People living in some areas are up to nine-times more likely to be prescribed the life-changing treatments than those living elsewhere, new data from NHS England reveals.
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Cardiff-based poet and performer Rachel Helena Walsh is once again bringing Buzz some typewritten excellence! (Read her review of 2025’s Sŵn Festival here and an interview with Spit Hood here.) Below is the results of her meetup with Ellis Acton-Dyer from Welsh noiserock band Shlug, who have a show at Cardiff Tramshed and the release of their second EP in the next few weeks.
the below is a poetic profile piece of the band SHLUG, mostly verbatim, born from an in person interview held at Braeval Street Studios in Cardiff.
Shlug, Tramshed, Cardiff, Sun 20 Sept (supporting Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs – rescheduled from March. Tickets: £22. Info: here)
New EP Eat God In The Death House is released on Fri 2 Oct via Roccoco Swn and can be preordered here; the band play a launch gig that evening at The Lanes, Bristol (tickets: FREE. Info: here)
Shlug on Linktree
Find Rachel and her poetry in Cardiff Market at her stall Poetry For You, or at the launch of her second book Rose Gold Rituals (Porter’s, Cardiff, Wed 21 Oct. Admission: FREE).
Rachel on Instagram
words RACHEL HELENA WALSH
The fire is believed to have started at Time to Eat on Glebe Street.
A number of fire crews remain at the scene, and the road remains closed at this time, according to local reports.
The Penarth Times has contacted Time to Eat and South Wales Fire and Rescue Service.
Follow along with our live blog.
The Penarth Times will bring you the latest updates throughout the day.
Paramedics rushed to the scene on Saturday morning, but were unable to save the girl
Police rushed to the scene in Great Wyrley(Image: Derby Telegraph)
Police have blocked access to a fishing lake, following the sudden death of a three-month-old girl.
Emergency services were called to reports of a child in cardiac arrest yesterday morning, and rushed to Strawberry Lane, Great Wyrley, in Staffordshire, at around 8.45am. The girl, who was on a camping trip with her family, was pronounced dead by paramedics a short time later.
Detectives say their investigation into the “unexplained” death is in the early stages but that it was an “isolated incident”.
Detective Inspector Katie Gregory said: “While the investigation remains at an early stage, this is an isolated incident and we understand that the child’s family was camping in the area. The death is being treated as unexplained at this time.”
A fishing lake in the Wyrley and Essington Branch Canal Local Nature Reserve was cordoned off by police.
Drone images from the scene show at least four tents and camping chairs positioned close to fishing platforms.
READ MORE: Call for urgent action at Welsh hospital after three-day-old baby dies
Cheslyn Hay district councillor Robert Duncan said: “I know how deeply upsetting news like this is for our community.
“It’s important that we allow the emergency services the space they need to complete their work with dignity and care.
“As soon as the full and confirmed details are formally shared with me, I will provide a further update to residents.
“Until then, please avoid speculation and allow the family and responders the privacy and respect they deserve.”
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The three/four-bedroom home is located on a quiet cul-de-sac on Hillside Drive, Cowbridge.
The property, located within walking distance of Cowbridge town centre, comes with its own gym, a feature fireplace, and a wood-burning stove.
The estate agent called the listing “an exceptional, three/four bedroom, detached property situated in a quiet cul-de-sac and within easy walking distance of the heart of Cowbridge town centre.”
The home has an entrance porch that leads into a hallway with an understairs storage cupboard.
The sitting room, which has French doors opening onto the front terrace, could be used as a fourth bedroom.
To the rear of the house is the dining room, which has space for a table and chairs, and patio doors opening onto the back terrace.
The living room, which is accessed through the dining room, has a feature fireplace with an inset wood-burning stove and bi-folding doors opening onto the rear garden.
The kitchen is fitted with a range of wall and base units, a stainless-steel sink, a four-ring gas hob, an electric oven, and an integrated dishwasher.
The utility room, which could be used as a gym, has base units, a sink, and space for a washing machine.
Also on the ground floor is a toilet.
The stairs lead up to a landing with access to the loft and three bedrooms.
The master bedroom has French doors opening onto a balcony with a glass balustrade.
The family bathroom has a bath with a shower head, a toilet, and a sink.
Outside, there is off-road parking, mature trees and shrubbery, a lawn, a decked terrace, and a further patio terrace.
The home, which is said to be in “excellent decorative condition”, is on the market for £535,000.
Catherine McMillan, 14, with doting dad Jason. (Image: Jason McMillan)
The family of a teen with a one-in-a-million condition live on a daily knife-edge – as she could die unless she swallows cornflour and water every four hours. Catherine McMillan was two-and-a-half years old when diagnosed with Glycogen Storage Disease type 1b (GSD1b), an ultra-rare genetic disorder that can lead to severe low blood sugar, an enlarged liver, and immune system defects.
