Under a new Government initiative patients will be given a choice of mental health care and community NHS service providers. Critics of the new scheme have argued that the new move will take us another step closer to a privatised NHS, but Health Secretary Andrew Lansley believes that the schemes launch in April will mark read more »

The Relationships Foundation has released details of a large study revealing that rising levels of debt, poverty and long unsocial working hours means Britain ranks among the worst countries in Europe for families. The Family Pressure Gauge report found that money worries, poor living conditions and a lack of support from parents all played a read more »

According to government figures, more than 80,000 people in Britain claim incapacity benefits because they are obese, drug addicts or alcoholics. The Department for Work and Pensions has said that over one quarter of those 80,000 had not been in employment for an entire decade and campaigners have estimated that less than 10 per cent read more »

Mental health charity Mind has reported that the prospect of benefits reassessment is causing distress among many individuals with mental health problems who are claiming Incapacity Benefit (IB). By spring 2014 1.6 million people will have faced a Work Capability Assessment (WCA), the aim of which is to establish whether individuals are eligible for Employment read more »

We already know there has been a huge increase in the number of individuals seeking debt advice during unsocial hours, but now even more recent research has revealed that financial insecurity could be fuelling a rise in depression among Brits. According to figures obtained by the BBC, the number of prescriptions for anti-depressant drugs such read more »

According to a recent study conducted by researchers from University College London’s Institute of Child Health, there were 208 recorded cases of eating disorders among children under 13 during their 14 month study. Dr Dasha Nicholls who is a consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist and lead researcher on the project, said : ‘Our study gives read more »

The Alzheimer’s Society are calling for dementia checks on the NHS when individuals reach 75. According to the Alzheimer’s Society there are 750,000 people in the UK suffering with dementia with many cases going undiagnosed and many individuals not receiving the care they need. In order to combat this growing number and provide better care read more »

A recent study published online in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health has found that mild stress can result in long-term disability and an inability to work. The study involved tracking over 17,000 working adults from Stockholm aged under 64, between 2002 and 2007. At the beginning of the study each participant was asked read more »

Yesterday saw the the budget announcement, and whilst there were a few bombs dropped there were also some boosts to counter balance them. According to Chancellor George Osborne, the prospect of giving to good causes will now be more attractive. After recent reports from earlier this month found that less UK households contribute to charity read more »

Care services minister Paul Burstow has recently announced the launch of a new government campaign which hopes to increase awareness of the early symptoms and signs of dementia. According to research and statistics, almost 400,000 individuals in England may not be receiving the proper help they need because they have not yet been officially diagnosed. read more »