NHS leaders say up to 20 of England's 155 consultant-led maternity units may have to shut or change role

The rest of the day

11 more stories on this beat.

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

1. 02

   Northern Ireland's rural hospitals push back

   Four hospital campaign groups have written to Northern Ireland's Executive, its power-sharing government, asking for a working group on rural health care. [11] They say people in the countryside face long, unsafe trips for emergency care. [11] Daisy Hill Hospital in Newry, which lost its emergency surgery in 2024, could stop delivering babies from 23 November. [11] Its trust cannot recruit consultant obstetricians and plans to move births to Craigavon Area Hospital, about 40 minutes away. [12][13]

   Why it matters — Northern Ireland's health minister, Robbie Butler, said in September that no final decision on Daisy Hill had been taken. [12] Kara Finnegan, whose baby needed an emergency caesarean when her placenta came away, says a longer trip would put mothers like her at risk. [13]

2. 03

   Essex midwives paid for gas exposure

   More than 120 midwives and maternity staff at Basildon University Hospital in Essex will share 735,000 pounds in compensation. [18] Poor ventilation let nitrous oxide, the gas and air given to women in labour, build up on the ward from 2021 to 2023. [18] Some staff breathed up to 30 times the legal workplace limit. [18] They were not told about test results showing this for 16 months. [18] The Royal College of Midwives says the gas is safe for mothers, and the fault was the ward. [18]

   Legal limit1 x

   Highest exposure30 x

   Why it matters — Staff describe headaches, brain fog and low vitamin B12, and the union has written to every NHS trust in England about the risk. [18] The NHS Alliance also blames old maternity buildings for unsafe care. [2]

3. 04

   NHS England's own report flags harm to trans patients

   An internal NHS England impact assessment, seen by the Guardian, says its new ward rules could cause delays and more corridor care, meaning treatment on trolleys in hallways, for trans patients. [14] The rules, published on 15 October, say single-sex wards are used by biological sex, not gender identity. [14] The assessment says trans people may fear being outed, and some may avoid health care altogether. [14] It also lists benefits, including for women who are pregnant or breastfeeding. [14]

   Why it matters — It warns that hospitals may not have side rooms free, which would put trans patients on wards matching their biological sex. [14] NHS England declined to comment. [14]

4. 05

   New Zealand votes on a strained health service

   New Zealand holds a general election on 7 November. [16] Some 44% of New Zealanders name healthcare as a top concern, second only to the cost of living, says Ipsos, a polling firm. [15] One adult in four says they cannot get to see their family doctor, and record numbers are going to emergency departments. [15] New Zealand's government has hired 54 extra full-time nurses, not the 2,000 it promised. [15] Health minister Simeon Brown says waits for planned operations have improved. [15]

   Why it matters — Labour promises three free family-doctor visits and free prescriptions, and National promises 604 million dollars more for medicines. [15] A recent poll put the two main parties level on 28%. [15]

5. 06

   Scientists ask for an air pollution inquiry

   A letter signed by 150 scientists, MPs and campaigners, including Greta Thunberg, asks Prime Minister Andy Burnham for a national inquiry into the unequal harm from air pollution. [17] Research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies, a think tank, found poorer areas of England have dirtier air. [17] It found minority-ethnic groups breathe about 6% more pollution than white groups. [17] Figures gathered by Mums for Lungs, a campaign group, show over 200,000 children in 11 English areas went to hospital with breathing trouble in 2025. [17]

   2023653

   20251,072

   Why it matters — Children are hit hardest because their lungs are still growing and they breathe more air for their size. [17] In the city of Manchester, hospital visits by babies and toddlers rose from 653 in 2023 to 1,072 in 2025. [17]

6. 07

   Mild deafness in children is often missed

   About 48% of the UK's more than 53,000 deaf children have mild hearing loss or hear with only one ear, says the National Deaf Children's Society, a charity. [19] In its recent survey, only 36% of people agreed this can have a big effect on a child's day. [19] One in five thought it had little or no effect. [19] These children can struggle to pick out one voice from background noise, as in a classroom. [19] Arlo, eight, from Cottingham, was not diagnosed until she was two. [19]

