The Guardian Health

‘Autistic kids are being experimented on’: inside America’s booming market for unproven stem cell infusions

Feeling abandoned and overwhelmed, families are turning to controversial new therapies backed by the US health secretaryLandyn Holdren is an eight-year-old autistic child who has high support needs and is nonspeaking. His mother, Christy Holdren, says he can be self-harming, slapping his chest, face or head when distressed.Later this month, she will spend $15,000 on an unapproved stem cell treatment she hopes might help him. Continue reading...

health  Jun 12, 2026

The Guardian Health

Joseph Ana obituary

My friend Joseph Ana, who has died aged 73, spent the best part of two decades in the UK working for the NHS as a urologist and then as a GP. But his heart was always in his native Nigeria, to where he returned to become a health commissioner. He used the knowledge and experience he had gained in the UK to help rebuild faith in the local healthcare system, overseeing, among other things, improvements in vaccination rates and the introduction of a state-wide ambulance service.Joseph was born in Z

health  Jun 12, 2026

The Guardian Health

Bananas could vanish from school lunch menus. Here’s why

New Farm Bill places caps on non-US foods; nutritionists say it restricts availability of healthy meals for kidsSchool nutrition workers and advocates have “lots of concerns about bananas”, said Erin Ogden, policy associate for federal child nutrition programs at the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI).Bananas are nutrient-dense foods that many children like. That makes them popular offerings in school cafeterias, since any healthy food that a kid will eat prevents waste and ensures

health  Jun 11, 2026

The Guardian Health

Patients are dying in A&E corridors - but I've seen how things could be different | Sophie

When I started nursing at 21 we were able to deliver timely, good care. That has become nearly impossibleSophie (not her real name) is a member of the Royal College of Nursing and a senior A&E nurse in a hospital in the south of EnglandI began my career as an A&E nurse in 2010, when I was 21. It was a completely different world. If a patient needed immediate attention, there was easily the capacity for two nurses to look after them straight away. The NHS target of seeing patients within

health  Jun 11, 2026

The Guardian Health

Nearly 3,000 NHS patients a day receiving corridor care in England, figures show

Published for the first time, the data recorded 2,241 daily cases of A&E corridor care, with 699 patients also treated in other inappropriate settingsAlmost 3,000 patients a day in England are receiving care in hospital corridors due to an unavailability of beds in A&E units across the country, according to official figures.Corridor care occurs when a patient receives treatment in a setting that is clinically inappropriate and is deemed to be undignified and unsafe. Continue reading...

health  Jun 11, 2026

The Guardian Health

Two children die from measles as England data shows 100 new infections

London, the east of England and the West Midlands have highest number of cases, as UKHSA urges families to get children vaccinatedTwo children in England have died from measles, health officials say, as data shows more than 100 new reported cases in the last fortnight.The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said on Thursday that two children had died this year, one from “acute measles” and the other from the “late effects of measles”. Continue reading...

health  Jun 11, 2026

The Guardian Health

Those tedious errands, tasks and chores that AI wants to replace? They help keep you fit | Manoush Zomorodi and Keith Diaz

There’s a downside to too much convenience: it harms our bodiesThere is a seductive fantasy being floated by AI executives that all the efficiency their products will bring us will lead to humans finally returning to their essential, best selves. Picture it: when this day arrives, we’ll spring from our chairs, push aside our keyboards and, supposedly, do all things we’ve been meaning to do: hike, cook and finally take a pilates class.It’s true – AI has already taken some workday drudgery, such a

health  Jun 11, 2026

The Guardian Health

Ministers want 60% of pupils in England ‘actively’ travelling to school by 2035

Exclusive: Transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, says cycling and walking plan focuses on ‘everyday travel needs’UK politics live – latest updatesMinisters are to launch a major push to get more children walking and cycling to school as part of a wider boost for “active travel” by the transport secretary Heidi Alexander.In the first significant change to active travel policy since the Boris Johnson era, thousands of new safe routes and crossings will be built around schools in England, with a ta

health  Jun 11, 2026

The Guardian Health

Patients in A&E with non-urgent ailments may be told to come back later under NHS plans

NHS bosses urge all hospitals to use ‘digital triage’ process to combat overcrowding in emergency servicesPatients who turn up at A&E with non-urgent ailments could be told to come back another time under NHS plans to stop hospitals becoming overcrowded and avoid the service’s usual winter crisis.Eighteen hospitals in England are already using “digital triage assessment” to help A&E staff decide which patients need to be seen right away or be dealt with in another way. Continue reading..

health  Jun 10, 2026

The Guardian Health

Rachel Downey obituary

My wife, Rachel Downey, was a health and social affairs journalist who went on to become a communications strategist at the Department of Health. There she worked at the heart of health policy, translating complex and often sensitive issues into communications that the public could understand. It was demanding, important work and she was exceptionally good at it.Most recently Rachel, who has died of renal failure aged 60, was head of public relations at the Office of the Patient Safety Commissio

health  Jun 10, 2026

The Guardian Health

Is the growing use of GLP-1s reshaping ideas of Black beauty?

