Coco Gauff’s US Open semifinal match is STOPPED by environmental protestors as she battles Karolina Muchova to reach finals in Flushing

By Patrick Djordjevic For Dailymail.Com

Updated: 20:33 EDT, 7 September 2023

The NHS will help match patients with hospitals with shorter waits further from home in a bid to slash waiting lists and speed up access to care.

Patients will be given a profile detailing their symptoms or treatment needs and how far they are prepared to travel for a diagnosis or procedure.

These can then be reviewed by managers and medics at 650 private and NHS providers around the country who can take over their care if they have spare capacity.

Patients will given the opportunity to travel to the alternative hospital for their appointment, with the NHS covering the cost if it is provided by a private firm.

Some consultations may even be performed remotely by doctors hundreds of miles away from the patient.

It comes as waiting lists stand at a record 7.5million, with more than 835,000 appointments and operations cancelled as result of strikes by the likes of doctors, nurses and physiotherapists.

The online matching platform was initially introduced for patients needing a hospital admission but is being expanded to include cancer, diagnostic checks, and outpatient appointments.

Since its launch in January, more than 1,700 offers of support have been made with thousands of patients set to benefit as the platform grows.

The system is mainly used for patients who have been waiting the longest, with health chiefs calling it a ‘key tool’ as part of the NHS’ ongoing ambitions to bring down the covid backlogs that built up during the pandemic.

But there no requirement for patients to have been waiting over a certain length of time before being added to the site.

Patient information is included to help organisations decide whether they can pick up the case including how far the patient is willing to travel, the severity of the illness, their BMI, and how long they have been waiting for care.

If more than one provider offers treatment, the options are put to the patient who can then choose based on factors including how far they would have to travel.

Gynaecology, colorectal and trauma and orthopaedics are the top three specialties to have benefited from this digital mutual aid so far, but hundreds of different treatments or appointments can be uploaded.

Amanda Pritchard, chief executive of NHS England, said: ‘Despite significant pressure on services, NHS staff have already made incredible progress against our elective recovery plan, and this smart new tool will help us to continue to reduce long waits for patients.

‘It shows, once again, the benefits of having a national health service – NHS staff can now work even more closely with other hospitals across the country to identify capacity and conveniently match patients to available treatment and appointment slots.

‘Technology is already transforming the way we work in the NHS and we will continue to embrace the latest innovations, like this one, to deliver the best possible for care for patients.’

Health secretary Steve Barclay said: ‘We’re already giving patients greater choice over where they are treated and this will go even further by matching patients up to services based on their clinical needs and personal preferences.

‘This will help us to deliver thousands more diagnostic checks for major conditions and offer people treatment sooner – often without the need to go to hospital.

‘We are using all tools at our disposal to bring down waiting lists – one of the government’s top five priorities – while this platform will also help us to drive better collaboration across the NHS and the independent sector to treat patients more quickly.’

Research conducted last year by the Patients Association and the Independent Healthcare Providers Network, which represents independent providers, found almost three quarters of patients (73 per cent) said they would be happy to travel more than 30 minutes to get treatment more quickly.

Rachel Power, chief executive of the Patients Association, said: ‘We welcome the expansion of the hospital matching platform and think it will make it even easier for patients and the healthcare professional to make a decision together about where to have treatment or a test.

‘Patient choice has been a right for over decade but not all patients are aware they have the right, and it isn’t always offered to them.

‘Hopefully, making it easy for health professionals to easily see the choices of where patients can be treated will increase the number of patients who can take advantage of mutual aid within the NHS.

‘We’re very supportive of mutual aid. We’ve worked with the Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) programme on a mutual aid programme in the East of England that gave patients the option to have surgery at a hospital other than their local one.

‘We know patients welcomed getting surgery earlier and together with them and GIRFT we’ve created information for other patients about the benefits of elective surgical hubs.’

David Furness, director of policy and delivery at the IHPN, said: ‘The hospital matching platform is a good example of the way that the NHS and independent sector can work together effectively for the benefit of patients to reduce waiting times and get them seen more quickly.’

