Friday, 3 April 2015

Care system gets 'biggest shake-up in 60 years'

Care system gets 'biggest shake-up in 60 years'

 England are being introduced in what is being dubbed the biggest shake-up for 60 years.
The Care Act 2014 includes rights for those receiving care and those who provide it to their loved ones.
It includes standards for access to services from care homes to help in the home for tasks such as washing and dressing.
Meanwhile, NHS and care budgets are being merged in Scotland.
The Public Bodies (Joint Working) Act has been described as the most substantial reform north of the border for a generation.
It effectively forces councils and the NHS to work together to provide more streamlined services.
That aim is also a major topic of debate in England in the election campaign with the Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrats, UKIP and Greens all having plans for greater integration.
But the changes coming into force in England on Wednesday apply only to the care system for older people and younger adults with disabilities.
Four major changes are being introduced:
  • The creation of national eligibility criteria establishing for the first time when someone should be entitled to help - to date, it has been up to councils to set their own criteria
  • A duty on councils to offer schemes by which those who need to pay for residential care can get a loan from their local council, which is then paid back from their estate after death
  • Giving carers for the first time the same right to assessment and support as the people they care for; before, they had to provide "substantial care on a regular basis" to get an assessment
  • Those who pay for care themselves will be entitled to go to councils to get advice and information about the care system.
To help protect people's assets, a cap on care costs they have to pay for - set at £72,000 for the over-65s - will kick in from April next year. How the cap works for younger people has still to be finalised.
Today's changes, however, still mark a major milestone in care services, which experts say have hardly changed since the current system was created along with the NHS after the Second World War.
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BBC Cost of Care project

Hands
The BBC has launched an online guide to the care system for the over-65s. The "care calculator" covers residential care and the support provided in people's own homes, for tasks such as washing and dressing.
Users can submit their postcode and find out how much each service costs where they live in the UK.
There is also a dedicated BBC Cost of Care website, with news stories, analysis and video.
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David Pearson, president of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, said the changes were "probably the most significant development" since 1948.
But he said there were still issues to resolve on the underfunding of the system. Unlike the NHS, the care system budget has been cut in real terms this Parliament.
Izzi Seccombe, leader of Warwickshire council, who chairs the Local Government Association's Wellbeing Board, agreed with both points.
"Councils simply cannot afford any more financial burdens when social care services are already chronically underfunded," she said.
Janet Morrison, of the charity Independent Age, said the Care Act had the "potential to revolutionise" services.
But she said: "With a rapidly ageing population, we need an honest debate during and after the election about the true costs of care."
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Friday, 27 March 2015

Office workers 'too sedentary'

  1. Office workers 'too sedentary'
  2. By James Gallagher
  3. Health editor, BBC News website

  1. comments

  3. Office workers
  4. Office workers need to get off their backsides and move around more, according to a new campaign.
  5. On Your Feet Britain says sitting for long periods at work is linked to a host of health problems, which are not undone by working out in the gym.
  6. It is calling on people to stand regularly, walk around more and embrace ideas such as standing meetings or standing desks.
  7. Experts described inactivity as "one of the biggest" challenges in health.
  8. Heart disease, type 2 diabetes, cancers and poor mental health have all been linked to sedentary behaviour.
  9. The effect is found even in people who class themselves as fit, such as those who cycle to work, if they also spend long periods of time sitting.
  10. Prolonged sitting is thought to slow the metabolism and affect the way the body controls sugar levels, blood pressure and the breakdown of fat.
  11. The campaign is a partnership between the group Get Britain Standing and the British Heart Foundation (BHF) charity.
  12. Their survey of 2,000 office workers suggested:
  1. 45% of women and 37% of men spend less than 30 minutes a day up on their feet at work
  2. More than half regularly eat their lunch at their desk
  3. 78% office workers felt they spent too much time sitting down
  4. Nearly two-thirds were worried sitting at work was having a negative impact on their health
  5. Gavin Bradley, from Get Britain Standing, told the BBC News website: "We're all victims of our environment, we've taken a lot of activity out of the workplace and we're sitting longer and longer.
  6. "We need new and innovative ways of addressing the issue.
  7. "Stand up when you're on the phone or in meetings, do everything you can to avoid sitting."
  8. Office inactivity
  9. 5.2lb(2.4kg)
  10. estimated amount of weight that can be lost by standing up for an extra 30 minutes a day for a year
  1. 37% of men spend less than 30 minutes a day up on their feet at work
  2. 45% of women spend less than 30 minutes a day up on their feet at work
  3. 50% regularly eat their lunch at their desk
  4. Source: Get Britain Standing and British Heart Foundation
  5. Getty Images
  6. Other ideas including using the stairs instead of a lift, eating lunch away from your desk, taking a break from your computer every 30 minutes and walking to a colleague's desk rather than phoning or emailing them.
  7. Get Britain Standing says standing burns an extra 50 calories per hour than being seated.
  8. Dr Mike Loosemore, head of exercise medicine at University College Hospital, told the BBC: "Inactivity and sedentary behaviour is one of the biggest challenges we have in public health today.
  9. "Compared with 100 years ago, our levels of activity are tiny, the number of manual jobs are continually reducing, even if you dig a road up you sit in a little tractor.
  10. "It's about changing attitudes to how people behave at work and changing the culture of the workplace that just means moving around at little bit more, even just standing up can make a big difference to calories burned and how alert, creative and productive you are."

