Campaigners call for action to make manufacturers reduce salt in food, which can contribute to high blood pressure and deaths

Adults in England eat the same amount of salt every week as is found in 155 bags of crisps, according to analysis by a leading health charity.

The British Heart Foundation, which carried out the study, said this also equated to 22 bags a day of ready salted, lightly salted or sea salt crisps.

Exclusive: Lack of consultants in UK health service means patients do not get drugs or surgery in time, say senior medics

Thousands of people who have had a stroke are ending up severely disabled or dying because the NHS has too few specialists to treat them quickly enough, senior doctors are warning.

A chronic shortage of stroke consultants across the NHS means that patients are suffering horrendous consequences because of delays in getting clot-busting drugs and surgery, they said.

70% of stroke units are short of at least one consultant in stroke care, and many are two down.

53 of 84 hospitals that responded had vacancies for a total of 96 consultants.

The NHS relies heavily on locum doctors to fill holes in the workforce caused by the difficulty in recruiting new consultants.

10% of the NHS’s 423 substantive (permanent) consultants are due to retire in the next five years, exacerbating the existing shortage.