Now aged 14, Catherine must drink a ‘formula’ of gravy ingredients, raw cornflour and water every four hours to help release glucose slowly and maintain blood sugar levels between meals. It enables the youngster, once of Westgate-on-Sea, Kent, but now living in Zamora, Spain, to attend school, yet her life will forever revolve around a regime of carefully-managed doses and mealtimes.
Catherine as a toddler (Image: Jason McMillan)
So parents Jason, 52, and Maria, 49, have told the Express they want to raise awareness of GSD1b while urging medics and drug giants to keep researching the devastating condition.
Devoted father-of-three Jason McMillan, 52, told us: “We have lost children in this community because a parent has overslept or a machine has broken. It’s horrifically sad.
“Catherine is a 14-year-old who looks at first glance just like any other teenager, but looks can be misleading. An enormous amount of work goes into keeping her well.
“The four-hour clock has not disappeared. The fact that treatment works should not make the disease invisible.
“Health systems do not need every doctor to recognise every rare disease – but they do need to recognise when the ordinary explanation no longer fits.”
GSD1b also affects the immune system, and Catherine has suffered from neutropenia – a blood disorder characterised by an abnormally low level of neutrophils (white blood cells that fight off bacterial and fungal infections), leaving her at risk of severe infections and inflammatory bowel disease.
In addition to the cornflour, Catherine takes empagliflozin, a repurposed diabetes drug that doctors found helps treat neutropenia.
Defiant Catherine explained: “Having GSD1b means I always have to think about food, cornflour, time and my health, even at school and during the night.
“Sometimes I just wish I could do the simple things my friends do without having to plan everything first. It can make me feel different, but GSD1b does not define me.
“A cure would mean freedom to sleep through the night, eat, go out with my friends and live without constantly having to think about what my body needs next.”
Catherine with a nose tube for her glucose pump, with mum Maria. (Image: Jason McMillan)
GSD1b is a genetic, metabolic liver disease that occurs in approximately one in every million births, making it “ultra-rare,” with only around 20 sufferers in the UK.
Sufferers miss a liver enzyme that converts glycogen, the stored form of glucose, into the usable glucose their body needs to function.
This means they can develop profound hypoglycaemia, low blood sugar, very quickly. Prior to cornstarch therapy, GSD1b was universally fatal.
Catherine was born in June 2012, but aged six months, Jason and Maria noticed she was slightly different: her growth was slow, her arms and legs thin, and her tummy swollen.
Doctors said they were “worrying too much,” but aged 18 months, nursery staff raised her small size and prominent stomach as a red flag.
Jason recalled: “They said ‘she’s a lovely child, but there’s a problem. Something doesn’t seem right’. But again doctors just reassured us – with Catherine’s substantial nosebleeds dismissed as her picking her nose.”
It was only during a family trip to Disneyland Paris in August 2014, when Catherine suffered a high fever and visited a French hospital, that medics raised the alarm.
Eyewear retailer Jason said, “I remember about 10 or 15 doctors quickly becoming involved after they recognised that her liver was enormous.
“The following days were terrifying. Catherine had a full-body CT scan, an MRI, X-rays, a liver ultrasound, a lumbar puncture and a bone-marrow biopsy.
“At one stage, we were told she might have a condition, meaning she did not have long to live. I was totally broken.
“I remember having to call my parents to tell them that their granddaughter was going to die. It was like being hit with a sledgehammer.”
Catherine, Maria, Jason and eldest daughter Elizabeth (Image: Jason McMillan)
French medics eventually suspected an unusually severe viral infection but remained deeply concerned with Catherine’s liver being 11cm larger than it should have been.
In December 2014, visiting nursery worker Maria’s family in Spain, they met paediatrician Dr Carlos Ochoa, who suspected GSD, which was finally confirmed just three months before Catherine’s third birthday on the children’s liver ward at London’s King’s College Hospital.
Jason said: “It was horrifically traumatic. You never expect these things in your life. We were put on the liver ward and were seeing children dying.
“Across from Catherine was a little boy whose skin became more yellow in front of us. At night, his mother cried and sang lullabies to him. The fear and helplessness of that ward have never left me.
“You never understand until you’re in it and this isn’t just about my daughter and her disease. There are so many people with rare genetic diseases who take years to get a diagnosis.
“Because of how the NHS is set up it’s like a conveyor belt of mainstream illnesses that they can deal with, but they are not looking at other things. They are not looking outside of the box and that’s what is fundamentally holding the NHS back in a lot of ways.”
Doctors in the UK put Catherine on a plan of precisely-timed glucose-mix via a feeding tube pumped into her stomach overnight and injected in every two hours during the day.
But the reality of constant vigilance that the pump was still running, the feed was not leaking and the tube had not moved took its toll on the family.
