The Week in Practice | 26 October 2026 

📢 Your Monday briefing for UK doctors. Start your week informed with the Week in Practice.

🆕 Guidance to know

NICE has recommended five new artificial intelligence (AI) tools in draft guidance that could help doctors detect prostate cancer more accurately on MRI scans. Demand for prostate MRI scans has increased in recent years, placing additional pressure on radiology services, with more than 58,000 new diagnoses of prostate cancer in England in 2023. The consultation will review whether radiologists can use new AI technologies to help detect prostate cancer on MRI as further evidence emerges.

💊 Clinical news

The UKHSA estimates that 2,200 deaths were associated with cold weather in England during the winter of 2025 to 2026 in its new report, published 22 October 2026. The report examined 5 cold weather periods between November 2025 and February 2026. 1,563 cold-associated deaths were attributable to a severe 9-day period in early January 2026, when significant cold weather affected all regions of England and Amber Cold Health Alerts (CHAs) were in place.

💡 Practice point

Consultants in England will strike next month, with senior doctors warning that the Government had ‘run out of road’ in negotiations over improving working conditions and pay. The BMA consultants committee confirmed today that a 48-hour walkout would take place between 25 and 27 November unless Health Secretary Yvette Cooper took meaningful steps to avoid action.

The strikes, the first time consultants in England have taken industrial action since 2023, would see consultants providing only Christmas Day level care across the two-day period.

🔬 Research in practice

A new study from Australian researchers has identified a new subtype of depression, “circadian depression”, that is thought to be linked to a disruption to the 24-hour internal body clock, which regulates the body’s sleep-wake cycle. The study found that participants who presented with this subtype were younger and more often female and reported experiencing an earlier onset of depression.

The study, published in the British Journal of Psychiatry earlier this month, found that of 11,380 participants with severe and recurrent depression, 23% were identified as being affected by circadian depression.

📌 On the radar

The State of Care Report 2025/2026 from the Care Quality Commission found that although demand for health and adult social care continues to grow, there are signs of improvement, including more GP appointments, increased use of digital solutions, and shorter waits for elective care.

However, this improvement is struggling to keep pace with rising demand, and unwarranted variation remains in access to services, the quality of care, and outcomes across every part of the system CQC regulates.

🗣️ Alerts

The Government is highlighting the importance of flu vaccination as part of NHS winter health preparations ahead of what is thought to be a ‘tough’ winter. Millions of people eligible for a free flu vaccine are being urged to book appointments to protect their health and ease the strain on England’s health services over the winter.

Alison Bloomer

Alison Bloomer is Editor of Pavilion Health Today. She has over 25 years of experience writing for medical journals and trade publications. Subjects include healthcare, pharmaceuticals, disability, insurance, stock market and emerging technologies.

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