Rory Deighton, director of NHS Confederation’s Acute Network, said: ‘This is a sensible, innovative initiative that could see longer term benefits for the NHS and will be good for patients, potentially speeding up care for those willing and able to travel.

‘However, some patients may be unable to travel as far and will prefer to wait slightly longer in order to attend their local hospital.

‘But in the current environment it is important that we explore every opportunity we can, and this will help better match demand with very limited capacity, prioritising those patients who have been waiting the longest.’

Channel Seven make huge decision about Matildas’ World Cup match against France in a first for women’s sport in Australia

•  Seven have made big change to programming
•  Move is a first for women’s football in Australia
•  Matildas kick off against France on Saturday at 5pm AEST

By James Cooney For Daily Mail Australia

Published: 20:24 EDT, 9 August 2023 | Updated: 20:24 EDT, 9 August 2023

Twitter owner Elon Musk has challenged jiu-jitsu-trained Mark Zuckerberg to a ‘cage match.’

Musk, 51, offered up the match after commenting under a post about Zuckerberg’s newest suspected project, which will reportedly be called Threads and rival Twitter.

‘I’m sure Earth can’t wait to be exclusively under Zuck’s thumb with no other options. At least it will be ‘sane.’ Was worried there for a moment,’ Musk commented.

After another user reminded the Tesla CEO that the Facebook founder, 39, ‘does jiu-jitsu now,’ Musk brushed it off. ‘I’m up for a cage match if he is lol,’ he replied. 

Zuckerberg replied on his Instagram story, sharing a screenshot of Musk’s challenge, writing: ‘Send me location.’  

Musk has trained in Kyokushin karate, taekwondo, judo and ‘Brazilian jiu-jitsu briefly’ throughout his life, he revealed on Joe Rogan’s podcast, and he’s shared a photo of himself fighting a sumo wrestler in the past. 

However, Musk might not find the match to be as easy as he thinks as the Meta CEO, who recently placed in a jiu-jitsu tournament in May. 

‘Maybe to some degree, your ability to keep doing interesting things is your willingness to be embarrassed again and go back to step one and start as a beginner, and get your ass kicked,’ Zuckerberg said on a podcast earlier this year. 

Earlier this month, Zuckerberg bashed a New York Times report that he was knocked out during a Jiu-Jitsu fight after a referee ended the bout early and gave the win to an opponent.

A clip of him wrestling on the floor and trying to break free from an opponent who pinned him down on the mat went viral.

They struggled for more than a minute before Zuckerberg was locked in a submission but the referee called the match and gave the win to his opponent.

And the official said he stopped the fight because he heard the tech CEO snoring and thought he had passed out during the chokehold.

But Zuckerberg and his coach Dave Camarillo told the publication he had not lost consciousness and the referee mistook his grunting for snoring.

‘That never happened,’ Zuckerberg wrote in an email.

Meta Chief Product Officer Chris Cox commented to the company’s upcoming text-based app, referring to it as ‘our response to Twitter,’ the Verge reported earlier this month. 

The app will reportedly has a host of celebrities joining it, including Oprah and Dalai Lama. 

DailyMail.com has reached out to Meta for comment. 

Last year, Musk challenged Vladimir Putin to ‘single combat.’ 

‘I hereby challenge Vladimir Putin to single combat,’ Musk tweeted in March 2022, typing Putin’s name in Russian. ‘Stakes are Ukraine,’ he added, writing the country’s name in Ukrainian.

Musk capped off his challenge with a direct reference to the Kremlin.

‘Do you agree to this fight?’ he wrote at the time, tagging the Kremlin’s official Twitter account.

The South African-born billionaire, who has been known for making outlandish comments on Twitter in the past, was biting off more than he can handle in challenging the former head of the KGB.

The Russian president is a judo blackbelt and even co-authored a book about the sport, titled ‘Judo: History, Theory, Practice.’

Putin, 69, was made honorary president of the International Judo Federation in 2008 but has been suspended from the role over his war on Ukraine.

Fake ‘lesbian’ pop duo Tatu have staged a reunion at Vladimir Putin‘s favourite football club despite efforts from his fanatics have the pair cancelled as ‘LGBT propaganda’.

