Victoria Macdonald
Junior doctors’ strike explained
The country is braced for the first junior doctors’ strike since 1975 – David Cameron is warning of the dangers, but 66 per cent of the public support the strikers.
-
FactCheck: is austerity reducing life expectancy?
Life expectancy in England is not growing at the rate that experts predicted before 2011. What’s going on?
-
FactCheck: how generous have the Conservatives been with the NHS?
Even with the extra cash, the health budget is growing much slower than it did under the last Labour government.
-
5m
Autumn statement: hope for NHS?
Ahead of tomorrow’s autumn statement, the Chancellor has warned there’s tough challenges ahead for the economy. So what hope is there for the NHS and social care, already struggling to avert a financial crisis?
-
Victoria Macdonald
-
Victoria Macdonald
NHS: extra money ‘not enough’ to meet government’s ambitions
Few believe that the extra money will do much more than pay off the ever increasing deficits and meet increased pension demands.
-
Victoria Macdonald
#NotGuilty giving courage to speak out about sexual assault
‘Amelia’, not her real name, was attacked six months ago in Oxford – but she did not tell the police. What helped her was a letter written in the Cherwell – Oxford’s independent student newspaper.
-
Victoria Macdonald
Giving NHS whistleblowers the freedom to speak up
Over the years I have reported on a number of cases in which whistleblowers have had their careers, reputations and lives blown apart because they have tried to do the right thing.
-
Victoria Macdonald
Burnham in spotlight for Labour’s 10-year NHS plan
If this winter has identified anything it is that the health and social care system is not working together as well as it should. Indeed, some less kindly souls might say it’s barely working at all.
-
Victoria Macdonald
Patient log jam in hospital? Send for the Red Cross
An NHS hospital has called in the Red Cross to help with what is rather pejoratively called bed blocking.
-
Victoria Macdonald
Winterbourne View report: why has there not been more progress?
Today’s report on the care of people with learning disabilities in England is full of horrible words and phrases like “stakeholder” – a shame, because it’s important.
-
Victoria Macdonald
NHS staff: struggling to make ends meet
NHS staff take to the picket lines for the second time in two months, with more unions joining in. The government says the recommended 1 per cent rise will mean job losses.
-
Victoria Macdonald
Why we are on the verge of diabetes & tuberculosis epidemic
Figures show that diabetes triples the risk of a person developing TB, and experts fear that with diabetes rates soaring, recent progress in tackling TB could go into reverse.
-
Victoria Macdonald
‘We’ve been carrying the NHS and now this’
The NHS is facing its worst financial crisis in a decade and any extra demands would require finding savings from elsewhere. Many managers are saying those “elsewheres” do not exist.
-
Victoria Macdonald
Tories and Labour failing to deal with NHS funding shortfall
While there is a belief in some quarters that there is still room for efficiencies to be made, if you talk to NHS managers many will say they have sliced and diced as much as they dare.
-
Tom Clarke
Brain tumours in children: symptoms and signs
Some child brain cancers grow very quickly so a diagnosis just a few weeks earlier can make a huge difference to a child’s prospects.