Welcome to your 2025 Health News media roundup! As the days are starting to gradually get marginally longer, I’m sure we’re all looking forward to some spring sunshine. In the meantime, please enjoy these 3 articles considering A&E’s at bursting point, the recently launched weight-loss jab on the NHS and the dramatic rise in children admitted to mental health acute wards.

8^th The Times – Patients to face two-day waits at A&E in flu crisis

Patients have been warned of two-day waits in A&E as nine hospitals around the country declared critical incidents as the NHS struggled to cope with the winter flu crisis. Senior doctors warned of “unsafe and unacceptable care” that was likely to cost lives, while hospitals blamed exceptionally high demand at the busiest time of the year.

Wes Streeting, the health secretary, said he was “ashamed” of the plight of patients languishing in corridors but warned that significant improvements in care would not happen until next winter. NHS bosses said flu cases had “sky-rocketed” to about 5,000 a day, and Sir Keir Starmer is facing questions about his decision to prioritise routine operations in a week when A&E units are struggling to cope.

Professor Sir Stephen Powis, the national medical director for NHS England, cited a “quad-demic” of illness as outbreaks of flu, Covid, norovirus and RSV add to pressure on hospitals. RSV, respiratory syncytial virus, has symptoms similar to the common cold but can lead to more serious lung conditions and breathing problems.

Flu appears to be particularly bad this year, with the latest data showing that cases were nearly 3.5 times higher than the same week last year. However, others pointed out that the number of flu cases was similar two years ago.

Adrian Boyle, the president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said: “Patients are suffering unsafe and unacceptable care in what has become a regular winter crisis in an NHS that is not set up to cope with demand. Flu adds to the pressure but what we are seeing is not unprecedented – the real problem is that the system has so little resilience.” Boyle warned: “This is leading to thousands of avoidable deaths every year  and the political priority should be dealing with the dangers patients are facing in our emergency departments.

13^th BBC News – ‘I feel blessed to get weight-loss jab’- but can the NHS afford it for all?

Ray, 62 from south London, became one of the first patients to receive the weight-loss jab ‘Wegovy’ on the NHS last year and has lost 14kg (just over 2 stone) in five months. BBC Panarama joined him as he was prescribed his first dose at London’s Guy’s Hospital, where he was told he would probably need to take the drug all his life to prevent him regaining weight. He said he felt “blessed” to be given the drug.

But the NHS spending watchdog NICE has ruled that each patient can only receive Wegovy for two years. And only a tiny proportion of the eligible 3.4 million patient in England are getting access to the drugs. Prof Naveed Sattar, who leads the UK government’s Obesity Healthcare Goals Programme, says if everyone eligible was given the drug right away “it would simply bankrupt the NHS.”

Being overweight is now the norm and nearly one in three adults in England is obese – double the rate of just 30 years ago. Obesity can be very bad for your health, from diabetes to cancer, joint problems and heart disease, and treating the complications from it is estimated to cost the NHS across the UK more than £11bn a year. Wegovy and another drug called Mounjaro can help patients lose about 15 to 20% of their bodyweight, according to trials.

BBC Panorama has been given exclusive access to the weight management service at London’s Guy’s Hospital, which has begun rolling out Wegovy to a small group of patients who meet the criteria – a body mass index (BMI) of more than 35 and at least one weight-related health complication. They include care home worker Ray, who weighed 148kg or 23 stone when he began taking Wegovy in July 2024. He has struggled with his weight all his life. Ray needs two operations, but doctors have said he needs to lose weight first.

Not only is Ray given the drug, which is taken via weekly injection under the skin, but he gets face-to-face support from doctors an dietitians – advice not always given to those buying the drug privately online. They stress the jabs do not do all the work and it is important that patients change their lifestyle, and eat healthier food and smaller portions.

