Renters’ Rights Act could worsen court delays without proper funding | Letters

The new Renters’ Rights Act is a step forward in ensuring that both tenants and landlords can access justice, but without proper investment it risks creating new court delays and injustices for both parties (The Guardian view on the Renters’ Rights Act: finally, protections fit for the modern housing market, 5 May).The end of “no fault” evictions in England is expected to lead to an increase in the number of contested repossession cases. If courts do not have the funding to handle the increase, delays will grow and leave many people in limbo, as we have recently seen with the closure of the Hillingdon Law Centre.This investment must include further funding for housing legal aid. While last year the UK government pledged to increase the fees paid to housing legal aid firms, those changes are yet to be fully implemented

Doctors warned Andrea could die without safe housing, then discharged her to sleep on the streets

The First Nations woman has been on the priority public housing list in WA since 2023. Despite nearly dying from sleeping rough, she still has a two-year waitFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe family of a homeless First Nations woman who is sick with septicemia fear she will die without a safe home, but advocates warn it could be years before she reaches the top of the public housing waiting list.Andrea Woodley has been in and out of hospital for weeks with sepsis, triggered by infected blisters on her feet after sleeping rough in inner city Perth. The Noongar, Budimaya and Nyikina woman and her loved ones fear that without a home she is at risk of death.Her mother, Heather Taylor, who lives 2,000km away in Derby in the Western Australian Kimberley region, said she was told her daughter’s sepsis, which has spread to her heart and lungs, could be fatal without proper treatment

GPs and hospitals in England to be required to share data to create single patient records

GPs and hospitals will be required to share patient data under legislation to be announced in the king’s speech on Wednesday.Legislation to create a single patient record (SPR) for each person, which would be used across all healthcare providers, is part of a £10bn digitisation of the health service.The health secretary, Wes Streeting, said making the data accessible in one place would be a “gamechanger” that would save lives.The legislation aims to spare patients from constantly having to repeat their medical history when turning up at hospital or being discharged back to their GP.“As patients, there’s nothing more frustrating than having to repeat your medical history at every appointment,” Streeting said

My egg, my wife’s womb, our baby: how we found our way to lesbian motherhood

When Leah and I planned a family, we wanted to be as mutual as possible. Could reciprocal IVF – Leah carrying an embryo made from my egg – be the way forward?Late last year, it became my friend’s favourite party trick. “Rosa’s going to have a baby next week,” she’d say to a group of people who didn’t know me. I’d watch their faces as they tried to inconspicuously scan my body, detecting no sign of a bump. “Congratulations!” they’d say, smiles tight, clearly wondering what other delusions I might have up my sleeve

‘They’ve invented a spurious pseudo-disease’: why are so many men being told they have low testosterone?

A s a young man, Nick Dooley never thought about his hormones. He always considered himself “quite an outgoing, confident, chatty person”. Around the time he turned 30, however, Dooley began putting on weight and struggling with anxiety, “just slowly becoming a shell of my former self”, he says. By 38, he weighed 22st (140kg) and had a range of health issues. “I spent most of my life sat in front of a TV, doing nothing, with zero motivation, and from how I was in my 20s, that wasn’t me

‘A sobering indictment’: 14 homeless people die a year in public parks or countryside in Australia, analysis finds

Fourteen rough sleepers are dying in public parks or countryside areas each year on average in Australia, an analysis of hidden death reports reveals.The deaths of a young international student sleeping rough in Hyde Park, a young homeless mother who died of sepsis in Western Australia, and a newborn baby at a makeshift homeless camp near Wagga beach have prompted an outpouring of grief and shock in recent weeks.The deaths have triggered renewed focus on Australia’s homelessness crisis and the lack of social and emergency housing options, which are pushing vulnerable rough sleepers into precarious situations.An analysis of coronial records, most of which are not public, reveals disturbing numbers of homelessness deaths in public parks and countryside areas, including riverbanks.Between 2010 and 2020, 54 rough sleepers died in public parks, the analysis shows