: Hospital slammed with second failing rating

Still not good enough: Hospital slammed with second failing rating

The Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) in King's Lynn "fell short of what people should be able to expect" in an "extremely concerning" inspection report released today.

The chief inspector of hospitals for the Care Quality Commission (CQC), Professor Ted Baker, panned the west Norfolk trust as he found "little evidence of improvement" when inspectors visited in March and April.

Previously the QEH was rated as inadequate and put i

Eastern Daily Press • 22nd July 2019

Daughter's angst as police investigate whether mother's body was wrongly donated to medical science

Daughter's angst as police investigate whether mother's body was wrongly donated to medical science

Police are investigating an allegation that a much-loved mother's body was handed over to medical science without her consent.

Gwenda Higgins died in February this year after living with dementia and suffering a stroke.

Her daughter Nicola Wing said she felt her mother's body had been treated like a "piece of meat" and the consent form she apparently signed was dated two days before her death -