How safe are Dutch eggs to eat?

About 700,000 eggs have been sent to the UK from potentially contaminated Dutch farms, up from an early estimate of 21,000, the food watchdog has said.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) said it was very unlikely that there was a risk to public health.
However, 11 products containing egg - including sandwiches and salads - have been withdrawn from supermarkets.
Dutch police have now arrested two people suspected of using the insecticide fipronil.
The FSA said the 700,000 figure represented 0.007% of eggs eaten in the UK each year.

What do we know about the Europe egg scare?
It added that in the UK, the Dutch eggs were not sold as shell eggs but used in foods with many other ingredients - mostly sandwich fillings or other chilled foods.
It said traces of fipronil - which can be harmful to humans - were mixed with other eggs so chemical residues would be "highly diluted".
The British Egg Industry Council said shell eggs on sale to consumers in the UK were not affected.
It said: "All major UK retailers stock British Lion shell eggs and tests have shown that there is no risk from British eggs."

---

Withdrawn egg products

• Sainsbury's ham and egg salad (240g) use by 9-14 August 2017
• Sainsbury's potato and egg salad (300g) use by 9-14 August
• Morrisons potato and egg salad (250g) use by up to 13 August
• Morrisons egg and cress sandwich (sold in Morrisons Cafe only) use by up to and including 11 August
• Morrisons cafe sandwich selection (sold in Morrisons Cafe only) use by up to and including 11 August
• Waitrose free range egg mayonnaise deli filler (240g) use by 13 and 16 August
• Waitrose free range reduced fat egg mayonnaise deli filler (170g) use by 14 August
• Waitrose free range egg and bacon deli filler (170g) use by 14 and 16 August
• Asda baby potato and free range egg salad (270g) use by 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14 August
• Asda spinach and free range egg snack pot (110g) use by 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 August
• Asda FTG ham and cheddar ploughman's salad bowl (320g) use by 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 August

Source: FSA (10 August)

---

Scandal 'isn't over'

Twenty tonnes of insecticide-tainted eggs have been sold in Denmark, the country's food safety authority says.
Denmark is believed to be the tenth country to be affected, with Romania and Luxembourg among the latest to report finding contaminated products.
Supermarkets in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany have withdrawn millions of eggs from sale.
In the UK, processed foods containing eggs, including sandwiches and salads, have been recalled from Sainsbury's, Morrisons, Waitrose and Asda.
The FSA initially thought far fewer eggs - 21,000 - had been distributed to the UK from implicated farms between March and June this year.
Prof Chris Elliott, of the Institute for Global Food Security at Queen's University Belfast, said it was not surprising that the figure had increased by so much - and warned "the scandal isn't over yet".
"Often when these food scandals start to break, you start to get dribbles of information," he told BBC Radio 4's PM programme.
"And as the authorities in Belgium and Holland get more information they pass that onto our own Food Standards Agency.
"The potential is that number of 700,000 could increase quite a bit yet," he added.

---

Should I stop eating eggs?

Image copyright AFP

By James Gallagher, health and science reporter, BBC News
Fipronil should not be allowed anywhere near food.
But the risk from eggs is thought to be low, because the number of contaminated eggs is also low.
While 700,000 eggs sounds like a lot, it is worth remembering we eat 34 million every single day in the UK.
It is why the Food Standards Agency says it is "very unlikely" there is any health risk.
Many of the affected eggs will have already passed through the food chain before anyone was aware of the scandal.
And the FSA has now pulled egg sandwiches and egg salads off the shelves that were made while contaminated eggs were still being imported.
It insisted there is "no need" for people to stop eating eggs.

---

Fipronil, which is used to kill lice and ticks on animals, can damage people's kidneys, liver and thyroid glands if eaten in large quantities.
Heather Hancock, FSA chairwoman, said it was not "something to worry about" and that any health impact was unlikely.
"These aren't eggs that are in people's fridges in the UK, these are eggs that have gone into the food chain and the level of risk to public health is very low," she told BBC Radio 4's World at One programme.

