The Government has unveiled plans to invest an additional £3bn in creating tens of thousands of new specialist places for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) within mainstream schools. Ministers say the funding will help expand high-quality, purpose-built spaces that enable pupils to learn closer to home, while still accessing mainstream lessons where suitable. The move is intended to form the foundation for wider reforms to be detailed in the upcoming Schools White Paper.

However, the announcement has prompted concerns from charities and advocacy groups. Some fear the money may be used to deliver low-quality facilities, with no guarantee of sufficient specialist staff to support children effectively. Organisations including IPSEA warn that the shift could reduce access to dedicated special schools, while creating isolated units lacking proper integration or individualised support. They argue that without a national workforce plan, shortages of teachers, therapists and educational psychologists will continue to undermine provision.

Others, including Contact, stress that any new units must uphold children’s rights to mainstream education while complementing, not replacing, specialist schools. They caution that poorly regulated expansion could lead to increased segregation rather than inclusion. Meanwhile, recent surveys show significant anxiety among teachers, many of whom fear that more SEND pupils entering mainstream settings without adequate support will place further strain on staff and resources.

Local authorities and unions have responded more positively, welcoming the investment as a step toward reducing long waiting lists and providing support closer to home. They now await the White Paper, which is expected to set out a clearer roadmap for building a more responsive and better-resourced national SEND system.

People in England who need emergency dental treatment or have serious oral health problems are set to be prioritised under new government proposals aimed at easing the growing strain on NHS dentistry. Officials say the plan could cut costs for patients facing multiple appointments for complicated procedures, potentially saving them up to £225.

Access to NHS dentists has become increasingly difficult in many areas, with some communities described as “dental deserts”. Ministers argue the system introduced in 2006, which pays dentists according to Units of Dental Activity (UDAs), has long rewarded quick, routine check-ups instead of time-intensive work. Health minister Stephen Kinnock said too many people with good oral health were being seen unnecessarily, suggesting most only need a check-up every two years.

Under the proposed overhaul, dentists would be encouraged to provide extended treatment plans through the NHS for issues such as advanced gum disease or widespread tooth decay. Instead of several costly visits, patients would receive a tailored package of care delivered across a longer period, aimed at reducing both waiting times and out-of-pocket expenses.

However, the British Dental Association warned that the changes amount to minor adjustments to a system that is fundamentally flawed. The BDA said years of underfunding have driven dentists away from NHS work, and argued that meaningful improvement will only come with major investment and full-scale reform of the contract.

England’s busiest emergency departments are already straining as an early and intense wave of winter viruses fills hospital beds by midday. At Leicester Royal Infirmary, rapid cleaning and turnaround procedures are underway as soon as one patient leaves, with staff racing to prepare space for the next arrival. This early flu spike, driven by a stronger H3N2 strain, has significantly increased demand ahead of the typical peak period.

Across the country, hospitals are reporting rising cases of flu and other respiratory illnesses, squeezing already stretched services. Leicester’s emergency unit, which handled more than 1,000 daily attendances last winter, is again approaching similar volumes. Attendance numbers are up by about 8% compared with last year, and the hospital continues to face a shortage of dozens of beds every day, with many already occupied by patients with respiratory conditions.

To cope, the hospital has introduced enhanced triage processes at the entrance, allowing clinicians to assess patients immediately and divert less urgent cases to more appropriate community services. Additional units, including prefabricated structures converted into clinical spaces and off-site recovery facilities, have been brought online to ease ambulance delays and free up acute beds.

NHS leaders expect pressure to escalate further into January, with some planned procedures likely to be postponed to create emergency capacity. The Department of Health and Social Care has urged eligible people to get vaccinated, confirming there is no national shortage of flu jabs and emphasising the importance of protection as virus levels continue to climb.

A dedicated set of learning materials has been released to help road safety practitioners better support autistic and neurodiverse learners. The toolkit, created by Co-Pilot in collaboration with the National Autistic Society, includes 24 concise videos showcasing practical demonstrations of accessible, inclusive approaches to road safety education.

The resource is designed to guide professionals as they put together lesson plans, develop teaching materials and anticipate situations where autistic people may require additional support. It also encourages organisations to consider reasonable adjustments that ensure disabled learners are not placed at a disadvantage. According to the National Autistic Society, the aim is to give staff clear and usable insight so they can build confidence in adapting their practice.

