Author Archives: wendy
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
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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
Without carers, local services would be under even greater pressure
8:00am Saturday 4th January 2014 in News By Ruth Halkon, Reporter
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.
Merseyside woman to pay bedroom tax on sensory room for severely disabled daughter
A Merseyside woman must pay the bedroom tax on a room which has been converted into a sensory area for her severely disabled daughter.
Dawn Lennon faces finding more than £570 a year because the government has deemed the room to be spare.
