NHS England tells hospitals to put trans patients on wards by biological sex, with medical need first, as mixed-sex ward breaches reach 5,520 a month

The rest of the day

21 more stories on this beat.

Each with its own sources. None of these is a link to the story above.

1. 02

   1 in 4 US Army men test low for testosterone

   A study of 479 men serving in the US Army found 26% had testosterone below 300 nanograms per decilitre. [12] That is the level the American Urological Association, a body of US urology doctors, calls low. [12] Among men aged 30 and over it was 33%. [12] In July the US defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, ordered yearly testosterone tests for all troops aged 30 and over, with hormone treatment offered to those who test low. [13] In September the US Defense Department took down its draft clinical guidance for the tests, while the interim rules stayed in force. [14]

   All men tested26%

   Men aged 30 and over33%

   Why it matters — Testosterone swings by the hour and with sleep, food and stress, so one test can catch a low moment rather than a lasting lack. [12][15] Treatment can lower sperm production and fertility. [12][16]

2. 03

   Some cut from US health plans are put back

   In late September the Trump administration said it had removed 760,000 people from health plans bought on Healthcare.gov, the US government's insurance marketplace. [17] It said many sign-ups were fraudulent. [17] It flagged nearly 1.2 million that had four warning signs, such as no premium paid and no contact with the insurer. [17] Those who did not answer a call or letter within 30 days were cut. [17] Insurers say some real members have now been put back, and another 419,000 sign-ups are being checked, with answers due after the November midterm elections. [17]

   Flagged1.2 m

   Removed0.76 m

   Now being checked0.42 m

   Why it matters — More could follow if people find out they have no cover only when they go to use it. [17] The Trump administration has not said how many removals were mistakes. [17]

3. 04

   US employers drop weight-loss drug cover

   In 2026 about two in three US employer health plans paid for GLP-1 drugs such as Wegovy and Zepbound, weight-loss medicines that copy a gut hormone. [18] A year earlier it was about one in five. [18] Now at least 10% of plans that pay say they will likely stop in 2027, a survey by the Business Group on Health found. [18] Cigna and the consulting firm PwC dropped the cover for their staff this year, and PepsiCo and Starbucks were due to follow in October. [19] The drugs still cost 600 dollars or more for a month's supply. [18]

   Why it matters — In Massachusetts the number of privately insured people taking these drugs halved between 2025 and early 2026 as cover fell away. [18] An employer pays for the drug now, while most of the health savings come years later, often after the worker has moved job or retired. [18]

4. 05

   Cannabis users sleep worse, a wrist tracker shows

   About 22 million Americans use cannabis to help them sleep. [20] Researchers at Northwestern University in the US studied 1,266 middle-aged people from CARDIA, a study that has followed adults since 1985. [20] Some wore a wrist tracker for a week. [20] Each extra year of cannabis use went with 21% higher odds of lying awake for 30 minutes or more in a night. [20] Recent users slept about 20 minutes longer but woke more often. [20] Yet users did not rate their own sleep as any worse. [20]

   Why it matters — The study watched people and did not test the drug, so it cannot show cannabis caused the poor sleep. [20] It did not record how strong the cannabis was or when it was taken. [20]

5. 06

   Gas kitchens fill with nitrogen dioxide

   Researchers at PSE Healthy Energy, a US research group, measured the air in 27 commercial kitchens, from restaurants to school canteens. [21] Nitrogen dioxide, a gas also found in diesel exhaust, was above the WHO guideline for indoor air in 17 of them, all cooking with gas or propane. [21] Every kitchen met US legal limits for workplaces. [21] The three all-electric kitchens had the cleanest air. [21] In two-thirds of the gas kitchens, pollution was higher overnight, because pilot lights burn all day and night. [21]

   17 of 27

   kitchens above the WHO indoor guideline for nitrogen dioxide

   Why it matters — About 16 million people work in catering and hospitality in the US and 3.6 million in the UK. [21] Pollution in the dining rooms was above the WHO guideline for outdoor air, so diners breathe some of it too. [21]

6. 07

   Probiotic formula cuts babies' breathing infections

   Researchers led by Petter Brodin at Imperial College London tested a supplement on 223 formula-fed babies in Manila, in the Philippines. [22] Chance decided which babies got formula with it and which got plain formula. [22] The supplement held sugars found in breast milk, plus a gut bacterium, Bifidobacterium longum infantis, that feeds on them. [22] By six months, 23% of the babies on the supplement had a recorded breathing infection, against 40% on plain formula. [22] Nestle, which makes formula, paid for the trial. [22]

   Formula with the supplement23%

   Plain formula40%

   Why it matters — Formula-fed babies catch more of these infections, and many Western babies lack this bacterium. [22] An immunologist not involved warned that a stronger immune response might raise the risk of allergies, and the team plans to test that. [22]

