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Found 1,156 results
  1. News Article
    An inquiry investigating deaths of mental health patients in Essex has been given extra powers, in a victory for campaigners. Health Secretary Steve Barclay told Parliament that the probe would be placed on a statutory footing. It means the inquiry can force witnesses to give evidence, including former staff who have previously worked for services within the county. Mr Barclay said he was committed to getting answers for the families. He told the Commons: "I hope today's announcement will come as some comfort to the brave families who have done so much to raise awareness." The Secretary of State added that under the new powers anyone refusing to give evidence could be fined. Melanie Leahy, whose son Matthew died while an inpatient at the Linden Centre in Chelmsford in 2012, is among those who have long campaigned for the inquiry to be upgraded. "Today's announcement marks the start of the next chapter in our mission to find out how our loved ones could be so badly failed by those who were meant to care for them," said Ms Leahy. "I welcome today's long overdue government announcement and I look forward to working with the inquiry team as they look to shape their terms of reference." Read full story Source: BBC News, 28 June 2023
  2. News Article
    Today it was announced by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care that the future Health Services Safety Investigations Body (HSSIB) will undertake a series of investigations focused on mental health inpatient settings. The investigations will commence when HSSIB is formally established on 1 October 2023. The HSSIB will conduct investigations around: How providers learn from deaths in their care and use that learning to improve their services, including post-discharge. How young people with mental health needs are cared for in inpatient services and how their care could be improved. How out-of-area placements are handled. How to develop a safe, therapeutic staffing model for all mental health inpatient services. Rosie Benneyworth, Chief Investigator at HSIB, says: “We welcome the announcement by the Secretary of State and see this as a significant opportunity to use our expertise, and the wider remit that HSSIB will have, to improve safety for those being cared for in mental health inpatient settings across England. The evidence we have gathered through HSIB investigations has helped shed light on some of the wider challenges faced by patients with mental health needs, and the expertise we will carry through from HSIB to HSSIB will help us to further understand these concerns in inpatient settings, and contribute to a system level understanding of the challenges in providing care in mental health hospitals. “HSSIB will be able to look at inpatient mental health care in both the NHS and the independent sector and any evidence we gather during the investigations is given full protection from disclosure. It is crucial that those impacted by poor care and those working on the frontlines of the inpatient settings can share their experiences, reassured that HSSIB will use this information to improve care and not apportion blame or liability. “At HSIB we will begin conversations with our national partners across the system, as well as talking to staff, patients and families. This will ensure that when investigations are launched in October, we have identified and will address the most serious risks to mental health inpatients within these areas and will identify recommendations and other safety learning that will lead to changes in the safety culture and how safety is managed within mental health services.” Read full story Source: HSIB, 28 June 2023
  3. News Article
    An independent review has raised concerns about a mental health trust’s reporting systems and has highlighted a significant number of patient deaths shortly after leaving the trust’s care, including almost 300 who died on the same day they were discharged. However, the review into how Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust collects, processes and reports mortality data made no conclusions on the number of avoidable deaths – the issue which had originally prompted the probe. Local NHS leaders argued the review’s purpose was focused on auditing the trust’s processes, and this had been delivered. But a local MP, Clive Lewis, accused it of “explicitly dodg[ing] the big questions”. The report, which looked at data from between April 2019 and October 2022, has however raised concerns about the number of patients dying soon after being discharged. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 28 June 2023
  4. News Article
    The NHS is trialling a fleet of electric vehicles to help relieve pressure on ambulance services while also helping the NHS cut its carbon footprint. The vehicles are part of a £2.1m investment as the NHS becomes the first health service in the world to commit to reaching net zero by 2040, said NHS England, with eight ambulance trusts trialling 21 zero-emission vehicles of various types. Six of these new green vehicles are "dedicated to mental health response in the community", NHS England said. It emphasised that it hoped this development will "cut emergency response times for people with mental health needs and help reduce demand on traditional double-crewed ambulances". The new dedicated mental health response vehicles differ in design from traditional ambulances by having fewer fluorescent markings and a much less clinical interior, to help put patients at ease. However, they still carry the equipment needed to respond to the most serious life-threatening emergencies. NHS England highlighted that the all-electric vehicles can be deployed as a rapid response vehicle when someone is experiencing a mental health crisis, "providing a safe space for healthcare workers to support patients with mental health needs". Claire Murdoch, national director for mental health, NHS England explained that the mental health response vehicles are an important addition to mental health care, and added: "we have a double win of being able to improve the experience of patients in crisis whilst also caring for the planet". Read full story Source: Medscape, 6 September 2022
