Victoria Macdonald , Health and Social Care Editor

The UK is getting poorer and sicker. 

Health actuaries have told this programme longer waits are associated with more than 1,800 additional deaths last month alone.

The start of 2024 has been welcomed by firework displays and street parties around the world – and in many there was a message of hope, that this year might be more peaceful than the last – while London declared it was “a place for everyone”.

The UK health security agency is urging eligible people to get the flu jab after the number of cases doubled over the last week.

More than 2,000 people with autism and learning disabilities are stuck in mental health hospitals across England, despite repeated Government promises to end the practice.

The Covid Inquiry was set up to investigate a whole range of issues, from how well-prepared the country was to deal with a pandemic, to the impact of specific decisions and Government policies.

It’s been an emotional day at the Covid Inquiry – the second day of Boris Johnson’s testimony.

People all over the country will have been watching Mr Johnson’s testimony, the majority of whom were affected in some way by how the government handled the pandemic. 

Victims and families caught up in the infected blood scandal have told this programme they have little faith in the Government to bring forward compensation.

There were tears in the Covid Inquiry gallery today as bereaved families heard former health secretary Matt Hancock defend the decision to discharge hospital patients into care homes – without testing them. 

The former health secretary Matt Hancock has told the Covid inquiry the lockdown should have begun three weeks earlier, but claimed there was a toxic culture in Number 10 which wanted to “find people to blame”. Mr Hancock also claimed he wasn’t told about the Eat Out to Help Out scheme until the day it was announced.

The UK’s chief scientific adviser says the government’s failure to act quickly when warned about rising Covid cases in autumn 2020 led to preventable deaths, and said advice from scientists was ignored by the government.

Professor Sir Chris Whitty has told the Covid Inquiry he was never told about the Eat Out to Help Out scheme, despite Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak saying the country’s top scientists were consulted. 

England’s Chief Medical Officer Professor Sir Chris Whitty has been giving evidence at the Covid inquiry, where he was repeatedly asked about whether more could have been done to halt the rapid spread of the virus when the pandemic first began.

Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak suggested Covid should let “rip” – even though people would die from the virus, according to evidence at the public inquiry from the UK’s former chief scientist.