Author Archives: Maureen
Review into ‘end-of-life’ care
26 November 2012 Last updated at 18:18
The Liverpool Care Pathway has been designed to alleviate unnecessary suffering at the end of life
The Liverpool Care Pathway has come under intense scrutiny recently, with claims that some hospitals are abusing its use to cut costs.
Medics say the pathway helps patients avoid unnecessary interventions.
Care and Support Minister Norman Lamb said he would appoint an independent chair to report back in the new year.
Mr Lamb said: “Care for the dying is an emotive issue and is never an easy subject to discuss.
ME isn’t 'all in the mind’, but it’s still a mystery
As medical adviser to the ME Association and an ME sufferer, Dr Charles Shepherd has spent the past two decades vigorously fighting the dismissive attitude still common among the medical profession. Here, he talks about the latest research into the disorder
By Caroline Lavender
7:30AM GMT 26 Nov 2012
It was in the late Seventies that Charles Shepherd became ill with myalgic encephalomyelitis, or ME as it is better known. It was an era, he recalls, when the condition was still dismissed as “hysterical nonsense” by most clinicians. Working as a young doctor at Cirencester Hospital, he had contracted a severe case of chickenpox from a patient with shingles. “I’d been perfectly fit and healthy. The infection had resolved but I felt mentally and physically knackered and kept having to take more and more time off,” he recalls.
Five million elderly only have TV for company
Five million elderly only have TV for company: Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt
Five million elderly people only have television for company as they see friends and family less than once a month, the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has said, as he announced new measures for councils to tackle the problem.
By Rebecca Smith, Medical Editor
7:00AM GMT 22 Nov 2012
Surveys will be sent to elderly people and their carers asking them if they are lonely and feel socially isolated.
Councils can then offer services such as day centres and meals on wheels where necessary.
Esther Rantzen, chairman of The Silver Line, a new helpline to protect elderly people from abuse and neglect, combat loneliness and help them negotiate care services, said: “Some older people told me that they have nobody to speak to at all for weeks on end.”
Mr Hunt will also announce a £20m package that councils can bid for to pay for schemes to help vulnerable people keep warm and safe and prevent hospital admissions during the winter.
