Jim Mackey should note that hospital systems are best led by doctors | Letters

Re your report (Next boss of NHS England prepares purge of senior leadership team, 6 March), I hope that Sir Jim Mackey will consider the body of research showing that the best hospital systems are on average led by doctors, not non-medically-trained managers. The Mayo and Cleveland clinics sit consistently at No 1 and No 2 in global healthcare rankings. Notably, both have, since their inception in 1864 and 1921 respectively, been led only by doctors. Naturally, they also provide doctors with good training in leadership and management.Having researched this area of leadership for 20 years, I suggest to Sir Jim that if he wants improved patient care, reduced waiting lists, efficiencies, and innovation through a greater use of AI and health tech, he gives more decision-making powers and responsibility to outstanding doctors, and other clinicians, who understand the core business of healthcare, medicine and the NHS

Sizing up: how stadiums, hospitals and airlines are adapting to rise in obesity

With a study predicting that by 2050 more than half of adults and a third of children and young people worldwide will be overweight or obese, a swathe of industries are adapting to accommodate larger bodies. From hospitals to transport, stadiums to crematoriums, here are some of the adjustments being made.At the 2014 football World Cup in Brazil, organisers said 1,675 seats had been reserved for obese people or people with disabilities – the first time tickets for obese people were offered at a Fifa event.To qualify for a ticket, people were required to submit a medical certificate saying they had a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or more.Providing seats for larger football fans is now standard practice at major matches, with Fifa’s stadium guidelines stating that “easy access extra-width seating” for obese adults or those with limited mobility should be available

Ministers delaying inquiry into treatment of migrant carers, RCN says

Ministers are dragging their heels on an investigation into the mistreatment of migrant carers, the country’s largest nursing union has said, as it continues to receive complaints about low pay, substandard accommodation and illegal fees.Nicola Ranger, the general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, has written to Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, to urge her to speed up her promised investigation into the abuse of foreign care workers.Despite the government’s promises to clamp down on abusive practices by rogue employers and agencies, the RCN says it continues to receive more than 100 calls a year from nurses who say they are being mistreated.Ranger said in her letter: “The RCN is deeply concerned by reports of exploitative workplace practices that many international educated nursing staff in the care sector face. Our members report a range of issues from long working hours, excessive repayment fees to exit contracts, substandard and crowded accommodation, and illegal work finding fees

Patients with long Covid regain sense of smell and taste with pioneering surgery

Doctors in London have successfully restored a sense of smell and taste in patients who lost it due to long Covid with pioneering surgery that expands their nasal airways to kickstart their recovery.Most patients diagnosed with Covid-19 recover fully. But the infectious disease can lead to serious long-term effects. About six in every 100 people who get Covid develop long Covid, with millions of people affected globally, according to the World Health Organization.Losing a sense of smell and taste are among more than 200 different symptoms reported by people with long Covid

Next boss of NHS England prepares purge of senior leadership team

The next boss of NHS England is preparing a wide-ranging purge of its senior leadership team as he steers it into a much closer relationship with the health secretary, Wes Streeting.Sir Jim Mackey, NHS England’s chief executive, is finalising plans for “a big clearout” of the top executives who were mainly hired by his immediate predecessor, Amanda Pritchard, who will leave the post in April.Mackey’s purge will lead to the departure of many of the organisation’s most senior high-level managers, with only a handful expected to survive, well-placed sources say.Pritchard surprised the service last week when she resigned after holding talks with Streeting over her and the organisation’s future role.Prof Sir Steve Powis, NHS England’s national medical director and best-known other public face behind Pritchard, followed suit on Thursday by announcing that he too is standing down

‘They suffer in silence’: case of serial rapist Zhenhao Zou highlights barriers to justice for east Asian women in UK

When asked if she was surprised that most of the victims of Zhenhao Zou, who could be one of Britain’s worst serial rapists, remained unknown to authorities, Viny Poon, who has spent the past decade supporting east Asian women in the UK, simply said: “No.”Zou, a 28-year-old PhD student, was convicted on Wednesday of drugging and raping 10 women in London and China. After recovering videos of Zou attacking a further 50 women, police have said this could be one of the worst cases of sexual violence in modern Britain. All of Zou’s victims are thought to be of Chinese heritage.While some may be unaware they were raped, others may have chosen not to come forward