Free Republic

Britain should introduce the world’s first tax on sugary and salty food, a report recommends today. The “snack tax” could add £3.4 billion a year to families’ shopping bills, with a 60p Mars bar costing 9p more. With 56 million people currently living in England, it means £60 per year will be added to each person’s food bill on average — £240 for a family of four. The money should be used to pay for GPs to prescribe fruit, vegetables and cookery classes on the NHS to help prevent obesity and ill health, the Government-commissioned review says. The radical proposals...

Patients will need to be seen by non-doctors including “social care navigators”, “physician associates” and “nurse practitioners” to clear the lockdown backlog, a medical leader warns. Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard predicted the waiting lists of the past five months will continue to rise unless the NHS radically alters how it delivers care. The chairman of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges said patients will need to get used to having appointments with physician associates, who do just two years’ medical training, and care navigators, who are often receptionists. Nurses will also have to take on doctors’ roles. There are nearly four...