Health & Wellbeing

The first new sickle-cell treatment in 20 years will help keep thousands of people out of hospital over the next three years, NHS England has said.

Sickle-cell disease is incurable and affects 15,000 people in the UK and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence said the hope of reducing health inequalities for Black people, who are predominantly affected and often have poorer health to start with, made the drug worth recommending.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) is deeply concerned that Department for Transport (DfT) figures released today show an increase in the number of fatal collisions involving cyclists and children, despite an overall reduction in the number of road deaths following a year of lockdowns.

The DfT published the Reported Road Casualties Great Britain 2020 which shows that last year 1,460 people were killed on our roads, which is a fall of 17 per cent compared with the figure in 2019.

Opportunity awaits for midwives at a West Midlands healthcare Trust which is holding a recruitment event at the Aston Villa ground. The jobs fair at Villa Park on Saturday October 9 will showcase roles across the maternity department at Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust.

Stoptober is back to launch its 10th mass quit attempt, calling on smokers in England to join the 2.3 million others who have made a quit attempt with the campaign since it launched a decade ago in 2012

Over 6 million adults in England still smoke, and it remains the leading cause of premature death, with almost 75,000 preventable deaths a year.

Birmingham’s acclaimed Bedlam Arts and Mental Health Festival, which aims to raise awareness of mental health and well-being through the importance of the arts, returns for its 5th edition running over ten days. The festival, performed in venues and spaces across the city, presents a diverse programme of world premieres, visual art and film, as well as powerful live performance through theatre, spoken word, dance, and music. 

The festival is organised by Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Midlands Arts Centre, Red Earth Collective and Sampad South Asian Arts in consultation with practitioners and those with lived experience of mental health problems. 

Leading provider of care and support services to vulnerable adults National Care Group has unveiled its brand-new academy and apprenticeship programme to help kickstart a career in care for the next generation. 

Introduced to pave the way for school leavers to train and develop, the National Care Group Academy and Support Worker Apprenticeship programme offers candidates the opportunity to learn on the job and gain care qualifications at the same time. 

With 12-15 year olds now being offered the Covid-19 vaccination specialist family lawyers are offering advice on consent, particularly when parents are separated and perhaps don’t agree on the issue.

Three million over 12s will now be offered the Pfizer jab which will be administered to them at school while scientists are also considering booster jabs for over 16s.

People in Birmingham and the Black Country are getting cycling, walking and other physical activity on prescription from their GP to improve both their physical and mental health thanks to a new social prescribing scheme.

Social prescribing aims to reduce health inequality and make active lifestyles more attractive to people by offering free-to-access cycling and walking activities, such as walking groups, free bikes and cycle training.

Fundraiser Louis Osbourne, is taking his father, Ozzy Osbourne’s, famous song quite literally, and taking part in the Barcelona Ironman competition to raise money to support University Hospitals Birmingham Charity and Acorns Children’s Hospice.

The charity Brain Tumour Support, which until the Covid-19 pandemic hit ran regular support groups in Birmingham wants everyone to join celebrities Joel Dommett and Hannah Cooper to bring a bit of sparkle into their day on October 1. While friends and family are important, many patients rely on help from Brain Tumour Support who provide free support and counselling either face to face, on-line or on the telephone.

The latest data shows that over 155,500 people in Wolverhampton have now had two doses of Covid-19 vaccine. Figures reveal that 326,451 doses of the life-saving vaccines have been administered across the city, with 170,860 people having had at least one dose and 155,591 people having two doses.

Suicide Prevention Month will come to a conclusion with a walk for hope next Thursday (30 September).

The Wolverhampton Hopewalk 2021 is an opportunity to spread the word that there is help and support available to people in the city who are feeling overwhelmed by life, are worried about someone else in that position, or who have been bereaved by suicide.

Many patients are being prescribed unnecessary and even harmful treatments, a report warns.

The review suggests one-tenth of items dispensed by primary care are inappropriate or could be changed, with around 15% of people taking five or more medicines a day - some are to deal with the side-effects of the others.

As the largest vaccine producer in the world, India’s health minister says that it is now resuming exports and of surplus coronavirus vaccines following a recent surge in infections in the country.

“India is commitment towards the world’s collective fight against COVID-19,” Mansukh Mandaviya said, “but vaccinating Indians will remain the government's top priority.”

The British Heart Foundation (BHF) has received an array of high value and rare items through its freepost donation service, helping to raise funds for life saving research.

The UK’s largest charity retailer was delighted to be sent treasures, ranging from incredible World War Two memorabilia, OMEGA watches and designer clothing, to electric guitars and the newest phones, cameras and gaming consoles.

In the last few years home workouts have become more prevalent than ever before, and it seems that even post-lockdown they are here to stay. But they don’t need to get boring.   

According to Global Data, 52% of the UK have been doing home workouts since the start of the pandemic in March 2020.