Jason said: “We moved her bed beside ours so we could watch her while she slept. Changing it was traumatic. Catherine would cry and scream while we restrained her and forced another tube through her nose.
“One night, at around four o’clock in the morning, the connection between Catherine’s feeding tube and the giving set began to leak. It took around an hour to bring the situation under control.”
Catherine in her cot (Image: Jason McMillan)
The exhausted parents began looking at other ways to manage Catherine’s condition and found a doctor in Spain who also suffers from GSD.
She recommended a carefully measured dose of uncooked cornflour mixed with cold water, which they fed to her in a tiny doll’s cup.
Unless she swallows the cornflour every four hours she could develop hypoglycaemia, which can prove fatal.
Jason said: “The cup was small enough to hold against her mouth while she was half asleep. I would mix the cornflour, lift her from bed and try to persuade a frightened, distressed and disorientated little girl to drink the very thing helping to keep her alive.”
The strict regime meant Catherine could play like a normal child and get dressed without worrying her tube would become dislodged.
In 2015 the family made the difficult decision to relocate to Spain permanently so Catherine could benefit from “better metabolic management, international expertise and newer treatments”.
Now they have a near military regime of feeds and supplements, meaning whether Catherine is staying with mum Maria or nearby at her dad’s home – as the couple have divorced but still co-parent – they must wake her in the night to drink her cornflour mix.
Jason explained: “It’s carefully measured, so it lasts exactly the right time, but it’s basically the same stuff you use to make gravy.
“One analogy would be if you’re pumping in glucose you’re running your body at high revs like a sports car but if the glucose suddenly stops the body crashes.
“That’s where there’s been a lot of deaths with the children – they’ve been on the overnight feeds, there’s been a problem with the pump breaking down, the parents didn’t notice and then the child went into coma and died.
“Giving cornflour instead is like as tractor, it just keeps the body chugging along.”
Catherine (right) with her older sister and parents (Image: Jason McMillan)
Catherine also cannot have milk or dairy products, fruit, sweets or chocolate – so when her friends pop out for an ice cream she must watch on.
Although GSD1b is a genetic condition, luckily her sister Elizabeth, 16, and brother Arthur, seven, don’t have it.
But the family are desperate to not only raise awareness of GSD but urge pharmaceuticals to keep seeing if existing drugs can be repurposed – like Catherine’s drug empagliflozin – to be a miracle treatment for other rare diseases.
Jason added: “Rare diseases are often very specific disruptions of fundamental biological processes. So studying them can teach researchers how existing medicines can be repurposed.”
Last week American dad Phil Schneider, whose teen daughter Sylvi has GSD1b, and pal Toby Schmidt completed a 10-day, 1,000km ride across the Alps to highlight the plight of families attending treatment alarms every four hours.
To donate to their cause – for GSD charity Sophie’s Hope – visit https://ridegsd1b.funraise.
With her strict routine in place, Catherine’s still able to smile and be happy (Image: Jason McMillan)
They say they have faced a huge increase in noise pollution and extra traffic in the area
The data centre which dominates the area near Pencarn Avenue in Newport(Image: © SWNS)
Neighbours of a huge 65ft high data centre built next to their homes expressed fury – claiming it has decimated the countryside and slashed the value of their homes.
Locals say since construction began on the near 50 acre Vantage Data Center Campus they have faced a huge increase in noise pollution and extra traffic in the area.
The campus in Newport will include three data centres filled with computers used to run digital services, built to fulfil the increased demand for processing power caused by the rise of AI. Always keep on top of the latest Welsh news with our newsletter.
But as more data centres are built across the UK, many residents living near the sites have raised concerns over the large amounts of water and electricity needed to fuel the centres.
And those living next to the site said the level of disruption was unacceptable and dubbed it a “monstrosity” that has destroyed the countryside.
Concern was first raised after the giant metal warehouse sprang up next to homes on an affluent Welsh street.
Local resident Lizzie Bailey told the BBC: “The data centre planned would be an environmental nightmare both for the wildlife and the local residents.
“This will be a temporary disruption with the construction but then a permanent disruption because of the diesel generators, the noises, the cooling fans, things like that.”
Across the UK, plans have been created to build as many as 100 more data centres in the next five years – most around London, with five planned in Greater Manchester, one in Scotland, and nine in Wales.
In the USA, where there are around 4,000 data centres, residents living nearby have complained of constant noise, increased electricity costs, and increased consumption of water.
Another Newport resident, a 79-year-old retired lecturer who has lived in the city for 50 years, expressed frustration over the rate at which new data centres are being constructed.
He said: “My concern is to do with the way in which we are being coerced into investing such a vast amount into something which might possibly be redundant before it’s completed.
