News digest: NHS bans ageism

NHS bans ageism: elderly patients must receive same attention as young
 
Ageism in the NHS, which turns elderly patients into second-class citizens, is to be outlawed.
Health secretary Andy Burnham says all patients – whether 20 or beyond 80 – deserve the same care and attention.

Read more on this story in The Daily Mail  

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Newborn baby of 23 stone mother and her six siblings taken into care ‘over obesity fears’
 
An obese couple’s seven children are all to be taken into care, it emerged today, after their newborn daughter was removed over fears she would become dangerously overweight.
Three children had already been removed by social services before the infant was taken from her mother within hours of her birth.
 
Read more on this story in The Daily Mail

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Full impact of recession yet to hit UK public sector, study claims
 
The full cost of the worst global downturn since the second world war has yet to hit Britain’s local and central government finances, new research reveals .
Analysis by data company Experian shows that the recession  – in terms of unemployment, debt, fraud and increasing demand for public services – will not hit some areas of the UK for another seven months and, in some places, will be felt for many years after growth resumes.

Read more on this story in The Guardian 

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One in four households trapped in fuel poverty
 
One in four families are struggling to afford heat and power, according to new figures which show the Government is losing the battle against “fuel poverty”.
The number of households in fuel poverty, where at least 10 per cent of income is spent on gas and electricity, rose by 15 per cent to 4 million in 2007, statistics from the Department for Energy and Climate Change showed. A projection for this year suggests there are 6.6 million British homes in fuel poverty, almost treble the number five years ago.

Read more on this story in The Independent  

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Population to rise at fastest rate since 1960s
 
The population of the United Kingdom is projected to grow at its fastest rate since the baby boom of the 1960s. The number of people is expected to rise by 10 million to 70 million, with immigration accounting for most of the increase.
As the population grows, better healthcare will mean millions more living longer, with the number of people aged 100 and over increasing sevenfold to 80,000, according to official figures published yesterday.

Read more on this story in The Times