Tag Archives: health

Prince Charles: good food in hospitals should be a priority

January 31, 2014   Cancer, hospital, Older care

Prince Charles said ‘food is a medicine in itself’ and called for greater emphasis on good quality hospital meals

By Alice Philipson

7:06AM GMT 31 Jan 2014

Prince Charles wants the NHS to see “food as a medicine in itself”, claiming better hospital meals would speed up recovery times.

He called for the quality of food served by the NHS to be made a “clinical priority” and said long-overdue changes could have benefits in other areas of health care such as malnutrition among the elderly.

It comes less than a month after the Telegraph disclosed that more than one in three hospital trusts have cut spending on patients’ meals in the past year.

Some hospitals are now spending as little as 69p on each meal, according to Department of Health figures, with meals at one trust described as “worse than prison”.

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‘Wealth of the Web’ Report Launched

January 30, 2014   Carers, internet, Older care

27 January 2014

Age UK London Calls for More to be Done to Help Get Older Londoners Online

Age UK London has today launched a report outlining recommendations for getting more of the 2.1 million older people in London online.

78% of Londoners aged over 75 are not online and a total of 661,000 people over the age of 55 in London have never used the internet; Wealth of the Web: Broadening Horizons Online tackles the issue of how to decrease these figures. Specific recommendations are made for older people themselves, the Age UK London Network, voluntary sector organisations, regional and local government, funders and those in the private sector.

The report looks at the obstacles to older people being online, which range from lack of interest to financial cost and lack of training and support as well as the drivers behind getting older people online which include family support and specific interests and hobbies.

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Mother suing disabled daughter’s carers after her wheelchair rolled 200ft down a hill

January 28, 2014   Carers, cerebral palsy, disability

When they forgot to put the brakes on’

By James Rush

PUBLISHED: 12:03, 28 January 2014 | UPDATED: 14:22, 28 January 2014

Penny Nadal (left) is suing a care company after her daughter Lisa Conisbee (right) suffered horrific facial injuries when her wheelchair rolled down a steep hill

Penny Nadal (left) is suing a care company after her daughter Lisa Conisbee (right) suffered horrific facial injuries when her wheelchair rolled down a steep hill

A mother is suing her disabled daughter’s carers after her wheelchair rolled 200ft down a steep hill and crashed into a main road.

Lisa Conisbee, 27, who suffers from cerebral palsy, received horrific facial injuries after her chair rolled down the hill before hitting a kerb and throwing her into the road.

Two carers had pushed her to the top of Skinners Hill, in Rushden, Northamptonshire, where they waited for a bus while out on a day trip.

It is believed the brakes on her wheelchair may not have been applied as they were waiting, allowing it to roll down the steep incline.

Her mother Penny Nadal, 53, is now taking legal action against Olympus Care Services – claiming her daughter’s carers forgot to apply the brakes to the wheelchair.

Ms Conisbee – who was left with a scar above her eye and several cuts and bruises to her face – took two months to recover after the fall on April 23 last year.

Yesterday, her teaching assistant mother said her daughter, who also suffers from spinal problems, epilepsy and partial blindness, was ‘lucky to be alive’.

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