Alzheimer’s drugs currently being denied to some NHS patients may have a dramatic impact on the pathology of the brain, research in the UK indicates.

{mosimage}Neurology says that post-mortem tests on 24 patients found a 70% fall of a protein linked to dementia in those who had taken cholinesterase inhibitors. Campaigners are fighting to get the drugs available on the NHS after they were rejected for use in mild cases.

Experts said the study was interesting but small and inconclusive as a result. Post mortem examinations were done on 12 patients who took part in UK trials of the drugs – donepezil, rivastigmine, tacrine and galantamine.

Professor Clive Ballard, director of research at the Alzheimer’s Society, and colleagues measured the concentrations of two proteins associated with the build up of plaques found in the brains with people with dementia.

Levels of suicide and self-harming are soaring in mental health wards where there are few activities, locked wards and constant surveillance, according to a major study. Patients are self-harming and even attempting suicide because of the “prison-like” conditions they are kept in according to the evaluation of over acute psychiatric wards.

Cancer doctors have told the BBC they fear the NHS will not be able to afford the new generation of cancer drugs. Specialists are already arguing that patients may have to pay for more drugs themselves, with the issue becoming pressing as new drugs are developed.

A new method of calculating the number of migrants entering the UK has been challenged by local authority leaders. In a letter to the Treasury seen by the BBC, four leaders say the numbers in their areas have been underestimated, meaning public services will be hit.

The number of Britons prescribed antidepressants is at a record high, despite official warnings that many patients may not need them. More than 31 million prescriptions were written by doctors for antidepressant drugs last year with the use of drugs such as Seroxat and Prozac increasing by 10%.

Mental health services must work more closely with employment and housing agencies and cut waiting lists for talking therapies in England, the mental health tsar says.

Hundreds of elderly people are living in badly run Northern care homes, exposing them to filthy conditions, the risk of infections or lack of dignity. Figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show that 22 homes have been officially labelled “poor”.

With broken voice and trembling lip, a-quiver with self-righteousness, Tony Blair bade us farewell last Thursday. He ought to have saved a few of his choked-back tears for the thousands of young children who have to look after their sick or disabled parents with little or no help.

Almost 17,000 children face the daily strain of caring for a mentally- ill parent, it was revealed yesterday. With little or no help from the state, many have to administer medicine to their mother or father as well as providing crucial emotional support.