The chances of getting the drug however are low. Out of the more than 130,000 patients eligible for weight-loss drugs in south-east London, the Guy’s clinic reckons it can only see about 3,000. The weight-loss jab that most people know is Ozempic. It has been in huge demand and popularised by celebrities, from Elon Musk to Sharon Osbourne. In fact, it is meant to be for type 2 diabetes. Wegovy contains the same ingredient, semaglutide, but in different dosages.

Semaglutide mimics a gut hormone that sends signals to our brain telling us we are full. It also slows the transit of food through the stomach. In trials, patients on Wegovy lost an average of 15% body weight, when combined with lifestyle and dietary advice. Experts warn the drugs should only be taken under proper medical supervision, because like medicines they come with side effects, which not all patients can cope with.

Prof Barbara McGowan, an expert in obesity and diabetes, who runs the weight management service at Guy’s delighted with the progress of patients such as Ray. She says most clinicians hope that NICE’s two-year limit will be removed “because obesity is a chronic disease and we need to manage it long-term.” That may not be such an issue now that a second, even more effective drug has been approved by NICE (the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence).

‘Mounjaro’ has been dubbed the “King Kong” of weight-loss jabs as in a key trial, patients lost an average of 21% of bodyweight over eight months. Unlike Wegovy, no restriction has been put on how long NHS patients can stay on the drug. But the NHS is going to roll out the drug over 12 years because of concerns it could overwhelm services. Over the three years it is estimated just 220,000 people in England will benefit, out of 3.4 million who are eligible.

Prof Satter, from Glasgow University, estimates it costs the NHS about £3,000 a year to give a patient either Mounjaro or Wegovy. So if everyone eligible in England received them right now, that would be about £10bn annually – half the entire NHS drugs budget. Prof Sattar reckons more than nine in ten patients currently on weight-loss drugs in the UK are paying for them privately.  He points out that obesity rates are highest in areas of social depravation. “The people perhaps who stand to benefit the most, who are less affluent and from more deprived communities, are simply not able to afford this drug. It’s not fair. It’s just a reality of the economics of the situation.” Stating that rising obesity levels could eventually “bankrupt” the NHS.

24^th Metro – Children in acute wards for mental health up by 65%

Numbers of children being admitted to acute hospital wards due to concerns for their mental health have increased by two-thirds in a decade, a study reveals. Girls aged 11 to 15 showed a ‘significant’ rise as the research also highlighted ‘striking rates of self-harm in females’.

There were also ‘steep’ relative increases in admissions of children aged five to ten. While the Covid pandemic had a profound impact on youngsters, it is not the sole factor in the increase in admissions, experts said. They warned a focus on improving care was essential as the issue ‘isn’t going to go away.’ The study, led by a team at UCL (University College London), analysed data on all admissions for five to eighteen year-olds to general acute medical wards in England from 2012 to 2022. These are separate from specialist mental health wards and are usually referrals from an emergency department, GP or outpatient clinic.

In 2021/22, some 342,511 patients five to eighteen were admitted to hospital for any cause, with 39,925 of these due to mental health concerns. More than half (53.4 per cent) were due to self-harm. Between 2012 and 2022, annual admissions for mental health concerns rose by 65 per cent, from 24,198 to 39,925. The rise in admissions was ‘particularly steep’ in girls aged 11 to 15, researchers said, climbing from 9,901 to 19,349, an increase of 112.8 per cent. Reacting to the study, Dr. Karen Street, officer for mental health at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said: ‘A 65 per cent increase in mental health admissions further evidences the alarming deterioration in the mental health and wellbeing of our children and young people.’ She called for more to be done to understand what is causing the increase.

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Trusting that you enjoyed those three selected health related articles from the past month, and if they’ve made you ponder the thought of getting some private Healthcare going you know where to go to for whole of market experienced advice! Until next month please stay fit and well, keeping active, and eating well.

Kind regards

Daniel Donoghue

MD of ‘Whole of Market’ Specialist Brokers

Surrey Circle Health