Only 6.4% of stroke survivors in England, Wales and Northern Ireland get the 3 hours of daily therapy a guideline sets, an audit finds

The stories

20 on this beat today.

Every story told the same way: what happened, who is involved, why it matters, how it works, the truth and the good news.

1. 01

   Only 6.4% of stroke survivors in England, Wales and Northern Ireland get the 3 hours of daily therapy a guideline sets, an audit finds

   6.4%

   of stroke survivors get the 3 hours of daily therapy a guideline sets

   it was 7.5% in late 2024 [1]

   40 minutes

   of therapy for the average survivor, against the 3 hours set

   6 minutes less than in late 2024 [1]

   £25.7bn

   estimated yearly cost of stroke to the UK

   £13.7bn of it goes on social care [1]

   What happened

   • Only 6.4% of stroke survivors in England, Wales and Northern Ireland get the therapy a guideline sets, an audit found. [1]
   • That target is 3 hours of therapy a day, at least 5 days a week. [1]
   • The figure covers January to March 2026, the latest available. [1] It was 7.5% in October to December 2024. [1]
   • The audit is the Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme, SSNAP, which draws on stroke care data from hospitals. [1]
   • The average survivor got 40 minutes of therapy, 6 minutes less than in late 2024. [1]
   • The report gives a lowest figure of 15.2 minutes and a highest of 57.3. [1]
   • Only 68% of patients got continuing rehabilitation help once they had left hospital. [1]
   • Almost 100,000 people a year in the UK have a stroke. [1]
   • A stroke is a brain injury, and survivors can struggle to walk, talk or swallow. [1]
   • The yearly number could rise to 115,483 by 2030, with an ageing population and more high blood pressure and diabetes. [1]
   • The Stroke Association, a UK charity for survivors, put the yearly cost of stroke at £25.7bn. [1]
   • Social care for survivors takes £13.7bn of that. [1] Lost work and relatives leaving jobs add another £6.7bn. [1]

   Who is involved

   The 3 hours comes from NICE, the body that writes care guidelines for the NHS in England and Wales. [1]

   The target counts physiotherapy, speech and language therapy and occupational therapy. [1] Northern Ireland follows the same guideline. [1]

   • Physiotherapy
   • Speech therapy
   • Occupational therapy
   • SSNAP the national audit of stroke care in England, Wales and Northern Ireland; it reported the 6.4%
   • The Stroke Association a UK charity for stroke survivors; it called the figures damning and put the cost at £25.7bn
   • NICE the body that writes care guidelines for the NHS in England and Wales; its guideline sets the 3 hours
   • The UK health department the government department responsible for the NHS; it did not comment on the shortfall

   How it unfolded

   Therapists in English focus groups, in a 2023 study, gave two kinds of reason survivors miss a target. [2]

   Some patients were too tired or unwell to take part. [2] Others were in services that could not deliver it. [2]

   That study looked at a different target: 45 minutes of each therapy a day. [2]

   1. Today almost 100,000 a year
   2. By 2030 could reach 115,483

   Why it matters

   The Stroke Association says the shortfall hurts survivors' chances of regaining physical and mental function. [1]

   Its head, Juliet Bouverie, said too many survivors "are being left without the care and support they need". [1]

   How it works

   Neurorehabilitation, the medicine of recovery after brain injury, calls it use-dependent plasticity. [3] Pathways used again and again grow stronger. [3]

   Surviving brain cells grow new connections, typically between 1 week and 4 weeks after a stroke. [3] Repeated practice of real tasks reinforces them. [3]

   A 2026 review argues repetitions and effort predict recovery better than minutes. [4] It says many intensive programmes are intensive only in time. [4]

   Seen it before

   A pianist learns a hard bar by playing it many times, not by sitting longer at the piano.

