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National News
The future of a tax-funded NHS is at risk if doctors and politicians lack the courage to act quickly to close hospital departments that no longer provide the best patient care, Tony Blair warned yesterday.
The Commons debated public health yesterday. It was a Tory choice, so offered a starring role to their health spokesman, Andrew Lansley, one of the less well-known shadow cabinet members. Mr Lansley is a worthy fellow, on top of his brief. On the other hand, he has many of the characteristics of the pub bore. He knows too much. He produces too many figures. Obesity - up from 19% to 24% among women! Smoking - it fell by 10% in 1980-90, but under Labour had dropped by only 3%! And there were plenty more figures where those came from.
Maytree charity's refuge gives the suicidal a break to get out of the crisis zone
At her lowest point, Jan had a bag-a-day heroin addiction, and gave up her month-old son to her mother. Homeless and suffering postnatal depression, the 20-year-old became enmeshed in the underworld of drugs. Today her life is unrecognisable as she and her boyfriend, Pete, share a two-bedroom flat in Inverclyde, central Scotland, and relish bringing up a young family.
Because of advances in medication, the needs of people with HIV/Aids have changed dramatically. "If you think back, there was this group of people who were told they were going to die, but who haven't," explains Andrew Little, programme director for Ensuring Positive Futures, an employability programme supporting people living with HIV/Aids. "While it's wonderful that their lives have been transformed, many of them haven't had a job for 10 years or more and have lost a huge amount of confidence."
Most of us would not expect to choose our meals a day in advance, so why should people in residential care? Residents of Anchor homes are now shown plates of food at each meal time and they choose there and then.
Two years ago, Antonia had a secret she thought was too terrible to tell, and started to believe suicide was the only way out. Like many teenagers, the 14-year-old Italian was suffering from the loss and devastation that comes with a broken relationship. But unlike her peers, Antonia felt isolated and alone in her grief as she had been in a clandestine gay relationship with a teenage family friend.
Older people aren't supposed to like a din, but in Knowsley they are proud of the noise they have made over the past year. As Sheila Bersin, chair of Knowsley Older People's Voice (KOPV) puts it: "We have a voice in Knowsley - hear us roar." Such a declaration is not surprising to those involved in KOPV, a forum designed to ensure older people in the borough have their say influencing services and policies.
Millions of people in the UK are caring for family members with little or no support from the authorities - and the numbers are likely to escalate. Judith Cameron reports
One man is hoping that radical ideas will persuade parents and councils that children must be encouraged to play outside
The consensus that children in care are failing, and that the system is to blame, is plain wrong
The publication of star ratings means that the new chief inspector of the Commission for Social Care Inspection has barely had time to settle behind his desk before the recriminations begin. By David Brindle
My friend Sam is in hospital. I visit her every week. I've lost count of how many times she has been in, but I know it's a lot. In the 20 years since she first broke down, she's seldom gone more than a few months without an admission. Sometimes she's sectioned; sometimes not. This time she is. Double whammy.
Away from the glare of publicity, antisocial behaviour orders (Asbos) have been under the most rigorous examination since they were introduced in the late 1990s. Under a new Liberal Democrat-Conservative administration, Camden council, in north London, has been engaging professionals from outside the authority - such as the mental health charity Mind, the civil liberties organisation Liberty, the government's Respect Task Force, and the police - in meetings with local residents to consider the authority's tough Asbo regime.
Collaboration is key to improving social services, says Julia Ross
Whether it is dispatching supernannies or penalising parents for their children's truancy, the government's fervour for managing the lives of families in difficulty appears to know no bounds. It's no surprise, therefore, that doctors at the only national NHS specialist centre offering intensive therapeutic care to families most in need of help are angry that the unit is under threat.
In this programme, we explore the crucial role that teachers have in ensuring new government food standards are a success in schools. Throughout the UK, teachers, assistants and heads are working towards a healthier life for their pupils. We meet a selection of these teachers and reveal how they have succeeded in changing children's attitudes to food.
"It is now time to ... adopt a master plan which guarantees - yes, guarantees - genuine independent living for disabled people, and we should underpin civil rights with entitlements to practical support. Disabled people have as strong a claim to a normal life as anyone else, and this Bill seeks to provide basic rights which have long eluded them."
Since Paul Litchfield, BT's group chief medical officer, joined the company, mental health sickness absence has been cut by 30% and the medical retirement rate for mental illness by 80%.
While people with physical disabilities are entering the workforce in ever greater numbers, those with mental health problems still face discrimination and a lack of understanding about their condition
Access to public transport is improving: all new buses and trains are now accessible and £370m has been set aside for future improvements. But there is still a long way to go
The government is backing individual budgets - where disabled people receive, and decide how to spend, a single payment for support services - as a way of promoting and supporting independent living.
