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Holden’s comments follow an article in the Guardian by an anonymous “lead clinician at an urban walk-in health centre in the south of England” who called for a public information campaign “because misinformation is spreading undue alarm and hysteria.” 1 The clinician reported how patients who have been told they do not have the virus by NHS 111 are arriving at the centre worried about being infected, leading to the limited rooms being taken up as isolation suites, time spent disinfecting public areas, and telephone calls to Public Health England and hospitals to try to arrange tests. The clinician also reported waiting overnight with a patient who needed an ambulance to transfer them to hospital for a test, resulting in a 19 hour shift.

The BMJ recently reported that the total number of applications for specialty training posts had increased from just over 23 000 in 2019 to nearly 60 000 in 2024,1 while the number of training posts had barely changed, rising by fewer than 600 (from 12 175 to 12 743). In March the BMA’s UK Resident Doctors Committee said that it would lobby the UK government to reduce what it described as “the crushing competition ratios” that mean around 20 000 doctors being expected to miss out on specialty training this year. The committee has called for UK medical graduates to be prioritised for specialty training posts, for the number of training posts to be increased, and for a mechanism to protect international medical graduates who are currently in the UK.2 The UK Resident Doctors Committee’s co-chairs, Melissa Ryan and Ross Nieuwoudt, said at the time, “It is a simple fact that those who have experience in the NHS via their medical school and early years as doctors are more adapted to the system—yet in creating arbitrary competition ratios with applicants outside the NHS we are forcing these early career doctors to consider going to train in less familiar health systems themselves.

The UK Health Security Agency said that the risk to the UK population remained low and that close contacts of the case were being followed up. The infected person is being treated at the high consequence infectious diseases unit at the Royal Free Hospital in north London. In August this year the World Health Organization declared mpox a public health emergency after the emergence of clade Ib mpox in the Democratic Republic of Congo and other African countries.1 A global public health emergency had previously been declared in 2022 for mpox, which was largely spread by sexual contact and seen in countries such as the UK where it had not previously been seen. “The risk to the UK population remains low, and we are working rapidly to trace close contacts and reduce the risk of any potential spread.

Casey wrote that, throughout the many reports and initiatives of the past 15 years, “health services are relentlessly cited as a key safeguarding partner which does not share information as easily and frequently as it should.” Casey quoted the 2022 Telford review of child exploitation, which found that health services often turned a blind eye to abuse. The chair of that review said of health services, “Many witnesses I heard from were looking for a ‘way out’ and wanted someone to uncover what they were going through, without having to make an official complaint.” Include all types of child abuse in the policy Follow a children’s rights based approach Carry out a government systems impact assessment Build measurable outcomes for children into any plans, and Provide clear definitions before further consultation.

Proportion of doctors able to practise medicine in UK who are women The 2024 data show variation across the four UK countries. Since 2018-19 there have been more female than male medical students in all four UK countries. In November the GMC’s annual workforce report showed that, for the first time, there are more doctors from ethnic minority groups than white doctors working in the UK.1 The GMC’s 2024 national training survey found that nearly one in 10 women (9%) and 4% of men who answered optional questions on discriminatory behaviour in the workplace reported experiencing unwelcome sexual comments or advances causing embarrassment, distress, or offence.2 This proportion rose drastically for women at the beginning of their training.

The deal, which will be backdated to 1 March 2024, will see most consultants receive pay uplifts of between 2.85% and 12.80% in addition to the previously announced 6% pay award for 2023-24.1 Both the BMA and the Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association had recommended that their members accept the deal.2 Altogether, 22 700 consultants took part in the BMA referendum from 14 March to 3 April—a 61.9% turnout, with 18 778 (82.7%) voting in favour of the offer and 3922 (17.3%) against. Comparator professions Sharma added, however, that the fight was not yet over and that there was still “some way to go before the pay that consultants have lost over the last 15 years has been restored. [...]all eyes will be on this year’s pay review round, recommendations from the DDRB, and response from the government. Consultant members of the Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association voted to accept the deal with a yes vote of 83.5%, after also rejecting the previous offer in January.4 The association’s president, Naru Narayanan, said, “This is the best deal available right now and a step firmly in the right direction.

The BMA and the Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association are to put a pay offer to consultants in England after negotiations with the government. The new offer makes provision for much needed changes to the structure of the consultants’ pay scale, said the BMA, which will result in fewer points at which pay increases. The BMA will be given a say in the selection of DDRB members, and the government has agreed to no longer include information on economic performance in its remit letters to the body and to remove references to the government’s inflation targets from the DDRB’s terms of reference.

Almost 700 medical students in the UK have been given “placeholder” jobs, meaning that they know the deanery they will be in when they start foundation training in August but not the hospital where they will work.