   The truth

   • What is really going on Only 6.4% of stroke survivors in England, Wales and Northern Ireland got the 3 hours a day of therapy set by NICE's guideline, and the average was 40 minutes. [1]Reviewers still call the right amount of therapy unresolved, and the UK health department did not explain the shortfall. [5][1]
   • Why it works on people A single stark percentage reads like a finished verdict, even when it comes from one quarter's figures. [1]
   • The Guardian calls the 3 hours something patients are entitled to. [1] The rule it names is a guideline written to guide NHS practice. [1]
   • The best dose of stroke therapy is still unsettled, one 2025 review says. [5] A separate 2026 paper warns of mixed trial results. [6]
   • A US guideline from August says hard practice should not happen in the first 24 hours after a stroke. [7]
   • The UK health department did not comment on the shortfall. [1] It pointed to its pledge to cut early deaths from heart disease and stroke. [1]
   • Who pays Stroke survivors — They lose therapy time in the weeks after the stroke, when surviving brain cells grow new connections. [1][3]
   • Who pays Relatives of stroke survivors — Some give up paid work to care, a cost the charity counts with lost earnings. [1]
   • Nobody knows yet

     Whether the fall from 7.5% to 6.4% is a real fall.

     The figures are from two different quarters, October to December 2024 and January to March 2026, and the Guardian does not say whether the audit counted the same way both times. [1]

   • Nobody knows yet

     Whether the 40 minutes is per day.

     The Guardian gives it next to the 3-hours-a-day target without stating the unit, and we could not open the audit's own report to check. [1]

   • Nobody knows yet

     How much therapy a stroke survivor really needs.

     One review calls the best dose a central unresolved issue, and another paper warns of mixed results across trials. [5][6]

1. 02

   A newborn bled for hours without the shot

   What happened

   • ProPublica, a US newsroom, told the story of Gwen Biesenbach, an 11-day-old Texas girl who died of bleeding. [9]
   • Her parents had declined the vitamin K shot at birth and given her drops instead. [9]
   • Babies need vitamin K for their blood to clot, and without enough they can bleed without warning. [9]
   • Gwen was taken in August 2023 to a Texas emergency room that stands apart from any hospital. [9]
   • A nurse told the ambulance team they did not have the shot. [9] The team gave it at 3:45 a.m. [9]
   • Gwen's heart stopped soon after reaching the hospital, and she died. [9]
   • Texas's medical board later found the doctor had not recognised the disorder or transferred her immediately to a better-equipped hospital. [9]
   • The doctor neither admitted nor denied this, and was ordered to take 24 hours of training. [9]

   How it unfolded

   1. At the ER no shot on hand
   2. 3:45 a.m. the ambulance team gives it

   Why it matters

   An analysis of over a million US newborns found refusals rising after the country's vaccine schedule changed. [9]

   Between January and June 2026 the share of babies not given the shot rose from 5.2% to 8.1%. [9]

   How it works

   Pharmacologists call an injection stored and released slowly a depot.

   The vitamin K shot acts fast, then the liver stores the rest and releases it over months. [9]

   Drops can be spat up or not absorbed, and a tired parent can forget a dose. [9]

   Seen it before

   A pantry stocked once lasts for months, while shopping daily works only if nobody forgets.

   The truth

   • The doctor told ProPublica: "I felt that I had done everything that I could". [9] She says she knew what the bleeding was. [9]
   • The American Academy of Pediatrics, a US doctors' group, says drops work less well than the shot. [9] US regulators do not oversee the drops. [9]
   • Who pays Newborns whose parents refuse the shot — They lose the protection that all but ended this bleeding in the US. [9]
   • Nobody knows yet

     Whether the Texas emergency room ever stocked the vitamin K shot.

