Health care systems
Fact checks related to the infrastructure of health care and potential impacts of privatisation
Can pharmacists prescribe medicines?
The Pharmacy First service will mean people in England can get NHS prescription medicines for some conditions from a community pharmacy without seeing a GP. But some pharmacists can prescribe …
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How many excess deaths are A&E delays causing?
Earlier this month the Royal College of Emergency Medicine estimated delays are causing 300-500 deaths a week - but NHS leaders say they “don’t recognise these numbers”.
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RMT exaggerates money ‘wasted’ on PPE and NHS Test and Trace
Funding the NHS for years would cost far more than the total amount spent—let alone “wasted”—on PPE and Test and Trace during the pandemic.
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NHS dentists are still operating in Somerset
A headline suggesting otherwise is not accurate. There is a reported shortage of appointments for new NHS patients, however.
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Lorraine Kelly and her guests were wrong about Covid-19 patients
The majority of people in hospital with Covid are vaccinated—but early reports suggest that the majority in intensive care are unvaccinated.
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Daily Mail report on GPs seeing fewer patients on Fridays needs more context
There are some important caveats to figures showing GP appointments drop off later in the week.
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Has the NHS had its budget reduced by £30 billion?
Labour claims that the Budget took £30bn out of day to day health spending, this is true if you include the withdrawal of last year’s Covid money.
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What happens when pupils test positive for Covid-19?
There’s been some confusion over whether pupils can return to school after a positive lateral flow test but a negative PCR result.
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Millions—not thousands—caught Covid last year
Doctors only report a small fraction of Covid infections through the NOIDs system.
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Viral Facebook post incorrectly claims that a list of PPE contracts are all unfulfilled
PPE procurement is under scrutiny but claims that all these contracts were unfulfilled is not evidenced.
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