Top story: ‘Concerns over patient safety’ as students reinforce wards

Hello – it’s Warren Murray on this most auspicious of Mondays when we are launching the Guardian’s new look. Our editor-in-chief, Katharine Viner, explains what is happening as we move to a tabloid-format print edition and update our global design online.

And now on with the news. As the NHS grapples with its winter crisis, medical schools are asking fourth and fifth-year students to provide urgent assistance at “hard-pressed” nearby hospitals and GP surgeries, according to emails obtained by the Guardian. Dr John Oxtoby, medical director at the University Hospitals of North Midlands trust, told the Guardian it would be glad to receive help from undergraduates at Keele University, who are among those who got messages from senior academics urging them to volunteer. “Medical students will not be asked to do anything beyond their competence,” Oxtoby added.

But the extraordinary plea is ringing alarm bells for the British Medical Association: “Not only would this be exploitation of students who may be reluctant to say no,” said Harrison Carter, co-chair of the BMA medical students committee, “but it raises concerns over patient safety if those working on the frontline are asked to work beyond clinical competence.” Others have warned of the potential for clinical mistakes and the extra burden created by doctors having to supervise students.

More than 90,000 patients have been stuck in ambulances outside A&E units during the past six weeks in England, while NHS bosses have cancelled tens of thousands of operations to free up beds and staff. Theresa May has apologised but faced criticism for playing down the extent of the crisis.

Lucan windfall – In the latest twist in the Lucan family saga, it has emerged that the late Dowager Countess Veronica left her entire fortune to the homeless charity Shelter. Lady Lucan, who had been estranged from her family since the 1980s, killed herself last September, wrongly believing she had Parkinson’s disease. Her husband, Lord Lucan, vanished in 1974 after the brutal murder of the family nanny, Sandra Rivett. Veronica maintained she was her husband’s intended victim and he killed Rivett by mistake. “The proceeds from Lady Lucan’s estate will help Shelter to continue fighting bad housing and homelessness,” the charity said.

Carillion crisis – Lenders were last night considering a bailout for the sprawling construction and facilities firm Carillion, which employs 43,000 people and is at the core of a host of crucial government projects and day-to-day services, from schools to hospitals, prisons and the army. There are fears, though, that administrators will step in this morning after crisis talks hosted by the Cabinet Office on Sunday broke up without a rescue deal being announced. Labour MPs are expected to question the government today on why it awarded Carillion lucrative contracts including £1.4bn of work on HS2 rail even after it became clear the company was struggling. It has issued three profit warnings since last July and lost £1.15bn in six months of 2017.

‘No, no. Not a racist’ – Take it from Donald Trump, he is the “least racist person you will ever interview”. It’s a relief for those of us who wondered what he might have meant, if he had indeed described Haiti and African nations as “shithole” countries.

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Republican and Democratic senators who were at an Oval Office meeting with the president continue to dispute whether he used the vulgarity while lamenting US immigration policy. The briefing wonders what he won’t say next. And there’s really no way of knowing, says the author Michael Wolff, who has had the good grace to sit down with the Guardian’s Edward Helmore after we trumped the launch of his book Fire and Fury. As Wolff puts it, when it comes to Donald Trump “there is an explosive story every day which makes you forget about what happened the day before”.

‘The world doesn’t realise I have a regular job!’ – Life has become a whirlwind of the most self-affirming kind for Tarana Burke, founder of the #MeToo movement, since the slogan she originally coined 12 years ago was picked up by the multitude of women sharing stories of rape and sexual assault. There have been the appearances at the Golden Globes and in Time magazine, but when veteran rape crisis worker Burke takes the spotlight, she insists it is not for herself; rather, for all women and girls fighting sexual abuse and stigma.

Meanwhile in a high-profile mea culpa, the French actor Catherine Deneuve has apologised over an open letter that criticised the #MeToo movement. Deneuve said she remained against the “media lynching” of men accused of sexual misconduct, but the “verbal incontinence” of fellow signatories to the letter – one of whom said women could “orgasm during a rape” – had distorted the message she intended by signing it.

