A survey of parents has found that more than one third of children with ADHD have been excluded from school. The survey was carried out on 526 families as part of the first national ADHD awareness week. ADDISS (the Attention Deficit Disorder Information Support Service) said the survey highlighted a lack of resources and support available.

“With the right help from schools and access to appropriate medical and non-medical treatment, we can support children with ADHD through their developing years and help them succeed in life” said Andrea Bilbow, founder of ADDISS.

According to an article on the BBC, the government said “exclusion rates for children with special needs had decreased in the past three years”.

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According to a survey conducted by the GP magazine, Pulse, 1,092 premises out of more than 7,000 across the UK were below minimum standards. “The problem is getting worse and putting key policies such as moving care into the community in jeopardy”, the survey revealed.

According to the government, the premises were getting better as £1bn was being invested in upgrading GP surgeries, however the survey conducted by Pulse revealed that 1 in 7 GP premises was not fit for purpose.

London was the worst affected area in the UK, with a huge 522 premises deemed as “unfit”. The magazine, Pulse, said that doctors had said they could raise the capital required to build new premises, but NHS bodies could not afford the rent on them.

Jo Haynes, editor of Pulse, said “GP’s want to take on more work from hospitals and to provide more services for patients from their surgeries. But they are being prevented from doing so because the government refuses to invest the comparatively small amount of money to enable primary care organisations to fund new premises”.

For more information read the BBC article

A new study has investigated ways in which our cognitive skills as humans have been shaped by our primate ancestry - new findings show that human infants display the same preferences as all the other great apes in their strategies for remembering where things are, but apparently these preferences shift as humans develop.

The study found that “this change in cognitive preference indicates a uniquely human developmental trajectory when compared to the cognitive development of other great apes, and it informs our general understanding of which aspects of our cognitive development have evolved within the human lineage”.

The study compared humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, bonobos and orangutans in terms of remembering where things are …