New home planning approvals in England fall to lowest level in a decade

Planning approvals for new houses in England have dropped to a 10-year low, according to new figures that underline how difficult it will be for Labour to hit its target of building 300,000 homes a year.The data, from the Home Builders Federation (HBF), shows the number of new houses being approved is just over half what it was three years ago, having fallen to a level not seen since 2014.Builders blame the drop on the decision by the former government to drop binding housing targets for local authorities. Labour has now reversed that move, but experts say much more will be needed to hit the government’s target of 1.5m new homes over the parliament – a pledge that the prime minister has put at the centre of his plan to boost growth

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

Tell us: have you unfairly been handed a fly-tipping fine?

Councils are handing out increasing numbers of fly-tipping fines for increasingly controversial reasons, including community recycling.Have you been handed a fly-tipping fine for something you think is unfair? For example, have you been fined after leaving items outside your house for neighbours to collect for free?Do you work for a council and have a view on how these fines are being used? Do you work for one of the private companies who hand out the fines on behalf of the council?You can share your experiences of flytipping fines using this form.Please include as much detail as possiblePlease note, the maximum file size is 5.7 MB.Your contact details are helpful so we can contact you for more information

Flavonoid-rich foods and drinks may cut risk of dementia, study finds

Consuming more food and drinks rich in flavonoids, such as berries, tea and red wine, could lower the risk of dementia by 28%, a study suggests.The number of people living with the disease globally is forecast to nearly triple to 153 million by 2050, which presents a rapidly increasing threat to global heath and social care systems.Age and genetics remain the biggest risk factors, but experts say almost half of cases could be prevented or delayed, and there is mounting evidence that diet could play a role in the risk of developing the disease.Research led by Queen’s University Belfast suggests that increasing the intake of flavonoid-rich foods and drinks could help reduce the risk of dementia by more than a quarter.Academics said that flavonoids, primarily found in plant-based foods, have a range of health benefits, including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties

One in five GPs use AI such as ChatGPT for daily tasks, survey finds

A fifth of GPs are using artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT to help with tasks such as writing letters for their patients after appointments, according to a survey.The survey, published in the journal BMJ Health and Care Informatics, spoke to 1,006 GPs. They were asked whether they had ever used any form of AI chatbot in their clinical practice, such as ChatGPT, Bing AI or Google’s Gemini, and were then asked what they used these tools for.One in five of the respondents said that they had used generative AI tools in their clinical practice and, of these, almost a third (29%) said that they had used them to generate documentation after patient appointments, while 28% said that they had used the tools to suggest a different diagnosis.A quarter of respondents said they had used the AI tools to suggest treatment options for their patients

UK facing ‘tsunami of missed cancers’ in wake of pandemic, experts say

The UK can expect a “tsunami of missed cancers”, leading experts have said, after an international study found that diagnoses fell sharply during the pandemic.Preliminary figures from the International Cancer Benchmarking Partnership, presented to delegates at the World Cancer Congress in Geneva, compared data on the instance and stage of cancer diagnosis in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway and the UK, before and during the pandemic.The results showed that UK nations had the biggest and most sustained falls in the diagnosis of lung, breast, colorectal and skin cancers during 2020. Particular data for Northern Ireland and Wales showed how badly they did compared with other countries studied. (Data for England and Scotland was still being collated but was expected to be as bad as the other UK nations