Poor NHS maternity care in danger of becoming normalised, regulator warns
Maternity services in England are so inadequate that cases of women receiving poor care and being harmed in childbirth are in danger of becoming “normalised”, the NHS regulator has said.A Care Quality Commission (CQC) report based on inspections of 131 maternity units sets out an array of problems, adding to the sense of crisis that has enveloped an NHS service that cares for the 600,000 women a year who give birth and their babies.The watchdog’s grim findings came as Wes Streeting, the health secretary, admitted he felt acute anxiety about “the risk of disaster greeting women in labour tomorrow”.In its report, the CQC says problems in maternity care are so ingrained that:Some women, frustrated at facing such long delays in being assessed at triage, discharge themselves before they are seen.65% of units are not safe for women to give birth in, 47% of trusts are rated as requiring improvement on safety and another 18% are rated as inadequate.
Some hospitals do not record incidents that have resulted in serious harm.There is a widespread lack of staff and in some places a lack of potentially life-saving equipment.Hospitals do not always consider women’s suffering after receiving poor care.Nicola Wise, the CQC’s director of secondary and specialist care, said: “We cannot allow an acceptance of shortfalls that are not tolerated in other services.”She said it was vital that the NHS ensures “that poor care and preventable harm do not become normalised, and that staff are supported to deliver the high-quality care they want to provide for mothers and babies today and in the future”.
Streeting underlined the seriousness of what he called the crisis in maternity care at an event on Wednesday to launch a report by the IPPR thinktank on improving health in the UK.“When it comes to the crisis in our maternity services across the country, it is one of the biggest issues that keeps me awake at night, worrying about the quality of care being delivered today [and] at the risk of disaster greeting women in labour tomorrow,” he said.“I think that what we have seen, in the case of specific trusts, are problems and risk factors that exist right across maternity services across the country.”He also said the dire state of the public finances that the Labour government had inherited meant it could not extend free school meals to every primary school child in England.Last week the Child Poverty Action Group, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and the National Education Union urged ministers to take that step in order to reduce the number of children who do not have enough to eat and also the rising numbers who are overweight.
Streeting emphasised Labour’s determination to address the UK’s status as “the sick man of Europe” through concerted action on public heath.“I think we are in this appalling situation when we are living longer but becoming sick sooner.That’s terrible for the quality of life, it’s also terrible for the country, for the labour market and for the financial sustainability of our health and care services,” he said.However, he added that despite Labour’s plans to reduce the burden of killer diseases, he would not become “the fun police” and start checking what people were eating and drinking.In better news for the NHS, it has won praise from the Commonwealth Fund, a US-based global health thinktank.
It judged that despite its woes it was the third best system out of 10 it analysed, especially because it provides care that is universal and free to obtain at the point of need,“The NHS may be in deep trouble right now from a UK perspective, but it is all relative,The US is worse on nearly all accounts,” said the report’s co-author Reginald Williams II,“While waitlists may be an issue and facilities need upgrades, the cost of health is not bankrupting individuals [as it is in the US],”
British MPs and international organisations hacked on X
British politicians and international organisations have had their accounts on X hacked on Wednesday night.MPs including Shabana Mahmood, the justice secretary, and the Labour MPs Chris Elmore and Carolyn Harris all shared the same message on the social media site. Although quickly removed, the messages could still be read on TweetDeck, a dashboard used to manage accounts on X, formerly Twitter.The messages, which also included a lengthy code, said: “THIS IS HACKED ACCOUNT!!!! INTRODUCING HACKED ON SOLANA on each account we hack we publish the token address so we pump it and make profits together.”The message on the justice secretary’s account was posted at 7
All 23andMe board members but CEO resign over no adequate buyout offers
Seven of eight members of 23andMe’s board have resigned in yet another blow to the struggling genetics company. The CEO is now the only remaining member.The independent directors of the genetic testing firm said in a letter posted Tuesday that they were quitting the company’s board after not receiving a satisfactory buyout offer from the CEO, Anne Wojcicki.“After months of work, we have yet to receive from you a fully financed, fully diligenced, actionable proposal that is in the best interests of the non-affiliated shareholders,” said the seven directors, including the CEO of YouTube, in a letter to the company’s co-founder and CEO.In a memo to employees reported by the Wall Street Journal, Wojcicki responded: “I am surprised and disappointed by the decision of the directors to resign
Albanese government forging ahead with social media age restrictions despite Meta’s new Instagram teen accounts
The Albanese government is forging ahead with its plans for an age restriction on social media despite Meta announcing new restrictions for teens on Instagram, with the communications minister arguing children’s use of social media is unbalanced.On Wednesday Instagram announced changes to teen accounts, including giving parents the ability to set daily time limits for using the app, block teens from using Instagram at certain times and to see accounts their child is exchanging messages with and the content categories they are viewing.Teens under the age of 16 will need parental permission before any of the settings can be changed. Meta said the move had been planned for months, but the announcement came a week after the federal government announced plans to introduce legislation to parliament, by the end of the year, to raise the age children can access social media up to an as-yet-undefined age – likely between 14 and 16.The communications minister, Michelle Rowland, said the government welcomed the announcement, but “it does not negate the government’s intention to introduce legislation this year to mandate a minimum age for access to social media
Meta to put under-18 Instagram users into new ‘teen accounts’
Meta is putting Instagram users under the age of 18 into new “teen accounts” to allow parents greater control over their activities, including the ability to block children from viewing the app at night.The change will apply to new teen users but will also be extended to existing accounts held by teenagers over the next few months.Changes under the teen account setting include giving parents the ability to set daily time limits for using the app, block teens from using Instagram at certain times, see the accounts their child is exchanging messages with and being shown the content categories they are viewing.Teenagers signing up to Instagram are already placed by default into the strictest privacy settings, which include barring adults from messaging teens who don’t follow them and muting notifications at night.However, under the new “teen account” feature users under the age of 16 will need parental permission to change those settings, while 16- and 17-year-olds defaulted into the new features will be able to change them independently
Users of ‘throuples’ dating app Feeld may have had intimate photos accessed
Users of Feeld, a dating app aimed at alternative relationships, could have had sensitive data including messages, private photos and details of their sexuality accessed or even edited, it has emerged, after cybersecurity experts exposed a string of security “vulnerabilities”.Feeld, registered in the UK, reported soaring revenues and profits this month, thanks to millions of downloads from non-monogamous, queer and kinky users across the world.But while the app has gone from strength to strength financially – and attracted plaudits for its approach to sexuality – a British cybersecurity company claims to have uncovered serious failings in Feeld’s systems earlier this year.Feeld said it had dealt with the concerns “as a matter of urgency”, resolved them within two months and that it had not seen any evidence that user data had been breached.It did not know how long the vulnerabilities had existed before it was told about them in March by the London-based cybersecurity firm Fortbridge
OpenAI says the latest ChatGPT can ‘think’ – and I have thoughts
We are fast approaching two years of the generative AI revolution, sparked by the November 2022 release of ChatGPT by OpenAI. So far it’s been a mixed bag.OpenAI recently announced it had crossed 200 million weekly active users – nothing to be sniffed at, but it got its first 100 million within two months of release. A recent YouGov study found that the inclusion of AI in a product is as likely to turn off a potential purchaser as much as it is to get them to hand over their cash.Nevertheless, money keeps flowing into the sector, and advances keep coming
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