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A woman in labour in Barnstaple now faces 43 miles and about 70 minutes in a car to reach a maternity unit in Exeter. The unit at North Devon district hospital closed temporarily in August because it lacked enough doctors, and an estimated 194 women have since given birth elsewhere. The prime minister has described the situation as unacceptable, while a senior NHS leader has suggested that north Devon offers an early indication of what lies ahead. Matthew Hopkins, acute care

When a death reaches the national news, a particular kind of work begins inside some NHS organisations. Information governance teams wait to see who opens the file. This month it was Yorkshire, where two ambulance service staff are under investigation over access to the records of a man killed by a tiger. Earlier this year it was Southport, where nearly 50 staff at a single Liverpool trust were found to have looked inappropriately at the records of injured children. In Nottin

On 8 June, iRhythm Technologies detected unauthorised access to business applications hosted by a third party. Within two days the company had told US securities regulators what it knew, including that a threat actor was demanding payment in return for silence. Few organisations manage that pace of candour while an investigation is still under way, and fewer still keep their clinical operations running throughout. The facts are uncomfortable. Data was downloaded between 3 and

This weekend, clinicians at Airedale NHS Foundation Trust will open a patient record system they have spent months learning. Patients have already been handed a leaflet that says something hospitals rarely admit in writing: expect small delays in the recording of notes while staff adjust. Appointments will go ahead as normal. The trust has told people what the first few days will feel like before they feel it. The go-live of the Oracle Health Millennium electronic patient rec

On the day the payroll run falls due, a trust finance director looks at a cash balance that will not cover everything. Staff must be paid. The invoice run is what gives. Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust has described exactly this, paying only a little over a fifth of its non-NHS suppliers on time because it had to withhold payments to meet payroll without emergency support. The decision is rational. It also signals that something in the system's plumbing has gone w

A patient leaves a consulting room with a prescription and a small sense of relief. Twenty minutes later, at the pharmacy counter, the relief goes. The price is higher than expected, the insurer's share is smaller than hoped, and the medicine goes back on the shelf. In the United States this happens often enough to count as a pattern, with more than four in ten adults saying cost has led them to take medicines other than as prescribed. Epic, the electronic health record suppl

On 13 October the MHRA authorised Onswik (insulin efsitora alfa), a once-weekly basal insulin for adults with type 2 diabetes.

The longer the question sits in the in-tray, the more the practical advantages narrow. Councils will settle on workarounds and hospitals will build local habits, and these will be hard to unpick later.

Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust has asked suppliers to come forward to discuss a digital clinical triage service for musculoskeletal conditions.

A small feature reaching a third of English pharmacies shows how far the government's digital ambitions depend on contractor integration, funding and evidence of benefit

A memorandum of understanding sets out joint work on data, analytics and healthcare delivery, as other UK and European data projects advance

Free flu and pneumococcal vaccination through outreach teams and mobile vans offers a practical measure of community-based care, winter pressure and inclusion health in England

The free event on 8 October will examine disparities in Black health outcomes and recognise community contributions to local care

State regulatory sandbox permits AI software to prescribe acne treatments without immediate doctor oversight, alongside new digital health initiatives for physical therapy and prescription refills

A mobile Copilot classroom at Berkshire Healthcare shows how trusts are turning to automation to close budget gaps, and how much must go right before saved minutes become saved money

Successful applicants will spend 12 months on live NHS projects focused on the safe deployment and evaluation of artificial intelligence in clinical settings

Docquity's expansion into Japan shows how point-of-care AI turns physician questions into a strategic asset, and why the NHS has yet to decide who should hold that knowledge.

How Cromwell Hospital is leading a surgical revolution to deliver faster recoveries and better outcomes for complex conditions.

DYAD's $10 million raise and its move into secondary and mental health care show where the NHS's AI ambitions will be settled: in the routine handling of patient letters

A £5 million net zero renal facility at Aintree University Hospital shows how independent providers, home therapy and carbon targets are being folded into NHS infrastructure while public capital remains scarce.