     A nurse said it did not have one, and the doctor told ProPublica it remains unclear even to her. [9]

2. 03

   Strokes rise among the under-55s

   What happened

   • Rates of stroke in under-55s have been rising while rates in older people fell, a researcher writes in The Conversation. [8]
   • In England, stroke among 35- to 54-year-olds rose by about 2% a year between 2001 and 2010. [8]
   • In Oxfordshire, under-55 stroke rates were about 90% higher in 2010-2018 than in 1981-1986. [8]
   • In the US, rates in ages 20 to 54 went from 34 to 62 per 100,000 between 1993-1994 and 2020. [8]
   • One international study tied about 92% of under-55 strokes to ten causes people can change. [8]
   • High blood pressure alone accounted for almost half. [8]

   Why it matters

   Adults aged 18 to 44 are the likeliest to be sent home from US emergency rooms with a missed stroke. [8]

   Strokes at the back of the brain hit balance and vision, not the face and arms. [8]

   How it works

   Epidemiologists, who study disease across whole populations, call these modifiable risk factors: causes that can be changed. [8]

   High blood pressure usually has no symptoms, and it is often undiagnosed in younger adults. [8]

   Seen it before

   A slow leak empties a tyre with no sound, until the car will not steer.

   The truth

   • About half of clot-caused strokes in young people have no clear cause. [8] The England and Oxfordshire figures stop at 2010 and 2018. [8]
3. 04

   £40m for winter checks on frail patients

   What happened

   • England will pay family doctors £40m to give 300,000 frail patients extra checks this winter. [10]
   • The patients have frailty or long-term conditions such as heart disease and lung disease. [10]
   • Groups of GP surgeries can use £126 for each eligible patient they support. [10]
   • The £40m is cash moved from existing GP budgets for 2026-27. [10]
   • UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham said he was "not going to pretend this winter will be easy". [10]

   Why it matters

   The checks are meant to keep these patients out of hospital beds in the hardest months. [10]

   How it works

   Health planners call these avoidable hospital admissions: stays that earlier care could have stopped. [10]

   Checks, medicine reviews and breathing tests aim to catch a small problem before it becomes a trip to A&E. [10]

   Seen it before

   Fixing a slow puncture at home saves a breakdown on the motorway.

   The truth

   • The head of the Royal College of GPs welcomed it, but said short-term schemes alone cannot bring lasting improvement. [10]
   • Who gains English hospitals this winter — Checks by family doctors aim to stop frail patients needing a hospital bed. [10]
4. 05

   Northern Ireland's GP dispute ends

   What happened

   • Northern Ireland's family doctors agreed a new contract with its health department, ending a 12-month dispute. [11]
   • The deal adds £40m over two years for better access, the department said. [11]
   • This year's contract is worth a further £17.384m, of which £13.3m is lasting money for core GP services. [11]
   • GP partners had voted for collective action after a package was imposed on them in May 2025. [11]

   How it unfolded

   1. May 2025 a deal is imposed
   2. Now a new contract is agreed

   Why it matters

   Health minister Robbie Butler says the deal will make appointments easier to get. [11]

   The department says the money is for improvements in patient access and primary care activity. [11]

   How it works

   Industrial relations calls this a work to rule: doing only what the contract requires. [11]

   The doctors limited appointments to 25 a day and ignored non-essential paperwork. [11]

   Seen it before

   A waiter who does only the listed duties, and nothing more, slows the whole restaurant.

   The truth

   • GPs told a Northern Ireland Assembly committee that general practice gets under 6% of the health budget. [11] They want at least 10%. [11]
   • The BBC's health correspondent says their request is closer to £80m a year, against £20m allocated. [11]

   Good news

   • Northern Ireland's family doctors and its health department ended a 12-month dispute with a new contract.

1. 06

   NHS trusts lack maternity cover for physios

   What happened

   • Almost half of England's NHS trusts have no money set aside to cover staff on maternity leave. [12]
   • The figure is 49%, from freedom of information requests to NHS trusts, which run hospitals and services. [12]
   • 22% of trusts said their cover did not extend to physiotherapy staff, against 9% for nursing posts. [12]
   • Women make up about 79% of the NHS physiotherapy workforce. [12]
   • Of more than 2,000 members surveyed by the physiotherapists' body, 6 in 10 said other teams took their rooms. [12]

   Why it matters

   Patients can wait longer for rehabilitation when a post stays empty, the Patients Association says. [12]

   Earlier research suggested stroke patients got poorer care because hospitals lacked space and equipment for therapy. [12]

   How it works

   Workforce planners call this absence cover: budgeting for staff who are known to be away.