   Why it matters — Simple changes, such as a seat near the teacher, help these children follow lessons, the charity says. [19] Its campaign, launched this month, aims to help parents spot the signs. [19]

7. 08

   A brain enzyme guards memory in old mice

   A team including Amar Sahay at Massachusetts General Hospital found an enzyme that seems to protect memory as mice age. [20] An enzyme is a protein that speeds up a chemical job, and this one breaks down fats; its gene is called Pla2g2f. [20] Mice without the gene had more brain inflammation and nerve damage as they aged. [20] Old mice with extra scored better on memory tests. [20] In donated human brains, the gene was most active in people who stayed sharp despite amyloid, a protein linked to Alzheimer's. [20]

   Why it matters — The work appeared on 15 October in Nature Neuroscience, and most of it was done in mice. [20] Timothy Hohman, a brain scientist at Vanderbilt University who was not involved, called it a thoughtful way to find what protects nerve cells. [20]

8. 09

   Brown fat linked to better health in scans

   Researchers led by Rockefeller University in New York used AI to search the medical records of 101,243 people for brown fat. [21] Brown fat is a kind of body fat that burns extra sugar and fat and helps control body temperature. [21] The nearly 8,900 people with visible brown fat were less likely to have type 2 diabetes, heart disease, anxiety or depression. [21] People on blood pressure pills more often had it, and in mice the drug losartan made brown fat burn more energy. [21]

   Why it matters — The links do not show that brown fat causes the better health, and the drug's effect has only been seen in mice. [21] The researchers hope to find a way to switch brown fat on in people with normal blood pressure. [21]

9. 10

   Antibodies may trigger some early births

   About one pregnancy in ten ends in a preterm birth, before 37 weeks. [22] Scientists at the University of California, San Francisco compared blood from 688 women whose babies came early with 1,505 who gave birth on time. [23] Women with early births had more antibodies against their own proteins, and earlier in pregnancy. [22] One attacks IL1RA, the body's own brake on a kind of inflammation that sets off contractions. [22] Injected into pregnant mice, it damaged the placenta. [22]

   1 of 10

   pregnancies that end before 37 weeks

   Why it matters — Preterm birth is the leading cause of death in children under five worldwide. [23] Anakinra, a copy of IL1RA used against arthritis for nearly 20 years, could now be tested, though the antibody turned up in only a fraction of preterm births. [22]

10. 11

    An algorithm picks magnetic brain treatment settings

    Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, or rTMS, treats depression that drugs have not helped by sending magnetic pulses into the brain. [24] Doctors have no evidence-based guide to its settings at each session. [24] Researchers at Mass General Brigham in Boston trained a learning algorithm on the records of 1,609 patients at 19 groups of clinics. [24] When doctors happened to choose what it would have picked, patients improved by about 0.8 more points at the next session, on a standard depression questionnaire. [24]

    Why it matters — The study looks back at choices already made, so it shows a link, not proof; the authors project 3.2 extra points if every pick were followed. [24] Its lead author, Jason Gibbons, has a financial interest in a company making online mental health tests. [24]

11. 12

    Gut bacteria track gut trouble in autistic children

    A study in Pediatric Research measured blood and stool markers in 72 autistic children and gut bacteria in 135 children's stools. [25] Children with stronger autism traits had worse gut symptoms, such as stomach pain and bad-smelling stools. [25] Autistic children had a narrower mix of gut bacteria than other children. [25] But the team found no sign of gut inflammation or a leaky gut wall to explain the symptoms. [25]

    Why it matters — Between 31% and 84% of autistic children have significant gut symptoms, which can be hard to spot when a child struggles to describe them. [25] The study measured each child once, so it cannot say which came first. [25]