Monthly Archives: April 2011
Norman Lamb threatens to quit as Nick Clegg’s adviser over NHS reforms
Changes proposed in the Health and Social Care Bill
The Health and Social Care Bill will see all 152 of England’s primary care trusts (PCTs) scrapped alongside 10 strategic health authorities.
GPs will be given around 80pc of the NHS budget – currently topping £100bn a year – to commission services for patients.
Sticks and Stones and mental health
‘Smashing’ the stigma over mental health
9:30am Sunday 10th April 2011
A PETITION aiming to challenge stigma in mental health has smashed its target of collecting 100,000 pledges over 12 months.
5 Boroughs Partnership NHS Foundation Trust first launched its Sticks and Stones campaign on April 1, last year, with the support of comedian Stephen Fry.
The trust has since managed to get 106,211 signatures and celebrated this with an awards ceremony at its annual service user and carers conference in Knowsley last Thursday.
In sickness and in health: living with illness
When serious illness strikes there’s often just one thing that stops sufferers from crumpling – the unwavering support of their partners
Lyndsay Mitcheson, 43, had her left leg amputated above the knee in August last year after contracting MRSA during a knee replacement operation for arthritis. She lives in York with her two teenage children. Her partner of two years, Paul Adams, 43, a graphic designer, lives in Leeds
LYNDSAY When I met Paul I was walking with sticks and in a lot of pain from the MRSA. We didn’t talk about what was going to happen with my leg but in the back of my mind I knew I was going to lose it. We had grown so close I felt I had to give him the chance to do a runner. I vividly remember the night we discussed it. I told him, ‘This leg is going to go,’ and he just said, ‘OK.’ Paul is the easiest end of easy-going but there were still dark moments when I thought he would leave.