  5. News Article
    A coroner has expressed concern at the difficulty of getting face-to-face appointments with GPs and other health professionals after a 17-year-old boy suffering from mental health problems was found dead. Sean Mark, who described himself as an “anxious paranoid mess”, was desperate for help but felt “palmed off” when he asked for assistance, an inquest heard. He was found dead in his bedroom four months after a phone consultation with a GP and before he had spoken to anyone in person about his concerns. The area coroner, Rosamund Rhodes-Kemp, recorded a verdict of death by misadventure, saying she could not be sure Sean had intended to kill himself. Dr Robin Harlow, clinical director of the Willow Group, where Sean Mark was a patient, said it had increased the number of face-to-face meetings. When told that Sean felt palmed off, he said: “I would want him to be seen face to face at the second time, if not the first time. We have seen a lot more face-to-face appointments since then.” Read full story Source: The Guardian (23 August 2022)
  6. News Article
    Some of the country’s leading acute hospitals are not meeting a key NHS standard for mental health support in emergency departments, HSJ research suggests, with some regions faring better than others. Latest official estimates indicate that more than a third of EDs (36 per cent) are not yet meeting ‘core 24’ standards for psychiatric liaison – which requires a minimum of 1.5 full-time equivalent consultants and 11 mental health practitioners. The long-term plan target is for 70 per cent of acute trust emergency departments to have the optimum ‘core 24’ standard service by 2023-24. The NHS appears to be on track to hit this, with significant progress made, despite the pandemic. Annabel Price, chair of the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ liaison faculty, said tackling the workforce crisis with a fully funded plan would “prove instrumental in boosting recruitment across all acute trusts”. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 23 August 2022
  7. News Article
    Nearly 38,000 vital follow-up appointments with mental health patients were missed at the time when they were most at risk of suicide, the Royal College of Psychiatrists has said. The medical body has called for “urgent action” to ensure more people are seen for follow-ups within 72 hours of their discharge from inpatient care, to prevent them from falling “through the cracks when they are so vulnerable”. The risk of suicide is highest on the second and third days after leaving a mental health ward, but 37,999 follow-up appointments with patients were not made within this timeframe in England between April 2020 and May 2022. According to NHS data, of the 160,430 instances when patients were eligible for follow-up care within 72 hours after discharge from acute adult mental health care, only three-quarters (76%) took place within that period. The Royal College of Psychiatrists is calling for more trained specialists to check on those perceived to be at risk, which they say requires more staffing and funding. The president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, Dr Adrian James, said: “We simply can’t afford to let people fall through the cracks at a time when they are so vulnerable. It’s vital that our mental health services are properly staffed and funded to offer proper follow-up care and help prevent suicides. “Staff are working as hard as they can to provide high-quality care, but it’s clear that current resources are not enough to meet these targets. We need urgent action to tackle the workforce crisis and achieve the suicide prevention goals set out in the NHS long-term plan.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 22 August 2022
  8. News Article
    GPs around England are to prescribe patients activities such as walking or cycling in a bid to ease the burden on the NHS by improving mental and physical health. The £12.7m trial, which was announced by the Department for Transport and will begin this year, is part of a wider movement of “social prescribing”, an approach already used in the NHS, in which patients are referred for non-medical activities. Minister for health, Maria Caulfield, said the UK is leading the way in embedding social prescribing in the NHS and communities across the country. “Getting active is hugely beneficial for both our mental and physical health, helping reduce stress and ward off other illness such as heart disease and obesity,” she said. Paul Farmer, chief executive of the mental health charity Mind, said he welcomed news of the extra investment, enabling the NHS to try new ways of supporting mental health, such as through social prescribing schemes. But, he added, prescribing exercise is not a miracle cure for treating mental health problems. “What we urgently need to see is proper investment into our country’s mental health services,” he said. “Only that will enable us to deliver support to the 1.6 million people currently sat on waiting lists, and the 8 million people who would benefit from mental health support right now but are deemed by the system not to be unwell enough to access it.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 22 August 2022
  9. News Article
