I get advice about my age on social media (not all of it friendly), but I’m sanguine about life without youthful anxietiesHow old is old? That depends on how old you are, for as you age you will nudge that number upwards. A recent German study asked people over the age of 40 that same question eight times over a period of 25 years, and it found “old”...

National Pharmacy Association says some family doctors refusing to refer patients with minor ailments GPs have been accused of scuppering Rishi Sunak’s flagship plan to cut the time it takes to see them by refusing to refer patients with minor ailments to a pharmacist instead.Pharmacists claim many GPs in England are not sending patients to them to...

Readers on the government’s plans to move away from financial support for those with mental health conditions given through personal independence paymentPerhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that the government has continued to attack “mental health culture” (Mentally ill people being used as ‘political football’, campaigners say, 29 April). The publication...

Exclusive: Ceilings in two units in Stepping Hill hospital collapse days apart including in critical care unitParts of ceilings have fallen in at two key units of a decrepit NHS hospital, forcing it to evacuate patients and cancel X-rays and scans, the Guardian can reveal.The problems at Stepping Hill hospital in Stockport, which is plagued by leaks...

Athletes are breaking their silence about their experience of eating disorders and disordered eating. Why is this happening in an arena celebrated as the epitome of health?Elite sport has long been consumed with the idea of the superhuman. Pushing the capabilities of the human body to its extremes in the hopes of uncovering the blueprint to engineer...

Genetic analysis of Winchester samples shows similar strains of disease and supports theory that fur trade played role in spreadLeprosy passed between humans and red squirrels in medieval England, research suggests, supporting the theory that the fur trade could have played a role in the spread of the disease.Leprosy is one of the oldest infectious...