With an estimated 700,000 autistic people in the UK, most road safety professionals are likely to work with autistic children or adults at some point, including individuals without a formal diagnosis. Differences in communication, sensory processing and executive functioning can influence how autistic people engage with safety sessions and learning environments. One local authority recently improved its school walking-route guidance—adding clearer maps, colour cues and quieter alternatives—after feedback from a parent, demonstrating how small adjustments can enhance accessibility.

Co-Pilot’s CEO James Evans said the new toolkit aims to equip practitioners with practical, inclusive methods as the sector prepares for the forthcoming Road Safety Strategy. He emphasised that understanding autism not only supports effective learning but also fulfils professional and legal duties to create fair and accessible services.

The British Medical Association (BMA) has confirmed another round of industrial action in England as its dispute with the government over pay continues. Resident doctors — formerly known as junior doctors — will withdraw their labour for five days from 17 December, marking their 14th walkout since March 2023. The strike is expected to place further strain on hospitals already under seasonal pressure, with both emergency and planned care affected.

NHS leaders have condemned the timing, calling it highly provocative. Daniel Elkeles of NHS Providers warned that December is a crucial period for patient discharges and said the strike would be unfair to both patients and staff who remain on duty. Senior doctors are expected to step in to provide cover, though widespread disruption is still anticipated. The BMA, however, maintains that the government has yet to present a meaningful offer and insists it has been pushed into taking further action.

Talks collapsed last month after ministers proposed improvements to training opportunities, workplace conditions and financial support for exam fees, but refused additional pay increases. Health Secretary Wes Streeting argues resident doctors have already received pay rises approaching 30% over three years and says he will not reopen negotiations on salary. The union counters that, after inflation, doctors’ pay remains around 20% lower than in 2008.

Dr Jack Fletcher, chair of the BMA’s resident doctors committee, said the union was still open to discussion, noting that gradual pay restoration and basic job-security measures were achievable. With the current strike mandate due to expire in early January, the BMA has confirmed it will ballot members again to decide the next steps.

The health secretary, Wes Streeting, has commissioned an independent inquiry to explore the sharp rise in referrals for mental health, ADHD and autism services across England. The review, headed by clinical psychologist Professor Peter Fonagy, will assess whether current diagnostic practices are appropriate and identify where services are failing to meet people’s needs. It follows longstanding concern about stretched provision and lengthy waits for treatment in many regions.

Ministers say they have already increased investment in talking therapies and school-based support, yet demand continues to outpace capacity. NHS data indicates a steep rise in reported mental health difficulties over the past 20 years, particularly among younger people and those out of work. The number of working-age adults receiving disability or incapacity benefits has also grown markedly since 2019. Streeting has previously suggested that over-diagnosis may be contributing to pressure on services, emphasising the need for a “clinical, evidence-led” approach to reform.

Professor Fonagy has pledged that the review will challenge assumptions and take seriously the perspectives of those who rely on support. Professional bodies and charities, including the Royal College of Psychiatrists and Mind, have welcomed the initiative, stressing the importance of understanding why more people are seeking help and identifying persistent gaps in care.

Autism organisations have urged swift action, noting that although referral numbers may be stabilising, waiting times for assessments continue to rise sharply. The review’s findings are expected in summer 2026.

Newly released NHS figures show the national waiting list has fallen by 230,000 compared with the previous summer, even as the health service faces mounting strain. September’s list stood at 7.39 million treatments, representing around 6.24 million people, slightly lower than the previous month and significantly below last year’s peak. The improvement comes at a time when emergency care and ambulance services are reporting their highest activity levels heading into winter.

Flu activity is rising sharply, prompting the NHS to accelerate its vaccination programme, with more than 14.4 million flu jabs already administered—exceeding last year’s pace. Earlier and more robust winter planning has also been rolled out, supported by additional investment in general practice to improve access to appointments. Despite this groundwork, October recorded the busiest A&E attendances and ambulance call-outs on record.

Amid the pressure, ambulance crews have managed to cut response times for serious emergencies, performing nearly ten minutes faster than the same period a year earlier. The NHS is also preparing for several days of industrial action by doctors, urging the public to attend scheduled appointments unless told otherwise and to use NHS 111 for non-urgent issues.

