Category Archives: Arthritis

“Unacceptable delays” for arthritis treatment

People are facing “unacceptably long” delays to receive treatment for rheumatoid arthritis, according to a survey of eight European countries.

 By , Medical Correspondent

6:30AM BST 04 Aug 2011 

It found patients in England waited 21 weeks for treatment, well in excess of the three month “therapeutic window” in which it is best to treat to maximise chances of a good outcome.

New arthritis drug given green light

New arthritis drug given green light

Hundreds of thousands of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) sufferers could benefit from a new treatment after the drugs spending watchdog changed its mind about prescribing it on the NHS.

By Stephen Adams, Medical Correspondent 6:30AM BST 13 May 2011

Those with moderate to severe RA will now be able to get Simponi, the brand name of the drug golimumab, in some situations where similar treatments have not worked.

Social care cuts: 'The people concerned are invisible'

Social care cuts: ‘The people concerned are invisible’

The most vulnerable sections of society are emerging as the worst hit by council cuts

 

Frank Bailey, 80, and his wife Faith, 72, who are at risk of having the funding for overnight care cut.

If he’s lucky, Frank Bailey gets a good night’s sleep twice a week. The rest of the time he is on call and spends the small hours worrying, waiting for a bell to ring, to signal at best that his sick wife, Faith, needs help out of bed; at worst that she is struggling for breath and he will have to call paramedics to take her to hospital.