Manchester healthcare staff to perform public play to end mental health stigma

A team of healthcare professionals are stepping into the spotlight to raise awareness of young people’s mental health and emotional wellbeing.

The staff from Healthy Minds will perform a play in Rochdale town centre on Saturday October 10 to break the stigma attached to mental health.

MUN Supported Appointment of New Mental Health Minister

Manchester User’s Network have long campaigned for the government creation of a dedicated minister for mental health . So last week we were tweeting Jeremy Corbyns to please create a minister for mental health as we desperately need one. Even if that’s just to sort out the terrible services, Service users are presently receiving in Manchester under a Manchester Labour Scrutiny Committee

Statement condemns the impact of welfare transformation and austerity on the lives of some of the most vulnerable communities in Britain

Statement condemns the impact of welfare transformation and austerity on the lives of some of the most vulnerable communities in Britain

Historic social work meeting agrees joint approach to safeguard and promote a valuable profession:

A meeting of UK social work organisations has agreed to campaign collectively to safeguard their valuable profession.

Mum to show art by son who starved after benefits slashed

NEWLY discovered artwork by a man who starved to death after his benefits were wrongly cut is to go on public display from tomorrow.

The works by Mark Wood were uncovered by his mother as she went through the task of clearing his house.

As she went through his belongings, Jill Gant discovered her son’s full collection of paintings, cartoons, writings and musical compositions.

Broadmoor nurse sold stories about killers to newspaper

A mental health nurse at Broadmoor high security hospital has admitted selling stories about patients to journalists.

Kenneth Hall, 49, from Bridgwater, Somerset, sold details about killers held at the hospital to the News Of The World and Mirror newspapers.

They included Robert Ashman, who attacked MP Nigel Jones and killed his assistant with a samurai sword in 2000.

Hall pleaded guilty to misconduct in public office at the Old Bailey and will be sentenced next month.

Our NHS is in early stage terminal decline

Our NHS is in early stage terminal decline
The NHS is in dire financial straits and this is beginning to undermine the health of our nation. Social care is at the heart of the problem we are facing in the NHS. Queues in A&E, delays in discharge, the lack of community services and joined-up care are due to the savage cuts in social care. NHS funding has dropped to only 7% of our national GDP – a level not seen since 2008.

Lessons to be learned from Caribbean treatment of mental health

With Caribbean people in the UK nine times more likely than white British counterparts to be diagnosed with schizophrenia, a University of Manchester mental health researcher has visited Jamaica and Barbados to find out what lessons can be learned.

Information watchdog to probe DWP’s secret reviews on benefit deaths

Information watchdog to probe DWP’s secret reviews on benefit deaths
The information watchdog is to investigate the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) over its refusal to publish secret reviews into 49 benefit-related deaths.

CHIC Seminar ‘Apps for Mental Health’

CHIC Seminar ‘Apps for Mental Health’
The next Connected Health Innovation Centre Seminar on “Apps for Mental Health” will take place on 16th April 2015.
John Ainsworth, Deputy Director of the Centre for Health Infomatics and the Health e-Research Centre, will present ‘Adventures in Connected Health: ClinTouch, CareLoop, Actissist and beyond.’ John’s research focuses on areas such as applying information technology to improve healthcare, harnessing computing technology to enable novel clincial research and the development of software as a diagnostic/ therapeutic medical device.

Mental health campaigner Becki Luscombe killed herself at psychiatric unit in Sparkhill

A mental health campaigner who convinced supermarkets to withdraw offensive Halloween ‘mental patient’ costumes from their stores killed herself at a psychiatric unit, an inquest has found.

Work by Rebecca Luscombe, known as Becki, went national in 2013 when she successfully started a Twitter campaign which resulted in the outfits being taken off supermarket shelves.