When is a promise not a promise? When it comes from Boris Johnson! Two of his promises have just collided. On 13th December 2019, he stood outside Downing St and promised to fix social care once and for all. He said his priority would be to crack on with it in his first 100 days.Continue reading We need a real social care plan, not just broken Boris promises
Just when you might have thought they’d secretly passed a law to ban it, we’ve finally seen the resignation of a government minister. Is it just a story about someone having an affair or does it say much more about this government? The former Health Secretary has enjoyed extraordinary power during his time in chargeContinue reading Kiss was tip of iceberg
Today I spoke to Homegroup Mental Health Carers Support Service as part of #CarersWeek to find out how the government can do more to support carers in the UK. Here is what I think…
Last August, I wrote about an army of women producing scrubs and face masks to address shortages during the pandemic. They’re still at it but the focus of their activities has now changed. At the height of the crisis, they supplied scrubs for hospitals and medical settings and made around 18,000 facemasks but ceased thatContinue reading I’m sew happy for our community heroes
It’s been a tough year for the NHS. More than 1,000 health workers have died through Covid-19 and the waiting lists are now longer than ever. Despite it all, the dedication of staff and their success in the vaccine roll-out has been magnificent. Boris Johnson promises more nurses, doctors and new hospitals, but with 4.7Continue reading Waiting list must be cut
SOME say there’s too much of the ‘nanny state’ in the lockdown arrangements but others argue that delayed responses have made things worse. I was left pondering this after I addressed a recent conference on children and young people’s mental health. There’s a great deal of focus on that issue these days but it wasn’tContinue reading Supporting people so vital in these toughest of times
WE’VE come a long way since Edward Jenner first inoculated a 13-year-old with vaccinia virus (cowpox), resulting in the first Smallpox vaccination, and almost 200 years later a global programme to eradicate the disease altogether. It’s sometimes easy to forget the awful suffering caused through conditions such as Polio, Rubella and Diphtheria before the discoveryContinue reading Anti-vaxxers are undermining the work of scientists in battling Covid
I really missed the veterans this Remembrance Sunday. The pandemic has robbed us all but none more so than elderly people with precious years left. It’s been especially cruel for those in care homes. Face-to-face visits were banned during the first lockdown. This time the government’s offering guidance which says visitors can meet residents inContinue reading Care homes need practical help, not costly gimmicks
Steve McCabe MP has urged the Health Secretary to Stop The Clock to safeguard fertility patients’ access to fertility treatments. Steve McCabe MP (Birmingham Selly Oak) has urged the Health Secretary to Stop The Clock to safeguard fertility patients’ access to fertility treatments. The Birmingham MP has tabled a Parliamentary Question to the Health SecretaryContinue reading Steve McCabe MP calls on government to Stop the Clock for fertility patients
This is National Care Leavers week. I don’t normally comment on ‘celebration’ weeks but this deserves our attention. There are about 2,000 children in care in Birmingham with around 250 leaving each year. Their profile has changed and few of them are orphans. They’re more likely to be children whose parents for various reasons, sometimesContinue reading Care leavers always in need of our support and protection
