Media Watch: getting cross about cuts to social care

Social care is rarely in the headlines for good reasons and this week was no exception.

The Daily Mail and others reported on a British Red Cross survey showing 90 per cent of GPs thought patients were being put at risk by poor social care support. And the NHS could save up to £10,000 per case if appropriate patients were given better care at home, it was suggested.

The Guardian added to this with a story on how 60 per cent of care home providers were reducing or planning to reduce the proportion of their beds available for council-funded residents. Many reported concerns about the gap between funding and “public expectations of quality”, and possible polarisation, with new homes being concentrated in wealthy areas.

The Sunday Telegraph reported that the man whose battle for a kidney cancer drug inspired David Cameron to set up the £200m cancer fund was facing a new fight to get treatment. Clive Stone’s cancer has now spread to his brain and he wants a type of radiotherapy his local primary care trust is unlikely to fund. Mr Stone asks why the fund is restricted to drugs and does not cover other cancer treatments.

There was grim news for those celebrating their birthday this week: the big day is associated with a higher risk of death from heart attacks, strokes, falls and suicide. Or, as the Independent’s website headlined it, “Celebrate your big day as if it’s your last… it may well be”.

The Sun reported on a mother and daughter who lost 41 stone after NHS-funded gastric surgery – but now want skin removal surgery as well. The two argue their weight problems are not their fault as they had inherited a “fat gene”, despite one of them running a cupcake business.

Acerbic Sun readers had a field day commenting on that.