    Two years after having Covid-19, diagnoses of brain fog, dementia and epilepsy are more common than after other respiratory infections, a study by the University of Oxford suggests. But anxiety and depression are no more likely in adults or children two years on, the research found. More research is needed to understand how and why Covid could lead to other conditions. This study looked at the risks of 14 different disorders in 1.25 million patients two years on from Covid, mostly in the US. It then compared them with a closely-matched group of 1.25 million people who had a different respiratory infection. In the group who had Covid, after two years, there were more new cases of: dementia, stroke and brain fog in adults aged over 65 brain fog in adults aged 18-64 epilepsy and psychotic disorders in children, although the overall risks were small. Some disorders became less common two years after Covid, including: anxiety and depression in children and adults psychotic disorders in adults. The increased risk of depression and anxiety in adults lasts less than two months before returning to normal levels, the research found. Read full story Source BBC News, 18 August 2022
  10. News Article
    Dozens of referrals to specialist care for women with serious mental health problems during or after pregnancy are being turned down because no bed was available, data collected by HSJ reveals. HSJ submitted freedom of information requests to 19 trusts running mother and baby units (MBUs) – which are inpatient services where women who experience serious mental health problems during or after pregnancy can stay with their child – asking for the “total number of referrals… which could not be admitted because no bed was available”. Although all of the 19 trusts HSJ sent freedom of information requests to responded, many said they did not hold this information. However, five – Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear Foundation Trust, Essex Partnership University FT, Greater Manchester Mental Health FT, Hertfordshire Partnership University FT, and Nottinghamshire Healthcare FT – together identified 197 referrals which were rejected. Greater Manchester identified a further three which were turned down in the calendar year 2022, although it did not specify which financial year this was. Several experts told HSJ the figures reflected a lack of capacity for mothers with serious mental health problems. Maternal Mental Health Alliance campaign manager Karen Middleton said MBUs offered “the best outcomes” for new mothers who needed inpatient treatment". Ms Middleton continued: “When a much-needed MBU bed isn’t available, women instead face admission to general adult psychiatric wards, separating them from their newborn babies at a crucially important time for relationship development. These wards lack appropriate facilities and expertise to support postnatal mothers with their specific physical and emotional needs.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 16 August 2022
  11. News Article
    England’s mental health inpatient system is “running very hot” and operating well above recommended occupancy levels, HSJ has been told, as new funding to address the problem is revealed. The move was announced by NHS England mental health director Claire Murdoch in an exclusive interview with HSJ. It comes amid a steep rise in mental health patients waiting more than 12 hours in accident and emergency. Last month, an HSJ investigation revealed 12-hour waits for people in crisis had ballooned by 150% in 2022 compared to pre-pandemic levels. Problems finding specialist beds have been cited by experts as one of the root causes of A&E breaches. Ms Murdoch told HSJ the funds would not come from ”within the mental health service budget” and that they would be used to “help address any pressures where we think the answer is more of either beds or other urgent and emergency care which has a capital need.” NHSE is now working with the 42 integrated care systems to determine where the money can best be used. Ms Murdoch said the money would be spent ”where there is a particular need” and that there was “no blanket approach” to its allocation. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 10 August 2022
  12. News Article
    The medical body at Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust has written to the trust’s chair saying that it is unable to provide safe care and expressing a lack of confidence in the board. The letter, which has been seen by HSJ, is signed by 140 of doctors at the mental health provider. It claims the trust’s “clinical services are unable to provide good basic care and are unsafe”. Significant criticism is reserved for the trust’s senior management, with the letter stating “there is a general dysfunction with perpetual changes of key staff in executive posts and ever increasing layers of management” and that “major decisions are frequently made by a handful of people at an executive level without clinical consultation”. The letter continues: “Doctors are by and large used as clinical workhorses. Many carrying huge workloads and holding unacceptable clinical risks”. The letter, first revealed by BBC Look East, asks for an urgent meeting with the chair and states that the medical body “lacks confidence in the executive board to resolve the plight of NSFT”. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 10 August 2022
  13. News Article
    Private and NHS ambulance services are reviewing safety procedures after the Care Quality Commission identified a series of risks to mental health patients being transported by non-emergency providers. The care watchdog wrote to all providers of non-emergency patient transport earlier in the summer, warning of concerns identified at recent inspections about use of restraints, sexual safety, physical health needs, vehicle and equipment safety standards, and unsafe recruitment practices. The letter, seen by HSJ, stated: “We know there are many independent ambulance providers providing a good standard of care. Unfortunately, our recent inspections suggest that this is not always the case." “We expect providers to deliver on their commitment to provide safe, high-quality care and we will do everything within our powers to ensure this happens.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 4 August 2022
  14. News Article
