Residents stranded in tower block for a week after lifts break down
Since the lifts at Balfron Tower, a brutalist landmark in Poplar, broke down last Tuesday, residents with health conditions and mobility issues said they have struggled to access food and medication and to discard rubbish.
Peter Yu, 58, has not left his flat on the 15th floor for a week. He suffers from serious spinal injuries and could not collect food deliveries or walk his boxer, Bee, who has gone 'stir crazy'.
He claimed that the building management company, Way of Life, had promised a door-to-door delivery service while the lifts
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Sky News
3 hours ago
- Sky News
Conservatives vow to ban doctor strikes - as Kemi Badenoch hits out at 'militant' union
The Conservatives would ban strikes for doctors, Kemi Badenoch has said. The Tory leader said she would treat doctors the same as the army and police in order to bring the walkouts to an end. Under UK law, police officers, members of the armed forces and some prison officers are banned from striking. Resident doctors - previously known as junior doctors - began their five-day strike across England on Friday as part of an escalating row between NHS bosses and the British Medical Association (BMA) over pay. Last July, they were awarded a raise of 22% over two years, the highest public sector award in recent years. But the BMA has argued that pay has declined significantly since 2008 when adjusting for inflation and is calling for a pay rise of 29.2% to reverse "pay erosion". The latest deal saw doctors given a 4% increase, plus £750 "on a consolidated basis" - which comes to an average rise of 5.4%. Speaking to reporters, MS Badenoch said it was now Tory policy to ban strikes for resident doctors, arguing the BMA had become "too militant". "We have seen 11 strikes in the last sort of 18 months, two years," she said. "People are dying and it's costing the NHS billions. We need to bring these strikes to an end." She said she would also introduce minimum service levels for strikes - something that was brought in under Liz Truss's short tenure as prime minister before being repealed by the current government. The Conservatives argue their proposals would bring the UK in line with other nations across the world, including Australia and Canada, where restrictions on doctors striking are tighter. Meanwhile, Greece, Italy and Portugal have laws ensuring minimum service levels are in place across their health services. Speaking to Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, Dr Tom Dolphin, the chair of the BMA, said doctors "don't want to be on strike" but felt they had no choice. "The reason that we are worried about the NHS and we're worried about the workforce in the NHS, is because doctors are being undervalued," he said. "They're leaving the NHS in large numbers, and what we're trying to do is make sure that the offer that's there from the NHS, the pay, the total reward package, is enough to recruit and retain the best doctors that the patients deserve in the NHS."
Daily Mail
4 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Doctors warn Gen Z's drastic anti-ageing beauty method is making their skin look WORSE
Doctors have issued a warning about a skincare routine popular on TikTok - and say it may actually be doing more harm than good. The 'morning shed' trend sees people going to bed plastered in face masks, eye masks, chin straps, mouth and face tape, and bonnets in a bid to achieve glowing 'glass skin' by morning. 'The uglier you go to bed, the hotter you wake up' has become the mantra of many social media users, such as American TikToker Ashley West, who boasts one million followers, as they layer up before bedtime. The popular, but time consuming, process sees people peeling off the many layers in the morning as they get ready for the day. But despite the great amount of effort, experts have warned that it might all be in vain. Dr Anjali Mahto said face-taping - the process of putting kinesiology tape on your face to restrict the muscle movement and try stop wrinkles forming - is an ineffective way of stopping the ageing process. The consultant dermatologist and founder of the Self London clinic told The Guardian: 'Wrinkles are not just about movement, they involve collagen loss, changes in fat distribution… Taping cannot reverse or prevent those processes. 'At best, it offers a fleeting sense of control. At worst, it disrupts the barrier and causes unnecessary inflammation.' Creator are often seen wearing silicone patches, sometimes filled with reactive productive such as retinol, which can cause irritation when pressed into the skin over night Influencers are often seen wearing patches on their foreheads or under their eyes, sometimes filled with reactive products such as retinol, which can cause irritation when pressed into the skin over night. Another consultant dermatologist told The Guardian the compulsive use of collagen masks to sleep in has shown no proof of having any benefit. Dr Cristina Psomadakis said: 'Not only is there an environmental impact, but there's also no solid evidence that applying collagen topically replenishes the body's own collagen stores.' The combination of random serums and lotions that women are adding beneath these masks are also causing irritation. Cristina, the medical director of prescription skincare brand Klira, added that the 'biggest problem' most dermatologists are seeing these days is people 'overdoing it' by following skincare trends. Her advice for the most effective routine was to just wash your face at the end of the day and keep steps minimal by only using cleanser, moisturiser, sunscreen in the morning, and sometimes a prescription treatment at night. However, there is evidence that mouth taping may be used to stop snoring and improve sleep with researchers at Harvard Medical School saying the adhesives 'significantly reduced' oxygen levels and 'hampered breathing'. Dr Mahto said that people are feeling pressured to not just have a polished appearance but a polished process in a bid towards a curated life. 'Skincare has not been spared, and these increasingly complex night-time rituals often go beyond what the skin physiologically requires, and instead reflect a broader cultural compulsion toward perfection,' they explained. Last year, dermatologist Sophie Momen told Healthline that the long process is more than likely to simply be 'very time consuming and largely unnecessary'. She warned that stamping endless products into the skin overnight can be counterintuitive to optimising skin health. She explained: 'Drenching the skin in heavy serums and products may block pores and lead to breakouts, while around the delicate eye area, it may cause the formation of milia.' Further, using harsh ingredients with active ingredients that cause irritation since these products are only meant to be used for a short period of time and should be breathable rather than pushed beneath silicone. Not only can it be damaging, but most products will achieve their intended effect after 10 minutes with little to suggest a further eight hours will better the results. Though she does believe that some elements can be helpful, for example using silk wraps or pillow cases to reduce harm to our hair at night, the rest isn't likely to reap any improvement in skin quality. Not to mention, many complain that products and attachments are prone to falling off over night, likely making for a more irritating an uncomfortable night rather than one 'better sleep quality'.