   Where no budget exists, colleagues already at full stretch must take on the same workload with fewer people. [12]

   Seen it before

   When one player in a team is off and no one is called up, the rest run further.

   Why recovery from a stroke may depend on repetitions more than minutes

   Neurorehabilitation calls it use-dependent plasticity: brain pathways used again and again grow stronger, though trials still disagree on how much practice is enough.

   The twist

   A therapy session can fill an hour and still ask the brain to repeat the hard movement only a few times.

   The picture

   Guideline target180 minutes

   Average received40 minutes

   Step by step

   1. 1 A stroke destroys brain cells and cuts pathways
   2. 2 Surviving cells nearby grow new connections in the first weeks
   3. 3 Repeating a real task reinforces those connections
   4. 4 Unused pathways stay weak
   5. 5 A clock measures minutes, and not how many repetitions were done

   The same force, elsewhere today

   Where this chain is also running, in today's other stories.

   • NHS trusts lack maternity cover for physios

     An empty physiotherapy post with no cover means patients wait longer for the sessions in which this practice happens.

   • Early exercise in hospital after heart failure

     Repeated effort started on the ward was followed by longer walks, though that adaptation is in heart and muscle, not in nerve pathways.

   • Training people to dream knowingly

     Repeating a practice twice a week for a month raised how often a few dozen people noticed they were dreaming.

   Where you've seen this

   Learning a language

   a word met many times is easier to find than a word studied once for a long time

   Apprenticeships

   hours in the workshop are counted, but a trade is judged by what the hands can do

   Music practice

   ten slow passes through a hard bar teach more than an hour of easy playing

   The catch

   Nobody has settled how much practice is enough, trials have mixed results, and a US guideline says hard practice should wait until after the first 24 hours.

   And the whole of it

   A stroke survivor, a physiotherapist covering an empty post, a hospital manager and the person counting the minutes each see one piece of this. Any of us could become a patient or a relative inside it, with little idea how much of the system sits out of view.

   The truth

   • The figures come from the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, the profession's own body, which is campaigning on this. [12]
   • Who pays NHS patients needing physiotherapy — Teams left without cover can face the same workload with fewer people, so waits grow. [12]

1. 07

   A pacemaker that follows the heart's wiring

   What happened

   • A trial of 685 adults with heart block found a newer pacemaker technique worked better than the standard one. [13]
   • Heart block means electrical signals between the heart's upper and lower chambers are delayed or stopped. [13]
   • The standard pacemaker sends its signal into the right ventricle, one of the two lower chambers. [13]
   • The newer method sends the signal into the heart's own wiring, the left bundle branch. [13]
   • Results reached the trial's bar at a planned check after about 3 years, so it stopped early. [13]
   • Death, heart failure admission or heart muscle damage hit 8.5% on the newer method and 19.2% on the standard. [13]
   • It ran at 17 centres in mainland China, Hong Kong, the UK, Poland and the US. [13]

   How it unfolded

   1. About 3 years in a planned check
   2. Result stopped early

   Why it matters

   Heart block can bring dizziness, fainting and, in severe cases, cardiac arrest. [13]

   The standard technique has been used routinely for decades. [13] The trial was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. [13]

   How it works

   Cardiologists call the damage pacing-induced cardiomyopathy: heart muscle weakened by the pacemaker's own signal. [13]

   None on the newer method got this muscle damage, against 11.7% on the standard. [13]

   Seen it before

   A team rowing out of time tires faster than one pulling together.

