There is financial help available if you can not work People who can not work due to ill-health or disability can be in line for help with living costs. The most commonly claimed benefits are Incapacity Benefit and Statutory Sick Pay. There are also a range of less claimed benefits available to smaller groups, such as those who can not work because of industrial injury.
Diabetes patients may soon be able to take a pill to control their condition instead of repeated injections. UK company Diabetology, with experts at Cardiff University, says it has solved a crucial problem with oral insulin. The capsule's special coating protects the drug from acids in the stomach, allowing it to pass into the small intestine where it is absorbed.
A decision by the government's health watchdog to deny Alzheimer's drugs to patients with mild-stage disease is being challenged at the High Court. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) ruled the medicines - donepezil, rivastigmine and galantamine - were not cost effective. But critics argue the decision process was flawed and did not take into account the benefits to carers. It is the first time a judicial review has been sought on a NICE decision.
War veterans will be able to go to the front of the queue for digital hearing aids on the NHS, say ministers. Half a million people are currently waiting for a hearing aid, with some having waited more than two years.
The chief executive of an organisation dedicated to ensuring disabled people do not have to face discrimination is to receive and CBE. Robert Niven heads the Disability Rights Commission which is about to be part of the newly created Commission for Equality and Human Rights. Mr Niven fights against any attempt to water down existing legislation.
The government will again try to push through powers to detain mentally ill people in England and Wales who have not committed crimes. The plans, to be debated in the Commons over the next two days, have faced opposition from mental health charities and opposition politicians.
