Home blood pressure checks could reduce risks after hypertensive pregnancy

New mothers who had hypertension in pregnancy could reduce their risk of heart attack, stroke and potentially early death through daily blood pressure checks at home, research suggests.Women who regularly monitored their blood pressure in the weeks after giving birth, and had doctors tailor their medication if needed, had better functioning arteries nine months later than those who received routine care, scientists found.When the medication was adjusted to account for blood pressure changes, the women ended up with less stiff arteries, an effect that researchers at the University of Oxford estimate could reduce the future risk of heart attack or stroke by 10%.Paul Leeson, a professor of cardiovascular medicine who led the study, said the findings suggested that the weeks after birth provided a “powerful and often overlooked opportunity” to protect women’s future health.“By simply monitoring blood pressure at home, new mothers with hypertensive pregnancies can protect their bodies from future damage,” he said

Four-fifths of UK mental health nurses say their workload is unmanageable

Mental health patients in the UK are routinely coming to harm because of high caseloads, understaffing and overwhelming administrative work, according to a poll that found only a fifth of specialist nurses felt their workload was manageable.Prof Nicola Ranger, the general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said mental health nurses were caught in a “perfect storm” and unable to keep up with rising demand, with patients paying the price by missing out on crucial care.Half of the specialist nurses who responded to the RCN union’s UK-wide survey said mental health patients “frequently come to harm” because caseloads are too high, with a quarter feeling that time pressures lead to daily issues with patient deterioration, relapse or self-harm.Nearly two-thirds said their caseloads had risen “a lot” in the past three years, while excessive admin and a “tick box” culture were blamed for taking away valuable time for patient care. The poll also suggests that demand for services has grown more than twice as fast as the number of nurses in the field

Drug use in England spikes during heatwaves and big sports events, research finds

Traces of illicit drugs in wastewater in England show spikes in usage during bank holiday weekends, heatwaves and sports events, while the Eurovision song contest ranks as one of the most drug-fuelled nights of the year.Tests at water treatment plants across the country found clear patterns in drug taking through the week and changing seasons, and revealed particularly high levels of cocaine and ketamine use compared with other European countries.Ketamine is a powerful anaesthetic that can be fatal and is especially dangerous when taken with other drugs. It can damage memory and cause serious bladder problems that can require surgical repair or even lead to removal of the organ.The project, led by Imperial College London for the Home Office, is one of the most detailed investigations to date into drug use in a single country

People in UK spend fewer years in good health than a decade ago, study finds

People in the UK are spending fewer years in good health than a decade ago, prompting concern that the population’s health is “going backwards”.The sharp decline in Britain’s healthy life expectancy, the amount of time someone spends free of illness or disability, is in sharp contrast to its recent rise in most other rich countries globally.The UK population’s health is poor, getting worse and not undergoing the same steady improvement seen in countries such as Japan, Norway and Spain, according to a new analysis of healthy life expectancy in 21 countries by the Health Foundation thinktank. It went up by an average of four-tenths of a year across the 20 other comparable countries.Healthy life expectancy for men in the UK has fallen from 62

Britain is undermining the care workers it depends on | Heather Stewart

“We are deflated, we are sad. We feel the government is trying to pull the rug from under our feet,” says David. “It is like we are being criticised for working in a sector which the government called for us to come help with.”David – not his real name – is a care worker for adults with learning disabilities. He came to the east of England from Nigeria in 2022 with his wife as the Conservative government turned to migration to tackle the social care recruitment crisis

From syringes to stents: Iran war exposes NHS dependency on petrochemicals

The war in Iran has put the NHS on high alert amid fears about looming shortages and rising costs for medicines and medical products such as syringes, intravenous bags and gloves.Much of modern healthcare is dependent on the petrochemicals now held up by the Gulf shipping standstill – whether for active pharmaceutical ingredients or to produce the millions of sterile single-use items, ranging from personal protective equipment (PPE) to catheters and diagnostic-device casings.The NHS is one of the biggest healthcare bulk buyers in the world. It spends £8bn a year on equipment and consumables, from latex gloves and paper towels to stents and prosthetic hips. Its bill for medicines was £21