Category Archives: Featured Article

Disability benefit backlog is making symptoms of Parkinson’s sufferers worse

Torfaen MP tells parliamentary debate

by John Phillips

DELAYS in claiming the Government’s new disability benefit have failed Parkinson’s sufferers, causing them stress and anxiety which has made their symptoms worse, an MP has claimed.

Torfaen MP Nick Thomas-Symonds criticised Personal Independence Payments during a parliamentary debate on Wednesday.

The benefits which replace the Disability Living Allowance were introduced as part as wide ranging welfare reforms last year.

The basic rights of people with a learning disability are threatened by welfare cuts

‘I fear we are about to go backwards on decades of hard-fought victories which secured disabled people’s rights and inclusion in society’ … Brian Rix, president of the Royal Mencap society. Photograph: Sarah Lee for the Guardian

Campaigners fought for more than 60 years so people with a learning disability can make their own choices in life and be part of mainstream society. However, I fear we are about to go backwards on decades of hard-fought victories which secured disabled people’s rights and inclusion in society.

I have seen great strides since the 1950s, when I was advised to “put away and forget” my late daughter, Shelley, who had Down’s syndrome. However, expected £12bn cuts to social security, combined with huge reductions in funding for local government, and therefore social care, are causing fear and anxiety among the 1.4 million people with a learning disability in the UK, and their families.

Elderly ‘being trapped’ in hospital, says Age UK

Elderly people are “trapped” in English hospitals in ever greater numbers as there is nowhere else for them to go, the charity Age UK has warned.

Its analysis shows patients spent a total of nearly 2.5 million days stuck in a hospital over the past five years.

Age UK said it was bad for patients’ health, a waste of NHS resources and a huge cost to taxpayers.