‘People think abuse comes with working in A&E. It shouldn’t be like that’

Hugo (not his real name), an advanced clinical practitioner, was on the night shift in A&E at Great Western hospital, Swindon, when a drunk patient started swearing aggressively at a nurse. “When I asked if I could help, he told me, ‘Fuck off you gay cunt.’ When I asked him not to speak to me like that and to return to his seat in the waiting room, he just walked up the corridor swearing and repeatedly shouting ‘gaydar’.”Hugo said he was initially more annoyed than scared, even when the patient grabbed a crutch and started swinging it about. “There wasn’t time to be frightened,” he said

Parents of critically ill children ‘crushed’ by lack of support, say campaigners

Parents of critically ill children are being “crushed” by a lack of statutory financial support when they need to take time off work, the parents of a six-year-old boy who died of cancer have said.Hugh Menai-Davis was diagnosed with a rare form of the disease when he fell ill suddenly in October 2020. The boy, then aged five, had been happy and healthy before he developed severe stomach pains.A GP initially told Hugh’s mother, Frances Menai-Davis, over the phone that it was probably gastroenteritis and would pass in a few days. She decided to take Hugh to hospital after growing concerned about his abnormally swollen stomach

‘It restored my hope’: the five charities at the heart of the Guardian’s 2025 appeal

The Guardian’s 2025 charity appeal theme has been about hope: practical and inspiring grassroots voluntary projects that encourage community pride, tolerance and unity as a positive and joyful antidote to polarisation, racism and hatred.We aim to raise £1m for our five partner charities. Donations are now just over £900,000. The appeal closes at midnight on Wednesday evening.“When they meet, share stories and learn together, they build empathy and understanding that lasts a lifetime,” Linda Cowie and Meg Grant said of the children who participate in the schools linking network they help run

‘You feel violated’: how stalkers outsource abuse to private investigators

As Laura stood in the court witness box, preparing to tell magistrates about her ex-husband’s obsessive nature, she flicked through the prosecution’s evidence file and saw the photographs. One of her leaving the house, another of her driving her car on the motorway. They had been taken by a professional. Staring at the grainy images, she felt numb.Laura’s ex-husband had hired a private investigator to put her under surveillance

Calls for SMA screening ignored before Jesy Nelson campaign, say families

When former Little Mix star Jesy Nelson announced her twins had been diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy type 1 (SMA1), a rare genetic condition that causes muscle wastage, the news quickly made front page news.The call for SMA to be added to newborn screening sprang to national attention and the health secretary, Wes Streeting, was quick to respond, saying Nelson was “right to challenge and criticise how long it takes to get a diagnosis”.“I’m determined to look not just at screening for SMA, but to make much better use of genomic medicine,” he said.But for many families affected by SMA, his intervention was bittersweet, with some saying their calls for the same kind of government action had been ignored for years.“I have been trying to raise awareness of the need for newborn screening for about four years

How common is violence against NHS staff in England and what is being done to stop it?

A Guardian investigation into violence and sexual harm by patients against NHS staff has revealed tens of thousands of alleged incidents reported over the past three years. Here is what we know from the findings.The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) defines work-related violence as “any incident in which a person is abused, threatened or assaulted in circumstances relating to their work”. Under the Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act from 2018 anyone who attacks an emergency worker could face a maximum two-year prison sentence. An assault may include pushing, shoving or spitting, as well as fear of an attack