Senior medical staff call for solutions to tackle root causes of excess deaths amid tenfold increase in a decade

More than 1,300 patients a month in England are dying needlessly due to long A&E waits, a tenfold rise in a decade, figures suggest.

There were more than 300 deaths linked to long waits every week in 2025, up from 30 a week in 2015, according to analysis by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine.

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In today’s newsletter: ​Researchers are giving us new insights into early detection and treatments, but with access to life-saving care remaining uneven patients still have a long road ahead

Good morning. Israel has returned fire on Iran following a wave of missile strikes, the first attacks between the two countries since April’s ceasefire, despite Donald Trump reportedly urging Benjamin Netanyahu not to retaliate. The escalation threatens to drag the Middle East back into a regional war and raises fears that peace talks between Washington and Tehran could be derailed. But today we are looking at another – and possibly more hopeful – topic.

News of cancer, whenever it arrives, is never welcome. For most of human history, a diagnosis has been a death sentence. But increasingly, better drugs, better care and better testing mean that this is no longer true for many. Survival chances have radically improved for several cancers in recent decades. More than 50 million people are alive today after a cancer diagnosis in the last 5 years, according to the World Health Organization. Cancer mortality rates have decreased by almost a quarter (23%) in the UK since the early 1970s.

Middle East | Israel launched airstrikes on central and western Iran on Monday in apparent defiance of Donald Trump after he urged restraint over a reprisal attack by Tehran.

UK news | Vulnerable families including women fleeing abuse are being illegally “dumped” hundreds of miles away by London councils in a practice “ripping at the social fabric” of deprived towns.

Ukraine | Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the leaders of the UK, France and Germany discussed “the urgent need to scale up” Ukraine’s air defences and deep-strike capabilities, after Russia fired hypersonic weapons at Ukraine.

Technology | Silicon Valley companies including Meta have decided to embrace Maga politics, some for “rather more self-interested” reasons, the former UK deputy prime minister Nick Clegg has said.

UK politics | David Lammy has said he told the US vice-president, JD Vance, he was “wrong” to blame the murder of the British teenager Henry Nowak on mass migration.

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Scolyer, who did pioneering work on immunotherapy, was diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer in 2023

• Richard Scolyer’s open letter to Australians

• Richard Scolyer obituary

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Prof Richard Scolyer, the world-renowned cancer researcher and former Australian of the year, has died at the age of 59.

Scolyer’s family shared a statement the eminent pathologist and melanoma expert penned before his final stages of illness.

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‘My intention is for this letter to be published upon my passing – as my final farewell,’ famed cancer researcher writes

• Richard Scolyer, cancer researcher and former Australian of the year, dies aged 59

• Richard Scolyer obituary

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An open letter to all Australians from Prof Richard A Scolyer AO

16 December 1966 – 7 June 2026

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One in five of the 1.92m patients on list wait longer than six weeks for tests such as CT and MRI scans, analysis shows

A record number of people are waiting for a diagnostic test on the NHS, triggering fears that delays in accessing CT and MRI scans could endanger patients’ health.

A total of 1.92 million patients in England are waiting to have a test to diagnose their illness such as by an ultrasound scan, assessment of their hearing, bone scan or various tests for cancer.

The diagnostic waiting list has grown by 500,000 since 2022.

It is 83% higher than before the Covid pandemic.

On current trends the waiting list will hit 2 million in March 2027.

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A drug for pancreatic cancer shows immense promise, but we shouldn’t forget research in the field is a story of small victories

It is unlikely that we will ever declare a final victory over cancer. Governments have often promised it: from Nixon’s 1971 “war on cancer” to the 2016 Obama‑Biden plan to fight and cure it “once and for all” and Sajid Javid’s 2022 “war on cancer” initiative in the UK. But framing it this way can obscure how real progress is made: not in stunning routs, but in stalling and turning back the advance of this terrible condition – often in simply giving people more time to live.

Several such breakthroughs, and a bigger one that could transform the treatment of multiple kinds of cancer over the next decade, emerged at last week’s American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in Chicago. As the Guardian revealed, there is a new jab effective against head and neck cancers in some patients, and a new immunotherapy that could spare bladder cancer patients invasive and life-changing surgery. Most significantly, there is a new drug called daraxonrasib, which doubled survival time for pancreatic cancer patients in a recent clinical trial.

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Readers respond to an article on the serious failings at the Nottingham university hospitals trust

I am writing as someone who has been personally affected by failings in maternity services at Nottingham university hospitals NHS trust. Zoe Williams (Midwives want to make childbirth miraculous – so what went so wrong in Nottingham?, 1 June) correctly acknowledges the affect of austerity on maternity services (I can attest to that, having worked in the public sector), but it in no way excuses the repeated failings that so many of us have endured.

Austerity is not the reason that midwives, health visitors and doctors failed to conduct routine care for my partner. Understaffing was evident, but it did not prevent routine wound inspections and the taking of samples to confirm suspected infections. What I saw again and again was an ingrained arrogance, an attitude of “we know better” and an utter unwillingness to listen or learn.

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Fuelled by social media, the market for children's skincare is booming. Experts fear for the long-term impact on girls

Kimberley Wilson gives some tips on how to deal with feeling overwhelmed.

Ronan Keating talks about the mental toll of being in Boyzone.

A quarter of all babies in England are now delivered by emergency caesarean operations, BBC analysis shows - marking a significant rise over the last five years.

The shift marks a significant rise over the last five years, but experts say there is no single, clear explanation for the increase.

Cambridge scientists say they have, for the first time, tested a vaccine designed by AI.

Cambridge scientists say they have, for the first time, tested a vaccine designed by AI.

GLP-1 drugs such as Mounjaro are helping millions of people rapidly lose weight. But the changes happening inside the body go far beyond the number on the scale.

Neelam Tailor investigates the growing debate around the possible risks of rapid weight loss from jabs and yo-yo dieting, which include loss of lean mass and consequences in older age. Experts say the debate isn’t just about weight-loss drugs, but about how modern dieting culture has shaped our bodies for decades

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With the Bundibugyo strain of the disease spreading across the DRC and Uganda, scientists and researchers are trying to find rapid solutions

There is no vaccine or treatment available for the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola that is spreading in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda, but this week three vaccine developers were awarded $60m (£45m) in emergency funding as the race to halt the outbreak ramps up.

Security issues in the affected region of the DRC, where conflict has displaced tens of thousands, have made it challenging to set up trials to test drugs. Militias operate in the area and some Ebola treatment centres have been attacked.

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Government-ordered review reveals ‘routine ostracism’ of Jewish staff and patients in health service

The NHS is taking action to tackle antisemitism after a government-ordered report found that Jewish patients and staff face “routine ostracism” in the service.

Anti-Jewish hatred in the NHS means some patients hide their identity and staff “suffer in silence”, a review by Lord Mann, the government’s adviser on antisemitism, has found.

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How a new scheme for young people leaving care is tackling what was once a cliff-edge for this vulnerable group.

As scientists edge closer to new treatments for hair loss, Victoria Derbyshire examines what such breakthroughs could mean for women.

Women taking the drug, which is kinder on the body, tell the BBC it has given them their lives back.