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** 11 July 2024
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** UK
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** What was Rishi Sunak's smoking ban bill, who opposed it, and what happens next? (#1)
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** Wes Streeting to ‘write prescription’ for NHS after independent investigation (#5)
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** Former minister joins Streeting’s team (#2)
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** UK
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** What was Rishi Sunak's smoking ban bill, who opposed it, and what happens next?
More than 1,000 health experts have urged Labour to take the opportunity to phase out smoking “with both hands”.
They have called on the new Government to revive legislation designed to ban young people from ever being able to smoke legally.
“Labour cannot achieve its manifesto commitment to halve differences in healthy life expectancy between the richest and poorest regions unless it prioritises ending smoking,” the letter said.
Experts across leading health and care charities, including Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), Cancer Research UK, and the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), have signed the letter.
Former prime minister Rishi Sunak announced plans to crack down on smoking through his flagship Tobacco and Vapes Bill last year.
The authors of the letter, led by Professor Nick Hopkinson, chair of ASH, said: “There is no time to waste.
“Measures to prevent vapes being marketed to children are urgently needed, while they remain accessible as an effective quitting aid for adult smokers.”
Mr Sunak said he was motivated to “build a better and brighter future for our children”. He cited the tens of thousands of deaths annually caused by smoking, the costs to the NHS, and the “hugely detrimental” impact on productivity in the UK.
Some prominent Tories spoke out against the bill.
Mr Sunak’s predecessor, Liz Truss, described the plans as “profoundly unconservative”, while former prime minister Boris Johnson in April 2024 described the ban as “nuts”.
England’s chief medical officer, Sir Chris Whitty, rejected the “pro-choice” arguments against the bill.
He said cigarettes were a product “designed to take your choice away” and resistance to the plan was “surprising”.
Labour was the first party to propose a policy of phasing out smoking. It backed the previous government’s bill when it was in opposition.
The last Labour government raised the legal age at which people can buy cigarettes from 16 to 18.
Labour also says it “led the way on the smoking ban and cigarette advertising, showing what can be achieved by a mission-focused government with a clear strategy and determination to succeed.”
Source: The Standard, 10 July 2024
See also: BMJ - New Labour government must reintroduce Tobacco and Vapes Bill in next parliamentary session ([link removed])
Open letters to the Prime Minister ([link removed]) and Secretary of State for Health ([link removed])
Full list of signatories available online ([link removed]) .
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Read Here ([link removed])
** Wes Streeting to ‘write prescription’ for NHS after independent investigation
An independent investigation will be held into the performance of the NHS, the health secretary has announced.
Writing in the Sun, Wes Streeting said the investigation would be aimed at “diagnosing the problem” so the government could “write the prescription”.
Streeting said: “It’s clear to anyone who works in or uses the NHS that it is broken. Unlike the last government, we are not looking for excuses. I am certainly not going to blame NHS staff, who bust a gut for their patients.
“This government is going to be honest about the challenges facing us, and serious about solving them.”
Streeting said the investigation would be led by the former health minister Lord Ara Darzi, who he has asked to “tell hard truths”.
Streeting said: “Honesty is the best policy, and this report will provide patients, staff and myself with a full and frank assessment of the state of the NHS, warts and all.
“The NHS has been wrecked. This investigation will be the survey, before we draw up plans to rebuild it anew, so it can be there for all of us when we need it, once again.”
His comments come as a new report revealed progress tackling the NHS waiting numbers had “stagnated” and “long waits remain endemic in the NHS”.
Experts from the Nuffield Trust said Labour had inherited a waiting list for pre-planned hospital treatment of about 7.5 million in England – a 66% increase since the start of the pandemic.
The NHS in England is to publish the latest waiting-time data – the first since the new government took office.
Source: The Guardian, 11 July 2024
See also: Nuffield Trust - Waiting times for major surgery slower to recover in England than in similar countries ([link removed])
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Read Here ([link removed])
** Former minister joins Streeting’s team
Two new health and social care ministers, who previously held roles in the shadow team, have been announced by the new government.
Labour life peer Baroness Merron, who was minister of state for public health in Gordon Brown’s administration from 2009 to 2010, has been shadow spokesperson for health and social care since 2021.
She has been named parliamentary undersecretary of state in health and social care secretary Wes Streeting’s new ministerial team.
Andrew Gwynne, MP for Gorton and Denton, has also been appointed parliamentary undersecretary of state for public health and prevention.
He was shadow minister for social care from 2023 until the 2024 election.
They join the earlier appointments of Karin Smyth and Stephen Kinnock as ministers of state.
Welsh MP Mr Kinnock, the new care minister, was an unexpected appointment to the Department of Health and Social Care – having previously covered the immigration brief.
Former NHS manager Ms Smyth is a more familiar face, having held many roles in the health service, including in NHS commissioning, as a non-executive director of a primary care trust, and as manager of a GP commissioning consortium.
Mr Streeting himself has had a busy start to his new brief, having met with junior doctors to discuss strike action and declaring the NHS to be “broken” earlier in the week.
The announcements for Baroness Merron and Mr Gwynne bring the total number of ministerial appointments in the new DHSC team to five.
Source: HSJ, 10 July 2024
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ASH Daily News is a digest of published news on smoking-related topics. ASH is not responsible for the content of external websites. ASH does not necessarily endorse the material contained in this bulletin.
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