Health & Wellbeing

The British Dental Association has said new funds allocated to NHS dentistry represent much-needed progress but warned the time-limited package can only be the start when it comes to rebuilding the service and tackling an unprecedented backlog.

NHS England has today pledged an extra £50 million for dentists to provide additional urgent care for NHS patients. Funding will be available until the end of the NHS financial year at the end of March and will be paid on a sessional basis. 

An in-store scheme to help wilko customers recycle their masks has proved so successful that the home and garden retailer will further extend it until 2nd April 2022.

The scheme, which allows shoppers to drop off used, disposable face masks so that they can be recycled, will now be in place until Saturday 2nd April 2022 following a surge in customer demand. The service will remain in place at 149 participating stores nationwide, including stores in Barking and Dagenham for the first time.

In response to the latest figures on the exodus of dentists from the NHS, the British Dental Association (BDA) has underlined the need for urgent reform for a service that is in crisis long before COVID struck.
 
The union has said new figures – which suggest losses equivalent to 8% of the NHS workforce - are just the tip of the iceberg, with the pandemic merely speeding a process already in motion driven by years of underfunding and failed contracts. Since 2006 the profession has worked to a target based system dubbed unfit for purpose by the Health Select Committee.

Commenting on the latest Urgent and Emergency Care Daily Situation Report 2021-22 that shows nearly one third of patients who were in hospital for 21 days or more were fit for discharge, Dr Katherine Henderson, President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said:

“These data reflect the deepening social care crisis. We currently have the highest number of long stay patients (21 days or more) since winter 2017-18.

People in Wolverhampton are being encouraged to seek help and advice if they are feeling overwhelmed by financial issues or want support to look after their mental health and wellbeing.

The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in lots of changes to people’s lives, and help is available to individuals who may be struggling as a result.

People are being encouraged to seek support for their drug and alcohol addiction as part of a charity’s 2022 anti-stigma campaign.

The Kaleidoscope Plus Group launched its Drug and Alcohol Recovery Programme last year to offer support to people across Sandwell and is now aiming to help end the stigma attached to those struggling with their addictions.

The self-isolation period for people testing positive for Covid-19 has been reduced to a minimum of five full days.

The day symptoms begin or people test positive, either via a rapid (LFD) or PCR test, is classed as day zero. The next day is day one of the isolation period.

A keen motorcyclist has raised more than £500 for an NHS charity to say thanks for the care he received following heart surgery.

Peter Upton, 66, wanted to acknowledge the support from the Cardiac Rehabilitation team after he underwent an operation to fit five stents at City Hospital, Birmingham, run by Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust.

Samaritans volunteers will be at Birmingham New Street station today (Monday 17 January) as part of the charity’s Brew Monday campaign.

Network Rail is once again joining the effort to encourage passengers and railway staff to share a cuppa and a catch up with someone they care about.

We all want to be there for those in our life who are going through periods of loneliness, but new research from the Jo Cox Foundation (conducted by ICM Unlimited) shows that only a tiny minority of the British public (8%) correctly identify that young people are the most lonely in UK society.

Kicking off today on ‘Blue Monday’ (17 January) and running until 30 January, people across the UK will be starting conversations about loneliness with the Great Winter Get Together - the Jo Cox Foundation’s annual campaign to reduce the stigma associated with loneliness. In particular we’re reaching out to those who don’t fit with the stereotypical image of a lonely person, which for many is still an elderly person who lives alone.

Responding to the publication of NHS England quarterly and monthly performance figures, Dr Katherine Henderson, President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said: “The situation on the ground is extremely bleak. Staff are overwhelmed and burned out; it is increasingly challenging to provide timely and safe patient care.”

Dementia has become one of the most important health and care issues facing the world. In the UK, the number of people with dementia is estimated at around 850,000 and worldwide cases are set to triple by 2050. Recognising the arts as an alternative therapy, over the past three years Wolverhampton Grand Theatre has been leading the way for arts venues with its dementia-friendly services and for 2022 will further it’s provision, reaching more people than ever before thanks to a new partnership with leading Black Country-based water safety specialists Nant Limited.

India has begun giving booster doses of the Covid-19 vaccine to priority groups amid a surge in infections.

Health and frontline workers and people above 60 years old with comorbidities are currently eligible to take the jab. The drive began as India battles a spike in Covid cases fuelled by the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

Thousands of people in Wolverhampton are likely to be suffering from 'long Covid', according to latest data.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimates that 1.3 million people in  the UK – or around 2% of the population – are suffering from self-reported long Covid, with fatigue, loss of smell, shortness of breath and difficulty concentrating among the most common symptoms.

With more than a third of Brits (35 per cent) admitting they aren’t getting enough sunshine, sleep (29 per cent) and me-time (19 per cent), new research shows we really are a nation of ‘never enough’.

TUI commissioned a survey to find out the top 30 things Brits aren’t getting enough off. Over 2,000 Brits were approached to reveal that exercise and fun sit high on the top 30 list of things what we aren’t getting enough of, closely followed by a holiday (33 per cent) and laughter (19 per cent). 

A leading care home in Birmingham has been renamed by residents and team members following completion of its new management earlier this year. Metchley Manor, in Edgbaston, formerly known as Sunrise of Edgbaston, is now managed by Care UK, after the provider announced they will be taking over the management of seven Sunrise Senior Living UK and 19 Gracewell Healthcare’s homes in the UK.