Volunteers could earn 'care credits' for helping others
People who volunteer to help the elderly or disabled could earn time credits which they could then redeem for their own care later in life.
30 Oct 2010
News
Disabled access to Wales' rail stations criticised
More than half of Wales' rail stations are not fully accessible to disabled people, according to a report. The Welsh assembly equality of opportunity committee issued the findings, highlighting "significant shortcomings", and calling for action. Arriva Trains Wales, which runs most of Wales' stations, said it was committed to improving access.
29 Oct 2010
Audit Commission says that many councils are slow on care budgets (Personal budgets)
Many councils are struggling with moves to give individual people their own budgets to spend on social care, a watchdog claims.
29 Oct 2010
Taste buds in lungs discovery could ease asthma
The discovery of "taste receptors" in the lungs rather than on the tongue could point the way to new medicines for asthma, it is suggested. Experiments in mice revealed that bombarding the receptors with bitter-tasting compounds helped open the airways, which could ease breathing. The University of Maryland study, published in Nature Medicine, may have implications for other lung diseases.
25 Oct 2010
Heavy smokers 'at increased risk of dementia'
Heavy smokers with a 40-a-day habit face a much higher risk of two common forms of dementia, a large study shows. The risk of Alzheimer's is more than doubled in people smoking at least two packs of cigarettes a day in their mid-life. The risk of vascular dementia, linked to problems in blood vessels supplying the brain, also rose significantly. The US study, looking at over 21,000 people's records, is published in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine.
25 Oct 2010
Spending Review: Care cuts 'may hit hospital beds'
Hospital beds in England may fill up with the elderly and vulnerable because of cuts to local authority social care funding, a top NHS figure has warned. The claim came from the head of the NHS Confederation, Nigel Edwards, in a letter to the Daily Telegraph. Mr Edwards said people who needed medical treatment may be denied a hospital bed as a result of the cuts.
25 Oct 2010