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Jump media player

Media player help

Out of media player. Press enter to return or tab to continue.

How safe are Dutch eggs to eat?

In an update on Thursday, the FSA said: "Some of the products made from these eggs will have had a short shelf life and will have already been consumed, however, we identified some that were still within the expiry date."
The FSA said decision to withdraw the products was not due to food safety concerns but based on the fact that the pesticide is not authorised for use in food-producing animals.
It added: "While in some European countries eggs containing fipronil residues have been sold as fresh eggs, in the UK this is not the case."
Aldi and Lidl stores in Germany are among the supermarkets to remove eggs from their shelves, in a move Aldi described as "purely precautionary". Eggs sold in its UK stores were British, Aldi said.
It follows a joint investigation by Dutch and Belgian police of several premises thought to be using the substance, which can harm humans and is banned in food production.
The Netherlands is Europe's biggest egg producer - and one of the largest exporters of eggs and egg products in the world.
The problem first surfaced earlier in August, when Aldi withdrew all its eggs from sale in Germany.
It has since emerged Belgian officials knew about the contamination in June, but did not make the information public.
More than 100 poultry farms have been closed during the investigation, and 26 suspects identified and evidence seized from their companies.
It is thought that fipronil was added to disinfectant used on some chicken farms.
The UK produces 85% of the eggs it consumes but imports almost two billion annually, the FSA said. 

Some university students receive so little tuition they pay the equivalent of £1,000 an hour for contact with academic staff, researchers say.

Some university students receive so little tuition they pay the equivalent of £1,000 an hour for contact with academic staff, researchers say.

On average, economics undergraduates receive the equivalent of just 26 hours of one-to-one teaching over a three-year course, research published by the journal Fiscal Studies suggests.
Physics students receive almost three times as much for the same fees.
"It seems a bit bizarre," report author Dr Mike Peacey told the BBC.
"It certainly seems like humanities students are subsidising Stem [science, technology, engineering and maths] students," said Dr Peacey, an economics lecturer at the New College of the Humanities, in London.

"Really, students are paying a kind of university tax rather than tuition fees.
"Maybe that's what you want, but we should be a bit more upfront and honest about this."
10 charts that show the effect of tuition fees
Leading universities rated 'bronze'
Many English universities now charge UK and EU students the maximum, £9,250 for the vast majority of undergraduate courses.
Using Freedom of Information law, researchers from Bristol University and the New College of the Humanities obtained data from 67 UK universities.
To compare teaching received, for example, by history students in small group tutorials with that received by physics students in a mixture of lectures, seminars and laboratories, they then came up with a measure - total equivalent adjusted contact hours (Teach) - to convert teaching time and class size into the equivalent number of hours of one-to-one contact.
They found that on average over three years:

• physics students received 74.6 hours
• history students received 32.6 hours
• economics students received 26.1 hours

Image copyright Getty Images

Image caption Science and technology students have traditionally had more teaching time

There were also wide variations within subjects. For example, economics students at the top 10% of universities received almost five times as much teaching as those in the lowest 10%.
"How much students must pay in tuition fees makes no difference to how much teaching they receive," the report says.
"Clearly, some students are receiving much better value for money than others.
"For a market to function properly, participants must be able to compare what is offered by different providers."
The authors suggest their Teach measure could inform the government's new Teaching Excellence Framework, which assesses teaching quality at UK universities by subject.

'Ripped off'

Students studying Stem subjects have always had more contact hours, they add, and increasing the amount of teaching "may not be beneficial for all students - for example, if the cost of extra contact is lower teacher quality".
"Even when quality is held constant, some students may be better off working on their own."
Dr Peacey said: "Lots of people have suspected that there are cross-subsidies between subjects.
"If physics students are receiving much more tuition than history students, it could be that both are paying more than the tuition costs but the physics students are being less ripped off than the history students.
"I think if this measure got taken up and universities were asked to provide this information to students, it might be that different universities might offer differential rates for tuition.
"Maybe universities offering more contact time would charge more in fees." 

