Tag Archives: ukcuts
The scandal of common mental illnesses left untreated
Would we tolerate a situation in which the majority of those suffering from diabetes, heart disease, or arthritis were left to fend for themselves, or asked to make do with inferior therapies?
Imagine you are the campaigns manager of a political party. You are aware of a public health crisis that, at any one time, affects a third of the population, reduces life expectancy as drastically as smoking, is more disabling than angina, asthma, or diabetes, and reduces GDP by around 4% each year. You know this crisis can be substantially – and cheaply – alleviated. Wouldn’t you make the issue a central theme in your election campaign?
Army Of Home Carers Plan ‘Virtual Strike’ In Heartbreaking Plea To Iain Duncan Smith
An ‘army’ of home carers are planning a virtual strike on 21 June 2014 to highlight the governments non-recognition of those who work ’round the clock’ caring for sick, elderly and/or disabled friends and relatives.
The organiser behind the event, who is unnamed but describes herself as a ‘carer with attitude’, says that she has been caring for her daughter for 13 years, whilst also working single-handedly to earn enough money to support herself and her family.
Writing on the campaign website, the organiser says: “I’ve spent those 13 years in a haze of exhaustion and poverty and anxiety, listening to other people telling me how tired, hard-working, ill-paid and hard pressed they are.”