Yulia Volkova and Lena Katina, now both 38, rose to stardom in 1999 – the same year the Russian despot first came to power.

Tatu were best known for their 2002 track All The Things She Said which caused international controversy for its steamy music video in which Yulia and Lena portrayed an underage lesbian couple.

In the video, the pair were seen in schoolgirl outfits, kissing passionately in the rain, while being watched by their peers.

ITV even refused to play the clip on Ant and Dec’s morning music show CD:UK, insisting: ‘It is not really suitable for children.’ 

Performing yesterday for the first time since their last reunion in 2016, Tatu sang Not Gonna Get us before Gazprom-backed Zenit St Petersburg’s clash with Spartak Moscow which the home side won 3-2, sealing a fifth Russian Premier League title in a row.

Tatu came out of retirement as Putin’s censors seek to expunge any trace of their band amid a hardline crackdown on LGBT propaganda, part of a wave of repressions in Russia during the war in Ukraine.

Speaking ahead of the match in front of thousands of Russian fans, they sang: ‘Nothing can stop this, ‘Not now, I love you’, ‘They’re not gonna get us’.’

Yulia is now a mother of two while Lena, now married to millionaire businessman Dmitry Spiridonov, was visibly pregnant with her second child.

Tatu has not existed since 2011, although they did reunite for a special performance seven years ago.

Despite this, they are subjected to a crackdown on Kremlin-obedient VK social media.

Ardently pro-Putin MP Tatiana Butskaya, 47, is demanding a full ban on Tatu content, arguing that the duo’s creativity ‘promoted’ same-sex relationships.

‘Never in my life in our childhood did it occur to me that a girl could be with a girl, until Tatu popped up,’ said Butskaya.

Girls began to ‘hold hands’ and this became normal, said Butskaya, a paediatrician and deputy chairman of the Russian parliament’s committee on families, women and children.

She told a conference: ‘A song is not just a rhythm and words, it’s “Look at me, do as I do, try, it’s okay”.’

The MP has even compared homosexuality with liver disease and tooth decay. ‘A boy should look like a boy, a girl should look like a girl,’ she said.

‘And if you have a disease, then it should be treated, and not bragged about.

‘A boy should be like a boy, a girl should be like a girl.’

Yet her hero Putin used Yulia and Lena at the opening of the Russian Winter Olympics in 2014, when the pair got back together.

The new wave of censoriousness coincides with the war in Ukraine – and they are held to be an example of the West poisoning Russia with alien values.

The pair caused a storm in Britain and elsewhere when they burst onto the international scene kissing and cuddling on stage while wearing scanty school uniforms.

Yulia, also an actress, has sought in vain to be elected in Putin’s party with an official calling her ‘bold’ and ‘professional’.

‘Yes, I have sinned, made mistakes, but I always found the way through pain, tears and suffering…,’ she said at the time. Yulia has not ruled out a new bid to be an MP.

The singer faced backlash after appearing on Russian TV show Lie Detector in 2014 after stating she would condemn her son if he came out as gay.

‘Yes, I would condemn him, because I believe that a real man must be a real man,’ she was translated as saying.

‘God created man for procreation, it is the nature. The man for me is the support, the strength of… I won’t accept a gay son.’

In a bid to justify her opinion, she added: ‘And a man has no right to be a f*g. Two girls together – not the same thing as the two men together. It seems to me that lesbians look aesthetically much nicer than two men holding their hands or kissing. 

In Britain, she enraged Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan who launched a campaign to ban the All The Things She Said video.

At their height of fame, the pair defied their critics and topped the charts in many Western countries as well as Russia.

Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce will face Steph Curry and Klay Thompson in golf’s The Match in Las Vegas in June: The NFL vs. the NBA

• Mahomes and Kelce have dominated the NFL, winning two Super Bowls together
• Curry and Thompson have four NBA rings and are currently chasing a fifth 
• DailyMail.com provides all the latest international sports news 

By Reuters and Alastair Talbot For Dailymail.Com

Published: 15:04 EDT, 3 May 2023 | Updated: 18:39 EDT, 3 May 2023