7. 08

   Pennsylvania counts a sixth measles death

   A coroner in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, reported the state's sixth measles-linked death this week: an unvaccinated 39-year-old woman with other illnesses. [23] The state has recorded 1,137 cases and 219 hospital stays in an outbreak that began in April. [23] The CDC, the US national public health agency, still lists two measles deaths for the whole country. [23] In September it switched to counting only deaths that national death records list as caused by measles, instead of those states report. [24][25]

   6 deathsPennsylvania's count

   vsvs

   2 deathsCDC's official count

   Why it matters — A former CDC chief medical officer said those death records are built for slow, long-term counts, not for confirming single cases in an outbreak. [25] Fewer than 1% of Pennsylvania's cases were in fully vaccinated people. [23]

8. 09

   Testosterone for menopause grows past the evidence

   US doctors wrote more than 90,000 off-label prescriptions of testosterone for women in 2025, up 58.7% on 2024. [26] Off-label means the FDA, the US drug regulator, has not approved it for that use. [26] Testosterone does not fall sharply at menopause, said Susan Davis of Monash University in Australia. [26] Trials against a dummy treatment have not shown it helps brain fog, mood or bones. [26] An FDA workshop on 17 September concluded that more evidence is needed. [26]

   Why it matters — A review of 36 trials found skin patches gave women about 0.85 more satisfying sexual events a month, the one use with some evidence. [26] In the US women are given products made for men's doses, and the effects of high doses on the heart and breasts are poorly known. [26]

9. 10

   MPs want health chief kept off ADHD clinic rules

   Four Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs want Samantha Jones, the top civil servant at England's health department, to stay out of plans to regulate private ADHD and autism clinics. [27] ADHD is attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. [27] Weeks after she was appointed in 2025, a care company she chaired bought ADHD360 for 22.5 million pounds. [27] ADHD360 has earned 26 million pounds from the NHS in six years. [27] She sold her shares before starting the job. [27]

   Why it matters — Last week the UK government accepted a review by Prof Peter Fonagy that found private assessments had money reasons built in to diagnose. [27] England's health secretary, Yvette Cooper, has promised a much tougher regime for these clinics. [27]

10. 11

    Doubts over the cannabis and violence review

    A King's College London review of 63 studies, covering more than 265,000 people, linked cannabis use to about twice the odds of violence. [28] A critique in The Conversation says 46 of those studies measured both things only once, so they cannot show which came first. [28] Studies that followed people over time found 17% higher odds, not double. [28] The review's own extra material rated the certainty of its evidence as very low. [28]

    Why it matters — Poverty, alcohol and other drugs go with both cannabis use and violence, and could explain part of the link. [28] When violence is common, twice the odds is much less than twice as likely, the critique says. [28]

11. 12

    Women's health posts caught by Instagram filters

    Instagram removed Irene Breen's adverts for pregnancy pillows in January 2025. [29] Meta, which owns Instagram, later told her the problem was the word 'pregnancy', and it took ten months to lift the limits. [29] In a survey by CensHERship, a campaign group, 96% of nearly 200 women's health creators, charities and clinics reported some kind of restriction. [29] The Eve Appeal, a cancer charity, says the hashtag #vaginalcancer does not appear at all. [29]

    Why it matters — A researcher at the London School of Economics says automated systems flag posts and can repeat earlier mistaken decisions, often with no person to appeal to. [29] Meta says it allows women's health content and is consulting health groups to improve its systems. [29]

12. 13

    Guidelines to spot sarcoma in young people sooner

    Liberty York, from Warwickshire in England, died in June 2025 aged 19 from angiosarcoma, a rare cancer of soft tissue. [30] Her breast swelling was first treated as an infection, then put down to hormones. [30] By the time it was removed the tumour weighed 4.5kg. [30] CCLG, a UK children's cancer charity, has now launched guidelines to help health workers recognise soft-tissue sarcomas in children and young people. [30] These cancers make up about 7% of childhood cancers. [30]

    Why it matters — Their early signs look like common problems, which is why diagnosis is often late, experts say. [30] Her mother is backing the campaign and says that with this cancer, days and weeks matter. [30]

13. 14

    A Cumbria charity for new mothers may close

    The Happy Mums Foundation has supported more than 1,000 families in Cumbria, England, since 2015. [31] It runs groups for mothers with mental health problems after a birth. [31] Its 13 weekly groups have already fallen to five, and without new money it will move online or close. [31] Its director said that talking about suicidal thoughts in a safe group helps prevent suicide. [31] Papyrus, a suicide prevention charity, closed in September. [31]

    Why it matters — The local NHS trust said such support is valuable but cannot formally be part of its clinical services. [31] Suicidal thoughts are a matter for a doctor or a crisis line.