   The truth

   • A study author, Jiangang Zou, says this should be the first choice for heart block. [13] It is his own trial's result. [13]
   • Who gains People with heart block given the newer pacemaker — Its signal follows the heart's own wiring, so the chambers keep in step. [13]
   • Nobody knows yet

     Whether the newer pacemaker's advantage lasts.

     The trial was stopped early, at a planned check after about 3 years, so longer results will not come from it. [13]

   Good news

   • In a trial of 685 people with heart block, none whose pacemaker followed the heart's own wiring developed the muscle damage the standard method can cause.
2. 08

   Blood pressure pills after a heart procedure

   What happened

   • A Chinese trial of 320 adults with high blood pressure tested 2 drug choices after a heart procedure. [14]
   • The procedure, ablation, uses heat or cold to treat heart tissue causing an irregular rhythm. [14]
   • Patients took either sacubitril and valsartan together, or valsartan alone. [14]
   • After 12 months the irregular rhythm had returned in 18% on two drugs and 28.3% on one. [14]
   • Blood pressure fell by similar amounts in both groups, about 10 points at clinic visits. [14]

   Why it matters

   Ablation can fix a rhythm without reversing the changes high pressure caused in the heart. [14]

   How it works

   Cardiologists call this remodelling: the heart's shape changing under long strain.

   Pressure fell equally, so the drop alone may not explain why the two-drug group did better. [14]

   Seen it before

   A dented car door can open again, but it may still rattle.

   The truth

   • This was a research abstract, which the American Heart Association says is not peer-reviewed and is preliminary. [14]
   • It tested no placebo, because all the patients needed blood pressure treatment. [14]
3. 09

   Early exercise in hospital after heart failure

   What happened

   • A review of 12 trials tested exercise programmes started in hospital for people with sudden heart failure. [15]
   • Acute heart failure is a sudden worsening of how well the heart pumps. [15]
   • Those who exercised walked about 54 metres further in a 6-minute test than those who did not. [15]
   • The review's search ran to May 2026, and it was published on 8 November. [15]

   How it unfolded

   1. May 2026 the search ends
   2. 8 November the review is published

   Why it matters

   Early exercise also showed possible gains in quality of life, the review says. [15]

   How it works

   Exercise scientists call this training adaptation: the body building capacity from repeated effort.

   Effort started on the ward came with longer walks in all 12 trials taken together. [15]

   Seen it before

   A runner who jogs a little each day can run further by the end of the month.

   Repeated effort started on the ward was followed by longer walks, though that adaptation is in heart and muscle, not in nerve pathways.

   The idea, in story 06: Why recovery from a stroke may depend on repetitions more than minutes →

   The truth

   • The authors rated the certainty of the evidence low, and results on deaths and readmission stayed inconclusive. [15]
4. 10

   Maine's air ambulance fills a rural gap

   What happened

   • LifeFlight of Maine, a non-profit air ambulance in the rural US state of Maine, flew 3,031 flights in 2025. [16]
   • Demand for medical flights in Maine has doubled since 2015. [16] This year it is up another 10%. [16]
   • Most flights move patients from a small hospital to a larger one. [16]
   • Air services are filling gaps as rural hospitals close or stop services such as childbirth. [16]

   How it unfolded

   1. 2015 the starting level
   2. 2025 demand has doubled
   3. This year up another 10%

   Why it matters

   Cuts to Medicaid, the US health programme for poorer people, are estimated at $911 billion over ten years. [16] Hundreds more rural hospitals or maternity units are at immediate risk. [16]

   Last year a woman in northern Maine died while dispatchers called 10 ambulance services and none responded. [16]

   How it works

   Health economists call this low volume: too few patients to pay a service's fixed costs.

   Every closure makes care further away, which pushes more patients onto ground and air ambulances. [16]

   Seen it before

   When the corner shop shuts, everyone on the street drives to the next town for milk.