  12. Office workers
  13. Lisa Young, project manager for the BHF's Health at Work programme, said: "We're all guilty of being too glued to our screens sometimes, but these results show just how far the couch potato culture has infiltrated the workplace.
  14. "Too many of us are tied to our desks at work, which could be increasing our risk of developing cardiovascular disease.
  15. "That's why we want workers to get up and get moving on 24 April and take a stand against cardiovascular disease.
  16. "A bit of healthy competition in the workplace could go a long way to reversing this trend whilst raising vital funds for our ground-breaking research."
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middle-aged men

Fit middle-aged men 'at lower risk for some cancers'
27 March 2015
     
  • From the section

Men in a keep-fit class
Even small changes in fitness levels could reduce the risk of developing cancer, the study suggested
Your health behaviours and your fitness earlier in life has an impact 20 or 30 years later - and that's what people don't realise.
Dr Susan Lakoski, University of Vermont
Treadmill test
Fit men cycling
Getting fit and staying fit are important early on in life - for men's overall health
Long-term impactBeing regularly physically active is great for your overall health and, as this study demonstrates, has benefits far beyond the health of your heart
Tom Stansfeld, Cancer Research UK
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Very fit men in their late 40s are less likely to get lung cancer and colorectal cancer than unfit men, a study in JAMA Oncology suggests.
Their high fitness levels also appear to increase their chances of surviving cancer if they are diagnosed later on.
University of Vermont researchers said even small improvements in fitness could help to reduce cancer risk.
Cancer Research UK said investigating links between men's fitness levels and cancer risk was a new approach.
Being physically active and eating a healthy, balanced diet are already known to be important factors in reducing people's risk of developing cancer and other diseases.
But study author Dr Susan Lakoski said it would be more beneficial to tell people how much they needed to improve their fitness in order to reduce their risk of cancer to acceptable levels.
This could come in the form of a personalised plan, which should start with measuring their cardio-respiratory fitness.
This study of 14,000 men aged between 46 and 50, in Texas, tested their cardio-respiratory fitness levels at the outset by making them run on a treadmill to the point of exhaustion.
After that, their fitness levels were regularly tested over an average of six and a half years between 1971 and 2009.
Between 1999 and 2009, 1,310 of the men had been diagnosed with prostate cancer, 200 with lung cancer and 181 with colorectal cancer.
The study found that the men with high levels of fitness in middle-age reduced their risk of lung cancer by 55% and their risk of colorectal cancer by 44%, compared with the men with low levels of fitness - those who took more than 12 minutes to run or walk a mile.
However, the study found that the fit men in middle age did not appear to reduce their risk of prostate cancer.
The authors said the exact reasons for this were unknown but men with high cardio-respiratory fitness may be better at looking after their health and therefore more likely to undergo screening for prostate cancer, making them more likely to be diagnosed.
Dr Lakoski said fitness prior to a cancer diagnosis was important.
"This preventative message starts earlier than you think, way before you develop cancer.
"Your health behaviours and your fitness earlier in life has an impact 20 or 30 years later - and that's what people don't realise."
In the study, she said as long as people were above the low-fitness category, they already had a lot of advantages.
Tom Stansfeld, health information officer at Cancer Research UK, said: "Investigating links between men's fitness levels and cancer risk, rather than just the amount of physical activity they do, is a new approach.
"The results reconfirm the benefit of physical activity in decreasing men's risk of bowel cancer.
"Interestingly, the study also found a positive effect of fitness on reducing lung cancer risk, but more research is needed to understand this potential link better."
He said other research in women had shown that increased levels of exercise could reduce the risk of breast and womb cancers.
He added: "Being regularly physically active is great for your overall health and, as this study demonstrates, has benefits far beyond the health of your heart."
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Saturday, 14 February 2015

