Mental Health & Social Care Bulletin No. 415

Great Ormond Street Hospital has started trialling the new simple blood test for Down's Syndrome in preparation for it to be rolled out across the NHS. The shadow health secretary has promised mental health counselling on the NHS will be a right for everyone if Labour is returned to power. You can read these news stories and research in Bulletin 415.

Mental Health & Social Care Bulletin No. 414

There are still problems about the fate of people with learning disabilities post Winterbourne; there are concerns that the funding isn't coming through for community placements. There are also concerns about the fate of older people post the Orchard View care home scandal and the Quality Care commission will be conducting a serious case review on the agencies involved. You can read both these articles and research on all aspects of mental health in Bulletin No. 414.

Mental Health & Social Care Bulletin No. 410

Early due to leave, Bulletin No. 410 is packed; with large research sections on learning disabilities, depression and dementia and schizophrenia. Next post October 7th

Mental Health & Social Care Bulletin No. 407

In Bulletin 407 there is the usual array of research and news. The Health Secretary is urging employers to give working carers flexible hours.  He maintains keeping carers in employment is an economic necessity for the long term wellbeing of the UK economy. In the wake of Winterbourne, David Williams the head of the Ability Housing Association comes out against group living for the learning disabled 

Mental Health & Social Care Bulletin No. 405

In Bulletin No. 405 there is a mix of mental health and social care news this week. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has reported that the use of ritalin for ADHD has risen by 50% in the last years. Winterborne raises its head again, as the CQC states that noncompliance with putting managers in place in residential homes for the  learning disabled will result in action that could be either prosecution or closure.



Mental Health & Social Care Bulletin No. 403

The Winterbourne scandal has not left our conciousness; charities are warning that the initiative, post Winterbourne, to move learning disabled out of hospitals is excluding a great number of disabled.  In Bulletin No. 403 there are futher articles that cover the wide range of learning disabilities

Mental Health & Social Care Bulletin No. 396

In Bulletin No. 396 you can link to the news item which informs us about the new test for Down's Syndrome. Not only is it safer to perform, and more accurate, but it can also be carried out much earlier in pregnancy than the previous test. There is a research article in the learning disabilities section on the genetic background to Down's. Also in this section is research on autism, ADHD, and Fragile X syndrome.

Mental Health & Social Care Bulletin No. 385

In Bulletin No. 385 once again the main news topics are dementia and social care.and learning disabilities. Concern over care caps and the standards in care homes feature. The Alzheimer's Society has declared that too many dementia sufferers are placed in homes at too early a stage and a study has concluded that progress has been made in the reduction of prescribing antipsychotics to dementia sufferers. Another study has found that people who have learning disabilities have a significantly shorter life span and that they are still targets for hate crime.

Mental Health & Social Care Current Awareness Bulletin No. 381

In Bulletin No. 381, learning disabilities come to the fore: NICE has set up a consultation  until March 21st on its draft quality standard on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Meanwhile we are all being urged by Mencap to lobby our new Police and Crime Commisssioners to put an end to learning disabilty hate crime. Mencap is also concerned about the effect a reduction in housing options is having on people with learning disabilities.

Mental Health & Social Care Bulletin No. 371

There is much discussion amongst the various mental health charities in response to the 3rd review by Professor Malcolm Harrington of the government's Work Capacity Assessment. Rethink have continued to highlight the plight of mentally ill people trying to deal with the present system. You can read this report  in this bulletin, no. 371. Meanwhile the Quality Care Commission have produded their annual social care report

Mental Health & Social care Bulletin No. 369

Bulletin No. 369 has several reports again. There are two on learning disabilities; from the NHS Confederation and the Learning Disabilities Observatory. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation's report is on advocacy for dementia and there are further reports on liasion psychiatry and the mental health ward

More say for the Learning Disabled needed

Mencap has criticised the ability of health professionals to understand, due to a lack of adequate training, the Mental Capacity Act and to then apply it to people with profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD). As a direct result people with PMLD have too little involvement in the decision-making surrounding their care. After a three year collaboration with four other services Mencap have now published a guidance toolkit on their website: Involve Me

Read the full article

Highly educated autism clusters

A Californian study has linked autism to highly educated areas. Although is unclear why the link occurs, the research published in the journal Autism Research found that children of older parents who were highly educated were more likely to be autistic. Data of 2.5 million births during a five year period was analysed resulting in 10 clusters of autism.

Read the full article
Read the original abstract

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder college study begins

According to researchers at University of Rhode Island and Lehigh University, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is one of the most under researched conditions. To address this, a first-ever double blind placebo study will test the effectiveness of a drug on college students who suffer from ADHD.

Read the full article

MMR & autism statistics revisited

The latest statistics on the prevalance of autism in adults further dispels the theory of a link to the MMR immunisation of children. The NHS Information Centre data found that there would be a higher number of children compared to adults suffering if the vaccine had any influence.

Read the full article

The genetics of Down's Syndrome

American scientists, using mice have shed light on the causes of genetic conditions such as Down's Syndrome and pregnancy loss. The study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that a mutation of the Bub1 gene in an egg of a mouse was an factor in producing an abnormal number of chromosomes.

Read the article in depth
Read the original abstract

Eye tests for Down's Syndrome

The European Council for Optometry and Optics has advised that Down's Syndrome patients should have regular eye tests. New research published in Optometry and Vision Science has found that the structure of the eyes of people with Down's Syndrome differs significantly from people who do not have the syndrome.

Read the article in depth

Link between anti-epilepsy drug and IQ

Scientists at the University of Liverpool have published interim results of a study in the New England Journal of Medicine that suggest the anti-epilepsy drug has an effect on the IQ of children. Children aged three years and below, born to women who took the drug sodium valproate whilst pregnant, are likely to have an IQ which is lower than the average by six to nine points.

Read the article in depth

Epilepsy and Adults with Learning Disabilities

A study published in the journal Epilepsy & Behavior has investigated the psychosocial quality of life of adults with learning disabilities who also suffer from epilepsy. The researchers at the Welsh Centre for Learning Disabilities in Cardiff investigated how the mental health status affected the epilepsy management of these adults.

Follow this link to read the abstract of this study