High-quality abortion services come at a price, so let’s pay it

Abortion care charities now have to compete for contracts – and NHS cost-cutting means the cheapest service is almost always commissioned

Samer Nashef: ‘Understanding the healthcare system is a matter of life or death’

The cardiac specialist reveals how what really goes on behind the operating door inspired his book The Naked Surgeon

Kids on the Edge review – an antidote to the hysteria around gender identity

The first of Peter Beard’s three-part series looking at children’s mental health visits an NHS identity development clinic and steadily dismantles inaccurate fears around what is clearly a complex process

Targets matter – because a day with cancer worries feels like a year

New research reveals that more than 130,000 people were not seen or treated when they needed to be. The only solution is a properly funded NHS

NHS to offer safer Down’s syndrome test to pregnant women

Non-invasive prenatal test allows screening without risk of miscarriage but critics fear it could lead to an increase in terminations

NHS figures show ‘shocking’ rise in self-harm among young

Upward trend is more pronounced among girls and is evidence of increased social pressures on children, say experts

Figures reveal huge inequalities in health and longevity across UK

ONS report shows disparities largest in England and smallest in Northern Ireland, while Scotland has the worst longevity

Westminster: wealth, opulence and socially isolated new mothers

In an area where wealth and poverty sit side by side, a maternity project is tackling loneliness and mental health problems

A sympathetic ear in the doctor’s surgery – cartoon

There are limits to what can be achieved by sending GPs on training courses in empathy

Keep button batteries away from children, doctors warn parents

Great Ormond Street hospital reports sharp rise in number of children treated after swallowing the potentially fatal metal discs