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Bird flu case confirmed in gull on Kent coast near Margate

Bird flu case confirmed in gull on Kent coast near Margate

BBC News13-06-2025

A case of bird flu has been detected in a gull on the Kent coast, Thanet District Council has said.A spokesperson for the council confirmed that a single case of bird flu had been identified in Botany Bay, near Margate.They warned residents and visitors to not handle dead birds or any other wildlife in the area and to keep pets away from dead wildlife.Nearly 60 cases of bird flu have been reported in England since November 2024, according to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).
Any dead wildlife found should be reported to the council, the spokesperson added.

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Warning over 'two tier' support for ADHD sufferers amid 'significant' rise in the use of unregulated private providers
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  • Daily Mail​

Warning over 'two tier' support for ADHD sufferers amid 'significant' rise in the use of unregulated private providers

NHS waiting lists for ADHD diagnosis and support have led to a 'significant' rise in the use of unregulated private providers, a report has said. The ADHD Taskforce, commissioned by NHS England with the support of the Government, has published an interim report calling for the system of diagnosing and managing the neurological condition to be overhauled. ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) is characterised by patterns of restlessness, impulsivity and difficulty concentrating on one thing, with assessment and treatment typically provided by highly specialised doctors. But the report warned: 'Inability to access NHS services has led to a significant growth in the use of private providers that are not regulated, resulting in two-tier access to services, diagnosis and treatment; one for those who can pay and another for those who cannot. 'This drives health inequalities and links to disproportionate impacts and outcomes in the education and justice systems, employment and health.' Experts said waiting times for NHS ADHD services 'have escalated and are unacceptably long', with demand on services 'very likely' to continue to rise. Professor Anita Thapar, chair of the ADHD Taskforce, said: 'We need to get this right – to make sure people get early diagnosis and support.' A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: 'The report into the state of the NHS laid out how severe the delays have become for people waiting for an attention deficit hyperactivity disorder diagnosis.'

Is the controversial suicide capsule coming to Britain? Australian right-to-die campaigner known as 'Dr Death' aims to bring euthanasia pod to the UK
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Daily Mail​

time2 hours ago

  • Daily Mail​

Is the controversial suicide capsule coming to Britain? Australian right-to-die campaigner known as 'Dr Death' aims to bring euthanasia pod to the UK

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Nearly 600 heat-related deaths expected in UK heatwave, researchers estimate
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The Independent

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Nearly 600 heat-related deaths expected in UK heatwave, researchers estimate

Nearly 600 people in England and Wales are predicted to die as a result of this week's heatwave, researchers have found. Experts at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and Imperial College London used decades of UK data to predict excess mortality during the hot temperatures from Thursday to Sunday. Their study, released on Saturday, forecasts that around 570 people will die because of the heat over the four days. The excess deaths are estimated to peak at 266 on Saturday when the heat will be at its most intense. London is predicted to have the greatest number of excess deaths with 129. The researchers said their assessment highlights how extreme heat poses a growing threat to public health in the UK. It follows a World Weather Attribution (WWA) research group study published on Friday which found the heatwave has been made about 100 times more likely and 2-4C hotter due to climate change. Dr Garyfallos Konstantinoudis, lecturer at the Grantham Institute at Imperial College London, said: 'Heatwaves are silent killers – people who lose their lives in them typically have pre-existing health conditions and rarely have heat listed as a contributing cause of death. 'This real-time analysis reveals the hidden toll of heatwaves and we want it to help raise the alarm. 'Heatwaves are an underappreciated threat in the UK and they're becoming more dangerous with climate change.' Dr Konstantinoudis warned that people should follow heat-health advice this weekend and check on older people, particularly those living alone. Temperatures had been forecast to hit 32C across the South East on Saturday and had already reached that level on Thursday in London. The UK Health Security Agency issued an amber heat-health alert covering all of England to warn vulnerable populations of the health risks, including 'a rise in deaths'. Dozens of people required treatment for heat-related illness at Royal Ascot on Thursday. The researchers used findings from published research on the relationship between heat and the number of daily deaths, regardless of the cause, in 34,753 areas of England and Wales. They combined these with high-resolution weather forecasts from the Copernicus climate change service to estimate how many heat-related deaths will occur. They estimated that 114 excess deaths would have occurred on Thursday, 152 on Friday, 266 on Saturday and 37 deaths on Sunday, when temperatures will fall to the mid-20s. People above 65 are expected to be hardest hit, with 488 of the estimated excess deaths, the report said. But the experts also warn that heat can be life-threatening for all ages, with 82 deaths estimated for people aged under 65. They also note that the analysis does not account for the effect of the heatwave occurring early in summer before people are acclimatised to hot temperatures, meaning deaths could be underestimated. A recent report by the UK Climate Change Committee estimated that heat-related deaths could rise to more than 10,000 in an average year by 2050 if fossil fuel burning causes warming to reach 2C. UN scientists warned this week that the world is in 'crunch time' to limit warming and has three years left to prevent global average temperature rises exceeding 1.5C. Professor Antonio Gasparrini, of the LSHTM, said: 'Increases of just a degree or two can be the difference between life and death. 'Every fraction of a degree of warming will cause more hospital admissions and heat deaths, putting more strain on the NHS.' Dr Malcolm Mistry, assistant professor at the LSHTM, said: 'Exposure to temperatures in the high 20s or low 30s may not seem dangerous, but they can be fatal, particularly for people aged over 65, infants, pregnant people and those with pre-existing health conditions. 'Unless effective mitigation and adaptive measures are put in place in the coming years, the risk of large heat-related death events is set to increase in the UK – we have a large ageing population and warming is expected to increase to 2C by 2050 and as high as 3C this century.' Dr Lorna Powell, an NHS urgent care doctor in east London who was not involved in the study, said: 'We are seeing cases of heat-related illnesses rising in our urgent care departments. 'Heat exhaustion can quickly trigger more serious illnesses as dehydration sets in and the cardiovascular system becomes overwhelmed.'

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