    Staff at a mental health trust, run by Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust, falsified records that they had checked on a vulnerable patient the night he died, an inquest has heard. Eliot Harris was found dead in his room at Northgate Hospital in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, in April 2020. A police witness statement detailed how CCTV footage contradicted 19 log entries. Mr Harris, 48, was admitted to hospital after the care home where he was a resident requested an urgent mental health assessment, an inquest into his death at Norfolk Coroner's Court heard. He had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, had a history of epileptic seizures and had not been taking his medication. Mr Harris was deemed to be high risk and was supposed to be on regular checks four times an hour. In a witness statement read out in court, Det Sgt Nick Appleton described how police had cross referenced logs of his observations with CCTV recordings. Det Sgt Appleton listed 19 instances in which the observation record was signed by a staff member that night, indicating Mr Harris had been checked, but was not backed up by the CCTV record. He identified a number of "points of concern" in his evidence in which falsifying logs was "normal" and "standard practice" on wards. Read full story Source: BBC News, 1 August 2022
  15. News Article
    Patients experiencing a mental health crisis were kept in a ‘short stay area’ of an emergency department for up to three weeks, a Care Quality Commission (CQC) report has revealed. The patients were in what the CQC described as a “short stay area” of the ED at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton. It is an area with no natural light, no TV or radio and only a toilet and washbasin, with a shower available on a neighbouring ward, the CQC said. The patients were reviewed daily by a mental health liaison team from another trust while they waited for a mental health bed to be found. The CQC report said staff reported the longest stay was up to three weeks, while trust data showed the average length of stay was 52 hours. It said the urgent and emergency services at the hospital – part of University Hospitals Sussex Foundation Trust which is rated “outstanding” overall by the regulator – “did not fully meet the needs of the local population”. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 29 July 2022
  16. News Article
    Mental health patients who arrive at emergency departments (ED) in crisis are increasingly facing ‘outrageous’ long waits for an inpatient bed, with some being forced to wait several days. HSJ research suggests ED waits of more than 12 hours have ballooned in 2022, and are now around two-and-a-half times as high as pre-Covid levels. Early intervention for patients in mental health crisis is deemed to be crucial in their care and recovery. The Royal College of Emergency Medicine said the findings are a “massive concern”, while the Royal College of Psychiatrists described them as “unacceptable”. RCEM president Katherine Henderson said the experience of mental health patients in accident and emergency departments “is not what it should be from a caring healthcare system”. She said: “We have massive concern for this patient group. We feel they are getting a really poor deal at the moment. “The bottom line is there are not enough mental health beds. There are not enough community mental health services to support patients and perhaps therefore prevent a crisis and the need for beds in the first place. “Mental health crisis first responder teams work – a mental health practitioner working with the ambulance service can prevent the need for an ED visit.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 19 July 2022
  17. News Article
    Being in a productive and supportive work environment is linked to better mental health. However, those experiencing mental health problems are often either excluded from the workplace or not supported appropriately when in work, according to new guidance from the Royal College of Psychiatrists. As many as one in six people of working age are diagnosed with a mental health condition. Mental health problems are a leading cause of absence from work, but ‘good’ work can improve overall wellbeing. This is achieved by improving self-esteem, feeling useful, building a routine, and importantly, avoiding poverty, which adversely impacts health in many ways. ‘Good’ work should offer standard benefits such as job security, an appropriate wage, positive work/life balance, and opportunities for career progression as well as supportive mental health and wellbeing policies. These practices should support employees with existing mental health disorders while minimising the risk of developing issues with mental health and well-being. This includes flexible working policies, use of appropriate reasonable adjustments to help people maintain employment and access to counselling and support services as needed. The Royal College of Psychiatrists is calling for better support for people with mental health problems to find, return to, and remain in good work, and for employers and Government to recognise the valuable contribution these people make to the workforce. Dr Adrian James, President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said: “We all need to do more if the workplace is to consistently play a positive role in a person’s mental health and wellbeing. We know that issues such as insecure work and unemployment can have a disproportionate impact on the wellbeing of people with mental health conditions. “Psychiatrists and occupational therapists can play a key role between employers and patients, ensuring staying in good work is seen as an important outcome of treatment. We must put in place better support for people with mental health problems to find, return to, and remain in good work and for employers and Government to recognise the valuable contribution these people make to the workforce.” Read press release Source: Royal College of Psychiatrists, 14 July 2022