   The truth

   • For years LifeFlight kept only 60% to 70% of its workers, its chief executive says. [16]
   • Who gains LifeFlight of Maine's paramedics — Their pay was raised to match the flight nurses' pay, which the industry rarely does. [16]

   Good news

   • LifeFlight is now nearly fully staffed for the first time in 9 years, after better training and higher pay. [16]
5. 11

   Fewer places for new neuroscientists

   What happened

   • The Transmitter, a neuroscience news site, surveyed 50 US graduate neuroscience programme directors about admissions. [17]
   • 70% said they had cut how many students they admitted, compared with the previous two years. [17]
   • More than half have enrolled fewer students. [17] One director reported a cohort "down 40 percent". [17]
   • Funding worries were the top reason for smaller classes. [17]
   • David Weaver, who runs one programme, guesses openings for students fell from about 200 to 50. [17]

   Why it matters

   Staff worry that fewer students now will harm the next generation of neuroscientists. [17]

   How it works

   Scientists call this the training pipeline: today's students are tomorrow's researchers. [17]

   Each student is a "quarter-of-a-million-dollar commitment" for a lab, one director says. [17] Uncertain grants make labs reluctant. [17]

   Seen it before

   A cut in the school's first-year class shows up as a small leaving class years later.

   The truth

   • The survey asked 50 directors, so it does not show every US programme. [17]
   • Who pays Students hoping to study neuroscience — Many labs unsure of their grants can no longer commit to paying for a student for years. [17]
6. 12

   A memoir of electric treatment for depression

   What happened

   • Ted Scheinman, a US magazine editor, has written Jolt, a memoir of having electroconvulsive therapy for depression. [18]
   • In this treatment, an electric current passes through the brain and triggers a brief seizure. [18]
   • He had 25 treatments over five months in 2021: 11 on one side of the head and 14 on both. [18]
   • At 35, he had already tried talking therapy and drugs. [18]
   • For about 18 months after it ended he felt much better. [18] Five years on, he says most days pass without depression. [18]

   How it unfolded

   1. 2021 treatment
   2. Next 18 months much better
   3. Now most days clear

   Why it matters

   The treatment carries a frightening public image, from stories such as One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. [18]

   His own experience was a twitch of one big toe, under general anaesthetic. [18]

   How it works

   Psychiatrists call it electroconvulsive therapy: a controlled seizure used to treat severe depression.

   In those seconds, nerve cells fire together and release chemical messengers such as dopamine. [18]

   The truth

   • This is one man's account, not a trial. [18] He says: "I do still consider myself a depressive". [18]
7. 13

   B12 shots sold as an energy lift

   What happened

   • US medical spas, clinics selling cosmetic treatments, are promoting vitamin B12 shots as a pick-me-up. [19]
   • B12 is found in animal foods and helps the body make red blood cells and DNA. [19]
   • About 4% of US adults have low B12 levels, and it is more common from age 60. [19]
   • A shot costs a typical US spa under $1 and sells for $25 to $75. [19]

   Why it matters

   Andrea Dean, a blood specialist in Chicago, says extra B12 will not lift energy if levels are already adequate. [19]

   She said of those who feel better: "We know that some of this is just all mental". [19]

   How it works

   Blood specialists call a vitamin shortage a deficiency: a supplement fixes a shortage, and no shortage means nothing to fix.

   The body gets rid of the B12 it does not need, which is also why high doses are generally safe. [19]

   Seen it before

   Filling a full fuel tank does not make the car go faster.

   The truth

   • Profits add up for spas when patients come for weekly shots, the article says. [19]
   • Who gains US medical spas selling B12 shots — A shot costing under $1 sells for $25 to $75, and weekly customers add up. [19]
8. 14

   Training people to dream knowingly

   What happened

   • Researchers say they can train people to lucid dream: to notice, inside a dream, that they are dreaming. [20]
   • Their training used meditation and exercises in virtual reality, done while awake. [20]
   • A few dozen people repeated it twice a week for a month. [20]
   • Afterwards they reported lucid dreams significantly more often, Live Science, a science news site, reports. [20]

   How it unfolded

   1. Twice a week the training
   2. After a month more lucid dreams

   Why it matters

   The researchers suggest it could one day help people with nightmares, anxiety or post-traumatic stress. [20]

   How it works

   Cognitive scientists call this metacognition: thinking about your own thoughts, here while asleep. [20]

   People who repeated the practice twice a week began to notice dreams more often. [20]

   Seen it before

   Someone who keeps checking the clock during lessons starts to notice the time without trying.

