HEALTH NOTES: Private hospitals ‘wasted’ during Covid-19 pandemic 

Private hospitals were ‘massively underused’ at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, it has been claimed.

In April and May 2020, with NHS hospitals at full capacity because of the virus, elective surgeries such as hip replacements were put on hold.

But for £2 billion, the Government recruited the private sector to take over these operations and provide extra staff and equipment.

An investigation by the British Medical Journal has now revealed just 30 out of the UK’s 200 private hospitals were used to treat Covid-19 patients in April 2020.

And between April 2020 and March 2021, two of the biggest private hospital groups continued to treat mostly private patients.

Selfies focus on snappy women 

Women who take lots of selfies are more likely to be aggressive, a study suggests.

Swansea University researchers analysed images posted on social media by 150 people. Women posted an average of five selfies each month, while men posted two.

The scientists gave participants an aggression score based on their answers to questions about how they would act in certain situations.

Overall, they found that women who posted more selfies were more likely to score far higher than others on this metric. The same did not apply to men.

Swansea University researchers analysed images posted on social media by 150 people. Women posted an average of five selfies each month, while men posted two

Less than five per cent of GP surgeries are considered ‘outstanding’ by health inspectors.

The Care Quality Commission visits medical premises every year and rates them as outstanding, good, requires improvement or inadequate.

East Sussex has the highest number of inadequate GP practices across the whole UK – three out of 68 – according to the analysis by solicitors Patient Claim Line. Just three are rated as outstanding.

But the vast majority of GP surgeries are up to scratch. More than 90 per cent are rated as good and just four per cent need improvement or are inadequate.

We get better-quality sleep in the winter months, scientists claim. Researchers from the University of Berlin analysed 188 patients who had been treated at the nearby St Hedwig Hospital’s sleep clinic, and compared their results between the seasons.

They found that in winter the patients spent longer in the REM stage (rapid eye movement) of sleep – the most restorative type which is also when we dream.

Sleep expert Dr Dieter Kunz, of Berlin University, said the results suggest that humans need more high-quality sleep in colder, darker seasons.