Poverty Is Seriously Affecting The Health Of Many British Children

The Heartless Tories Laughed At A Social Care Plan.

Theresa May wants us to think she really does understand how difficult life can be when you’re old or ill, or both, and unable to care for yourself.
She’s finally realised emergency measures are needed because, thanks to serial savage cuts to the social care budget, the system, which was already approaching unfit for purpose, is now as ill as the people it should be caring for.

Huge, unrelenting, growing demand, paired with years of budget slashing, as well as the ignorant view that care ranks bottom of the country’s needs, has rendered the system on the verge of collapse.
It is outrageous that this has been allowed to happen.
Theresa is generously allowing us to take a year off work, unpaid, to provide the care that a caring country would normally regard as prerequisite for a civilised society.

So, instead of the Government increasing the social care budget, it is we who are being asked to carry the can for a problem that has been staring us in the face for years.
Eight years ago, Andy Burnham, then Health Secretary in the Labour Government, hatched a brilliant plan for a National Health and Social Care Service to be funded by a 10% levy on top of inheritance tax.

The Tories laughed until their sides split and killed it by labelling it a “death tax”.
And all they’ve managed to come up with in the intervening years is for us to deal with the crisis instead.
I would laugh. Only, I feel like crying.
( Fiona Phillips, 20.05.2017 )

More Children Suffer From ‘Obesity’ Disease.

Toddlers are being treated in hospital for a killer liver condition linked to obesity and fizzy drinks.
Alarming new figures show the number of under-18s admitted in England with fatty liver disease has more than doubled in five years.
Last year 185 kids were treated – including 27 not yet of school age.
The stats from NHS Digital likely show the tip of the iceberg, as only the worst cases end up in hospital.

Dr Jude Oben, a consultant liver specialist at London’s Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital. said medics had an ‘epidemic’ on their hands.
The condition is caused by a build-up of fat in the liver that can lead to cirrhosis and raises the risk of heart attacks and strokes.
Dr Oben added, “You can be carrying the problem possibly for years before you start to feel unwell and by then you will have done some serious damage to your liver.”

A recent study at the University of Southampton found children who consumed excessive amounts of fructose were more likely to have the advanced form of fatty liver disease.
Just one 500ml bottle of cola can contain double the recommended daily amount for children.
Jane DeVille-Almond, of the British Obesity Society, said, “It drives me mad that parents are so reluctant to see their kids are becoming obese because of what they are feeding them. Giving them treats like fizzy drinks is not kind, it is killing them.”
( Nicola Fifield and Martyn Halle, 02.04.2017 )

Hidden Benefits Of Statins.
Several studies have suggested that statins may cut the chances of developing Alzheimer’s disease.
One in journal Neurology found taking them for at least two years reduced the risk by 15% for women and by 12% for men.
A study found statins could cut the chances of dying from breast cancer by 43%, prostate by 47%, bowel by 30% and lung by 22%.
Better Eye Health Research has found a link between statin use and a decreased risk of eye cataracts.
Studies have found patients who take statins significantly lower the chances of developing rheumatoid arthritis.
( Sunday Mirror, 07.05.2017 )

Poverty is seriously affecting the health of many British children, who are paying a heavy price as a result of housing, food and financial insecurity, paediatricians have warned.
A report from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) and Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) paints a bleak picture of the wellbeing of children in low-income households.
Among the problems cited by paediatricians are poor growth in children, whose parents cannot afford healthy food or to take them to medical appointments, respiratory illnesses being caused or exacerbated by cold, damp housing, and mental health problems resulting from financial stress.
Two in five of surveyed doctors said they had experienced difficulty discharging a child in the past six months because of concerns about housing or food insecurity.
( Haroon Siddique, 11.05.2017 )  ..  theguardian.com

Patients Wait Over Two Weeks To Find Out If They Have Cancer.
Some 100,000 patients have been forced to wait longer than two weeks to find out if they have cancer.
A target for treatment to start within two months was also missed, as was the four-hour aim to be attended to in A&E.
Finding out if you have cancer within a fortnight of seeing a GP is a key NHS patient right.
But in the past year, 104,487 patients have waited two weeks-plus to see a consultant, reveals an analysis by Macmillan Cancer Support.
Other figures showed that in April there were 382,000 patients waiting longer than the target time of 18 weeks for routine treatment.
( Andrew Gregory, 10.06.2017 )

Tories Have Never Liked The NHS.

It’s been said that the Government doesn’t have a plan for the NHS.
I disagree.
It has been clear for some time that the Government has been on a rubber-stamped mission to run the NHS into the ground.
Tories have never liked the NHS.
They have serially failed to understand that Health and Education are the two fundamental requirements of a civilised society.

The warning signs have been festering and growing since 1979, the ominous year that witnessed Margaret Thatcher’s ascendancy to Prime Minister.
I was training within the NHS as a radiographer at the time and witnessed the implementation of her 1980 Health Services Act, which encouraged people to use private medical services.

I witnessed the queues growing as those who could afford to pay for those services in NHS hospitals jumped to the head of the line.
Waiting lists increased. Wards closed.
Agency staff were hired at £200 per shift, a fortune back then.

The public remained committed to the NHS even as concern about the level of spending grew.
There was talk of the ageing population and increasing reliance on costly new technology, as well as the need for increased funding.
It all has a depressingly familiar ring about it, doesn’t it?
( Fiona Phillips, 14.01.2017 )

One Care Home Is Closing Every Day Because Of Tory Cuts.

So, we have a refreshed Government. Big deal.
There are some situations in desperate need of change that never alter, no matter which party has grasped power.
They are problems that we know exist, that we’re uncomfortable with, appalled at, even, but still allow to persist.

One of the biggest, long-running scandals in our so-called civilised society is the continuing, covert abuse and misery that our beloved mums, dads, grans, grandads, brothers, sisters, daughters and sons are forced to endure in “care” homes where care is bottom of the agenda.

Privately run care homes can be very profitable, particularly if the staff are poorly paid, the food’s bog-standard, the furniture’s not up to inspection nor appropriate for the needs of residents, and the equipment, such as wheelchairs, beds, hoists etc., are old and faulty.

This is still the case in plenty of “homes”, the sort of places where residents sit on hard, ropey old chairs watching telly, “cared” for by too few staff on minimum wage, with minimal tolerance.

Thanks to the Tories’ continuing myopic vision when it comes to social care, local authority funding of residential care for older people and those with disabilities has been slashed over the past seven years of their rule, with homes closing at the rate of more than one a day.
( Fiona Phillips, 10.06.2017 )