Boxer says ex-fighters suffer poor health and that he hopes to help them as part of his sports legacy
Anthony Joshua has said he is considering opening a care home for retired boxers with health problems.
Speaking to Lauren Laverne on Sunday’s episode of BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, the former world heavyweight champion said he had discussed issues faced by ex-fighters with his former boxing coach, John Oliver.
Continue reading...Lack of care and support leaves patients stranded on units when they are clinically ready to be discharged
The number of patients stuck in NHS mental health units in England despite being clinically ready to leave has reached its highest level in at least eight years.
“Delayed discharges” of patients from hospitals in NHS mental health trusts reached 49,677 days in March, according to an analysis – a higher figure than in any month since at least January 2016, when NHS Digital started publishing the data.
Continue reading...Exclusive: SafeWork NSW promises to crack down on big businesses who fail to protect the wellbeing of staff
Claims for psychological injury at work are increasing at a rate far outstripping physical injury claims in New South Wales, prompting a warning from the state’s safety watchdog for businesses to expect compliance checks and prosecution if practices don’t improve.
Physical injury claims rose 11% over the four years to mid-2023, while claims of psychological damage jumped 30% over the same period, according to the State Insurance Regulatory Authority (Sira).
Continue reading...Funds from plan, designed to build treatment centers and clinics, made available early as state grapples with homelessness crisis
California governor Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday that $3.3bn would be made available from the state’s new mental health bond ahead of schedule to build more behavioral health treatment centers and homeless housing as the state grapples with a growing homelessness crisis.
It’s the first pot of money from a ballot measure designed to help cities, counties, tribes and developers build or renovate treatment centers and clinics, among other things. Voters passed it by a razor-thin margin in March after Newsom threw all of his political weight behind it, touting it as linchpin of the state’s efforts to reduce homelessness.
Continue reading...Almost a quarter of the 1.8m cases of depression, anxiety and substance disorders could be prevented, researchers find
If child abuse and neglect did not exist, almost a quarter of the more than 1.8m cases of depression, anxiety and substance use disorders in Australia could be prevented.
The finding comes from the first Australian study to estimate the proportion of mental health conditions which are directly caused by childhood maltreatment and independent from other influences such as genetics and social environments.
Continue reading...Campaigners are calling for public inquiry into high number of patient fatalities over a decade at crisis-hit service
More than 30 patients died after risks were not acted on in the decade following a controversial service redesign at a crisis-hit NHS mental health trust, according to an analysis by campaigners.
The report by the Campaign to Save Mental Health Services in Norfolk and Suffolk also logged nearly 20 patients of Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) who have died since 2013 after communication failures, while family concerns were ignored in 15 cases.
Continue reading...Hainault attack may be latest incident linked to mental ill-health, at a time when NHS services are struggling
While the full picture of the Hainault attack is yet to emerge, the early briefings from the Metropolitan police were clear: a key line of inquiry, in terms of possible motive, was whether the suspect has a history of mental ill-health.
If the police hunches are correct, the tragedy may turn out to be the latest in a series of high-profile killings that have focused public attention on the adequacy of mental health treatment and care.
Continue reading...Chronic workforce shortages have put nursing staff under unbearable pressure, says union chief
Nurses in England took an average of a week off sick last year because of stress, anxiety or depression, NHS figures reveal.
The disclosure has prompted concern that the intense strains nurses face in their jobs, including low pay and understaffing, are damaging their mental health and causing many to quit.
Continue reading...Johnny Timpson says he wants to ‘take a stand’ after revelations thousands of unpaid carers are being forced to pay huge fines
One of Rishi Sunak’s dementia advisers has resigned over the government’s approach towards unpaid carers, describing the prosecutions of vulnerable people as “beyond the pale”.
Johnny Timpson, who advised No 10 on its dementia strategy, said he wanted to “take a stand” after the Guardian revealed that tens of thousands of unpaid carers were being fined huge sums and in some cases prosecuted for minor infringements of earnings rules.
Continue reading...Scottish NHS boards have spent more than £125m since 2019 to provide temporary cover amid drop in consultant numbers
Mental health campaigners have protested about the significant use of temporary locum psychiatrists in Scotland, alleging that it leads to substandard and harmful medical care.
Peter Todd, a campaigner based in Caithness in the north of Scotland, said the heavy reliance on locum psychiatrists by the NHS was a sign of a growing crisis in mental health services across the country.
Continue reading...Charities say high rates of people signed off work are caused by crumbling public services after years of underinvestment
Rishi Sunak has been accused of making mental ill health “another front in the culture wars”, as critics warned his plan to curb benefits for some with anxiety and depression was an assault on disabled people.
In a speech on welfare, the prime minister said he wanted to explore withdrawing a major cash benefit claimed by people living with mental health problems and replacing it with treatment.
