Autistic girls much less likely to be diagnosed, study says

Females may be just as likely to be autistic as males but boys are up to four times more likely to be diagnosed in childhood, according to a large-scale study.Research led by the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden scrutinised the diagnosis rates of autism for people born in Sweden between 1985 and 2020. Of the 2.7 million people tracked, 2.8% were diagnosed with autism between the ages of two and 37

Wes Streeting to offer resident doctors bigger pay rise to end dispute

Wes Streeting is to offer resident doctors a bigger pay rise than other NHS staff in England as part of a new package of measures to try to end their long-running dispute.The health secretary also plans to guarantee resident doctors that hospitals will be fined if they do not give them good working conditions, such as rest areas and access to hot food.Streeting is looking at making a series of improvements to previous offers he has made, which may persuade the British Medical Association (BMA) to call off its nearly three-year-long campaign of industrial action.Senior figures in the NHS briefed on Streeting’s thinking are increasingly optimistic that the measures he is finalising may prove enough to break the deadlock before the third anniversary of the first doctors’ strike of the current dispute on 13 March 2023.The health secretary hopes that by offering to significantly improve – but for resident doctors only – the 2

Mediterranean diet can reduce risk of stroke by up to 25%, long-term study suggests

A Mediterranean diet can reduce the risk of every type of stroke, in some cases by as much as 25%, a large study conducted over two decades suggests.A diet rich in olive oil, nuts, seafood, whole grains and vegetables has previously been linked to a number of health benefits. However, until now there has been limited evidence of how it might affect the risk of all forms of stroke.The study, published in Neurology Open Access, a journal of the American Academy of Neurology, shows an association but does not prove the Mediterranean diet causes a lower risk of stroke.However, experts not involved with the research welcomed the findings, and said there was “huge potential” to reduce a person’s chances of experiencing a stroke

Cost of UK’s drug price deal with US will come out of NHS budget

The cost of the government’s drug pricing deal with the Trump administration will come out of the NHS budget instead of the Treasury’s and could eventually reach £9bn a year, campaigners fear.Patrick Vallance, the science minister, has confirmed that the costs – initially an extra £1bn over three years– will be borne by the Department of Health and Social Care, which funds the NHS in England, and not the Treasury.His admission, in a letter to the Commons science, innovation and technology committee, is the first time the government has specified which Whitehall department would foot the bill.It comes amid growing concern among Labour, Liberal Democrat, Green and Scottish National party MPs that ministers have been evasive about the costs involved and risk that the NHS may have to cut services in order to pay the 25% higher prices for new drugs that ministers agreed to.The £1bn is the estimated extra cost for the first three years of the 10-year deal the government announced on 1 December

Ministers to crack down on profiteering in care sector and make renewed fostering push

Private providers of child social care in England will be pushed out of the system if they are found to be profiteering, the children’s minister has said.Josh MacAlister, who is in charge of overhauling the care system for children, also called for a fostering equivalent of the Homes for Ukraine scheme to provide homes for tens of thousands of children.Announcing a major push to find homes for 10,000 foster children as part of a bid to rebalance child social care away from private providers, MacAlister said the state was “failing to provide the lifelong, loving relationships that these kids need”.MacAlister led an independent review of child social care under the last Tory government before becoming an MP and then minister. He said his message to private providers was: “If you want to be part of this system in the future, don’t price-gouge; don’t profiteer

Blanket rule on trans women in men’s prisons would deny their identity, says Scottish government

A blanket rule to house transgender women in men’s prisons, even when they pose no risk to others, would be a “fundamental denial” of their identity, the Scottish government has argued.Placing a trans inmate in a prison that does not align with their lived gender runs counter to the aims of rehabilitation, Gerry Moynihan KC said on Thursday as he set out Scottish ministers’ position that a blanket rule on where prisoners are housed could contravene obligations under the European convention on human rights.In its latest court battle with the SNP government, For Women Scotland is challenging guidance that says trans prisoners should be housed according to individual risk assessment, which the group argues is contrary to the supreme court’s ruling on women-only spaces.For Women Scotland brought the original challenge that resulted in last April’s landmark ruling that the definition of a woman in equalities law refers to biological sex.Arguing that the supreme court decision was “not a universal proposition” but only for the purposes of the Equality Act, Moynihan said: “Where a transgender prisoner does not pose an article 8 problem, does not threaten the rights of others – are we to have an absolute rule that says that they must be accommodated in a prison of their sex?“Why? The sole reason is that they are to be classified as a man