The Independent
5 hours ago
- The Independent
Physician associates union takes Government to court over planned role changes
A union will take the Government to court over its decision to implement recommended changes to the roles of physician associates (PAs) within the NHS, the United Medical Associate Professionals (UMAPs) has said. It follows findings by a Government-ordered report that PAs have been used as substitutes for doctors despite having significantly less training. The review chaired by Professor Gillian Leng, who is president of the Royal Society of Medicine, said PAs should be banned from seeing patients who have not been reviewed by a medic to prevent the risk of 'catastrophic' misdiagnoses. On Sunday, UMAPs has sent letters to the Health Secretary and NHS England expressing their intent to make a judicial review claim, the union said. They are urging the Government to reconsider what the union described as a 'complete overhaul' of their profession, and have accused Mr Streeting of playing into the hand of the British Medical Association (BMA) as resident doctors strike over pay. Stephen Nash, general secretary of Umaps said: 'The Leng Review found no hard evidence that physician associates are unsafe or ineffective. 'Nevertheless, Wes Streeting has accepted the Review's recommendations to completely overhaul our job roles, without so much as consulting Umaps as the recognised trade union for PAs and AAs. 'That is both unfair and completely irrational. 'We are incredibly concerned about how these changes will impact patients' access to care, particularly during the ongoing BMA strikes.' A five-day walkout by resident doctors in England is under way, with members of the BMA manning picket lines across the country. The Government has until August 1 to indicate whether or not it will reconsider its decision, the union said. More than 3,500 PAs and 100 AAs are working in the NHS and there have been previous calls for an expansion in their number. But a general lack of support for both roles from the medical profession, plus high-profile deaths of patients who were misdiagnosed by PAs, led to the review. In her report, Prof Leng concluded there were 'no convincing reasons to abolish the roles of AA or PA' but there is also no case 'for continuing with the roles unchanged'. She said more detail was needed on which patients can be seen by PAs and national clinical protocols will now be developed in this area. 'Prior to these changes, PAs undertook approximately 20 million appointments a year,' Mr Nash added. 'Now, every day we hear from employers who are struggling to manage patient loads because PAs and AAs are no longer allowed to carry out the jobs we are trained to do. 'Yet the Health Secretary has seemingly not carried out any assessment of how the Leng recommendations will affect NHS backlogs. 'It is hard to see Mr Streeting's decision as anything other than an attempt to mollify the increasingly radical BMA, which has spent the last few years waging a vindictive and highly coordinated campaign against Medical Associates. 'Now he has played right into the BMA's hand, preventing qualified medical professionals from treating patients properly so that their strikes bite even harder.' Sneha Naiwal, a partner at Shakespeare Martineau which is leading the case for UMAPs, said: 'This case is not about resisting change, but about ensuring that change is lawful, evidence-based, and respectful of the professionals who have long served on the front lines of patient care. 'Physician associates deserve a meaningful voice in shaping their future, not to be sidelined by decisions taken without full and open engagement. 'The claimants are concerned that the current approach could undermine a vital part of the clinical workforce and increase pressure on NHS services, to the detriment of patients and staff alike.' Six patient deaths linked to contact with PAs have been recorded by coroners in England. One high-profile death involved Emily Chesterton, 30, who died from a pulmonary embolism. She was misdiagnosed by a PA on two occasions and told she had anxiety.
