Tag Archives: health
Four-star treatment for patients on the NHS
26 September 2012
The Cotton Rooms is the first of its kind in the NHS and has been built and funded by University College London Hospital’s charity.
The 35-bed hotel near Tottenham Court Road offers all the comforts of a good hotel — including fluffy towels, slippers and internet access — without charge.
Cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy on a daily basis will benefit as well as others who are undergoing tests at UCLH.
In the past, many patients have either endured long journeys home every night or stayed on a noisy ward or in nearby hotels alongside ordinary paying guests.
Now patients can receive hospital treatment during the day then check into the Cotton Rooms afterwards.
The idea is that people can live normal lives but with medical help on standby when needed.
Primary care holds the key to raising quality of dementia patients' lives
New campaign launches to tackle dementia stigma and drive concerned people to consult their GP
In recent years dementia has fallen into the healthcare spotlight and will remain there for some time as our ageing population continues to grow and, as a result, the number of people with dementia rises.
This increase in the number of people with dementia is also due to the ability to better diagnose the disorder – although England’s diagnosis rate remains quite low at 42%, on average.
Without a diagnosis as a starting point, people are denied access to support, help and potential treatments that can help them live well with dementia.
Timely diagnosis requires a committed focus, and so a new Department of Health awareness campaign, supported by the Alzheimer’s Society, starts this month.
They save the NHS thousands of pounds each year, but unpaid carers say they are being treated like ‘second-class citizens’
“All carers, no matter how distressed, are treated sensitively, with empathy and respect”.
Published: 21 September, 2012
by PETER GRUNER
THE borough’s heroic army of unpaid carers is suffering massive levels of stress and distress because of Islington Council’s red tape, bureaucracy and lack of co-ordination, according to a devastating report to the Town Hall this week.
Harrowing evidence of carers, many of them elderly and struggling single-handedly to cope with disabled or mentally ill dependents, is included in a shocking 30-page review of services by Islington Council’s health scrutiny committee.
The carers accused council staff of being “insensitive” and often “brusque, rude and hostile”.