Lord Adonis “And why did we give university vice chancellors a licence to print money?”

He said: “The greed of the vice-chancellors sealed their fate.
“They increased their own pay and perks as fast as they increased tuition fees, and are now ‘earning’ salaries of £275,000 on average and in some cases over £400,000.”
He also criticised the Government’s “egregious” recent decision to raise interest rates on student loans taken out since 2012 to 6.1 per cent, citing a study by the Institute for Fiscal Studies that suggested many would never pay them off.
The report, released on Wednesday, said: “The combination of high fees and large maintenance loans contributes to English graduates having the highest student debts in the developed world.”
The IFS also said the interest rates were “very high” at up to three per cent above inflation.

“And why did we give university vice chancellors a licence to print money?”Lord Adonis backs the scrapping of tuition fees despite being instrumental in charges being introduced 

National and international leadership

The Vice-Chancellor holds a number of senior positions both nationally and internationally, acting as an advisor to the higher education sector, government organisations, multi-national corporations and not-for-profit organisations.

Current roles include:

• Director of Universities UK (UUK)
• Chair of the UUK Funding Policy Network
• Director of Universities Superannuation Scheme
• Member of the Council of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
• Deputy Lieutenant of Somerset
• Member of the Science & Technology Honours Committee
• Non-Executive Director of NHS Improvement Board

National and international leadership

The Vice-Chancellor holds a number of senior positions both nationally and internationally, acting as an advisor to the higher education sector, government organisations, multi-national corporations and not-for-profit organisations.

Current roles include:

• Director of Universities UK (UUK)
• Chair of the UUK Funding Policy Network
• Director of Universities Superannuation Scheme
• Member of the Council of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
• Deputy Lieutenant of Somerset
• Member of the Science & Technology Honours Committee
• Non-Executive Director of NHS Improvement Board

President and Vice-Chancellor

Professor Dame Glynis M. Breakwell DBE, DL

BA, MSc, MA, PhD, DSc, LLD(Hon) CPsychol, FBPsS, FRSA, PFHEA, HonFBPsS, FAcSS

Professor Dame Glynis Breakwell DBE, DL was appointed Vice-Chancellor of the University of Bath in 2001. She is one of Europe’s leading social psychologists and in 2014 was named in the Science Council’s list of ‘100 leading UK practising scientists’.
Dame Glynis is an active public policy adviser and researcher specialising in leadership, identity processes and risk management and has produced over 20 books including, most recently, the second edition of The Psychology of Risk.
Dame Glynis took her PhD from the University of Bristol and an MA and DSc from the University of Oxford where she held a Prize Fellowship at Nuffield College. In 2004, in recognition of her contribution to the social sciences, she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from the University of Bristol and in 2004 became an Honorary Professor at the University of Shandong in China.
She has been a Fellow of the British Psychological Society since 1987 and is a chartered health psychologist. In 2002 she was elected an Academician of the Academy of Social Sciences, and in 2006 became an Honorary Fellow of the British Psychological Society – an accolade currently shared with just over 30 others.
Dame Glynis has nationally championed the role of universities in scientific and technological innovation, exploitation and economic regeneration, and has worked over many years to widen participation in science and achieve knowledge transfer from higher education to business. In 2012 this work was recognised when she was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the Queen's New Year Honours for services to higher education.
Since her appointment as Vice-Chancellor, Dame Glynis has led the growth and development of the University of Bath, enhancing its reputation as a world-class University for both its research and teaching. She has led the establishment of a flagship sports facility on the campus where many international and medal-winning athletes now train, and more recently led the development of The Edge – the University’s new arts and management building.
In addition to her role as Vice-Chancellor, Dame Glynis holds a number of senior positions both nationally and internationally, acting as an adviser to the higher education sector, government organisations, multi-national corporations and not-for-profit organisations.