  18. News Article
    The NHS's approach to tackling children’s mental health is “threatening to overwhelm the social care system”, the president of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services has warned. Steve Crocker believes the NHS is “not doing a very good job” for children, describing how children are typically now waiting four months for a mental health assessment and over a year for treatment as being “simply not good enough”. He admitted he was being “deliberately provocative” around children’s mental health at the opening of the ADCS conference yesterday, as he wants to see “more collaboration” from the new Integrated Care Systems (ICSs), which were put on a statutory footing this month. Mr Crocker warned delegates that under the ICS reforms, there is an “ongoing risk that the needs of children are sidelined by the ongoing pressure in acute adult services”. “The House of Lords amendment ensuring each ICS has a children’s strategic lead was a welcome development, but does it go far enough?” he asked. Mr Crocker told LGC: “Children's mental health should be a priority for every ICS in the country. I can't imagine any reason why any ICS would not do that." Read full story Source: Local Government Chronicle, 8 July 2022
  19. News Article
    An ‘outstanding’ rated mental health trust has been criticised by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) for ‘unsafe’ levels of staffing and inadequate monitoring of vulnerable patients. The CQC said an inpatient ward for adults with learning disabilities and autism run by Cumbria Northumberland Tyne and Wear Foundation Trust “wasn’t delivering safe care”, and some staff were “feeling unsafe due to continued short staffing”, following an unannounced inspection in February. The inspection into Rose Lodge, a 10-bed unit in South Tyneside, took place after the CQC received concerns about the service. Inspectors highlighted a high use of agency staff, with some shifts “falling below safe staffing levels”, which meant regular monitoring of patients with significant physical health issues “was not always taking place”. They said the trust had “implemented a robust action plan” following the inspection. The CQC did not issue a rating. The trust’s overall rating for wards for people with a learning disability remains as “good”, and its overall rating remains “outstanding”. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 8 July 2022
  20. News Article
    The controversial ‘SIM’ mental healthcare model sometimes ‘blurred’ the role of police with healthcare staff, according to results of local reviews seen by HSJ. Following a whirlwind of concerns last summer, national clinical director Professor Tim Kendall wrote to mental health trust medical directors urging them to review use of the controversial Serenity Integrated Mentoring (SIM) programme. Pressure to investigate the model, which has been used by at least 22 NHS trusts in recent years, came from patient groups and clinicians alike. One year on and results of local reviews, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, have revealed a varying picture of SIM’s use across English mental health trusts. Professor Kendall’s letters, seen by HSJ, asked trusts to investigate five key areas of concern. These included: a lack of patient reported outcomes; adherence to National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines on self-harm and personality disorders; the principle of police involvement in case management; the legal basis for sharing patient records; and human rights/equalities implications. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 7 July 2022
  21. News Article
    An 18-year-old woman suffering a mental health crisis was forced to wait eight-and-a-half days in A&E before getting a bed in a psychiatric hospital – believed to be the longest such wait seen in the NHS. Louise (not her real name) had to be looked after by the police and security guards and sleep in a chair and on a mattress of the floor in the A&E at St Helier hospital in Sutton, south London, because no bed was available in a mental health facility. She became increasingly “dejected, despairing and desperate” as her ordeal continued and, her mental health worsening while she waited, self-harmed by banging her head off a wall. She absconded twice because she did not know when she would finally start inpatient treatment. Louise arrived at St Helier on the evening of Thursday 16 June and did not get a bed in an NHS psychiatric unit until the early hours of Saturday 25 June, more than eight days later. She was diagnosed last year with emotionally unstable personality disorder and ADHD. The mental health charity Mind said it believed it to be the longest wait in A&E ever endured by someone experiencing a mental health crisis, and described it as “unacceptable, disgraceful and dangerous”. It called for urgent action to tackle the inadequacy of NHS mental health provision and bed numbers. “An eight-and-a-half day wait in A&E for a mental health bed is both unacceptable and disgraceful. Mind has never heard of a patient in crisis waiting this long to receive the care they need, and serious questions need to be raised as to how anyone – let alone an 18-year-old – was left to suffer for so long without the care she needs,” said Rheian Davies, the head of Mind’s legal unit. “This is dangerous for staff, who are not trained to give the acute care the patient needs, and dangerous for the patient, who needs that care immediately – not over a week later." Read full story Source: The Guardian, 4 July 2022
  22. News Article