Health leaders say continued vigilance is essential, encouraging eligible people to take up vaccinations and to use urgent and emergency services appropriately. Ministers have credited investment and modernisation for the recent fall in waiting lists, describing it as an early sign of recovery after years of rising demand. Alongside this, the NHS has begun publishing more detailed emergency department data to increase transparency across services.

The government has announced the national rollout of 250 Neighbourhood Health Centres, marking a major step in its plan to cut NHS waiting times and embed healthcare closer to where people live. The new centres are designed to end long-standing regional inequalities in access to GPs, dentists, nurses and pharmacists by bringing multiple local services together under one roof. They form the backbone of a newly established Neighbourhood Health Service, aimed at providing joined-up, end-to-end care for patients, particularly those managing long-term conditions in more deprived areas.

As part of the reforms, outpatient appointments are increasingly being moved out of hospitals and into community settings, ensuring people can receive treatment minutes from home rather than travelling long distances. The government says this patient-first approach will help to prevent complications, reduce unnecessary referrals and ensure people are no longer passed between fragmented services.

The programme is being delivered through a blend of public and private investment, using both refurbished NHS estate and newly constructed buildings. This comes alongside £300 million already allocated to boost NHS technology, including digital tools that reduce administrative burdens and allow clinicians to access patient information more quickly. Ministers say these upgrades are already improving productivity across the health service.

Officials report that overall NHS performance is beginning to recover, with waiting lists reduced by more than 200,000 and millions of extra appointments delivered. More than 100 Neighbourhood Health Centres are scheduled to be open by 2030.

The UK is embarking on an ambitious £45m programme that will use artificial intelligence to speed up the discovery of new treatments for drug-resistant infections. The initiative, a partnership between the Fleming Initiative and pharmaceutical firm GSK, brings together cutting-edge technology and microbiology in an effort to stay ahead of the rising global threat posed by superbugs.

Drug resistance is escalating at a pace that has experts alarmed, with antibiotic-resistant infections believed to cause around a million deaths worldwide each year. Researchers at Loughborough and Imperial College London will focus particularly on Gram-negative bacteria such as E. coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae, organisms that are notoriously difficult to treat due to their protective outer membranes and abilities to repel or expel antibiotics. By testing thousands of different molecular structures, scientists aim to map precisely which chemicals can enter and remain inside these bacteria – data that will then be used to train AI systems.

The hope is that AI will condense years of manual laboratory work into rapid predictions, identifying how promising antibiotic candidates can be altered to slip past bacterial defences. Dr Andrew Edwards of Imperial College London warned that the consequences of untreatable infections are already visible, including cases from the conflict in Ukraine where amputations have been required because no antibiotics were effective. He believes that with a handful of strong new drugs, medicine could regain the upper hand against resistance.

Alongside antibiotic discovery, AI will also be used to forecast how superbugs evolve and spread, similar to modelling weather patterns. The collaboration is additionally expanding its reach to deadly fungal infections, starting with Aspergillus, which can be fatal for people with weakened immune systems. GSK’s chief scientific officer Tony Wood said the programme aims to unlock new methods of anticipating and countering resistance, helping protect patients long into the future.

Kent councillors have given the green light to a £44m scheme to design, build and run a new 80-bed care home on the southern section of the Innovation Park Kent site. Labour members described the proposal as an ambitious step towards strengthening local care options, while opposition councillors questioned whether the authority could realistically shoulder the financial burden.

The planned facility would include 40 specialist dementia beds and 40 short-stay beds intended to support residents leaving hospital as they transition back to living independently. Deputy council leader Teresa Murray said demand for specialist support had reached a critical point, leaving families in increasingly difficult situations while waiting for placements to become available.

Cllr Murray argued that delaying action would only intensify pressures on the system, insisting the new home would set a “gold standard” for social care and help services work together more efficiently. She emphasised that the council was already struggling to meet the needs of residents with complex dementia and that investment was essential to ensure people received appropriate support.

However, Conservative councillors raised concerns about the projected £37m construction cost and the additional £7m needed to complete wider development on the site. Cllr Gary Hackwell warned that interest on associated loans could reach £2.7m annually, adding that the council’s overall borrowing—estimated at £655m for the year—was already unsustainable. Despite the objections, Cllr Murray has said she hopes work will begin early next year.