This week is Mental Health Awareness Week. The theme is this year is stress. Stress can pervade our lives, but one aspect is stress at work. Keeping a mentally-healthy workforce is best for everyone: the employees, the business and the customers. Being self-employed as a musician, workplace stress has a slightly different connotation. I’m preparing […]
Vince Cable talks about his mother’s mental illness, his father’s racism and overcoming prejudice in a moving and candid interview
You probably don’t know that Vince Cable was on Radio 5 Live as the birthday guest on Sunday night because it’s not really been reported anywhere. It’s worth catching up on it though because it’s one of the most open, personal and moving interviews I’ve heard him give. He’s mentioned the racism he and his […]
How do benefit sanctions affect mental health?
There are few things more obvious than if you are deprived of the means to feed yourself, it’s going to be stressful and more than likely affect your mental health and not in a good way. This Mental Health Awareness Week, the excellent Scottish Association for Mental Health is collecting evidence to present to the […]
The Learning Disabilities Mortality Review Annual Report
The Learning Disabilities Mortality Review Annual Report was published recently by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership. In it are harrowing statistics of people with learning disabilities dying far too young. The report highlights the extraordinarily high incidences of preventable death. The Connor Sparrowhawk case has brought this to public attention recently: a young man with […]
Children’s mental health – the Government is not getting it right
I’m following up my post from February on children’s mental health and the Government’s Green Paper on the issue. Yesterday, the Education Committee and Health & Social Care Committee issued a joint statement saying that The Government’s proposed Green Paper on Transforming Children and Young People’s Mental Health lacks ambition and will provide no help to […]
New report out shows more paediatric consultants needed
As a mother of three, we have been to A & E more times than I would have liked and have had help from paediatricians and other consultants. The NHS is wonderful! But sorely understaffed. A report out today by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, “Facing the Future Audit 2017”, has recommended […]
Young Lib Dem Councillor Ben Lawrie talks about his experience of Depression
I feel incredibly proud to know Scottish Liberal Democrat Councillor Ben Lawrie who has talked about his experience of Depression in this short film. It takes courage and You should be aware before you watch it that it includes his description of an attempt to take his life. He wants to share his experience to […]
LibLink: Sal Brinton: Ministers must protect our NHS against privatisation
This week, Sal Brinton and others argued in the House of Lords that action was needed to ensure that Brexit didn’t open the door to privatisation of the NHS. She wrote about the issue for The House magazine: If you asked most people what effect Brexit would have on our health service, regardless of how […]
The dire state of mental health services
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman’s recent report on mental health provision is damning. Titled Maintaining momentum: driving improvements in mental health care, Rob Behrens’ analysis confirms what we already know: mental health services are in crisis and people are suffering and dying because of it. The case studies are harrowing. Mr Behrens’ says: The […]
Bercow, Ten Years On – the #SLCN campaign
I CAN, the children’s communication charity, and The Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists have launched Bercow: Ten Years On. This report delves into the support, or lack of support, children with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) receive in England. Over 2,500 people were consulted about speech and language therapy provision for children and […]