    A coroner has said Britain is failing young people and more will die because of under-resourced mental health services, as she ruled that neglect led to the death of a 14-year-old girl. Penelope Schofield, the senior coroner for West Sussex, said she would write to the health secretary, Sajid Javid, to raise concerns after the case of Robyn Skilton, who killed herself after being let down by “gross failures” in NHS mental health services. Robyn, from Horsham in West Sussex, disappeared from her family home and took her own life in a park on 7 May last year, her inquest in Chichester heard. Despite serious concerns about her mental health, Robyn did not get face-to-face consultations, was not seen by a child psychiatrist or assessed for mental health issues, and was discharged from an NHS service a month before her suicide though she was on its high-risk “red list”. Her father, Alan Skilton, told the inquest he pleaded for help, and he described the lack of care his daughter received as “astonishing”. He said he believed that if Robyn had been seen earlier, her mental health would have improved and she would not have killed herself. The coroner said: “As a society we are failing young people.” She said she was shocked to hear that the number of young people seeking mental health help had increased by 95%. “Trying to manage it without more resources means we are not providing the help that young people need. Robyn’s case is a testament to that. It’s a clear risk that more lives will be lost if we don’t address it.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 29 June 2022
  23. News Article
    A hospital and one of its managers are facing a criminal investigation into the death of a vulnerable man who absconded by climbing a fence. An inquest concluded failings amounting to neglect contributed to the death of Matthew Caseby in 2020, after he fled from Birmingham's Priory Hospital Woodbourne and was hit by a train. The investigation will be carried out by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). Priory said it would co-operate fully "if enquiries are raised by the CQC". Mr Caseby, 23, climbed over a 2.3m-high (7ft 6in) courtyard fence on 7 September 2020. He was found dead the following day after being hit by a train near Birmingham's University station. The inquest in April heard other patients had previously climbed the fence and, despite concerns by members of staff, no action was taken to improve security in and around the courtyard until another patient absconded two months after Mr Caseby's death. Following the inquest, coroner Louise Hunt said she was concerned the fence and courtyard area may still not be safe and urged health chiefs to consider imposing minimum standards for perimeter fences at mental health units. She also criticised record-keeping and how risk assessments were carried out. Read full story Source: BBC News, 23 June 2022
  24. News Article
    Last year, Diana Berrent—the founder of Survivor Corps, a US Long COVID support group—asked the group’s members if they’d ever had thoughts of suicide since developing Long Covid. About 18% of people who responded said they had, a number much higher than the 4% of the general US adult population that has experienced recent suicidal thoughts. A few weeks ago, Berrent posed the same question to current members of her group. This time, of the nearly 200 people who responded, 45% said they’d contemplated suicide. While her poll was small and informal, the results point to a serious problem. “People are suffering in a way that I don’t think the general public understands,” Berrent says. “Not only are people mourning the life that they thought they were going to have, they are in excruciating pain with no answers.” Long Covid, a chronic condition that affects millions of Americans who’ve had COVID-19, often looks nothing like acute COVID-19. Sufferers report more than 200 symptoms affecting nearly every part of the body, including the neurologic, cardiovascular, respiratory, and gastrointestinal systems. The condition ranges in severity, but many so-called “long-haulers” are unable to work, go to school, or leave their homes with any sort of consistency. Long COVID can also be incredibly painful, and research has linked chronic physical pain to an increased risk of suicide. Nick Güthe has been trying to spread that message since his wife, Heidi Ferrer, died by suicide in 2021 after living with Long Covid symptoms for about a year. Among her most disruptive symptoms, Güthe says, were foot pain that prevented her from walking comfortably, tremors, and vibrating sensations in her chest that kept her from sleeping. “My wife didn’t kill herself because she was depressed,” Güthe says. “She killed herself because she was in excruciating physical pain.” Read full story Source: Time. 13 June 2022
  25. News Article
    Thousands of women in England with mental health problems are being given electric shock treatment despite concerns the therapy can cause irreparable brain damage. NHS data seen by The Independent reveals the scale of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) prescribed disproportionately to women, who make up two-thirds of patients receiving the treatment. Health professionals have warned the therapy can cause brain damage so severe recipients are unable to recognise family and friends or do basic maths. While some patients say the therapy profoundly helped them, leading mental charities have branded it “damaging” and “outdated” and called for its use to be halted pending an urgent review or banned entirely. Statistics obtained through Freedom of Information requests by Dr John Read, a professor at the University of East London and leading expert on ECT, showed 67% of 1,964 patients who received the treatment in 2019 were female. ECT was given to women twice as often as men across 20 NHS trusts in the UK, his research found. The trusts also said some 36% of their patients in 2019 underwent ECT without providing consent. A spokesperson added patients should be fully informed of the risks associated with ECT and the decision to deploy the treatment “should be made jointly with the person with depression as far as possible”. Read full story Source: The Independent, 19 June 2022
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