He declared: “Fees have become so politically diseased, they should be abolished entirely.”
Latest figures show that three in four students paying the highest fee of £9,250 a year will never clear their debt.
While admitting he was “largely responsible” for ex-PM Mr Blair’s education reforms, Lord Adonis said the rocketing bills were mainly the result of “opportunism and greed” of university chiefs.
The Government has said the current system, introduced by the coalition in 2012, is fair and warned scrapping the fees would be “mind-bogglingly expensive”.
But Lord Adonis asked yesterday: “How did we get from the idea of a reasonable contribution to the cost of university tuition – the principle of the Blair reform of 2004, for which I was largely responsible – to today’s Frankenstein’s monster of £50,000-plus debts for graduates on modest salaries?

“And why did we give university vice chancellors a licence to print money?”Lord Adonis backs the scrapping of tuition fees despite being instrumental in charges being introduced

He declared: “Fees have become so politically diseased, they should be abolished entirely.”
Latest figures show that three in four students paying the highest fee of £9,250 a year will never clear their debt.
While admitting he was “largely responsible” for ex-PM Mr Blair’s education reforms, Lord Adonis said the rocketing bills were mainly the result of “opportunism and greed” of university chiefs.
The Government has said the current system, introduced by the coalition in 2012, is fair and warned scrapping the fees would be “mind-bogglingly expensive”.
But Lord Adonis asked yesterday: “How did we get from the idea of a reasonable contribution to the cost of university tuition – the principle of the Blair reform of 2004, for which I was largely responsible – to today’s Frankenstein’s monster of £50,000-plus debts for graduates on modest salaries?
“And why did we give university vice chancellors a licence to print money?”

Getty Images

3

Tony Blair hatched the higher education reform in 2004 

PHARMACY

34 CHRONICLES OF PHARMACY xvi

Pearls, writes Jean de Renou (1607), “are greatly cordial and rejoice the heart. The alchemists consequently make a liquor of pearls, which they pretend is a marvellous cure for many maladies. More often than not, however, their pretended liquor is nothing hut smoke, vanity, and quackery. I knew a barber in this city of Paris who was sent for by a patient to apply two leeches, and who had the impudence to demand six crowns of gold for his service. He declared that he had fed those leeches for an entire month on the liquor of pearls.”

,It is on record that Pope Clement VII took 40,000 ducats’ worth of pearls and other precious stones with unicorn’s horn within fourteen days. (See Mrs. Henry Cust’s “ Gentlemen Errant.”)

Emeralds had a great reputation, especially on account of their moral attributes. They were cold in an extra first degree, so cold that they became emblems of chastity, and curious tales of their powers in controlling the passions were told. Moses Maimonides, a famous Jew who lived in Egypt in the twelfth century, in a treatise he wrote by command of the Caliph as a concise guide in cases of venomous bites or poisons generally, declared that emeralds were the supreme cure. They might be laid on the stomach or held in the mouth or 9 grains of the powdered stone might be taken in wine. But recognising that emeralds were not always handy when the need arose, Moses names a number of more ordinary remedies.

Confection of Hyacinth was a noted compound formulated in all the old pharmacopoeias, and regarded as a sovereign cordial, fortifying the heart, the stomach, and 'the brain ; resisting the corruption of the humours and the malignity of the air ; and serving for many oi lier medicinal purposes. The original formula ordered Ih•sides hyacinths (which were probably amethysts), sapphires, emeralds, topazes, and pearls; silk; gold and silver leaves; musk, ambergris, myrrh, and camphor; sealed earth, coral, and a few vegetable drugs ; all made into an electuary with syrup of carnations. A similar compound, but in powder ^form, was known as “ Hungary Powder” and was believed to have been the most esteemed remedy in the Hungary Fever, to which some reference is made in the sketch of Glauber (Vol. I, pp. 260-264). The Emperor Ferdinand’s Plague I’owder was another variation of the same compound. Tliii formula given in Fernery’s Pharmacopoeia orders about twenty vegetable drugs with bole, hartshorn, ivory, and one scruple each of sapphires, hyacinths, emeralds, rubies, and garnets, in a total bulk of about I minces. The dose was from ^ scruple to 2 scruples.

