Tag Archives: dementia

Charity attacks 'rise' in 'disgraceful' short care visits

October 7, 2013   Carers, dementia, disability, Multiple Sclerosis, Older care, Social care, ukcuts

7 October 2013 Last updated at 10:52

Charity attacks ‘rise’ in ‘disgraceful’ short care visits

 

Richard Stapeley, who has Multiple Sclerosis, says his 30-minute visits are not long enough

Short care visits to elderly and disabled people are “disgraceful” and on the rise, a charity has claimed.

In England, 60% of councils use 15-minute visits, which are not long enough to provide adequate care Leonard Cheshire Disability says.

The charity says such visits can “force disabled people to choose whether to go thirsty or to go to the toilet”.

The government said the Care Bill would prevent “inappropriate” short visits but would not outlaw 15-minute visits.

Leonard Cheshire wants a ban on what it calls the “scandal of flying 15-minute visits”, lobbying the government to prevent the practice in England.

Read More

GPs to visit elderly in care homes under new contract plans

October 6, 2013   Carers, dementia, Older care

Doctors will be required to make regular visits to nursing homes to check on elderly patients, under plans for a sweeping overhaul of the way GPs work.

 

By , Political Correspondent

7:00AM BST 06 Oct 2013

Ministers want to impose a new legal duty on doctors to take responsibility for their patients’ care at evenings and weekends, and are to push their case in talks with the medical profession over the next six months.

The Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, is said to be deeply concerned about poor standards of care for patients outside hospitals and is determined to enforce a return to the culture of family doctoring.

He is understood to be ready for a direct confrontation with the doctors’ union, the British Medical Association, over reforms to GPs’ contracts if it is necessary to deliver more convenient and reliable services for patients.

Read More

Fluoride in tap water cuts fillings – but does it raise dementia risk?

September 28, 2013   Carers, dementia

Councils hail health findings as campaigners call for more research into long-term effects

  • Many of the areas with the lowest rates of fillings have added the powerful enamel-protecting chemical to their tap water
  • Campaigners claim the data should persuade more areas to sign up to mass fluoridisation scheme
  • Critics insist that there is evidence it could be putting youngsters at risk of dementia in later life

By Mark Howarth

PUBLISHED: 01:01, 28 September 2013 | UPDATED: 01:01, 28 September 2013

 

Adding fluoride to tap water leaves fewer children needing fillings, according to NHS figures out yesterday

 

Adding fluoride to tap water leaves fewer children needing fillings, according to NHS figures out yesterday.

The statistics revealed that England’s ten million children required 3.5million fillings last year.

And many of the areas with the lowest rates of fillings are the ones that have added the powerful enamel-protecting chemical to their tap water.

Nevertheless, critics of the mass fluoridisation scheme insist that there is evidence it could be putting youngsters at risk of dementia in later life.

Youngsters in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire – where supplies have been treated since 1968 – had fewer cavities than children in any other region.

And the three medicated areas of Newcastle, Gateshead and North Tyneside had 32 per cent fewer fillings than neighbouring South Tyneside, which has chosen not to add fluoride to its water supplies.

Last night campaigners claimed the data should persuade more areas to sign up to the scheme.

Read More