In Today's Papers

Glass of wine a day 'fights off dementia'
One alcoholic drink a day can delay the onset of dementia in older people with mild memory loss, a study has shown.
Source:- Daily Telegraph, Tuesday 22 May 2007, page 10

Thousands losing sight in NHS postcode lottery
Thousands of elderly people are losing their sight because of the postcode lottery for drugs to treat the leading causes of blindness. A survey of eye specialists found less than half are able to obtain treatments which have been shown to either stabilise or improve the eyesight of nine out of ten patients with wet age-related macular degeneration.

Source:- Daily Telegraph, Tuesday 22 May 2007, page 8

Tax credits fiasco
Gordon Brown is set to cancel out £5bn incorrectly given out in tax credits it was alleged last night. The figure, which is alleged to have built up over four years, has been incorrectly given out to families or illegally taken by fraudulent claimants. The sum has been calculated by the Liberal Democrats from official figures.
Source:- Daily Mail, Tuesday May 22 2007, page 6

Scottish news
 
Concern over plans to close two mental health wards
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde wants to close two wards for people with mental health problems at the Vale of Leven hospital in Alexandria, with patients sent to Glasgow instead.
Other overnight services for mental health patients in the Clyde area would also be centralised under the proposals.
The announcement came just days after the board recommended scaling back emergency health care at the Vale of Leven, a move that threatens up to 150 medical jobs.
Source:- The Herald, Tuesday 22 May 2007

Huge rise in calls for social work reports on offenders

The number of background reports sought for young offenders in Glasgow has doubled in just two years.
Social workers in the city were asked to draw up 1114 papers on some of the country's most troubled and troubling children in 2005-06. The figure, up from just 546 two years before, rose after a substantial increase in police action against child offenders in recent years.
Nationwide reporters sought a total of 6703 background reports in 2005-06, compared with 5635 two years before. That increase was just 19%, compared with Glasgow's 104%.
Source:- The Herald, Tuesday 22 May 2007

Mental health schemes set to lead way
Two projects on metal health devised by NHS Lothian have been chosen to help form the bones of a national campaign.
The initiatives were among seven schemes from around the country chosen to help improve national policy.
The organisation's rapid response and treatment service, which operates a 24-hour call-out system for patients in the Lothians was one of the projects selected.
Source:- The Scotsman, Tuesday 22 May 2007

Welsh news

No social care news today.