Veterans’ mental health: Referrals rise by 26%
Mental health referrals for ex-servicemen and women have increased by 26% in the last year, says a specialist mental health charity for veterans.
Combat Stress said referrals for ill mental health or post-traumatic stress disorder rose from 1,802 to 2,264.
It said an increase in veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan seeking help was the main reason for the rise.
Lil’ Chris’ family issue statement after Lowestoft death
Relatives of singer Lil’ Chris, who was found dead last week, said he had mental health issues and depression.
The 24-year-old, whose real name was Chris Hardman, was found in Lowestoft, Suffolk, on Monday.
A statement from his family said: “Chris had struggled with mental health issues and depression in recent years.
Coronation Street actor killed himself hours after finding out about his father’s death
Coronation Street actor Trevor Smith killed himself just hours after learning that his father had died, an inquest heard.
Police discovered the 42-year-old had been struggling with his stuttering career, stress and his sexuality in the months before he committed suicide.
Only a week before he threw himself into a lagoon at a disused quarry after self-harming at his home when he became overwhelmed by events in his life.
An undercover police operation that gathered evidence of child abuse by Cyril Smith and other public figures was scrapped shortly after the MP was arrested, BBC Newsnight has been told.
The Liberal MP, who died in 2010, was held during a 1980s probe into alleged sex parties with teenage boys in south London, a source told the programme.
He was allegedly released within hours of being taken to a police station.
The Met is looking into the handling of historical child sex abuse cases.
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.
The message is clear and members of the public, Unison members and members of MUN turned out on Valentines Day asking those who Love Manchester to tell Manchester City Councillors not to implement cuts to Manchester Mental Health Services already cut to the marrow as Manchester City Councillor Paul Andrews (Bagley) recently said: “These cuts are already down to the marrow.” MUN’s Chair Paul Reed in response said: ” This mean further killer cuts will mean the loss of lives and that’s something Manchester User’s Network is not prepared to allow, if this Council implements these killer cuts MUN would seek legal action against Manchester City Council.”
Greater Manchester Police has collaborated with Greater Manchester West Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (GMW ) to provide a training programme for staff that improves the understanding of mental health.
Researchers from The University of Manchester’s National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Homicide by People with Mental Illness investigated whether suicides were related to the way mental health services were organised based on staff and patient surveys, national databases and other records. Their report “Healthy Services and Safer Patients” is based on 13,960 patient suicides from 2004-12.
The lack of acute beds available to mental health patients has left the system at breaking point, the Royal College of Psychiatrists has said.
Illustrating the scale of the problem, the college said it understood that on one occasion last year there were no beds available for adults in England. It called for action to tackle the problem.
The college president, Simon Wessely, said: “There is mounting evidence – such as the doubling of the number of patients having to be sent out-of-area for care between 2011/12-2013/14 – that there are simply not enough mental health beds available in some areas.
An innovative mental health street triage service for Dorset is reducing the number of times police have to detain mental health sufferers in custody.
Nearly half the number of people detained under Section 136 in Dorset have ended up in custody in 2014, compared with the previous year. Figures show 44% less people were placed in custody during 2014 as there were in 2013 as a result of displaying a mental health condition.
