NHS shakeup risks return to 1930s, warns leading doctor

Reforms means service will be 'tattered safety net' for patients with complex illnesses, says Dr Mark Porter

Flu breakthrough promises a vaccine to kill all strains

British team's success with jab that targets proteins common to every type of flu virus

The people's panel: More people than ever are opting to go under the knife – men as well as women. Are you among them?

Men and women in the UK spend about £2.3bn a year, and in 2009 took out loans worth nearly £5m to pay for operations

Bad press surrounding 584 cases in which women trusting in Implanon implants fell pregnant is a blow to family-planning advisers

Zoe Williams: This dressing up of vanity in the sackcloth of good health obscures the basic fact that exercise won't make us thin – just hungry

Response: Protecting the public from a minority of therapists who abuse their position is our aim, says Anna van der Gaag

Pratap Chatterjee: For proof of why Obama's healthcare reform was needed, just look at the epic fraud that has plagued the old system

A survey of developed and developing countries suggests citizens' sense of wellbeing does not rise with increasing wealth

Response: Initiatives must be led by science if we are to bring the obesity epidemic under control, says Joe Millward