Exclusive: UK an ‘unwelcoming, racist’ country for overseas health workers, according to medical colleges leader * ‘The NHS would collapse within hours’: BME staff say Britain fails to appreciate their roles Foreign doctors and nurses are increasingly shunning the NHS because anti-migrant rhetoric and rising racism have created “a hostile environment”, the leader of Britain’s medics has warned. The health service is being put at risk because overseas health professionals increasingly see the UK as an “unwelcoming, racist” country, in part because of the government’s tough approach to immigration, Jeanette Dickson said. Continue reading...

Blunt remarks indicate UK’s largest union may be on collision course with Wes Streeting and Labour more widely The new general secretary of Unison has declared the trade union will end its support for the “destructive right wing of the Labour party” and said any leadership election in 2026 should not swap Keir Starmer for Wes Streeting. Andrea Egan, who won a decisive victory as a leftwing challenger this week, hit out at Streeting in an article for the Guardian over his handling of the resident doctors’ dispute, saying it was “simply unacceptable for a Labour politician to describe striking workers as morally reprehensible”. Continue reading...

In his 46 years of service, Nick Hulme has seen the best and the worst of the NHS. He issues a stark warning about its future, says Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee