By Jack Bezants For Dailymail.Com

Published: 22:55 EDT, 25 September 2023 | Updated: 23:32 EDT, 25 September 2023

Sophia Loren, 89, is rushed to hospital for emergency surgery after suffering a bad fall at her home in Geneva

By Charlotte Dean For Mailonline

Published: 03:18 EDT, 25 September 2023 | Updated: 03:22 EDT, 25 September 2023

A third of adults lack confidence that they can access a GP, ambulance or NHS hospital treatment in a ‘timely way’, a damning study reveals.

Healthwatch England described the results as ‘worrying’ and warned health leaders must act to ensure these ‘negative perceptions’ do not put patients off seeking help.

The patient watchdog, which commissioned the poll of 2,507 people, found confidence in the health service has dwindled this year as it has been rocked by strikes.

Older people and those who are struggling financially are now among the least confident that they would receive NHS care when they need it.

The findings come as waiting lists stand at a record 7.6million people — equal to around one in seven of the population.

The survey asked people to rate how confident they are that they could secure timely access to 13 NHS services, including A&E, ambulances, non-urgent operations and procedures, GPs, pharmacists, mental health support and dentists.

An average of 32 per cent of respondents said they were not confident or very confident.

Out of hours GP services were rated the worst, with half of people (50 per cent), lacking confidence that they could see a family doctor in a timely fashion at night and weekends.

This was followed by non-urgent operations and procedures (46 per cent), mental health support (44 per cent), GP service during the day (42 per cent) and dental care (39 per cent).

Almost a third (31 per cent) did not think they would be seen quickly in A&E while 30 per cent said they lacked confidence that an ambulance would arrive promptly, should the need arise.

However, Healthwatch England found that confidence was typically higher among people who had used services in the last six months.

Overall, public confidence in accessing timely care is lower now than it was at the start of the year, with nearly half of people (43 per cent) saying that they feel less confident accessing timely care than they felt they were at the start of 2023.

This is compared to 16 per cent of people who said they had more confidence now than they had at the start of the year.

Louise Ansari, chief executive of Healthwatch England, said: ‘With demand for care likely to rise this winter, the negative perception that the NHS can’t provide timely care needs urgent attention to ensure people do seek medical attention when needed.

‘If people are not confident in requesting a referral for treatment or calling an ambulance, they put their health at risk.

‘Delaying medical attention also adds further strain on NHS services.

‘People seeking care need to have higher confidence in NHS services, given the hard work of NHS staff and local improvements achieved in many areas, supported by national recovery plans for primary care and urgent and emergency care.

‘As the busy winter period for the NHS approaches, we urge healthcare leaders to address the lack of confidence that many people, especially older people and those on lower incomes, have in accessing timely care when they need it.

‘Simple steps such as improving patient communication and accurately recording treatment plan details will also help assure people that the NHS is there for them.’

Healthwatch England said the NHS should employ more staff to support people who are anxiously waiting for care.

Patients should get regular updates, health support and access to physiotherapy while on waiting lists, with medics ensuring they have appropriate pain relief, it added.

The patient watchdog said that the poll highlighted health inequalities, with a number of groups expressing less confidence they would be able to access care in a timely fashion.

Only 24 per cent of people aged 65 and over felt they would be able to access care in a timely way while 26 per cent of those from poorer backgrounds felt confident they would have prompt access to services.

Rob Fleay, 52, has been waiting for an appointment with a consultant for over a year following his surgery to remove part of his bowel.

The IT consultant from Derby said that during the waiting period he also struggled to touch base with his GP.

‘Over a year after my surgery, I have yet to see a Gastro consultant to understand what this diagnosis means and what ongoing care is required,’ he said.

‘I have had multiple consultant appointments booked and then cancelled at the last minute by the hospital, often the day before.

‘In every case a new appointment was not given, I was just told to wait to receive a letter with a new appointment. Those multiple cancellations made me incredibly anxious.

‘I’m not very confident in the NHS. Even getting an appointment at my GP surgery is a nightmare.

‘You are forced to call at 8am but waiting time on the phone is usually around 20 minutes and often you are told that all the slots for the day have gone.’

An NHS England spokesperson said: ‘As Healthwatch points out, patients can be confident that they can access the care they need with post-pandemic recovery plans delivering real improvements right across a range of NHS services – category two ambulance response times are an hour faster than in December, the longest waits for treatment have more than halved from their peak and GP practices are seeing 1.3 million more patients every month compared to last year.

‘Despite ongoing pressures and the impact of industrial action, it is reassuring to see those who have recently accessed care are the most confident.

‘The NHS is continuing to encourage people to come forward for the care they need with symptom spotting campaigns, while staff are also ensuring those on waiting lists receive support, including pain relief and mental health advice.’

Kourtney Kardashian is doing ‘better’ and has now returned home following a short hospital visit.

An insider told People the reality star, 44, is ‘back home now with her kids’ after she was pictured departing a Los Angeles-area hospital with her husband Travis Barker. 

‘She is feeling better. She is happy to have Travis back home too,’ the source added.

On Friday, Travis’ band Blink-182 announced the postponement of some European tour dates because of an ‘urgent family matter’ that forced him to dash home.

The following day, Kourtney, who went public with her pregnancy in June, was seen leaving the hospital with Travis and clambering into an SUV.

Neither Travis nor Kourtney has disclosed why they were at the hospital, but based on the appearance of her bump as she left, she did not appear to have given birth.

Kourtney was seen walking unassisted as she and her husband surfaced on Friday, piling into a gleaming black Range Rover and heading off.

The reality star, who has not publicly divulged her due date, was decked out in a silver maternity top and matching trousers.

On Friday, Blink-182 announced via Insta Stories that they would have to delay their upcoming concerts on account of Travis’ family emergency.

‘Due to an urgent family matter, Travis has had to return home to the States,’ the band revealed on social media. ‘The Glasgow, Belfast, and Dublin shows are being postponed. More information in regards to his return to Europe and rescheduled dates will be provided as soon as available.’

The Blink-182 tour in Europe was meant to commence Friday night in Glasgow, which is where Travis was when the announcement was made.

Travis then fired up his own social media and cryptically posted pictures of the prayer room at the Glasgow Airport.

Just last week, he and his pregnant wife had been spotted soaking up the sunshine together during a romantic stroll on the beach.

As Travis raced home to Kourtney, his ex-wife Shanna Moakler confirmed that the children she herself shares with him are ‘safe and sound.’

Shanna and Travis welcomed Landon, 19, and Alabama, 17, together, and Travis was also crucial in helping raise Shanna’s daughter Atiana De La Hoya, 24, whom she had with the former professional boxer Oscar De La Hoya.

Meanwhile Kourtney shares three children – Mason, 13, Penelope, 11, and Reign, eight – with her ex-fiancé Scott Disick, whom she dated on and off for nearly a decade.

Kourtney ecstatically revealed to the world in June that she is expecting a baby by Travis, whom she tied the knot with last year.

She dropped the bombshell during a Blink-182 concert, standing in the audience and holding up a sign that read: ‘TRAVIS I’M PREGNANT’ – a mischievous nod to a similar scene in the music video for the band’s song All The Small Things.

Her breathtaking news came over a year after Kourtney pulled the brakes on her IVF journey, which had subjected her to a raft of health issues including depression.

On a 2022 episode of her reality show The Kardashians, Kourtney spoke candidly about the ‘awful’ experience she was having with IVF.

She claimed in a confessional that the ‘medication that they have been giving me, they put me into menopause, literally into menopause.’

Kourtney theorized: ‘I think because I’m so clean and careful about what I put into my body, it’s just like having the complete opposite reaction and working as a contraceptive instead of helping us.’

She explained: ‘I have everything in the world to be happy about. I just feel a little bit off and not like myself. Super moody and hormonal, like I am a lunatic half the time.’

In December of that year, a few months after her wedding, she told the Wall Street Journal that she had stopped her IVF treatments 10 months earlier.

Kourtney, who tied the knot with Travis that May, shared that she ‘took a break to just focus on our wedding and getting married.’

On a subsequently aired episode of The Kardashians, she said: ‘We would love a baby more than anything but I just really believe in what God has in store for us.’

She also spilled that she had ‘seven frozen eggs from years ago before Travis’ – a step she had taken when she was nearing the age of 40.

‘When I was 38 or 39 everyone was like pushing me to do that and most of mine didn’t survive the thaw because eggs are one cell and none of them made it to an embryo,’ the eldest Kardashian sister said.

‘All the thing that came with IVF took a toll on me physically. My health is still impacted because it’s hormones. And also mentally it took a toll,’ she said.

‘So, I think just being happy is most important and being a good parent to my kids. We are just embracing that whatever is meant to be will be.’

Covid masks are creeping back into American life again with hospitals, Hollywood studios and colleges mandating their use — and there are rumors they could return on planes.

Rutgers University in New Jersey today announced face coverings will be compulsory for staff and students on its campuses, following a similar announcement by Morris Brown College in Atlanta earlier this week.

Meanwhile, a Kaiser Permanente hospital in Santa Rosa, California, and Upstate Community Hospital in Syracuse, New York, which together serve millions of Americans, have both brought back the rule for doctors, nurses, patients and visitors.

It comes after Lionsgate, the Hollywood studio that makes the Saw and the Hunger Games movies, reimposed face masks in its offices in Santa Monica, California.

The reintroduction of masks is a reaction to growing concern over Covid variants BA.2.86 — which health chiefs say can infect vaccinated people — and fast-spreading strain ‘Eris’. Covid cases also appear to have doubled in a month in the US.

Meanwhile, there have been reports the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is considering reintroducing face masks on planes.

The rumors appear to have been started by disgraced conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, but they have made their way into the upper echelons of government.

Earlier this week Republican Congresswoman Anna Luna, from Florida, said she had written to the TSA to ask for clarification.

Ms Luna said: ‘My office will be reaching out to TSA to see what policy their whistleblowers are discussing.’

She added: ‘This will not be allowed to happen again. We have an appropriations fight coming up.’

A TSA spokeswoman told DailyMail.com: ‘That is not accurate. The rumors are false.’

They added the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was the lead federal agency on masking requirements and no TSA meeting about imposing new restrictions had taken place. 

Some experts have raised concerns, however, over whether face masks are needed again.

Experts argue virtually everyone now has a level of immunity against the virus, adding there is no sign the new variants are more likely to cause severe disease. 

Doctors say although they are seeing more patients, these individuals have much milder forms of the virus compared to earlier in the pandemic.

Announcing the return of face masks at its wards in Santa Rosa, Kaiser Permanente said in a statement: ‘To ensure that we are helping protect the health and safety of our patients, our workforce and our community, we have reintroduced a mask mandate for physicians, staff, patients, members, and visitors in the hospital and medical offices in the Santa Rosa Service Area.’

The health system — which serves 12.7million people per year — also urged everyone to get vaccinated against the virus. 

Upstate said in a memo sent to staff: ‘Effective immediately, mandatory masking is required by all staff, visitors and patients in clinical areas of Upstate University Hospital, Upstate Community Hospital and ambulatory clinical spaces.

‘Clinical areas are defined as any location patients gather, wait, transport through or receive care.’

From yesterday, the New York-based health system that serves 1.8million people a year also started testing all patients admitted to its wards for the virus. 

It added, reports syracuse.com: ‘Masking is strongly recommended in all non-clinical areas.’

The hospital dropped its masking requirements in April across departments and visitor areas.

Dr Stephen Thomas, the hospital’s director of global health, said: ‘We are nowhere near where we were at our busiest point, but we do have more patients now than we did a month ago.

‘Fortunately, we are well within our capacity to care for all of our patients.’

Amid concerns over rising Covid cases and more transmissible variants, there have been mounting calls for people to start wearing masks again.

But several studies have raised questions over how well some masks really work, pointing out that Covid is still able to permeate through the coverings.

Many people also wear masks incorrectly, not covering both their mouth and nose, or wear them for only short periods rather then when seated in busy locations like bars and restaurants where the risk of infection is higher.

Among those calling for masks to return is Dr Jonathan Reiner, a cardiologist in Washington DC, who told CNN Tuesday all those at high risk from a Covid infection — such as people over 65 years old — should start to mask up again.

He said 80-year-old President Joe Biden should also don a covering on the campaign trail or when in crowds, such as those in Hawaii. 

‘Octogenerians comprise the highest-risk group for complications following Covid infection,’ he said.

‘At least until the numbers start to drop again, it would be appropriate for President Biden to take some precautions and wear a mask in crowds.’

Dr Eric Topol, also a cardiologist at the Scripps Translational Research Institute in California, said people should again be masking up in crowded places.

He told CNN: ‘Indoors when there’s a lot of people and it’s crowded, poor ventilation.

‘I’m still leery at this point, especially with the uptick we’re starting to see now, which I don’t know when it will plateau.’

Surveillance shows Covid infections in the US have nearly doubled in the past month amid the rise of two highly-mutated variants, official data suggests.

The test positivity rate in the US — the share of swabs that come back positive — has soared from one-in-15 in the week ending July 15 to one-in-eight by August 12, according to the latest CDC data.

It means test positivity is at its highest level in more than a year. In several states, including Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana, one in six Covid swabs came back positive in the most recent week.

Hospitalization rates for Covid have also crept up for five weeks in a row — although they still remain at historic rows.

There were 12,613 admissions in which the patient tested positive for Covid in the week up to August 12, marking the fifth week in a row hospitalizations for the virus had risen and an increase of a fifth on the week prior. 

But this was still barely a third of the levels recorded at the same time last year, when there were about 40,000 admissions every week.

Deaths remain static with 479 reported in the latest week data is available, July 22, compared to 484 in the previous seven-day spell.

There are particular concerns over the new Covid variant BA.2.86, which scientists say could spark a fresh wave of infections.

BA.2.86 has more than 30 mutations on its spike protein — the part the virus uses to infect people — that separate it from the currently dominant strains, which is feared make it better at escaping the immune system.

The mutant strain set off alarm bells when it was spotted last week, immediately prompting calls from some quarters for masks to return.

Other experts said its emergence was ‘reminiscent’ of when Omicron first appeared, pointing out that this strain was also quite genetically different compared to the others that were circulating at the time.

There are at least three cases in the US so far, one in an individual with a mild illness in Michigan and a second in an asymptomatic individual who recently returned from a trip to Japan. The strain has also been detected in wastewater from Ohio.

Experts fear this is just the tIp of the iceberg and many more cases are going undetected because so few infections are checked for variants. 

Three cases were initially reported — two in Denmark and one in Israel — but this tally has now grown to at least nine with the US, UK, South Africa, Switzerland and Thailand added to the list.

There are also concerns over the Covid variant ‘Eris’ — dubbed EG.5 — which is currently dominant in the US.

Experts say its mutations mean the strain is also more transmissible than others although, at this point, it is not clear whether it is more transmissible than BA.2.86.

There is no evidence at this stage that either strain is more likely to cause severe disease or death. 

A toddler is lucky to be alive after she spent two months in intensive care battling a deadly infection that a doctor initially misdiagnosed as a fever.

When Melbourne mother Sandeep Kaur took her sick 16-month-old to the GP, she was told her little girl Girsirat had a fever and assured there was no need for concern.

Within three days, Girsirat’s condition deteriorated and she was rushed to hospital after her hands, lips and feet turned blue and her skin became discoloured.

Girsirat was diagnosed with strep A and spent the next two months fighting for life in an intensive care unit suffering from various complications, including kidney failure, necrosis on her fingertips and severe swelling which left her unable to walk. 

Her experience comes as authorities issue an urgent warning about the infection following an unseasonal spike in severe cases across Australia.  

The bacterial infection causes sore throats, scarlet fever and skin sores, affecting 750million people worldwide and claiming 500,000 lives each year.

If left untreated, the infection can enter the blood stream and cause life-threatening sepsis.

Cases of severe strep A in Aussie children have soared more than 500 per cent since the pandemic and almost claimed Girsirat’s life.

Ms Kaur has spoken out about the harrowing ordeal in the hope other parents spot symptoms early and get a second opinion if needed.

‘It was terrible, we never expected that,’ she told Seven News.

‘It was a very hard time for us. The GP said it was just a fever she’s having.’

Girsirat is still recovering from the life-threatening ordeal.

‘It was such a difficult time, our baby had drains in her leg, two operations and required dialysis for 12 days,’ Ms Kaur said. 

‘Thankfully, her fingertips were saved but she is yet to fully recover. I hope that a vaccine can be made for Strep A so no other child has to endure this.’

Strep A can cause severe life-threatening infections including toxic shock syndrome, flesh-eating disease as well as the post-infectious illnesses of acute rheumatic fever, rheumatic heart disease and kidney disease. 

The number of children admitted to hospital with strep A rose from 23 in 2020 to 107 in 2022, according to Murdoch Children’s Research Institute found.

The elderly, pregnant women and Indigenous Australians are also at high risk. 

It’s believed a combination of environmental factors and viruses in circulation has contributed to the concerning rise also seen in the northern hemisphere, despite the difference in seasons.

Reduced social contact during the pandemic may have also impacted on children’s immunity to Strep A.

‘Increases in Strep A cases have been reported around the world, occurring during, and outside of, typical spring peaks,’ Murdoch Institute’s Dr Yara-Natalie Abo said.

‘More research is needed into whether new strains might be responsible.’

‘Strep A most commonly causes mild symptoms like sore throat, but in some children it can cause life threatening sepsis which requires early recognition and treatment. The global burden of Strep A is an unmet public health challenge.’

The recent spike in strep A cases in Australia has renewed calls for a vaccine.

Murdoch Children’s Research Institute researchers are currently working towards an effective and accessible vaccine which they hope will be available to the public within five years.

‘We would like to think in the next 12 to 24 months, we could show proof of concept of a good vaccine that we can then take through to further trials,’ Professor Andrew Steer said.

‘A vaccine for strep A will save hundreds of thousands of live every year and prevent millions of infections that send children and adults to the hospital or doctor.’

Madonna had to be ‘rushed to hospital and intubated after being found unresponsive’ in New York on Saturday – with the star’s manager confirming that she was suffering from a ‘serious bacterial infection’ that required a days-long stay in the ICU. 

The 64-year-old popstar’s terrifying health scare was shared with the world by her longtime manager Guy O’Seary, who revealed on Instagram that Madonna has been forced to postpone her hotly-anticipated 40th anniversary tour as a result of her medical struggles. 

O’Seary insisted in his post that the singer and mother-of-six is ‘expected to make a full recovery’ and that her ‘health is improving’, but added that she is ‘still under medical care’. 

According to Page Six, Madonna – who was due to kick off her 84-date Celebration tour in Vancouver, Canada on July 15 – was ‘discovered on Saturday’, when she was ‘taken to the ICU’ and ‘intubated overnight’. 

The publication added that Madonna’s eldest daughter, Lourdes Leon, 26, remained by her side throughout her hospitalization. 

Although O’Seary did not share the specifics of Madonna’s treatment, or the conditions of her hospitalization, he confirmed that she was taken to the ICU on Saturday and that she was diagnosed with a bacterial infection.

‘On Saturday, June 24, Madonna developed a serious bacterial infection which led to a several-day stay in the ICU,’ he wrote on Wednesday afternoon. 

‘Her health is improving, however she is still under medical care. A full recovery is expected.’

The longtime music manager then revealed that the singer is being forced to postpone the start of her tour, for which she has been rehearsing for months – and which was due to begin in a matter of weeks – writing: ‘At this time we will need to pause all commitments, which includes the tour.’

He did not reveal when Madonna might be well enough to commence the international tour, simply promising fans that he would ‘share more details as soon as we have them, including a new start date for the tour and for rescheduled shows’.

Speaking to DailyMail.com, a source confirmed that the popstar is now ‘out of the ICU and recovering’. 

The Madonna: The Celebration Tour, was slated to run from July 15, 2023, to January 30, 2024.

It would be the singer’s 12th concert tour and will visit cities in North America and Europe anticipating 84 shows. 

The singer’s last Instagram post was on June 20 – four days before her hospitalization – and showed her rehearsing for the tour in a carousel captioned: ‘The calm before the storm.’ 

On June 23, she also shared a post to her Stories showing her getting her roots bleached. 

Madonna last took to the stage in London’s O2 Arena during her Rebel Heart tour in 2015, the same year she famously took a tumble during a performance at the BRIT Awards. 

While Madonna performed at 75 theatre venues during her Madame X tour, she was forced to cancel several shows due to recurring hip and knee injuries. 

She first took to the road to tour around the UK in 1987, with her Who’s That Girl World Tour.

