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May222019 by adminNo Comments
Whorlton Hall: Hospital ‘abused’ vulnerable adults

Whorlton Hall: Hospital ‘abused’ vulnerable adults

Health
Media playback is unsupported on your device The abuse and mistreatment of vulnerable adults at a specialist hospital has been uncovered by the BBC's Panorama programme.Undercover BBC filming shows staff intimidating, mocking and restraining patients with learning disabilities and autism at Whorlton Hall, County Durham.Experts said the culture was deviant at the privately-run NHS-funded unit with evidence of "psychological torture".A police investigation has been launched and 16 staff suspended.The 17-bed hospital is one of scores of such units in England that provide care for just below 2,300 adults with learning disabilities and autism.Many are detained under the Mental Health Act.Glynis Murphy, professor of clinical psychology and disabilit...
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May212019 by adminNo Comments
‘Broken’ care system for most vulnerable

‘Broken’ care system for most vulnerable

Health
Patients with mental health problems, autism and learning disabilities are being let down by a "broken" care system, a report warns.The Care Quality Commission (CQC) says it knows of at least 62 adults and children that have been living in segregation in mental health hospitals for long periods of time. Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who commissioned the work, said he was appalled by the distressing stories.He promised cases would be reviewed. Isolated, segregatedThe report presents the CQC's initial findings on the use of long-term segregation on mental health wards for children and young people and wards for people with a learning disability or autism. The CQC has so far visited and assessed the care of 39 people in segregation - most had a diagnosis of...
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May202019 by adminNo Comments
Heart scan ‘could pick up signs of sudden death risk’

Heart scan ‘could pick up signs of sudden death risk’

Health
Scientists say a new scan technique could identify people at risk of collapsing and dying suddenly from a hidden heart condition.Normally, in people with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, signs of structural changes in the heart can only be picked up after death.But University of Oxford researchers used microscopic imaging to spot the same patterns in living patients.The condition is the top cause of sudden cardiac death in young people.It is a common, inherited condition, affecting one in 500 people in the UK, which can be fatal in small numbers of people.Footballer Fabrice Muamba had a near-fatal cardiac arrest during a match while David Frost's son Miles died suddenly while jogging aged 31, for example.Yet many of those with hypert...
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