Three in four nurses have seen cuts to services in their area in the past year, survey reveals Nurses who work with people with learning disabilities have “real concerns” about the safety of their clients because of cuts in services, according to a study published on Wednesday. A survey of 500 nurses revealed that three out of four saw spending cuts to services in their area in the past year.
Disabled people like me depend on the health service. These relentless cuts threaten quality of care for anyone needing help Two years ago this week two important things happened that have had a big impact on my life. The first was finding out about a government scheme called Access to Work which provides support to disabled people at work
Outcome raises stakes in confrontation between doctors and pharmaceutical companies fighting to protect high prices A groundbreaking trial funded by the NHS has shown that a cheap, unlicensed drug to prevent blindness is just as effective as the expensive one marketed by a major pharmaceutical company. If all patients needing treatment were given unlicensed Avastin injections instead of Lucentis, the NHS could save £84.5m, the researchers calculate
As the parent of a 48-year-old daughter with learning difficulties and other health issues, I recognise the situation reported by Amelia Gentleman ( Legal aid bill ‘puts most vulnerable at risk’ , 17 April). It is, sadly, getting worse by the day
Campaigners fear that scrapping legal aid for clinical blunders will mean future victims will not have access to a reasonable life that compensation can buy Like many boys on the cusp of adolescence, Theodore is thinking about beer and fast cars. Top of his wish list is an orange Lamborghini, but for now he may have to settle for a high-speed wheelchair
Once, tweeters used the hashtag to support a man who joked about an airport – now they’re defending the NHS It all kicked off with Paul Chambers .
Five years on from our shocking report into the discriminatory treatment of learning disabled people, little is different When Mencap published its Death by Indifference report in 2007 it sent shockwaves through the health sector.
As a 70-year-old parent of 39-year-old twin sons, one with mild and the other with profound learning disabilities, I was saddened by but welcome the disturbing Mencap report ( NHS accused over disabled patient deaths , 3 January) alleging unnecessary suffering or deaths of at least 74 patients with a learning disability because of poor care that reveals enduring “institutional discrimination” among doctors and nurses. On the whole my sons have had excellent NHS care, although once while visiting my hospitalised son I found him unshaven and unable to feed himself while his food remained on a plate in front of him.
Using a disability to insult Ed Balls is cheap, but don’t apologise to people like me with Tourette’s – stop your assault on the NHS David Cameron has said in an interview that sitting opposite Ed Balls, the shadow chancellor, during prime minister’s questions is “like having someone with Tourette’s sitting opposite you”.
Mencap inquiry finds institutional discrimination against people with learning disabilities led to at least 74 deaths The NHS is accused of causing or contributing to the deaths of at least 74 patients with a learning disability because of poor care that reveals enduring “institutional discrimination” among doctors and nurses. The 74 vulnerable patients’ deaths over the past decade were either caused or complicated by mistakes in hospitals and decisions by staff who failed to treat them properly and displayed ignorance or indifference to their plight, according to the charity Mencap and families of some of those who died.