Shifting responsibility for issuing fit notes, formerly known as sicknotes, away from GPs to other “work and health professionals” in order to encourage more people to return to work.
Confirming plans to legislate “in the next parliament” to close benefit claims for anyone who has been claiming for 12 months but is not complying with conditions on accepting available work.
Asking more people on universal credit working part-time to look for more work by increasing the earnings threshold from £743 a month to £892 a month, so people paid below this amount have to seek extra hours.
Confirming plans to tighten the work capability assessment to require more people with “less severe conditions” to seek some form of employment.
Continue reading...Cass report calls for move away from mainly medical treatment as part of dramatic shift in approach to gender dysphoria
A long-awaited review by consultant paediatrician Hilary Cass into the NHS’s gender services for children calls for a dramatic shift in the type of treatment offered to children and young people with gender dysphoria.
The report proposes that instead of being offered mainly medical treatment, young people referred to NHS gender services should “receive a holistic assessment of their needs to inform an individualised care plan”, meaning that questions of gender identity should be treated alongside other possible mental health concerns.
Continue reading...Some police in England and Wales now ask spouses to flag dangerous traits or mental health problems
Survivors of gun crime committed by violent and coercive partners have worked with police to create a groundbreaking scheme designed to stop more dangerous offenders being allowed licensed firearms.
The women have helped police frame a questionnaire that firearms officers put to the partners of people wanting a licence that will flag up issues such as a propensity to violence or mental health problems.
Continue reading...More consensual touch helps ease or buffer against mental and physical complaints, meta-analysis shows
Whether it is a hug from a friend or the caress of a weighted blanket, the sensation of touch appears to bring benefits for the body and mind, researchers say.
The sense of touch is the first to develop in babies and is crucial in allowing us to experience the environment around us as well as communicate. Indeed, the loss of touch from others during the Covid pandemic hit many hard.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Treatments near approval but lack of diagnostic capacity means NHS unprepared for rollout, report says
Hundreds of thousands of dementia patients in England face being denied access to revolutionary new drugs because the diagnostic capacity of the NHS lags behind every other G7 country, according to a damning report.
After decades of research to find a cure for the condition projected to affect 153 million people worldwide by 2050, scientists have successfully developed the first treatments to tackle the underlying causes rather than only relieve the symptoms. Two new drugs could get the green light for use on the NHS within weeks.
Continue reading...Survey finds many ex-military personnel fear being misunderstood and are reluctant to seek professional help
More than half of England’s army veterans have experienced mental or physical health issues since returning to civilian life, and some are reluctant to share their experiences, a survey has revealed.
The survey of 4,910 veterans, commissioned jointly by the Royal College of GPs (RCGP) and the Office for Veterans’ Affairs (OVA), found that 55% have experienced a health issue potentially related to their service since leaving the armed forces. Over 80% of respondents said their condition had got worse since returning to civilian life.
Continue reading...Shooting of 15-year-old ‘beautiful soul’ in California revives scrutiny on law enforcement abuse of youth with disabilities
When Ryan Gainer was diagnosed with autism as a toddler, he was nonverbal, and his family all learned sign language to communicate with him. But after the southern California boy learned how to speak at around age four, he was a “ball of energy” who never stopped talking, his older sister Rachel said.
He loved saying “hi” to neighbors and strangers alike, and as a young teen was known as the student who greeted everyone with a “good morning” and a smile.
Continue reading...Government report says placing children in prison isolation can affect their health and wellbeing in ‘severe, long-term and irreversible ways’
A Queensland government report has raised concerns over the use of solitary confinement in youth detention, detailing the case of two First Nations children with disabilities who died after spending extensive time in isolation at overcrowded and understaffed youth detention centres.
The Child Death Review Board’s annual report, tabled in state parliament on Thursday, details the anonymised cases of two boys, Harry* and Jack*. The report does not explicitly state their cause of death but Guardian Australia understands it to be suicide.
Continue reading...DWP missed many chances to act as woman’s mental health declined while under overpayment investigation
A coroner has criticised the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) after a woman died from an overdose in the wake of a six-month official investigation that left her with soaring universal credit debts.
Fiona Butler, the assistant coroner for Rutland and North Leicestershire, wrote a Prevention of Future Deaths (PFD) report to the DWP highlighting its failures to respond to the victim’s mental health issues.
Continue reading...Brain tissue analysis showed degeneration in the nerve fibers that allow for communication between different areas of the brain
An army reservist who shot and killed 18 people in Maine last year had evidence of traumatic brain injuries, according to a brain tissue analysis by researchers from Boston University.
There was degeneration in the nerve fibers that allow for communication between different areas of the brain, inflammation and small blood vessel injury, according to Dr Ann McKee of Boston University’s Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) center. The analysis was released Wednesday by the family of the deceased gunman and military reservist, Robert Card.
The Associated Press contributed reporting
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