Category Archives: mental health

Shock Norfolk social care shake-up after serious concerns raised

January 27, 2014   Carers, mental health, Norfolk, Social care, ukcuts

Serious concerns over the social care provided to adults with mental health issues has led to Norfolk County Council taking action

Monday, January 27, 2014
1:38 PM

Serious concerns over the social care provided to adults with mental health issues has led to Norfolk County Council taking action.

Serious concerns that social care for adults with mental health issues in Norfolk is not good enough has led to the county council taking responsibility for the service away from the mental health trust.

Norfolk County Council’s cabinet agreed to the move at a meeting today, which will see just over a hundred staff who had been transferred to the Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust five years ago go back to being managed from County Hall.

Issues around the service were aired at a meeting of the council’s community services overview and scrutiny panel in November.

Councillors at that meeting heard how, at one point, council bosses could not be confident the authority was fully meeting its legal obligations around care.

Bosses admitted then that the social care service for adults with mental health issues in Norfolk was not good enough, as they pledged to make improvements.

Read More

Woman told to find work is in a COMA

January 22, 2014   benefits, Carers, disability, mental health, ukcuts

Sheila Holt was sectioned after being taken off Income Support, days later she had a heart attack and fell into the coma – and is still being sent letters by assessors

 
Atos: Sheila Holt

A mentally ill woman forced on to the Coalition’s Work Programme is in a coma – but is still being sent letters by benefits assessors.

Bipolar patient Sheila Holt, 47, was sectioned in December after being taken off Income Support. Days later she had a heart attack and fell into the coma.

This weekend, Miss Holt, of Rochdale, Gtr Manchester, was sent a letter by Atos to ask why she was not working.

Local Labour MP Simon Danczuk said: “I am in favour of welfare reform but trying to bulldoze through changes in a reckless and insensitive way is not the right way to go about it.

“This Government is causing a huge amount of damage and I have no doubt that Sheila’s story is being repeated in towns and cities up and down the country.

Read More

Loneliness and periods of crisis ‘affect many in UK

January 20, 2014   Carers, mental health, Older care

 Many people feared not being able to get around easily

20 January 2014 Last updated at 01:45
By Hannah Richardson BBC News education reporter

Man climbs stairs As many as a third of British adults feel they have no-one to turn to in a crisis, a survey has suggested.

Nearly three-quarters of those questioned online for the Red Cross said they had already been through a period of crisis in their lives.

And 37% thought they could suffer one again within the next five years.

The main worries for people as they get older were cited as being the loss of independence and not being able to cope on their own.

About a quarter of the 2,043 people surveyed were concerned they would not be able to get around in the same way, and would be lonely and isolated.
‘Lasting impact’

A significant minority, about one in eight, said they felt those in the UK did not suffer crises in the same way as people in other countries.

The charity, which offers help and support in the UK as well as abroad, said support for the elderly would become “more vital” with an ageing population, shrinking budgets and health and social care services “struggling to meet demand”.

Read More