Sir William Bulleyn, a famous physician in the reign of Henry VIII, and said to have been of the same family as the Queen, Anne Boleyn, in his “ Book of Simples,” which was a work of great renown in its day, gives the following recipe for Electuarium de Gemmis. " Take 2 drachms of white perles; two little peeces of nphyre; jacinthe, corneline, emerauldes, granettes, of eiieh an ounce; setwal, the sweate roote doronike, I lie rind of pomecitron, mace, basel seede, of each drachms; redde corall, amber, shaving of ivory, of each 2 drachms; rootes both of white and red behen, ginger, long pepper, spicknard, folium indicum, saffron nmlamon, of each one drachm ; troch diarodon, lignum aloes, of each half a small handful; cinnamon, galinga, /,nruboth, which is a kind of setwal, of each 1|- drachm :

I Inn pieces of gold and sylver, of each half a scruple; iiiii k, half a drachm.” The electuary was to be made

alchemists

34 CHRONICLES OF PHARMACY xvi

Pearls, writes Jean de Renou (1607), “are greatly cordial and rejoice the heart. The alchemists consequently make a liquor of pearls, which they pretend is a marvellous cure for many maladies. More often than not, however, their pretended liquor is nothing hut smoke, vanity, and quackery. I knew a barber in this city of Paris who was sent for by a patient to apply two leeches, and who had the impudence to demand six crowns of gold for his service. He declared that he had fed those leeches for an entire month on the liquor of pearls.”

,It is on record that Pope Clement VII took 40,000 ducats’ worth of pearls and other precious stones with unicorn’s horn within fourteen days. (See Mrs. Henry Cust’s “ Gentlemen Errant.”)

Emeralds had a great reputation, especially on account of their moral attributes. They were cold in an extra first degree, so cold that they became emblems of chastity, and curious tales of their powers in controlling the passions were told. Moses Maimonides, a famous Jew who lived in Egypt in the twelfth century, in a treatise he wrote by command of the Caliph as a concise guide in cases of venomous bites or poisons generally, declared that emeralds were the supreme cure. They might be laid on the stomach or held in the mouth or 9 grains of the powdered stone might be taken in wine. But recognising that emeralds were not always handy when the need arose, Moses names a number of more ordinary remedies.

Confection of Hyacinth was a noted compound formulated in all the old pharmacopoeias, and regarded as a sovereign cordial, fortifying the heart, the stomach, and 'the brain ; resisting the corruption of the humours and the malignity of the air ; and serving for many oi lier medicinal purposes. The original formula ordered Ih•sides hyacinths (which were probably amethysts), sapphires, emeralds, topazes, and pearls; silk; gold and silver leaves; musk, ambergris, myrrh, and camphor; sealed earth, coral, and a few vegetable drugs ; all made into an electuary with syrup of carnations. A similar compound, but in powder ^form, was known as “ Hungary Powder” and was believed to have been the most esteemed remedy in the Hungary Fever, to which some reference is made in the sketch of Glauber (Vol. I, pp. 260-264). The Emperor Ferdinand’s Plague I’owder was another variation of the same compound. Tliii formula given in Fernery’s Pharmacopoeia orders about twenty vegetable drugs with bole, hartshorn, ivory, and one scruple each of sapphires, hyacinths, emeralds, rubies, and garnets, in a total bulk of about I minces. The dose was from ^ scruple to 2 scruples.

