Lib Dem Health Spokesperson Luciana Berger has spoken out about how Brexit would harm our NHS, emphasising how reliant we are on EU doctors and nurses. Analysis done by the Labour Party highlights that NHS staff work a million hours of unpaid overtime every week. That doesn’t surprise me. When my husband was seriously ill […]
Op-eds
Norman Lamb: My job was to give people a voice
The thing I was most scared about during the 2015 election was not having Norman Lamb as a Minister any more. He had done so much for mental health and I was worried that some Tory (because I feared they would win) would just undo all his work. A House of Commons without Norman in […]
Of course the Lib Dems oppose exposing our health service in future trade deals
If you’re seeing attacks from Labour types on social media tonight, saying that we didn’t vote for their amendment which, amongst other things, called for the NHS to be protected in future trade deals, ignore them. Political parties often do this. It’s a silly game and I don’t like it when we do it, too. […]
What Boris Johnson should have said to Omar Salem
I have nothing but sympathy for Omar Salem, the dad who confronted Boris Johnson today. Watch the video on the Guardian, here. Omar’s wee one is only a week old, but was admitted as an emergency. When she got to the ward, she wasn’t seen by a doctor for hours. I can’t imagine Omar would […]
I now know I have PTSD and it is Liberating
I am not quite sure when I first encountered the ‘Black Dog’ but he has pretty much been on the premises for the last ten years. The crash as I like to call it came on 9th October 2009 when the pressures of a full-time job and caring finally took their toll. I remember waking […]
Being a PPC with a Snap GE looming….
Needless to say, I have been busy lately! As have been PPCs and candidate selection teams up and down the country with the threat of looming General Election. Exciting times! This uncertainty plays havoc with our mental health. We all have mental health, as we all have physical health. Not knowing whether one’s life is […]
Is the Green Paper on Social Care happening or not?
I spent some time yesterday in a long meeting with a local resident. He had cared for his mum for many years and sadly she died. The circumstances leading up to her death and the nursing home care she received tell a grim tale. My local resident called for an investigation and has written numerous […]
Is there a scientific basis for the sugar levy?
Discussion of the sugar levy has focused on effectiveness and moral/political hazards. I want to focus on one problem that makes those redundant: Does it make scientific sense? Not obviously. A popular narrative: In the past, we thought obese people were that way because they lacked willpower and ate too much food, particularly fat, which […]
Sugar Tax is nothing more than a money spinning effort
I’ve recently lost a substantial amount of weight. That’s not a humblebrag, it’s going to be relevant, I promise. It’s taken the best part of 20 years to find something that works for me, and I’ll come back to that later. How our society discusses diet and weight was mostly to blame for why it’s […]
Government under increasing pressure to fund social care
This blog is a week late – but I’ve been busy! I wanted to highlight the Lords’ Economic Affairs Committee report published July 4th. This cross-party group of Peers calls for an immediate investment of £8 billion pounds into our care services “to restore social care to acceptable standards”. North Devon, as many areas of the […]