More could be done to prevent the early deaths of up to 50,000 people each year hastened by air pollution, MPs say. A Commons Environmental Audit Committee report said failure to reduce pollution had put “enormous” cost on the NHS and could cost millions in EU fines. It said the UK should be “ashamed” of its poor air quality which was contributing to conditions such as asthma, heart disease and cancer.

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Scotland’s health secretary will pledge to protect frontline NHS services and other key health policies, in the face of possible UK spending cuts.

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A majority of doctors say they can “rarely” offer psychological therapy to depression sufferers within two months of referral, a study claims. Leigh Bailey, 34, says delays in his treatment had a dramatic effect on him and his family.

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By Jane Elliott Health reporter, BBC News When keen golfer Marlene Evans started to suffer excruciating pain in her hips she feared the worse. “Even if I turned over slightly in the night, a shooting pain from my hip would wake me,” she said.

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By Jane Elliott Health reporter, BBC News When Coronation Street’s Sally Webster told her husband on Christmas Day that she had breast cancer, the audience was gripped. Would the philandering Kevin stay with Sally, or run away with his young lover Molly But for breast cancer nurse Vickki Harmer there was a far greater concern – how would the soap handle such an important issue as breast cancer Each year in the UK there are more than 46,000 women diagnosed with breast cancer. At some point, one in nine women will have the cancer

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By Helen Briggs Health reporter, BBC News Testing for human papillomavirus during cervical screening does not help doctors identify women at risk of cancer, a study suggests. A positive HPV test does not accurately predict which women need an urgent follow-up, say doctors. Each year, millions of UK women have a cervical screening test as part of the national programme.

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FROM BBC RADIO 5 LIVE More from BBC Radio 5 live Tiger Woods’ admission that he’s been receiving therapy to enable him to remain faithful to his wife has raised the question of whether infidelity is really the symptom of a treatable condition. BBC Radio 5 live’s Andres Fletch visits a treatment centre in Hertfordshire to see how counsellors tackle love and sex addiction in the same way as alcoholism – through group therapy. In a small, plainly-decorated room at the end of a shopping arcade in Stevenage, nine women and two men sit in a circle.

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By Adam Brimelow Health correspondent, BBC News Health service managers are facing a tough road ahead. They have been told to plan for a shortfall of

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Infections spread by acupuncture needles are under-diagnosed worldwide, according to doctors in Hong Kong. Writing in the British Medical Journal, they call for tighter infection controls and regulation. Acupuncture is currently unregulated in the UK, but the government is consulting on the issue.

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Emma Wilkinson Health reporter, BBC News One in five deaths in children in England and Wales is due to potentially preventable infections, a study suggests. Half of the 1,300 infection-related deaths in a two-year period were in children with other health problems. Health Protection Agency researchers said greater vigilance by doctors could significantly child mortality.

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