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A County Tyrone man who has been waiting six years for a gall bladder operation has said he feels forgotten about by the health service. John Doherty, 55, said he could not understand why he was unable to get updates on his…

Pollution of the world's rivers from medicines and pharmaceutical products poses a "threat to environmental and global health", a report says. Paracetamol, nicotine, caffeine and epilepsy and diabetes drugs were widely…

Medical face masks could be turned into curtains or bedsheets, the government has said as it tries to tackle pandemic-related PPE plastic waste. Health minister Edward Argar said the Department of Health and Social Care was…

Critical action is needed to address "vast and persistent" ethnic inequalities in healthcare in the UK, a major study has found. The review, ordered by the NHS Race and Health Observatory, found "overwhelming" evidence of…

Thirty years ago, Michelle Crawford from Londonderry was undergoing an operation that would change her life. Born with a hereditary heart condition, doctors said the 10-year-old might only have weeks to live without a heart transplant. On…

Two NHS hospital trusts are working with police after a doctor was arrested on suspicion of sexual assault. Staffordshire Police has launched a major incident review of the doctor's work at hospitals in Dudley, West Midlands,…

A hospital patient has been arrested on suspicion of murdering another patient who died after a fight. Police were called to Rotherham District General Hospital at about 20:55 GMT on Saturday to reports that two men had been…

A woman has resorted to teaching her five-year-old son to use FaceTime over fears his grandmother will have a fourth heart attack. Mandy Swift, 56, has had three heart attacks and now her daughter Vicki is teaching son Gethin…

Teaching people about achieving sexual pleasure can help sell safe-sex messages, say researchers from the World Health Organization. Programmes using this approach improve condom use more than ones that focus only on the…

Tongue-tie is a condition which affects about 10% of newborn babies in the UK, but parents say they can face major struggles for services and support. It occurs when the strip of skin connecting the tongue and the floor of…

Thousands more lives could be saved if people knew how to spot the early signs of a heart attack, the NHS has said. Doctors want people to be more aware of common early symptoms such as sweating and tightness in the chest -…

A person being treated for Lassa fever in the East of England, has died, a hospital trust has confirmed. The patient died from the acute viral illness at a hospital run by the Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.…

One of the last remaining Covid restrictions in England - the legal requirement for people to isolate if they test positive for Covid - may be scrapped in the coming weeks. Boris Johnson says he intends to present the country…

The family of 17-month-old Hugh McMahon say he died after swallowing a button battery from a children's toy. His father, also called Hugh McMahon, recalls the last time he put his son to bed. It was Christmas Eve…

The law in Wales requiring people to wear face masks could be scrapped by the end of March, First Minister Mark Drakeford has said. The Welsh government said falling case rates meant it could begin to ease its remaining…

Campaigners have called on MPs to "act now" to improve patchy and under-funded NHS dental provision. Toothless in England said reform of the current dental system was "long overdue" and the government was "continuing to…

Luc Montagnier, the French virologist credited as a co-discoverer of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), has died aged 89. Montagnier was jointly awarded the 2008 Nobel Prize for his work in isolating the virus that…

A BBC News investigation revealed last year there were 100 people with learning disabilities and autism who have been detained in specialist hospitals for more than 20 years. Since then, families across the UK have contacted the BBC to tell…

The sickest patients are facing long waits for a bed when they are admitted to hospital in England, NHS data shows. A third of the A&E patients - 122,000 in total - who were ill enough to need treatment on a ward waited…

About one in 10 fathers will experience a depressive episode within the first year after a baby is born but no Scottish health board has any specific measures to monitor their mental health, BBC Scotland has learned. Peter…

A girl has raised hundreds of pounds to help a nine-year-old boy with cancer afford his dream trip to Australia. Josh, from Evesham, was diagnosed after his parents raised concerns about his recovery from coronavirus in…

The Scottish government's remaining Covid powers are set to be extended for several more months. Legislation mandating face coverings and vaccine passports was due to expire on 28 February. However, this looks set…

A lack of beds in Welsh hospitals meant it was "inevitable" Covid patients would come into contact with others, a doctor has said. In a video diary for BBC Wales, Dr Nicky Leopold said: "Seeing patients in bed at the time of…

Campaigners have welcomed the "life-saving" legislation to bring opt-out organ donation to Northern Ireland. The legislation, which will align Northern Ireland with the rest of the UK, passed its final stage in the assembly…

A crisis in cancer care at NHS Tayside could have been averted if the health board had publicly supported doctors who were criticised by an official report, according to a top oncologist. The last remaining breast…

The waiting list for hospital treatment will not start falling for two years, ministers say, despite unveiling a plan to tackle England's backlog in care. There are currently six million people on a waiting list - one in nine…

Adults struggling with their weight could soon be offered a weekly injection to help shed unhealthy fat. The treatment, semaglutide, branded Wegovy, makes people feel fuller, so they eat less, and not as hungry.…

The Scottish Conservatives have called for the country's Covid-19 contact tracing system to be wound up. The Tories said Test and Protect had been "incredibly useful" in the early stages of the pandemic, but had become…

Research shows black women are at a 40% higher risk of pregnancy loss than white women. It is an urgent problem, which the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists says needs greater attention, with many complex…

The NHS in Scotland reached crisis point because of a "complete lack of planning" during the pandemic, opposition politicians have said. Waiting times in A&E are the highest on record, while GPs have warned of…