The Foundation for People with Learning Disabilities has produced guidance to help child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) meet their targets. CAMHS are supposed to provide comprehensive services for all young people, including those with learning difficulties, by the end of the year. The guidance, ‘This is what we want’, consulted young people with disabilities from London.

A Colchester-based specialist care provider is celebrating an 18% increase in revenue over the past year. Health and social care provider Care UK plc described its progress as “excellent” after it saw its pre-tax profits rise by 5% to £14.2million, and its revenue go up from £169.2million to £199.4million.
Its operating profit went up 8% to £19.5million. All four divisions of the company – residential, community, specialist and clinical care – saw strong growth. The community care division’s revenue grew by 22%, while residential care’s increased by 16% and specialist care by 12%.

Life expectancy has hit record levels, but there are huge variations in the number of those years spent healthy. A man aged 65 in 2003-5 can expect to live for another 16.6 years – up from 13.2 years 20 years ago, the Office for National Statistics figures showed. Meanwhile, a woman aged 65 can look forward to 19.4 years extra, compared to 17.2 years in 1983-5. However, the ONS report said there were big gaps across the UK in how many years were lived disability-free.

People from broken homes may be more prone to psychotic illnesses such as schizophrenia, research suggests. Researchers said their findings suggest the illnesses are not simply brain diseases, but linked to factors such as social adversity. They found much higher rates among black people, who were also more likely to come from broken homes. The study, by London’s Institute of Psychiatry, will appear in the journal Psychological Medicine.

A union for teachers and childcarers has welcomed the parenting measures announced by the Government  but criticised it for linking the new ‘parenting experts’ to the TV programme Supernanny. PAT General Secretary Philip Parkin said: “We  would  welcome  parenting classes or ‘parenting experts’ to support families with problems. I’m sure they will provide valuable and much-needed help.

Radical plans to speed the sectioning of mental health patients who refuse to take medicine or accept care ran into a hail of protest this week. Ministers published a new Mental Health Bill designed to update 23-year-old laws after a series of cases in which people were killed by mentally-ill patients. The proposals aim to end the so-called “revolving door” patients released from hospital only to end up being re-sectioned after refusing to further help or medication.

More than 70 “super nannies” are to try to improve parenting in areas with high levels of anti-social behaviour, Tony Blair is expected to announce. The prime minister is expected to announce £4m for parenting experts in 77 areas of the country.

{mosimage}Mr Blair will warn that poor parenting is bad for society and is also catastrophic for children. This comes after a Mori poll suggested 53% of people think poor parenting is the main cause of bad behaviour.

In the poll for the Home Office, 85% of respondents blamed parents for allowing children to become out of control. The child psychologists will be funded by the prime minister’s Respect Task Force to work in deprived areas.

Treating children in adult psychiatric wards is a “national scandal”, says the Children’s Commissioner for England. Professor Sir Al Aynsley-Green told the BBC he fears children leave in a poorer condition than when they went in.

A report to be published next week by the charity Young Minds warns there are not enough emergency beds for children with mental health problems.

{mosimage}Almost 1,000 under-18s spend time on an adult ward in a year, with more than half of those admissions inappropriate.

Young Minds’ report, prepared for the Children’s Commissioner, details the experiences of sixteen young people, aged between 13 and 19, who have been treated on adult wards for their mental health problems.

Some were held in police cells or accident and emergency units whilst a search was made for a place which could take them.

Almost 100,000 complaints were received by frontline NHS trusts in England during 2005/06. Statistics released by The Information Centre for Health and Social Care reveal that in 2005/06 a total of 95,047 complaints were made. This compares with 90,413 complaints made during the previous 12 months.

A mother from Witney in Oxfordshire is distressed that her mentally ill 18-year-old daughter is to be cared for more than 60 miles away in Southampton. Lesley Sykes, of Blakes Avenue, is upset that her daughter Victoria Plowman who, she says, has a mental age of five, cannot be cared for in Oxfordshire. Victoria, who has learning and behaviour difficulties and delayed speech, went into care in March and was taken to a home in Colchester, Essex.