People living with incontinence face shortage of sanitary pads as NHS limits supplies

Millions of people across the UK living with incontinence are facing shortages of sanitary products due to supplies being rationed by NHS trusts, according to a coalition of charities.The shortages are leading to a “pad gap” where people are having to pay for incontinence products themselves, according to an open letter from organisations including the Royal College of Nursing, Prostate Cancer UK, and Bowel and Bladder UK.Around 14 million people across the UK experience incontinence. Healthcare workers in the NHS expect to fit up to five pads a day for patients who experience incontinence, according to research, but freedom of information data from 110 NHS trusts show that more than half (53%) have a cap on the availability of products.Of these trusts, 34% have a cap of three products a day, while the remaining 66% have a cap of four products a day, which is lower than the expected need

NHS urges patients not to put off care as doctors in England prepare for strike

The NHS is urging patients not to put off seeking the care they need when resident doctors press ahead with strike action from Tuesday, a stoppage that the health secretary has called “disappointing”.Tens of thousands of resident doctors in England are to stage a six-day strike after the government took a key part of its offer off the table.The Department of Health and Social Care said last week that an offer of 1,000 extra training places would no longer be “financially or operationally” possible.NHS England said hospital teams across the country would be working to minimise disruption for patients during the stoppage, which is “expected to be particularly challenging” because of a shorter notice period.Patients have been advised to attend planned appointments unless they have been contacted to reschedule, and those with life-threatening emergencies should still call 999 or attend A&E

Say it right! The trouble with unfamiliar names | Letters

Priti Ubhayakar’s article resonated with me because of my non-English surname (A moment that changed me: for the first time in my life, a stranger pronounced my name correctly, 1 April). I grew up in the 1950s on a very English council estate. Most other kids were a Brown, Smith, Jones, etc, but I was an Uszkurat. My lineage is complex on my dad’s side, with a Lithuanian grandfather whose original name was changed to Uszkurat by, I think, German authorities. My dad was born in a part of Europe that was German until the Treaty of Versailles made it part of the new Poland

A striking exchange between nurse and doctor | Brief letters

As a young ward sister and trade union steward, I remember, in the 1980s, when I was on the picket line in front of my hospital, stopping a doctor in his Mercedes. He asked me who I was, and I replied: “One of your colleagues.” He looked at me with contempt and answered: “I don’t think so, my colleagues are intelligent people.” So I wonder where their newfound enthusiasm for industrial action comes from. Has the price of Range Rovers gone up?Hilary BramleyCourbesseaux, France There seem to be experts for every aspect of life nowadays, but to read that the Woodland Trust has a “conversation adviser” in the form of Dr Ed Pyne surely takes the biscuit (Contractor that cut back 500-year-old oak in London park identified, 3 April)

Medicines watchdog to investigate UK peptide clinics over health claims

The medicines regulator is investigating whether UK clinics are breaking the law by making claims about the benefits of unregulated, experimental peptide therapies, the Guardian can reveal.Interest in experimental peptides has boomed in recent years. The substances are delivered by injection and are touted by sellers, influencers and even some medics as aiding everything from anti-ageing to recovery from injury.There is little scientific evidence to support such health and wellness claims in humans. Where studies have been carried out, most are in animals or cells

‘Young people want to come together’: experts respond to mass teen meet-ups in Clapham

It started with a flyer sent around on Snapchat. Teenagers were invited to gather at a south London basketball court to celebrate the start of the Easter holidays. They were told to bring their own weed and laughing gas because it was going to be a late one.What followed in the hours after was chaos. Hundreds of young people came to the “link-up” last Saturday, and then gathered on Clapham High Street