Wes Streeting says victims ‘might still be alive’ if health service had recognised Valdo Calocane’s risk to others
The health secretary said “three innocent people might still be alive” if the NHS had “done its job” in treating Valdo Calocane in the years running up to the Nottingham attacks.
Wes Streeting said the deaths of Grace O’Malley-Kumar, Barnaby Webber and Ian Coates were “preventable if the NHS had been there when it should have been”.
Continue reading...CQC finds risk he presented to public was ‘not managed well’ before he killed three people in Nottingham last year
A “series of errors and misjudgments” in Valdo Calocane’s mental health care led to him being discharged, despite repeatedly not taking medication and showing signs of aggression, months before he killed three people in Nottingham, a report says.
A review by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) of the treatment that Calocane received from Nottinghamshire healthcare NHS foundation trust over two years between May 2020 and September 2022 found that “the risk he presented to the public was not managed well”.
Continue reading...Family share medical records of Calocane’s mental illness with BBC that they say show missed opportunities to prevent attacks
A doctor warned that Valdo Calocane’s mental illness was so severe he could kill someone, three years before he stabbed three people to death in Nottingham, his medical records reveal.
Calocane’s family, who were shown the records only after he was sentenced to indefinite detention in a high-security hospital for the attacks, have criticised the missed opportunities they believe could have prevented the killings.
Continue reading...Schools’ investment in social-emotional support appears to pay off, especially for girls, but work is ‘far from complete’
A recently released study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows levels of sadness and hopelessness are improving in some US teenagers, and notably among girls.
However,, the survey and experts said, challenges remain, as some metrics worsened in the most recent report. Of particular concern is a growing group of students who missed school because they did not feel safe.
Continue reading...Patient says pharmacists she went to were suspicious because Vyvanse is a stimulant, causing her the ‘most dehumanising medical experience’ of her life
Emma* says she was made to feel “like a drug addict” for simply trying to access medication for her ADHD.
When she was prescribed Vyvanse in June, she was relieved to realise she had found a treatment that would make it easier to live with the developmental disorder that affects the brain’s executive functioning.
Continue reading...Campaigners say vulnerable people receiving care are being deprived of their freedom in order to save money
Growing numbers of vulnerable people receiving care are challenging deprivation of liberty (Dol) orders that can mean they are locked up or kept under restrictive supervision.
Dol orders are meant as a last resort but campaigners say the increase shows that too often people’s freedoms are restricted as a cheaper option.
Continue reading...Study predicts overall economic cost of cancer, heart disease, dementia and stroke will rise by 61%
The cost of England’s four biggest killer diseases could rise to £86bn a year by 2050, prompting calls for a crackdown on alcohol, junk food and smoking.
The ageing population means the annual cost of cancer, heart disease, dementia and stroke combined will go from the £51.9bn recorded in 2018 to £85.6bn in 2050 – a rise of 61%.
Continue reading...Report warns of crisis of poverty and mental health which ‘casts a shadow’ over young people’s wellbeing
Ministers have been urged to reform the benefits system to tackle child poverty, after a report found it to be a major cause of mental illness that “casts a shadow” over young people’s wellbeing.
The report, by the Centre for Mental Health, Save the Children UK and the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Coalition, found that the number of children living in poverty in the UK had increased to 4.3 million, while one in five children and young people aged between eight and 24 had a diagnosable mental health problem.
Continue reading...NHS figures show underdiagnosis of Lewy bodies and frontotemporal dementias
Up to 100,000 people in England may be living with undiagnosed forms of dementia that present with symptoms such as depression and hallucinations, according to government figures.
Dementia is an umbrella term for many different conditions, affecting more than 55 million people worldwide. In England, about 7,000 people are diagnosed every month. While the health service has made progress in headline diagnosis rates, latest figures show that underdiagnosis of specific dementias remain a problem.
Continue reading...UK government adviser’s report says claims not supported by data and could prompt under-18s to take own life
A government-ordered review has dismissed claims that suicide rates in young people with gender dysphoria have risen sharply since the NHS restricted access to puberty-blocking drugs.
A report by the government’s adviser on suicide prevention also found that the claims – made by the campaign group the Good Law Project – were not supported by data and could prompt children under the age of 18 to take their own life.
Continue reading...Expert compares doomscrolling to being in a room where people are constantly yelling at you and says media needs to rethink news
Does scrolling your phone give you an existential crisis? That’s the question a team of international experts have sought to answer in a study published in the Journal of Computers in Human Behavior Reports.
Researchers surveyed 800 university students from the US and Iran and found that doomscrolling – or spending excessive time consuming negative news – was linked to feelings of existential anxiety, distrust and suspicion of others, and despair.
Continue reading...Movember says British men have worse health than comparable countries and suffer stark regional inequalities
More than 133,000 men die early every year in the UK, equating to 15 every hour, according to a report calling for urgent action to improve men’s health.
Two in five men are dying prematurely, before the age of 75 and often from entirely avoidable health conditions, research by the charity Movember found.
In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
Continue reading...Steep cuts left three-quarters of 16- to 19-year-olds unable to get support, youth agency says
Young people are “crying out” for a return of youth clubs after swingeing cuts left three-quarters of 16- to 19-year-olds in England lacking ways to connect with youth workers, according to research shared with the Guardian.
More than half of people in their late teens are specifically calling for more youth work that offers “fun”, with older teenagers particularly hankering for more jollity, according to a study by the National Youth Agency (NYA). One in 10 said they have zero options to access youth work.
Continue reading...Judge rules Dharmesh Patel, whose car dove off cliff in 2023, will be monitored by GPS and check in with court weekly
A California radiologist accused of trying to kill his family by driving off a cliff along the northern California coast will receive mental health treatment instead of standing trial, a judge ruled.
Prosecutors charged Dharmesh A Patel, 43, with attempted murder after the Tesla he was driving plunged off a 250ft (76 meters) cliff along the Pacific Coast Highway in San Mateo county, injuring his wife and two young children. All four survived the 2 January 2023 crash in what one official called an “absolute miracle”.
Continue reading...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.
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