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. 402

There is a large section this week in Bulletin No. 402 on eating disorders. There is a new systematic review on the effect of motivation on treatment outcome. There were two articles on the parent equation in eating disorders; one focussing on the relationship with the therapist and the other examined the difference between parent-child reporting of symptom severity. Back at the Depatment of Health a consultation has been launched to help resolve the problem of a fair funding system for social care.

Mental Health & Social Care Bulletin No. 401

A new charity: MindFull, which provides online counselling to 11- 17 year olds, is urging schools to put mental health on the timetable. Their first report emphasises that not enough is being done to support teenage children. Meanwhile NHS Western Isles, at the other end of the age spectrum, is delivering dementia care via robots to sufferers in remote areas. Also on dementia in Bulletin 401 is the news that hospitals fail to make adequate tests on patients with dementia.

Mental Health & Social Care Bulletin No. 400

We are now 400, yes this bulletin is now in its 400th incarnation. NICE have issued their quality standard on self-harm.  There is new information from the government about plans for the delivery of social care and there is a report out on the data for homicide and suicides anong the mentally ill

Mental Health & Social Care Bulletin No. 399

An Alcohol Matrix has been developed to help commissioners and practitioners get easy access to research that will support them in their alcohol treatment services. The Substance Misuse Skills Consortium has been quoted as saying that this is a key resource. Bulletin 399 has access to this information and much much more, including news on social care provision.

Mental Health & Social Care Bulletin No. 398

Four watchdogs in England and Wales have joined forces to publish a report, A Criminal Use of Police Cells, which challenges the treatment mentally ill people receive when coming into contact with the judicial system.  Meanwhile the use of face-down restraint on mentally ill inpatients is being challenged. A large part of  Bulletin No. 389 comprises of news about social care: The Care Quality Commission is set to monitor death rates in care homes while Unison claims that two thirds of councils fund social care visits that only last 15 minutes.

Mental Health & Social Care Bulletin No. 397

Although various incarnations of "Books on Prescription", have been around for several years, a "new" scheme was launched last week. GP's will be able to "prescribe" books on depression and other mental health conditions which will be held in local libraries. Previously books on dementia and diabetes were made available this way. In Bulletin 397 there is a very large section on eating disorders this week, including a study on how the family dynamics impact on eating disorders.

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. 395

In Bulletin No. 395 you can link to the new statistical report from the Health Social Care Infromation Centre: Statistics on Alcohol: England, 2013. The bulletin also has a large section this week on various addictions.

Mental Health & Social Care Bulletin No. 394

The previous week was National Dementia Awareness and the Government launched its NHS Innovation Challenge Prize for Dementia,  inviting entries and the Care Minister wants all hospitals to become more dementia aware. NICE have published two new guidances: one on social anxiety disorder and another on the termination of loxapine inhalation for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.  All this and more in Bulletin No. 394