Breaking Down Barriers In Mental Health
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.
Read MoreMental 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.
Read MoreHundreds 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”.
Read MoreWith 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.
Read MoreAlmost 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.
Read MoreMore than half of children in the UK using the internet have had an “unwanted experience”, a poll suggests. The NSPCC found 50.4% of 2,053 children had experienced problems such as bullying, being threatened or sexually harassed while online.
{mosimage}It is concerned about the popularity of social networking sites such as Bebo or MySpace, which it says 52% of children aged 11-16 use once a day. The NSPCC says these could heighten children’s exposure to abusive people. The survey indicated most young people logged onto such websites to make new friends and link up with people they already knew. But it also suggests that almost 60 per cent of children used the websites to help combat loneliness, while 53 per cent used them to share their problems.
The findings were revealed as the charity launches this year’s Don’t Hide It campaign. The campaign aims to encourage children to speak out about all forms of abuse carried out on social networking websites.
Read MoreHundreds of thousands of elderly people have had their social care cut in the past decade. Seven in 10 councils in England have been forced to “ration” services since Labour came to power, according to the Local Government Association.
{mosimage}Most town halls now provide services – including meals on wheels, trips to day centres and home visits from social workers – only to pensioners with “substantial” or “critical” needs.
Lack of funding means many councils now help only those who are seriously ill or incapacitated. In some cases, pensioners have had to sell their homes to help pay for private care, or ask their families to pick up the bill.
The revelations follow last week’s admission by Ivan Lewis, the minister responsible for care services, that provision for the elderly is “one of the great challenges facing our society”. He called for “a new settlement that is fair and -sustainable”.
Read MoreA man who was cleared of rape after a complaint that a judge fell asleep at his trial later raped two other young women, a court heard. Lee Woodward subjected two teenage girls to violent attacks almost identical to that described by the woman he was cleared of raping in 2001.
Read MoreA young mum has told how a bogus social worker examined her five-week-old daughter after tricking her way into her home. The mum claims the woman has struck at two houses on the Fern Grove estate, Bury. The woman, described as having “piercing deep blue eyes”, produced a fake, but authentic-looking, ID card on both occasions.
Read MoreSavings to health care and social care budgets could be made by investing in housing adaptations, and investment in independent living benefits individuals and wider society, according to research published today by the Office for Disability Issues (ODI).
Read MoreThe delivery of the £2.24 million Supporting People programme provided by Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council is ‘good’ and has ‘promising prospects’ to improve, according to an independent report released today by the Audit Commission.
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