As long as it’s black – Your next car is more likely to be black and less likely to be diesel if you are the average British buyer. More than half a million black cars were registered in 2017 as it overtook white as the colour of choice for the first time since 2012. Grey cars are climbing the rankings – Trump and Brexit might be the cause, one psychologist reckons, as the drab tone makes people feel safe during insecure times. And there’s a warning that, like Brexit Britain, the diesel car industry is headed for a “cliff edge”. Diesel’s growing displacement by cleaner electric vehicles is the good part of this news – but the loss of British jobs at plants like Vauxhall’s Ellesmere Port site in Cheshire is the bad. In breaking auto news overnight, Ford’s global chairman has announced an $11bn ramp-up in its hybrid and electric vehicle strategy, including plans to have 40 such models in its line-up by 2022.

Lunchtime read: On patrol in Japan’s ‘dementia towns’



Elderly people being tagged with QR codes in case they wander off? Community-led “dementia patrols” to detect people with Alzheimer’s and steer them off the streets? It could sound Orwellian – but measures being encouraged by the Japanese city of Matsudo are intended to help, not stigmatise.

Japan is at the forefront of a global dementia crisis – about 4.6 million of its citizens have some form of the condition, and more than 15,000 of them went missing in 2016. In Matsudo, people can attend a 90-minute lecture and become a “dementia supporter”, while cafes and drop-in centres for patients and their families have been set up, and businesses such as banks and taxi services are being educated. Hiroyuki Yamamoto, a regular dementia patroller, offers tips: “You don’t just suddenly ask people if they’re OK, as that could alienate them. It’s better to comment on the weather, or say something nice about their dog. We can usually tell if something is wrong by the way they respond.”

Sport

Liverpool and Mohamed Salah put a thrilling end to Manchester City’s winning run with a 4-3 victory to give a glimmer of hope for the teams desperately clinging to the Premier League leaders’ coat-tails.

At the Australian Open, day one saw a swathe of upsets in the women’s draw, with fifth seed Venus Williams joining Sloane Stephens, Dominika Cibulkova and CoCo Vandeweghe on the scrapheap during the first day session of play. Kyle Edmund, Britain’s lone representative in the men’s draw in the absence of the injured Andy Murray, soaked up 35 aces from one of the biggest servers in the game, Kevin Anderson, to put out the 2017 US Open finalist in five enthralling sets. And Novak Djokovic, the first player to pass $100m in prizemoney, sent a shiver through the Open when it was suggested he is fomenting a players’ pay revolt that could split the game wide open.

In the US, Case Keenum completed a last-ditch heave on the game’s final play and Stefon Diggs slithered away for a 61-yard touchdown to give Minnesota a 29-24 victory over New Orleans and send the Vikings to the NFC championship game, with one more win needed to become a first-time Super Bowl host.

Business

Asian stock markets have edged higher after Wall Street’s strong finish last week. China’s yuan leapt to its highest level in more than two years against the weakened US dollar. The renminbi is predicted to make further gains this week.

Sterling has been trading at $1.373 and €1.125 overnight.

The papers

Standout of the front pages is the Guardian – both for its exclusive on the NHS, as detailed above, and the print edition’s tabloid redesign.

The Telegraph appears to want to capitalise on the moment, declaring it is Britain’s “biggest” quality newspaper. It leads with a story saying the medical records of British cancer patients have been handed over to a US firm working for a tobacco company. The Times splashes on news that the government has continued ploughing huge sums into troubled contractor Carillion despite multiple profit warnings. The FT has the same story and says ministers are under pressure to explain the £2bn worth of contracts awarded since it was known the group was under financial pressure.

The Mail leads on an investigation which it says reveals that drug dealers are openly using Facebook to sell drugs to children. The Mirror has a picture of TV star Ant McPartlin on the front and discusses his marital difficulties. The Sun also leads with a variation of the story, saying the star will take part in Britain’s priciest divorce. Lastly, the i says Britain has increased its sales of arms to the world’s most repressive regimes by a third since the Brexit vote.

For more news: www.theguardian.com

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