Exclusive: Conservatives’ standing badly undermined by broken promises made in 2019, says report

• Tories’ 2019 NHS promises may come back to bite them

The NHS will be the Conservatives’ “achilles heel” at the next election, ministers have been warned in a new report by a former government special adviser on health.

Richard Sloggett said the Tories’ standing has been badly undermined by their failure to deliver on most of the pledges to improve the NHS they made at the 2019 general election.

Recruiting 5,000 more GPs . Numbers have fallen by 3% since 2019.

Building “40 new hospitals” by 2030 . The National Audit Office recently said that the government “will not now deliver 40 new hospitals” by that year.

A promise to help people live healthier lives and tackle obesity. Anti-obesity measures have been watered down or delayed by successive prime ministers.

For years we’ve been told to avoid sun to prevent skin cancer. But research suggests a dose of rays can boost your immune system and increase lifespan. We look on the bright side

Shades? SPF50 suncream? Wide-brimmed hat? For decades, it has been drilled into us that if the sun is out, we’d better slip on protective clothing, slop on suncream and slap on a hat to stay safe. There’s little doubt that too much sun exposure – and particularly sunburn – increases our risk of developing skin cancer. It also prematurely ages the skin. But scientists are increasingly questioning the mantra that sunlight is an evil to be avoided at all costs, and investigating the brighter side of sun exposure.

It’s not just about vitamin D. Though important for strong bones and teeth this sun-induced vitamin is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the physiological processes that are influenced by sunlight falling on the skin. Sunseekers may even have a longer lifespan. So, can we capitalise on the benefits of sunshine, without risking skin cancer?

Celebrities, influencers and therapists have all touted the benefits of icy immersion. But last week a coroner told a different story after the death of a woman in Derbyshire

Not so long ago, a cold plunge bath was used as a punishment for people considered insane. Now ice baths are feted by celebrities and social media influencers as a way to treat depression, lose weight and boost immunity. Yet immersion in cold water should be more widely recognised as a potentially lethal activity, according to academics, charities and even advocates of cold plunges.

“If this was people going for a gentle stroll, it would be fine,” said Professor Mike Tipton, who has researched cold water immersion for four decades. “Sixty per cent of deaths in cold water happen in the first minute of immersion. You’re taking a tropical animal and dropping it into 12C water – that’s not a risk-free activity.”

It is never too late to use therapy to unpack things we’ve been told

The question My husband has been unemployed for two years and I feel like he’s fading away. He’s proved himself to be good at what he does in most aspects of his chosen field. He’s worked at a senior level (CEO, partner, etc) but he struggles with relating to people and, because of that, he’s eventually been let go from every job he’s had. He’s never had a leaving card. He’s an intelligent, experienced and educated man (PhD level). He can make a great first impression, yet he doesn’t know how to navigate the complexities of relationships and that keeps being his downfall .

At home I take the lead in parenting , managing wider family relationships and friendships, and running a home and a social life. He will help if I ask, but he leaves all thinking and decisions to me. Our life is like a ship with him on the deck and me occasionally able to come out of the engine room into the sun. It’s lonely and exhausting.

The Book You Want Everyone You Love* To Read *(and maybe a few you don’t) by Philippa Perry (Cornerstone, £18.99). To support The Guardian and Observer, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com . Delivery charges may apply.

The five-year rule, which puts time limit on reporting sex assaults and rape, allows doctors who may be guilty to continue practising

More than one in 10 sexual harassment complaints against doctors are not investigated by the General Medical Council because of an “arbitary” rule, the Observer can reveal.

According to data obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, 13% of sexual misconduct complaints made between the years 2017-18 and 2021-22 were closed without investigation because the GMC is prevented from considering alleged incidents more than five years after the event.

Beauty writer Anita Bhagwandas reflects on the lessons she has learned, from childhood to adulthood, about eczema – a condition that imposes daily physical and psychological tests

How do you scratch an itch that’s underneath your skin? The truth is, you can’t. At 15, I’d look down at my hands and see bubbles forming under the skin on my hands, becoming liquid-filled blisters that ached and itched until they popped. Grim, I know – and it didn’t get better as they healed; peeling the dressings off to change them was agony, while the claggy coldness of the wet wrap treatments is seared into my memory. What’s more, my now gauze-covered fingers were exactly the kicker my teenage self-esteem didn’t need.

My eczema, which is in its most basic terms a skin barrier malfunction as the result of genetics and environmental factors, began aged four. It was more rash-like then. I’d wonder why I was afflicted with it, and nobody else seemed to be. Kids would ask what it was, usually with mild disgust, which only made me feel ashamed. I had one ace up my sleeve though – my father was a dermatologistas . “We tried everything to heal and manage it, but the only big difference I saw was after rounds of homoeopathy,” he recalls, after it was recommended by an old medic friend of his. And it did work; until I hit my teens.

Five higher multibeam doses found to be as effective as 20 smaller doses delivered over several weeks

Men undergoing treatment for prostate cancer could be safely exposed to fewer radiotherapy sessions, a major trial has found.

The trial, conducted by the Royal Marsden NHS foundation trust and the Institute of Cancer Research in London, found that radiotherapy doses can be cut by three-quarters, meaning that five higher doses of radiotherapy are just as effective as 20 smaller doses delivered over several weeks.

It is the size of a bedsheet, an outward display of our mood, age and identity and replaces itself completely every month – here’s the lowdown on the skin you’re in

The Ancient Egyptians knew all about skincare. Scrolls dating back 3,500 years describe elaborate routines to keep the face soft and smooth, the body gently perfumed. If disease and imperfections threatened to spoil the day – and they certainly did in 1550BC – there were treatments on hand for most common ailments: wrinkles and moles, eczema and itches, boils, stings and bites.

How helpful the ancient therapies were is hard to ascertain. But as with the peddling of modern skincare products, it’s not clear how much that mattered. Wax, olive oil and fresh milk would swiftly banish wrinkles, one scroll asserts, with the afflicted instructed to “See to it!” Unsightly mole? Try berries, grain, honey and leaves crushed in water that has been used to wash the phallus . An itchy neck? A smear of chopped-up bat will “heal it at once”. But what about that annoying crocodile bite? Slap a lump of meat on it, declares the Ebers papyrus, one of the world’s oldest known medical works.

Exclusive: Concerns raised over qualification of practitioners and organisations that accredit them

Regulating invasive cosmetic procedures in the UK is “an absolute nightmare” with many of those claiming to be qualified to perform them not able to work as consultants in the NHS, a leading plastic surgeon has said.

Maniram Ragbir, the president of the British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons (Bapras), urged people considering procedures to check their doctor was registered as a plastic surgeon on the General Medical Council’s specialist register , which lists those qualified to work as consultants in the UK.