Category Archives: health

Victims of blood scandal angry at funding delay

July 20, 2015   Carers, DOH, Featured Article, health, Norfolk

Victims of the NHS blood scandal have reacted with anger and disappointment after the government announced a delay in spending £25m to help those affected.

Steve Sillett, contaminated blood victim, at home.

Prime minister David Cameron apologised in March for the saga that saw thousands of people accidentally infected with HIV and hepatitis C through blood and blood products used by the NHS before 1991.

The PM pledged £25m would be allocated to ease transition to a reformed system of support for people who have had to live with the conditions ever since.

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Dementia patients forced to rely on unpaid carers, poll says

July 6, 2015   Alzheimer’s, Carers, dementia, Featured Article, health

 

Three-quarters of GPs say their dementia patients are forced to rely on family, friends, neighbours or other unpaid carers, because they get insufficient help from health and social care services.

Stephen Blakeburn, 50, who cares for his mother, Jenny (left), 86, who was diagnosed with dementia in 2010. GPs believe dementia patients are being failed by health and social care services. Photograph: Alzheimer’s Society/PA Photograph: Alzheimer’s Society/PA

A survey of 1,013 family doctors by the Alzheimer’s Society paints a worrying picture of a situation in which patients are often let down or left confused by the health and social care system.

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Leading Catholics write to Iain Duncan Smith to express fears over welfare cuts

July 4, 2015   Carers, Featured Article, health, ukcuts

Open letter appeals to Duncan Smith’s religious convictions in an effort to persuade him to reverse his austerity-inspired welfare reforms

More than 70 leading Catholics have written to Iain Duncan Smith, the work and pensions secretary, who is Catholic, to tell him they fear the impact of his welfare reform policies.

In an open letter the group, led by the thinktanks Ekklesia and the Centre for Welfare Reform, calls on Duncan Smith to redraft his policies “in a way that is more compatible with Catholic and Christian values.”

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