Monthly Archives: November 2013
'Bedroom Tax' Leaves Disabled Fearing Eviction
‘Bedroom Tax’ Leaves Disabled Fearing Eviction
11:00am 27th November 2013
Thousands of disabled people are cutting back on food and heating to pay for the so-called “bedroom tax”, according to a group of leading charities.
The chief executives of leading groups including Disability Rights UK, Scope, Carers UK, The Royal National Institute of Blind People and the Council For Disabled Children say the policy is having a “devastating impact” on people with disabilities.
More than 50 organisations have signed a letter to Iain Duncan Smith calling for immediate action to exempt disabled people from the Spare Room Subsidy.
They claim that it is harder for people in adapted housing to move and that “it is hitting disabled people who need an extra room for essential home adaptations or equipment which enable them to live independently”.
The letter to the Department of Work and Pensions states: “We have been deeply frustrated at reports that disabled people and their families are protected from this policy.
“The stark evidence since the policy was implemented in April clearly shows they are not.
Hundreds attend first mental health campaign meeting in Norwich
Patients and NHS workers were urged to lobby commissioners and MPs at the launch of a public campaign to save mental health services in Norfolk and Suffolk.
Ian Gibson speaks in the crowded room at the Vauxhall Centre as the campaign to save mental health services is launched. Picture: Denise Bradley
Adam Gretton Health correspondent adam.gretton@archant.co.uk
Monday, November 25, 2013
9:13 PM
There was standing room only as hundreds of people packed into a room at the Vauxhall Centre in Norwich tonight for the first Campaign to Save Mental Health Services in Norfolk and Suffolk meeting.
The campaign was launched by front-line workers as a result of ongoing cuts by Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT), which is planning to cut £40m from its budget and reduce the number of inpatient beds by 20pc by 2016.
Officials from the campaign called on the government and Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCG), which control local health budgets, to invest more in mental health services to put a stop to incidents where patients have to be placed on wards outside of Norfolk and Suffolk because there are not enough beds.
Should we have more access to our medical records?
Should we have more access to our medical records? Norfolk MP George Freeman presents bill to call for “full and unfettered” access
MP George Freeman
Annabelle Dickson, Political Editor Tuesday, November 26, 2013
10:28 AM
Patients should be given “full and unfettered” access to their medical records, Norfolk MP George Freeman will tell parliament today as he calls for a change in the law so patients own their own medical data.In a Ten Minute Rule Bill the Mid Norfolk MP will call for patients to be able to hand their medical data over to researchers to help drive new treatments for hard-to-cure diseases like Alzheimer’s and cancer.
His bill is supported by more than 50 UK medical charities including the prostate cancer campaign group Movember, Marie Curie, the Cystic Fibrosis Trust, and a number of leading research doctors.
George Freeman MP said that patient records were too often sitting on hospital shelves gathering dust – allowing failed treatments to be repeated over and over without anyone gathering the evidence to see what works and what fails – and why.
