Category Archives: health

CQC: Hunt urges calls for serious action if cover-up proved

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has said there should be “very, very serious consequences” for anyone found guilty of a cover-up at the Care Quality Commission.

He said he would support disciplinary action if allegations against individuals are proved.
Mr Hunt said the healthcare regulator for England was “fundamentally flawed” when it was set up four years ago.
But he backed the new management team now running the CQC.
However, Amanda Pollard, a former CQC inspector who left after she became disillusioned, warns there may be more scandals ahead.

“It’s important for carers to be cared for” Gloria Hunniford

SHE’S had her fair share of negative life experiences, and Gloria Hunniford has spoken out about the importance of looking after elderly carers.

Gloria-Hunniford-swapped-stories-with-the-eldery-carers-of-the-Redbridge-Carers-Support-Service Gloria Hunniford swapped stories with the eldery carers of the Redbridge Carers Support Service
The singer – who cared for her own daughter, Caron Keating, before she tragically passed away from cancer – opened up about how it feels to be an older carer.”It is so important for carers to get cared for themselves,” she said as she joined a group of elderly carers at Redbridge Carers Support Service.

“I know myself having lost my daughter how strenuous caring can be to a family. It is a big responsibility and it takes a lot of energy.”

The Health Lottery Ambassador swapped stories with the people of the service, who put on activities for local carers aged seventy or over.

“The camaraderie is great as they obviously all get on very well,” revealed Gloria after the event.

The singer admitted that it’s a great feeling being able to see the lottery in action

Five minute operation to treat Glaucoma

Me and my operation: Five-minute op means no more painful eye drops for glaucoma

By Carol Davis

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More than half a million Britons have the eye condition glaucoma, which damages sight. Gill Robinson, 61, a retired carer from St Ives, Cambridgeshire, had a new procedure, as she tells CAROL DAVIS.THE PATIENT

A new five-minute laser treatment means those who suffer from glaucoma will no longer have to use painful eye dropsA new five-minute laser treatment means those who suffer from glaucoma will no longer have to use painful eye drops
When I started getting headaches at the age of 35, I had my eyes checked because I was driving people with learning disabilities.
I was prescribed glasses, which stopped the headaches, but during routine tests they found the pressure in my eyes was high. The optician explained the fluid that keeps your eyeball in the right shape can start to damage your sight if it can’t drain away.

This is because pressure in the eye builds up and damages the optic nerve. That worried me, but tests each year showed the pressure wasn’t high enough for doctors to take action.

But a test in 2004 showed the pressure reading had risen to 35 – normal is ten or 12. I was referred to Rupert Bourne, who saw me two weeks later.

He said I was at risk of developing glaucoma, where the pressure is so high it causes damage and sight loss.

The fluid in the eye drains away through tiny channels into the veins around the  eye – but in some people these holes become blocked.
He prescribed eye drops to keep the pressure down and said he’d see me again in nine months’ time.

Each night, I’d have to pull my lid down to put the drops in before I went to sleep and they would sting horribly. My eyes were permanently sore and red, and people thought I’d been crying.

In 2011, the pressure was rising again. Mr Bourne explained the drops can stop working over time. He said he could put a tiny titanium tube into the corner of my eye. This would force open the drainage channels.