Sir William Bulleyn, a famous physician in the reign of Henry VIII, and said to have been of the same family as the Queen, Anne Boleyn, in his “ Book of Simples,” which was a work of great renown in its day, gives the following recipe for Electuarium de Gemmis. " Take 2 drachms of white perles; two little peeces of nphyre; jacinthe, corneline, emerauldes, granettes, of eiieh an ounce; setwal, the sweate roote doronike, I lie rind of pomecitron, mace, basel seede, of each drachms; redde corall, amber, shaving of ivory, of each 2 drachms; rootes both of white and red behen, ginger, long pepper, spicknard, folium indicum, saffron nmlamon, of each one drachm ; troch diarodon, lignum aloes, of each half a small handful; cinnamon, galinga, /,nruboth, which is a kind of setwal, of each 1|- drachm :

I Inn pieces of gold and sylver, of each half a scruple; iiiii k, half a drachm.” The electuary was to be made

Landowners' trees blamed for knocking down Tarr Steps

Image copyrightSOMERSET COUNTY COUNCIL

Image captionThe stones, some weighing up to two tonnes, were put back into place on Thursday

Calls have been made for landowners to manage their woodlands better to help prevent the stones of an ancient bridge in Exmoor being washed away.

The Tarr Steps in Exmoor National Park across the River Barle were knocked out of place during storms in November.

Conservation manager Rob Wilson North said the "big problem" was "the water bringing fallen debris from the woodland".

The bridge has now been rebuilt for the second time in four years.

'Jewel in the crown'

Mr Wilson North, who works for the national park, added landowners must share some of the blame and manage their land better.

Tarr Steps is made up of 17 spans and stretches nearly 164ft (50m) across the river.

Its exact age is unknown, with several theories claiming Tarr Steps date from the Bronze Age, while others date them to about 1400 AD.

The repair work involved putting the pieces together - with some weighing up to two tonnes - much like a jigsaw as each stone is numbered.

Cabinet member for highways at Somerset County Council, David Fothergill, said: "It is an ancient scheduled monument, it's Grade I listed.

"It attracts huge numbers of people to Exmoor in terms of tourism and the local economy, it's the jewel in the crown for Exmoor and we do need to look after it."

Image copyrightSOMERSET COUNTY COUNCIL

Image captionSomerset County Council is responsible for the upkeep of the ancient bridge

Tarr Steps has been damaged many times throughout its long history, most recently in 2013.

Due to its protected status, the bridge must be put together exactly as before.

The council added that additional work had taken place to repair an upstream "tree protection boom" to prevent trees falling into the river and hitting the bridge.

It also said the Tarr Steps could be better protected if landowners did not stack timber along the river.

Image copyrightSOMERSET COUNTY COUNCIL

Image captionThe bridge has been washed away twice in four years

Related Topics

The vanity of cruelty

Drug 'reverses' ageing in animal tests

By James GallagherHealth and science reporter, BBC News website

Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES

A drug that can reverse aspects of ageing has been successfully trialled in animals, say scientists.

They have rejuvenated old mice to restore their stamina, coat of fur and even some organ function.

The team at Erasmus University Medical Center, in the Netherlands, are planning human trials for what they hope is a treatment for old age.

A UK scientist said the findings were "impossible to dismiss", but that unanswered questions remained.

The approach works by flushing out retired or "senescent" cells in the body that have stopped dividing.

They accumulate naturally with age and have a role in wound healing and stopping tumours.

But while they appear to just sit there, senescent cells release chemicals that cause inflammation and have been implicated in ageing.

The group of scientists created a drug that selectively killed senescent cells by disrupting the chemical balance within them.

"I got very rebellious, people insisted I was crazy for trying and for the first three times they were right," Dr Peter de Keizer told the BBC.

'Crazy'

On the fourth attempt he had something that seemed to work.

He tested it on mice that were just old (the equivalent of 90 in mouse years), those genetically programmed to age very rapidly and those aged by chemotherapy.

The findings, published in the journal Cell, showed liver function was easily restored and the animals doubled the distance they would run in a wheel.

Dr de Keizer said: "We weren't planning to look at their hair, but it was too obvious to miss."

Image copyrightPETER DE KEIZER

He also said there were a lot of "grey" results - things that seemed to improve in some mice but not all.

The drug was given three times a week and the experiments have been taking place for nearly a year.