Obese could lose benefits if they refuse treatment - PM

Obese could lose benefits if they refuse treatment - PM

Overweight man eating fast foodThere is no requirement for people with treatable health problems to get help under the current system

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People who cannot work because they are obese or have alcohol or drug problems could have their sickness benefits cut if they refuse treatment, the PM says.
David Cameron has launched a review of the current system, which he says fails to encourage people with long-term, treatable issues to get medical help.
Some 100,000 people with such conditions claim Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), the government says.
Labour said the policy would do nothing to help people to get off benefits.
Campaigners said it was "naive" to think overweight people did not want to change their lives.
There is currently no requirement for people with alcohol, drug or weight-related health problems to undertake treatment.
'A life of work'
Mr Cameron has asked Prof Dame Carol Black, an adviser to the Department of Health, to look at whether it would be appropriate to withhold benefits from those who are unwilling to accept help.
Announcing the proposal, he said: "Some [people] have drug or alcohol problems, but refuse treatment.
"In other cases people have problems with their weight that could be addressed - but instead a life on benefits rather than work becomes the choice.
"It is not fair to ask hardworking taxpayers to fund the benefits of people who refuse to accept the support and treatment that could help them get back to a life of work."
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Analysis
Bottles of alcohol
By political correspondent Alex Forsyth
David Cameron sees the wide-ranging welfare reforms introduced in this Parliament as part of a "moral mission".
He has said they give new hope to people who have been written off by helping them back to work.
He also knows taxpayers who fund the welfare state like policies which ensure benefits only go to those who need them.
So despite criticism of what some see as an increasingly punitive benefits regime, the Conservatives are floating a new suggestion - possible sanctions for those claimants who refuse help to overcome treatable conditions.
On the same day, during a speech in Wales, Labour's leader will pledge to continue his attack on tax avoidance.
So David Cameron runs the risk of being seen as someone wanting to crack down on some of society's most vulnerable, while Ed Miliband targets the wealthiest.
The truth is both party leaders are trying to persuade "hard-working families" that they're on their side.
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Similar proposals have been considered by the government before.
In 2010 and 2012 the Conservatives considered plans to remove or cut benefits for drug and alcohol addicts who refused treatment.
At the time the plans were met with concern by charities, who said there was no evidence benefit sanctions would help addicts engage with treatment.
Disabilities Minister Mark Harper said people who were overweight or had alcohol or drug problems needed treatment to get back to work
Dame Carol welcomed Saturday's announcement, saying: "These people, in addition to their long-term conditions and lifestyle issues, suffer the great disadvantage of not being engaged in the world of work, such an important feature of society."
And Minister for Disabled People Mark Harper told the BBC the right interventions could be "very successful".
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Case study
Terry Hogan, 45, from Ashton-under-Lyne, has been on incapacity benefit - before it became ESA - since 1992 and is also on a weight-management course.
He suffers from fibromyalgia, osteoarthritis, type-2 diabetes, depression, lymphoedema, cellulitis, and Klinefelter's Syndrome.
He said his illnesses had caused him to become more sedentary, which in turn led to him putting on weight.
"When I was well enough I did voluntary work," he told the BBC.
"In 2012 I became incapacitated to the point where everything I do leaves me tired and in pain.
"I don't think this review is helpful. If you're overweight on sickness benefits, forcing someone to lose weight and cutting benefits won't help the individual. There may be underlying causes to weight gain.
"I still walk on crutches, am in a lot of pain all of the time, and take a lot of painkillers. I do want to lose weight but it's not that simple."
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Susannah Gilbert, from obesity support group Big Matters, said the policy "wouldn't be feasible".
She said: "I think it's naive to think that people don't want to change their life. Many of them have tried every diet under the sun and they still have a weight problem, so to think they don't want to have help isn't true."
Not helping
Labour's shadow minister for disabled people, Kate Green MP, said the announcement did "nothing to help people off benefits and into work", adding: "David Cameron's government has stripped back funding for drug support programmes and their Work Programme has helped just 7% of people back to work, so it is clear the Tory plan isn't working."
The UK Independence Party also said it was "another example of the way that this government bullies those it has decided are beyond the pale".
Deputy chairman Suzanne Evans said: "The government obviously doesn't care about those with weight or addiction problems, it is just ideologically driven by its contempt for those on benefits and its need to get the benefits bill down at all costs."
ESA was introduced in 2008 to replace incapacity benefit and income support, paid because of an illness or disability.
It requires claimants to undertake a work capability assessment to see how much their illness or disability affects their ability to work.
Once a claim is accepted, those receiving ESA get up to £108.15 a week.
Some 60% of the 2.5 million people claiming ESA have been doing so for more than five years, government figures show.

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