Changing attitudes to people with learning disabilities will go some way to improving the lives of one of the most marginalised of all groups of disabled people
User-led groups provide effective representation and personal expertise, which is why their deployment is being recommended to local authorities in a new protocol
Although rights for disabled people have improved dramatically, for many, independent living is not yet a reality. But there is now considerable political debate on the issue and a promise of action
Public authorities, from health and housing to police and schools, will now have to promote equality for disabled people, thanks to new laws
A year after the extension of the Disability Discrimination Act, Ben Furner looks at what has been achieved since, and what remains to be done to improve the lives of disabled people
Multiple sclerosis sufferers around the world swore by the chocolate bars made at Mark and Lezley Gibson’s gift shop in the Lake District.
The life of any patient with anorexia centres on an all absorbing desire to lose weight and a fear of gaining it. This obsession is associated with a distorted view of their own body shape. Bulimia is classically associated with binge eating or drinking followed by self-induced vomiting.
In a speech last week on schools Tony Blair admitted that he had come to office with the view that it was “standards not structures” that really mattered, only to discover that structures have a substantial impact on standards. If he had been as frank in his address to the NHS Confederation yesterday, he would have conceded that Labour approached the health service in a spirit of “spending not structures” for too long before realising that cash alone would not solve the system’s problems. In retrospect, the optimal outcome for the NHS over the past decade would have been an extension of the changes introduced by the Conservatives, alongside an expansion of resources of the sort to which Labour has been committed.
A fierce struggle in West Sussex provides an early glimpse of the battles likely to be seen in many parts of the country.
Do you find it impossible to lose those unwanted pounds — even though you've tried to cut down on fatty foods and exercise regularly?
The sad fact of life is that if you drink too much alcohol, you will end up with the pounding headache, queasy stomach or fuzzy-headed feeling that is a hangover.
Could taking a few B vitamins cut your risk of a heart attack or a stroke? That's the suggestion from a study published last week in the British Medical Journal (BMJ).
Bowel cancer is one of the country's biggest killers — 16,000 die from it every year. Treatment usually involves radical surgery to remove part of the bowel under general anaesthetic. However, a new technique means the disease can now be diagnosed and simultaneously treated at a far earlier stage — without the need for an invasive operation, and possible complications such as a colostomy bag. Here John Goddard, 68, a retired engineer from Sheffield, tells ANGELA EPSTEIN his story, while his surgeon who pioneered the treatment in the UK, explains the procedure.
Parents of children diagnosed with cancer should be given an automatic right to flexible working, a charity says.
Scientists say it may be possible to develop a taste test to diagnose depression, and determine the best drugs to treat it.
A UK company is applying for permission to transplant stem cells made from human foetal tissue into the brains of stroke patients.
A hospital trust which looks after patients in Lancashire and Cumbria has announced it is cutting 67 jobs.
An HIV testing service which provides results within an hour has been opened in Cardiff.
A hospital has paid out £10,000 compensation after misdiagnosing a Derbyshire woman with cancer.
International News
New York city health chiefs have voted unanimously to ban artificial trans fats at restaurants, from the humble corner pizzeria to luxury bakers.
The richest 1% of adults in the world own 40% of the planet's wealth, according to the largest study yet of wealth distribution. The report also finds that those in financial services and the internet sectors predominate among the super rich.
Spain's government was yesterday trying to stop the global fast-food chain Burger King advertising its biggest burgers on television as the health minister, Elena Salgado, warned of a growing obesity problem.
More than a decade's use of mobile phones does not increase the risk of brain cancer, according to one of the largest studies yet conducted into the link.
Mobiles 'cleared' of cancer risk - BBC Health News 06/12/06
Researchers in Kenya and Britain say they are creating a global map to pinpoint locations where malaria is most likely to strike.
A group of Chinese people with Aids are to receive more than 20m yuan ($2.5m; £1.3m) in compensation in a landmark case, state media report.
Cheshire and Merseyside News
Older people aren't supposed to like a din, but in Knowsley they are proud of the noise they have made over the past year. As Sheila Bersin, chair of Knowsley Older People's Voice (KOPV) puts it: "We have a voice in Knowsley - hear us roar." Such a declaration is not surprising to those involved in KOPV, a forum designed to ensure older people in the borough have their say influencing services and policies.
A MERSEYSIDE mother today launched a fight to stop the killer who slaughtered her teenage son ever being freed from a psychiatric hospital.
A BOY with Asperger syndrome was struck off his dentist's register after arriving 15 minutes late for an appointment.
NORTH Cheshire Hospitals NHS Trust has earned two prestigious equal opportunity awards.
EXPERIMENTAL figures for how much carbon dioxide we produce in Warrington have been published for the first time.
Cumbria and Lancashire News
A hospital trust which looks after patients in Lancashire and Cumbria has announced it is cutting 67 jobs.
A NEW health centre opened in Aspatria yesterday, bringing together two of the town’s GP practices.
Greater Manchester News
BUDGET-conscious shoppers who rely on economy range supermarket food could be getting unhealthier products, a new report warns today.
ELDERLY people and people with learning disabilities in Trafford are being short changed by the Government as budgets fail to keep pace with demographic trends.
HEALTH chiefs are pressing ahead with plans to develop Altrincham General Hospital.
