Monthly Archives: January 2014

New bid to tackle the thousands in fuel poverty in Norfolk

A task force of county councillors are looking at how to stop vulnerable people having to choose between eating or heating. Photo credit: Help the aged/PA.

Monday, January 6, 2014
6:30 AM

A task force of county councillors are looking at how to stop vulnerable people having to choose between eating or heating.
Photo credit: Help the aged/PA.

 

Together, we can do more to stop people in Norfolk from having to choose between heating and eating – that is the message from a task force set up to investigate the scale of the problem in the county.

Surviving Winter

Norfolk’s Surviving Winter appeal has smashed through the £25,000 barrier. But requests are still coming in faster than donations, as some of our neediest elderly people feel the chill.

Norfolk Community Foundation last month issued a fresh call to those who may not need their winter fuel payments to pass the money on to those who do.

Surviving Winter, backed by the EDP, has been a lifeline for hundreds of Norfolk’s neediest households, giving grants towards the cost of fuel.

There are three ways you can give to the appeal:

Depression 'over-diagnosed' with drugs

Dished out to patients who are simply sad or unable to sleep, warns expert

  • Chris Dowrick claims half of patients labelled depressed were misdiagnosed
  • Liverpool University professor calls on diagnosis guidelines to be tightened
  • Patients ‘becoming reliant on drugs they don’t need’
  • Mental health charities reject research – and say more people are being diagnosed due to pressure from debt and unemployment

By Lucy Crossley

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Millions of patients are being wrongly diagnosed with depression when they are simply sad, according to a new report

Million of patients are being wrongly diagnosed with depression when they are simply sad, according to a new report.

Anti-depressants are being dished out to people grieving loved ones, suffering sexual problems or even unable to sleep, claims a newly-published scientific paper published by academics at Liverpool Unversity.

The number of people diagnosed with mental illnesses like depression has doubled since 2002. It is believed more than five million people are now labelled depressed or suffering anxiety in the UK.

Liverpool University’s Professor of Primary Medical Care, Chris Dowrick, claims in a new report that up to half of these patients have been misdiagnosed.

Writing in the British Medical Journal, the academic, who also works as a GP, said: ‘Over-diagnosis is now more common than under diagnosis.’

Herts Valleys CCG pledges commitment to unpaid carers

Borehamwood Times: Dr Nicholas Small pledges his commitment to carers Dr Nicholas Small pledges his commitment to carers

An organisation responsible for delivering NHS services in Hertfordshire has pledged its support to the county’s unpaid carers.

Herts Valleys Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has signed Hertfordshire County Council’s Commitment to Carers strategy, which aims to improve the way carers are treated.

The county has 110,000 people who provide unpaid support to family or friends who could not manage without this help.

They provide the equivalent of £2.1 billion worth of unpaid care every year, almost as much as Hertfordshire’s entire health and social care budget.

The Commitment to Carers strategy is designed to encourage Hertfordshire organisations to improve the lives of these carers and ensure they have access to the support they need.

The CCG will have carer champions in each of its GP practices, which would identify carers and make sure they are referred to organisations that can help them.

Local GP and chairman of the CCG Dr Nicolas Small signed the commitment on behalf of the organisation.