Her performances have been no stranger to controversy, having famously angered the Catholic Church in 1990 when she simulated masturbation on stage, leading Pope John Paul II to call for a boycott of her Blonde Ambition tour.

It was during that same tour that Madonna donned her now-iconic Jean Paul Gaultier conical bra during a sell-out show in Japan.

In 2006 she also infuriated the Church of England by staging a mock crucifixion during her Confessions tour in LA.

It comes after Madonna was scarcely recognisable in the latest racy offerings she uploaded to her Instagram page.

She decked herself out in bondage gear including a busty sheer lace top and flounced around her bed, biting down seductively on a riding crop.

Pope Francis was discharged from hospital today, nine days after he underwent surgery to repair an abdominal hernia.

Francis, 86, left Rome’s Gemelli hospital in a wheelchair, waving to reporters and well-wishers at the main entrance as he was taken to a waiting car.

Chief surgeon Sergio Alfieri said: ‘The pope is well. He is in better shape than before.’

Mr Alfieri added the pope was well enough to travel. Francis has trips planned for Portugal at the start of August and Mongolia at the end of that month. His engagements have been cancelled until June 18.

The pope traditionally takes all of July off, with the Sunday blessings being his only public appearances, so he will have next month to rest before the August trips

It follows a three-hour operation on June 8 to remove intestinal scar tissue and repair a hernia in his abdominal wall, problems that developed following previous surgeries.

At the time, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said ‘the night went well’.

Dr. Sergio Alfieri, director of abdominal and endocrine sciences at Rome’s Gemelli hospital, said the operation was successful and there were no complications or other pathologies discovered. 

Mr Alfieri, who also removed part of Francis’ colon in 2021, told an evening press conference that the pope was awake, alert and even joking after the operation.

‘When will we do the third one?’ he quoted Francis as saying.

The operation was scheduled after Francis had complained about increasing bouts of pain and intestinal blockages.

After going to Gemelli on June 6 for checks, Francis was admitted the next day following his general audience and underwent the procedure a short time later.

During the operation, doctors removed adhesions, or internal scarring, on the intestine that had caused a partial blockage. Alfieri revealed that in addition to the 2021 colon surgery, Francis had undergone previous abdominal surgeries sometime before 2013 in his native Argentina, which had also caused scarring.

To repair the hernia that had formed over a previous scar, a prosthetic mesh was placed in the abdominal wall, Alfieri said. He added that the pope was suffering from no other pathologies, that the tissue removed was benign and that after he recovers, he should be fine.

A feared protrusion, or bulging of the intestine through the hernia tear, was apparently not found.

‘It appears they operated on him in a timely fashion with no compromise to his intestine,’ said Dr. Walter Longo, chief of colon and rectal surgery at Yale University School of Medicine, who did not participate in the surgery and commented after consulting the Vatican statement on the procedure.

Francis remained in charge of the Vatican and the 1.3-billion strong Catholic Church, even while unconscious and in the hospital, according to canon law.

In July 2021, Francis spent 10 days at Gemelli to remove 33 centimeters (13 inches) of his large intestine. In an interview with The Associated Press in January, Francis said the diverticulosis, or bulges in his intestinal wall, that prompted that surgery had returned.

After that surgery, Francis lamented that he hadn’t responded well to the general anesthetic. That reaction in part explained his refusal to have surgery to repair strained knee ligaments that have forced him to use a wheelchair and walker for over a year.

However, Alfieri said Francis had no clinically adverse reactions to the anesthesia in 2021 or Wednesday.

‘Clearly no one likes to be operated on and put to sleep because the moment we’re put under, we lose consciousness,’ he said. ‘But there was no physiological problem two years ago or today.’

Dr. Manish Chand, a professor of surgery at University College London who specializes in colorectal surgery, said the greatest issue going forward will be pain management and making sure the wound heals properly.

‘In the first six weeks after this type of surgery, you’re at risk of getting a recurrence again,’ he said. To avoid that, patients are advised not to do anything strenuous.

Half a MILLION hospital appointments will be slashed each year in a bid to reduce the NHS waiting list: GPs, opticians and clinics will be asked to carry out further tests

• Chiefs claim streamlining services will stop ‘unnecessary’ hospital visits 

By Kate Pickes For Daily Mail

Updated: 19:55 EDT, 28 May 2023