There are no signs of side-effects but "mice don't talk", Dr de Keizer said. However, it is thought the drug would have little to no effect on normal tissues.

When asked if this was a drug for ageing, Dr Keizer told the BBC News website: "I hope so, but the proof of the pudding is in the eating as you say.

"In terms of mouse work we are pretty much done, we could look at specific age-related diseases eg osteoporosis, but we should now prepare for clinical translation."

Commenting on the results, Dr Dusko Ilic, a stem cell scientist at King's College London, said: "The finding is impossible to dismiss.

"[But] until more high-quality research is done, it is better to be reserved about these findings.

"Though, I would not be surprised if manufacturers try to capitalise on this and, in a few years, we could buy this peptide as a supplement over the counter."

Prof Ilaria Bellantuono, Professor in Musculoskeletal Ageing, University of Sheffield, called for further tests on "heart, muscle, metabolic, cognitive function" to take place.

But added: "The use of this peptide in patients is a long way away.

"It requires careful consideration about safety, about the appropriate group of patients for whom this peptide can be beneficial in a reasonable period of time so that positive effects can be easily measured at an affordable cost."

NHS services in England are facing a "mission impossible"

NHS facing 'mission impossible next year'

By Nick TriggleHealth correspondent

• 19 March 2017
 
• From the sectionHealth

Share

Image copyrightPA

NHS services in England are facing a "mission impossible" to meet the standards required by the government, health bosses say.

The warning has been made by NHS Providers, which represents hospital, mental health and ambulance trusts.

It said front-line services simply do not have enough money - and predicts longer waits for hospital operations and more delays in A&E as a result.

But ministers said the NHS has been given the money it needs.

The NHS budget is increasing this Parliament, but not by as much as the health service has traditionally got.

• Hunt demands NHS hits target for A&E care
• 10 charts that show why the NHS is in trouble

NHS Providers predicts its members, which account for nearly two-thirds of health spending, will get £89.1bn in 2017-18 - that is 2.6% more than they got this year, but crucially just half of the 5.2% demand is expected to grow by.

Patient safety 'at risk'

Chief executive Chris Hopson said it was time for the government to "sit up and listen".

He described the goals for next year - to get back to hitting the waiting time targets for A&E and hospital operations, while balancing the budget - as "mission impossible".

"NHS trusts will strain every sinew to deliver the commitments made for the health service. But we now have a body of evidence showing that, with resources available, the NHS can no longer deliver what the NHS constitution requires of it.

"We fear that patient safety is increasingly at risk."

The analysis carried out by NHS Providers predicts that the numbers waiting in A&E longer than the four-hour target will increase by 40% next year to 1.8m, while the numbers waiting beyond the 18-week target for routine treatments, such as knee and hip operations, will go up by 150% to around 100,000.

A Department of Health spokeswoman said extra money was being invested in the NHS and pointed out the Budget had set aside more funding for social care, which would also help relieve the pressures on hospitals in particular.

She added the government had a "strong plan to improve performance" and accused NHS Providers of failing to acknowledge the steps that were being taken.

Related Topics

Care firms have cancelled contracts with 95 UK councils, saying they cannot deliver services for the amount they are being paid

'Lack of money' prompts care firms to end council contracts

• 47 minutes ago
 
• From the sectionUK

Share

Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES

Care firms have cancelled contracts with 95 UK councils, saying they cannot deliver services for the amount they are being paid, a BBC Panorama investigation has found.

Some firms said they could not recruit or retain the staff they needed.

The Local Government Association said it was the result of "historic under-funding" and an ageing population.

The government declined an interview but said English councils had received £9.25bn for social care.

The figure for the number of cancelled contracts comes from a Freedom of Information request, which was responded to by 197 of 212 UK councils.

According to the research, carried out for Panorama by Opus Restructuring and Company Watch, 69 home care companies have closed in the last three months and one in four of the UK's 2,500 home care companies is at risk of insolvency.

Councillor Izzi Seccombe from the Local Government Association - which represents councils across England and Wales - said: "We have warned that the combination of the historic under-funding of adult social care, and the significant pressures of an ageing population and the national living wage, are pushing the care provider market to the brink of collapse.

"These figures show the enormous strain providers are under, and emphasises the urgent need for a long-term, sustainable solution to the social care funding crisis."

Many home care companies say their biggest problem is recruitment and retention of carers.

The Centre for Workforce Intelligence estimates at least two million more carers will be needed by 2025 in England alone, in both in-home care and care homes, to cope with growing demand.

Last October, the regulator for England, the Care Quality Commission, warned that adult social care was at a tipping point.

• Who gets social care and who pays for it?
• 10 charts that show what’s gone wrong with social care
• How can social care be funded?

Image captionThere are 800,000 home care workers in the UK

One home care company, Cymorth Llaw, which had contracts with three councils in north Wales, told Panorama it had recently stopped working with one - Conwy, which had initially paid £14.20 an hour for care.

It offered to raise that to £15, but the company decided that still wasn't enough and handed back the contract.

Ken Hogg, at Cymorth Llaw, said: "We didn't think we could do it for the money - it was as simple as that.

"We pay as much [in wages] as we possibly can and we've always paid above what was the national minimum wage and the national living wage.

"[Carers] get a mileage allowance, they get paid travelling time between their clients."

Image captionKen Hogg says council funding barely covers his care home company's costs

Mr Hogg said the company was legally obliged to pay 1% pension and 13.8% national insurance contributions, along with training and other staff-associated costs, which "doesn't leave a great deal".

Conwy Council said it was committed to supporting vulnerable people in communities, despite the financial challenges.

Home care company Mears used to have a contract with Liverpool City Council but cancelled it in July, saying £13.10 an hour was not enough to cover costs.

Mears said it needed at least £15 an hour, and like other companies across the UK, argued its costs are often greater than what councils pay.

Alan Long, executive director at Mears, said: "That was a terrible thing to do for both service users and for care staff.

"We absolutely did not take that lightly, but frankly what choice did we have?

"We just cannot do the two most basic things that you need to do in home care - pay staff the absolute minimum of a living wage and be able to recruit enough people to deliver the service that Liverpool Council actually expected from us."

Bed shortages

The industry's trade body, the United Kingdom Homecare Association, said many companies were really struggling.

Colin Angel, its policy and campaigns director, said some care providers are "really desperate" and "really do not know whether they're going to be able to continue in business, beyond the next year".

He added: "That means they're really having to make some hard commercial decisions, whether they might need to cease trading or indeed just hand back work to local councils."

The nationwide shortage of carers is leaving many elderly people stuck in NHS wards, which results in bed blocking.

Government figures show there are more than 6,500 people across Britain stuck in an acute hospital bed, despite being well enough to leave.

In England, a third of these are waiting for a home care package.

Image captionColin Angel has concerns that more care home companies may close in the coming months

Mike Furlong, manager of the Granby Rehabilitation Unit in Liverpool, told Panorama that while on average people spend 28 days at the care facility, "some patients have been with us 12 and 14 weeks because all the therapy is complete, but unfortunately there's no care package available at the end of it".

Liverpool City Council said that, over the last seven years, its budget had been cut by £330m and it now needed to find a further £90m over the next three years.

Samih Kalakeche, Liverpool's director of adult social services, said: "Is there a crisis in the home care services? I'll say yes, there is - and it's not just money, it's the sheer volume of demographics.

"We've got an ageing population which we welcome, but we don't have enough people coming into the industry."

'£2bn extra'

Earlier this month, Chancellor Philip Hammond announced £2bn extra for social care for English councils over the next three years.

Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales will decide how they spend their extra funding.

But the industry says that with an increasingly ageing population, it's just not enough to keep pace with demand.

The government has said it will be bringing forward more proposals later this year, to ensure a financially sustainable social care system.

Panorama: Britain's Home Care Crisis - Monday, 20 March, 20:30 GMT, BBC One