People across the Black diaspora are increasingly turning to weight-loss drugs. How might this reshape our health, wellbeing and body image?Don’t get The Long Wave delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereThese days, I barely make it through the week without seeing news about what weight-loss medications, such as Ozempic and Mounjaro, can now supposedly achieve. Beyond the health benefits of shedding fat, “GLP-1” medications are also touted to treat addiction, and, as reported recently, even lowerin

health  Jun 10, 2026

The Guardian Health

Liz Martin obituary

My sister Liz Martin, who has died aged 73, was a nurse at the Northern General hospital in Sheffield for 46 years, rising to be a ward sister there before her retirement.She trained at the Northern General as a state enrolled nurse, later moving up to state registered status there and died in the hospital’s palliative care unit after a long struggle with cancer. Continue reading...

health  Jun 10, 2026

The Guardian Health

This rural California county’s problem is all too common: how to reduce suicides when everyone has a gun

Shasta county has one of the state’s highest rates of suicide and gun ownership. Here’s how locals are trying to combat itLike many men in the mountainous California county of Shasta, about 200 miles north of San Francisco, Bill Rocha loved to hunt and fish, spending the infernal summers out on the lake in his boat. For decades he made his living as a contractor, working hard with his hands every day. And like many men in rural parts of the state, Bill was a gun owner. He had several hunting rif

health  Jun 9, 2026

The Guardian Health

Healthy cooperation: how northern universities are linking with NHS trusts to drive innovation

Backed by a mix of private and public finance, Huddersfield and Manchester are among many in the academic sector helping to create jobs and growthHuddersfield might appear an unlikely setting for a thriving health research complex. The West Yorkshire town is best known for its manufacturing heritage, but has quickly become a honey pot for private sector businesses keen to collaborate with the town’s university in a push for the latest medical breakthroughs.Next month, the driving force behind th

health  Jun 9, 2026

The Guardian Health

‘You’re treated like this is the end’: Meet the dementia rebels – diagnosed and determined to change people’s minds

Few things are more feared than a dementia diagnosis. Now people living with the condition are fighting against damaging stereotypes and demanding proper medical supportWhen Maxine Linnell, 78, a retired psychotherapist living in Leicestershire, learned that she had dementia four years ago, the diagnosis proved less challenging than some people’s reactions. “What was striking was how many people’s attitudes changed almost immediately … they stop seeing you as a person and see only dementia, some

health  Jun 9, 2026

The Guardian Health

Challenges of treating and living with a brain injury | Letters

Readers respond to an article on how early intensive rehabilitation after a stroke or head injury is crucial for recoveryRather like Ian Sample himself trying to read Orlando Swayne’s book, I was nervous reading his article, braced for half-digested truths or oversimplifications on neurotherapy (The doctor who mends broken brains: why there is room for hope after a stroke or head injury, 3 June). But he paints an accurate picture of the way brains retain neuroplasticity and the reality of the po

health  Jun 8, 2026

The Guardian Health

Muscle growth drug ‘could reduce loss of lean tissue’ when using slimming jabs

Trial suggests monoclonal antibody can help retain lean body mass when losing weight with GLP-1 medicinesA drug that promotes muscle growth could significantly reduce the loss of lean body mass when using slimming jabs, research suggests.While GLP-1 based jabs such as Wegovy and Mounjaro have proved highly effective at helping people who are overweight or obese, experts have warned it is not only fat that is lost. Studies suggest 25-40% of total weight loss is down to a reduction in lean body ma

health  Jun 8, 2026

The Guardian Health

Monday briefing: Are we any closer to a cure for cancer?

In today’s newsletter: ​Researchers are giving us new insights into early detection and treatments, but with access to life-saving care remaining uneven patients still have a long road aheadGood morning. Israel has returned fire on Iran following a wave of missile strikes, the first attacks between the two countries since April’s ceasefire, despite Donald Trump reportedly urging Benjamin Netanyahu not to retaliate. The escalation threatens to drag the Middle East back into a regional war and rai

health  Jun 8, 2026

The Guardian Health

Richard Scolyer shares his ‘greatest lesson’ in open letter to Australians before famed cancer researcher’s death aged 59

‘My intention is for this letter to be published upon my passing – as my final farewell,’ Scolyer wroteRichard Scolyer, cancer researcher and former Australian of the year, dies aged 59Richard Scolyer, acclaimed melanoma researcher who tried experimental treatment on his own brain cancer – obituaryAn open letter to all Australians from Professor Richard A Scolyer AO16 December, 1966 – 7 June, 2026 Continue reading...

health  Jun 7, 2026

The Guardian Health

Record number of people waiting for NHS diagnostic tests in England

One in five of the 1.92m patients on waiting list wait longer than six weeks for tests such as CT and MRI scans, analysis showsA record number of people are waiting for a diagnostic test on the NHS, triggering fears that delays in accessing CT and MRI scans can endanger patients’ health.A total of 1.92 million patients in England are waiting to have a test to diagnose their illness such as by an ultrasound scan, assessment of their hearing, bone scan or various tests for cancer. Continue reading

health  Jun 7, 2026