   Repeating a practice twice a week for a month raised how often a few dozen people noticed they were dreaming.

   The idea, in story 06: Why recovery from a stroke may depend on repetitions more than minutes →

   The truth

   • Live Science says those uses are theoretical for now. [20] It gives no effect size, and the group was small. [20]
   • Nobody knows yet

     Whether lucid dream training could help nightmares.

     Live Science calls those uses theoretical, and the study group was a few dozen people. [20]

9. 15

   Menopause arriving through cancer care

   What happened

   • Women treated for breast cancer in England are asking for better help with the menopause it can bring on. [21]
   • Jo Menneer, 55, from East Yorkshire, had to stop hormone replacement therapy for surgery after a 2022 cancer diagnosis. [21]
   • Her symptoms returned almost at once, with hot flushes, aching limbs and up and down emotions. [21]
   • Surgery, chemotherapy, pelvic radiotherapy and stem cell transplants can all set it off, for a time or for good. [21]

   How it unfolded

   1. Before 2022 takes hormone therapy
   2. After surgery must stop it

   Why it matters

   Jo and others say they were not prepared for this part of treatment. [21]

   The UK health department says its National Cancer Plan will build menopause into each patient's care plan. [21]

   How it works

   Doctors call this induced menopause: the hormone drop caused by treatment rather than age. [21]

   Claire Hurst, treated at 50, says there is "no gradual shift" and "no time to adjust". [21]

   Seen it before

   A dimmer eases a room dark slowly, and a switch does it at once.

   The truth

   • These are patients' accounts. [21] The BBC report gives no count of how many are left without help. [21]
10. 16

    Endometriosis pushes women out of work

    What happened

    • Charlotte Samphire, 21, from East Yorkshire, left her job because of endometriosis, the BBC reports. [22]
    • Endometriosis is when cells like the womb's lining grow elsewhere in the body. [22] It affects 1.5 million people in the UK. [22]
    • Diagnosis takes an average of 9 years from the first symptoms. [22]
    • A group of UK MPs reported on endometriosis at work, in a study funded by the charity Endometriosis UK. [22]

    Why it matters

    The group's chair, Kirsteen Sullivan MP, wants a national framework for women in the workplace. [22]

    A charity co-founder, Helen Wilkinson, says she went through 17 jobs in 14 years, much of it through sick leave. [22]

    How it works

    Occupational health specialists call this job retention: keeping people with long-term conditions in work.

    Time off through sickness cost her jobs, Helen Wilkinson says. [22]

    Seen it before

    A phone that dies at random gets replaced, however good it is the rest of the time.

    The truth

    • This report was commissioned and paid for by the charity Endometriosis UK. [22]
11. 17

    A paramedic attacked at Altnagelvin Hospital

    What happened

    • A paramedic was seriously assaulted at Altnagelvin Hospital in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, on Saturday evening. [23]
    • Police said a suspect has been identified. [23]
    • She had brought in a male patient and was moving him from stretcher to chair when he punched her. [23]
    • The Northern Ireland Ambulance Service said the attack lasted a number of minutes. [23] She has injuries to her head, neck, face and hands. [23]
    • Her career spans over 37 years, the service's chief executive, Jenny Keane, said. [23]

    Why it matters

    Keane said she is concerned at the psychological impact on the paramedic and others involved. [23]

    Elected assembly members from two parties said attacks on health workers must not be accepted. [23]

    How it works

    Occupational safety researchers call this workplace violence: harm done to workers by the people they serve.