“I feel that we are assuming that this is a tool that will do everything for us – and I think it’s like surrounding ourselves with lots of hammers, and everything becomes a nail.
“It becomes even more peculiar because you’re looking at a white box which consumes vast quantities of water, vast quantities of electricity, and you assume that somehow it’s going to be good for society. I’m not convinced.
“We have politicians who stand on the roof of it and tell us how good it will be for Newport – and I’d like to know in what way it will be good for Newport?
“I’m the least affected by it in this property – the people who are really suffering are the ones who are actually backing onto it. I’ve been here 51 years and watched this site go from fields to this.
“I’m not against change, if change is in aid of something, but I feel that a lot of what’s happening at the moment is that there is an awful lot of money in the hands of people who have very little intelligence and are looking desperately to make sure they have got a slice of whatever the current enthusiasm is – and the current enthusiasm is AI.”
Another local resident Amanda Young shared similar concerns and added: “It used to be a nice quiet area, but with more data centres coming in, we don’t know what they’re going to bring with them.”
She said her biggest concerns were “the noise, the visual impact and whether it will affect house prices” in her area.
A spokesperson for Vantage Data Center said that they were “committed to being a good neighbour”, and that they will “work closely with local authorities” to “manage construction activity, including traffic, noise and lighting” and incorporate “measures designed to protect the local environment”.
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Constant brain fog, nagging headaches and heavy fatigue that never seems to go away could be a sign of a little-known vitamin deficiency.
Kyle David, 20, of Holton Road, Barry appeared before Cardiff Magistrates’ Court for sentencing after previously pleading guilty to threatening to share intimate photographs.
The offence occurred in Cardiff on February 22, 2025.
He was handed a 24-month community order.
The defendant must complete up to 30 days of rehabilitation activities and carry out 100 hours of unpaid work.
Magistrates also imposed a restraining order banning David from contacting the victim directly or indirectly by any means, including social media.
He must also not go to any place where he reasonably believes she may be living.
The restraining order will remain in force for two years.
David was ordered to pay £85 prosecution costs and a £114 victim surcharge.
He must pay at a rate of £20 per month from September 30.
The case was prosecuted by Aleksandra Haustova.
David was represented by Lauren Chambers.
Elderly patients are being admitted hospital after suffering from side effects from multiple drugs (Image: Getty)
Thousands of elderly people are being admitted to the hospital due to being overprescribed medications. An investigation found that doctors are prescribing dangerous levels of medication to elderly patients, which are causing a series of reactions, including low blood pressure, dizziness and irregular heartbeats. The consumption of cocktails of medicines is also leading to falls.
It’s been found that eight million people in the UK are at risk of medical side effects as a result of being prescribed five or more drugs to take daily. A study published earlier this year revealed that around 2.2 million Brits take 10 drugs a day.
Polypharmacy is a term used to define the concurrent use of five medications by a single individual; at this point, the risk of side effects increases, making it especially dangerous for frail patients and those living with mobility issues.
Analysis of NHS data reveals that as many as 1,000 elderly patients a day are admitted for emergency care in hospital after suffering a preventable reaction to a drug they are taking. Coroners have also warned about the dangers of polypharmacy contributing to deaths, The Sunday Times reports.
Studies note systemic failures in the NHS as the cause of the over-prescription epidemic. Time constraints and appointment shortages, combined with fragmented care across hospitals, homes and GPs, can sometimes lead to a pile-up of medications, with the side-effects of one being misdiagnosed as a new condition.
Regular intake of five or more drugs increases the risk of side effects (Image: Getty)
Medications properly prescribed in the past can later become dangerous as a patient ages. However, doctors have urged that no one should stop taking meds without first speaking to their GP or specialist doctor.
They added that drugs prescribed to elderly people will be vital.
Jugdeep Dhesi, president of the British Geriatrics Society and a consultant geriatrician at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust in London, said: “The more tablets that you take, the more likely there are interactions, and this can happen more the older you are.”
She added: “We have got these statistics and evidence coming at us, and we’re all really worried about it, but the system just keeps on looking down and thinking if we just carry on doing the same thing, it’ll be okay. It won’t.”
The crisis of over-prescribing costs the NHS an estimated £2.21 billion a year, according to figures published by the University of Southampton.
Now, leading clinicians are calling for doctors to receive improved training in de-prescribing or stopping drugs, specialist geriatricians (elderly care experts), and medication reviews for elderly patients.
A new national plan for the care of the frail elderly is due to be published in January. It will set modern standards for the care of the elderly, including medication prescribing.
An NHS spokesperson said: “We know we need to do more to meet the needs of our ageing population better and that’s why we have made it clear to NHS organisations what the best interventions are to provide effective community support for frail people through new guidance, such as ensuring their care plans involve regular medication reviews so that only medicines that are clinically appropriate are prescribed.”