14. 15

    No money for an overloaded emergency unit

    Northern Ireland's health minister, Robbie Butler, said there is no money for a new emergency department at Altnagelvin Hospital in Londonderry. [32] The unit is the oldest round-the-clock one in Northern Ireland. [32] It was built for about 40,000 patients a year and now sees up to twice that. [32] A new one would cost about 73 million pounds. [32] One patient said he waited 15 hours after a heart attack without seeing a doctor or a nurse. [32]

    Why it matters — Northern Ireland's government has not agreed a budget this year and says the UK's funding formula leaves it short. [32] Another patient described a 91-year-old sitting for two full days on a hard chair. [32]

15. 16

    Opting out of health data sharing is hard

    A researcher at CalMatters and The Markup, two US news sites, tried to stop an Ohio hospital sharing her records through Care Everywhere. [33] That system is run by Epic, which makes the MyChart patient app and says it holds more than 305 million patient charts. [33] She went through more than 40 menu items and got no reply to messages. [33] A phone call to the hospital's medical records office finally worked. [33] One company's form marked optional data sharing as 'Required'. [33]

    Why it matters — Shared records cut repeat tests and help emergency doctors, but some patients with sensitive conditions want control. [33] In one review of 1,138 breaches, almost 10% came from health workers misusing their access. [33]

16. 17

    Refugees lose US health cover while papers wait

    A 2025 US law ended federally funded health cover for refugees and people granted asylum who do not yet hold a green card, the document for permanent residents. [34] KFF, a US health research group, found more than 275,000 of their green card applications waiting in June 2026. [34] The average wait rose from 7.8 to 13.3 months for refugees. [34] For people granted asylum it rose from 10.7 to 19.9 months. [34]

    Why it matters — While they wait they cannot get Medicaid, the US public cover for people on low incomes, or subsidised marketplace plans. [34] Longer processing means longer gaps in care for people who have already applied. [34]

17. 18

    Ketamine poisonings doubled in the US

    Ketamine poisonings reported to US poison control centres doubled between 2019 and 2023 and are the highest on record, writes an emergency doctor at the University of Virginia. [35] Ketamine is an anaesthetic, approved in 1970, that can also make people feel cut off from themselves. [35] A former Cornell University student says in a lawsuit filed in September that men pressured her to take it before raping her. [35] Most hospitals cannot detect it on standard urine tests. [35]

    Why it matters — Wider medical use and new street versions both feed the rise, he writes. [35] Drugs used in assaults leave the body quickly, so they are often gone before anyone tests for them. [35]

18. 19

    Salton Sea dust inflamed mice's lungs

    Lung disease is common around the Salton Sea, California's largest inland lake and a big source of airborne dust. [36] Researchers collected dust at three sites around it from 2020 to 2022 and had mice breathe it for seven days. [36] The dust had been filtered to remove living germs first. [36] Dust from Wister, a site south-east of the lake, caused inflammation in the lungs and changed the bacteria in the lungs and gut. [36]

    Why it matters — The study was in mice, not people. [36] The researchers set out to find the root causes of the lung disease in towns around the lake. [36]

19. 20

    Home reading weighs most in a dyslexia study

    Researchers screened 29,820 primary school children in four Chinese cities. [37] They compared 948 with dyslexia, a lasting difficulty with reading, against 948 children without it. [37] How much reading happened at home was the biggest factor they found. [37] Other factors linked to dyslexia included the child's learning habits, the mother's education, parents working away from home and long screen use during pregnancy. [37] Children with the highest genetic risk score had about twice the risk. [37]

    Why it matters — The study compared groups, so it shows links, not causes. [37] The authors argue for screening that looks at a child's genes and home life together. [37]

20. 21

    Video follow-ups matched clinic visits for headache

    Sixty people aged 20 to 40 came to six specialist headache clinics with their first headache. [38] Each had an in-person exam, then a video consultation at the same clinic 45 days later. [38] The headache history they gave matched very closely between the two. [38] How often the headaches came and how long they lasted matched only moderately. [38] Where the pain sat matched in more than 80% of cases. [38]

    Why it matters — It is a small study. [38] It also compared the cost, the time taken and the work missed for each kind of visit. [38]

21. 22

    Lupus linked to a disease that damages sight

    Researchers used Korea's national health insurance records to follow 9,496 people with lupus and 28,488 people without it. [39] Lupus is an illness in which the immune system attacks the body's own tissue. [39] People with lupus got age-related macular degeneration, which damages the centre of sight, at 49.1 cases for every 10,000 years of follow-up, against 26.7. [39] The risk of the 'wet' form, with leaking blood vessels, was about three times higher. [39]

    Why it matters — People who had taken hydroxychloroquine, a common lupus drug, for five years or more had four times the risk of the wet form. [39] More severe lupus was not linked to a higher risk once other factors were allowed for. [39]