    Her job puts her within reach of patients: this attack began while she helped move one. [23]

    Seen it before

    A shop worker behind a counter has more protection than one on the shop floor.

    The truth

    • The BBC report gives no count of how often this happens in Northern Ireland. [23]
12. 18

    Fit children, and depression decades on

    What happened

    • An Australian study followed about 1,080 schoolchildren tested in 1985 until they were adults aged 36 to 49. [24]
    • It lasted an average of 32.5 years. [24] 17.6% of them went on to experience depression. [24]
    • Children who ran faster had a 15% lower rate of developing depression after adjusting for age and sex. [24]
    • Grip strength and long jump showed no such consistent link. [24]

    How it unfolded

    1. 1985 fitness tests at school
    2. Adults aged 36 to 49 clinic visits

    Why it matters

    If the link holds, a child's fitness could matter for adult mental health decades later. [24]

    How it works

    Epidemiologists call this confounding: a third thing, such as family wealth, can drive both results.

    When the researchers also adjusted for jump power, neighbourhood and weight, the estimate stayed 15% but lost statistical significance. [24]

    Seen it before

    A class that does well may have a good teacher, or may simply have more quiet homes.

    The truth

    • About 1,080 people were left of 8,498 first tested, and researchers used statistical weights for those lost. [24]
    • Nobody knows yet

      Whether childhood fitness protects against adult depression.

      The 15% lower rate stopped being statistically significant once other factors were added, and most of the original 8,498 children were not in the final analysis. [24]

13. 19

    Sports injuries to teenagers' fingers

    What happened

    • Teenagers' finger breaks and dislocations from ball and stick sports led to about 441,441 US emergency visits. [25] The count covers 2015 to 2025. [25]
    • American football led with about 166,972 visits, then basketball with 154,526. [25]
    • Baseball and softball made up about 40,297. [25]
    • Yearly visits fell by about 2.7% a year across the period. [25]
    • Fractures were 83.2% of these visits and dislocations 16.8%. [25]

    Why it matters

    These sports add a substantial load on US emergency rooms, the authors say. [25]

    How it works

    Researchers call this case mix: which injuries come in, and not how often they happen. [25]

    Teens aged 16 to 18 had higher odds that a visit was for a dislocation. [25] That does not mean a higher risk. [25]

    Seen it before

    A shop's complaints show what buyers bring back, not how often its goods break.

    The truth

    • The authors note the figures rest on a sample of hospitals, and small groups may be unstable. [25]
14. 20

    Engineered cells clear a child brain tumour in mice

    What happened

    • Scientists at UC San Francisco reported a new immune cell treatment that eliminated a childhood brain tumour in mice. [26]
    • The tumour, diffuse midline glioma, grows into the brainstem, which controls breathing and heartbeat. [26]
    • Nearly all children diagnosed with it die within 1 year. [26]
    • The treatment is called B-SYNC CAR-T: a patient's immune cells altered to hunt tumour cells. [26]
    • When tumour cells were added again weeks later, the altered cells stopped new tumours forming. [26]
    • The work appeared on 28 October in the journal Science Translational Medicine. [26]

    How it unfolded

    1. First tumours cleared
    2. Weeks later new tumours stopped

    Why it matters

    Few treatments have helped against this tumour, which spreads into healthy tissue. [26]

    How it works

    Cell engineers call this a synthetic receptor: a cell built to act only after it meets a chosen signal.

    The cells turn on only after meeting brevican, a protein found in the brain. [26]

    Seen it before

    A door that opens only for the right key stays shut for everyone else.

    The truth

    • So far this has been shown only in mice given human tumour cells. [26] The scientists say the exact reason it works remains unclear. [26]
    • Nobody knows yet

      Whether the brain tumour treatment will work in children.

      It has been tested only in mice, and trials in people may not start until April 2027. [26]

    What comes next

    Trials in people could begin at UCSF Health as early as April 2027. [26]