Emergency service teams, local councils and government officials will take part in a full, multi-day pandemic preparedness exercise, to help the UK prepare for potential future threats. The test, which is likely to take place in the autumn, will involve thousands of people across different parts of the UK, minister Pat McFadden has announced. The […]

Erica Donnelly, Jessica Tse, Jack Latham The BBC spoke to six people – including Erica, Jessica and Jack – who have had their first cervical screening in the last six months People not knowing about options to make their cervical screening easier and more comfortable is “costing lives”, a cancer charity warned last month. To

Jane Deith BBC File on 4 Investigates BBC Listen to Jane read this article At the urology department of Burnley General Hospital, 26-year-old Ryan (not his real name) is having a drug solution inserted through a catheter – part of his treatment for a condition known as ketamine bladder. This procedure will not completely reverse

Dominic Hughes Health Correspondent Reporting fromDouglas, Isle of Man Getty Images The Isle of Man could be the first jurisdiction in the British Isles to legalise assisted dying A law to give terminally ill adults on the Isle of Man the right to end their own lives is entering its final stages, making it potentially

Getty Images Doug Barrowman, who led PPE Medpro, pictured alongside his wife Baroness Michelle Mone. The chair of the Covid inquiry has ruled that evidence related to PPE Medpro, the firm linked to Baroness Michelle Mone and her husband Doug Barrowman, will be heard in a closed, private session next month. On 3 March, the

Getty Images Michael Gove outside the Covid Inquiry after giving evidence on Monday, 10 March. Michael Gove has told the Covid inquiry it was “ludicrous” to suggest he tried to force through a deal for a new ventilator made by the electronics giant Dyson without proper safety checks. Emails show a senior official at the

Baroness Mone and her husband Doug Barrowman have accused the Covid inquiry of an “establishment cover-up” after their second attempt to be given an official role in the inquiry was rejected. The couple claimed they were the targets of a “politically motivated witch hunt” after the inquiry’s chairwoman, Baroness Hallett, refused their application to be

BBC In the next 24 hours and then over the following fortnight up until the Spring Statement, the government is going to talk a lot about a broken welfare system that is failing the people who use it, the economy and taxpayers. Taking a tough call on fixing it goes against the instincts of much

Matt Hancock has defended government deals to buy personal protective equipment (PPE) during the pandemic, saying the country was in a “desperate situation” at the time. In a bad-tempered session at the Covid inquiry, the former health secretary repeatedly criticised the line of questioning describing it as “naive”, “hostile” and “inappropriate”. He said he was

BBC Listen to this article on BBC Sounds Ministers, health staff and the public gathered in London last week for a summit to discuss the 10-year NHS plan in England. It was the final roadshow in a nationwide tour to help set out the strategy the government says will rescue the “broken” NHS, which has