As you may be aware, Jon Rouse has left the Department of Health. This blog is therefore no longer active.
In this latest blog I want to highlight a new report from the Strategic Partners Programme for dementia, called ‘Dementia: equity and rights.’ The report seeks to demonstrate why there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach to dementia care …
You don’t need to be a medical professional, carer or social worker to know that badly maintained or inappropriate domestic environments can have a long term, detrimental impact on the mental and physical health of the occupants. The onset of …
Adaptation is an essential characteristic of evolution. Without it, survival becomes difficult when conditions change. It’s an analogy worth applying to Health and Wellbeing Boards (HWBs) who have demonstrated an ability to flex and redefine their role over three years …
The best campaigns – at least those intended for the benefit of the common good – are led, not from the top or some central point of governance, but by people on the ground. Last week, Lyn Romeo, our Chief …
To mark Young Carers Awareness Day, I recently blogged about the need to identify and do more for the many thousands of young carers in this country – and by young carers I was referring to children and young people …
Unpaid care: in the vast majority of cases, carers freely give their time and energy in the spirit of love and support for a friend or family member, and many rightly take pride in providing essential support for those close …
Whenever the word ‘strategy’ is used in the context of government policy or action, it’s perhaps not surprising for some to assume the emphasis is always on direction from the centre. I’m pleased to say that -- for the 2010 …
There are some actions which, once taken, can never be undone. Female genital mutilation is one such action – it changes everything. We owe it to survivors of this terrible practice to provide the best physical and psychological support we …
At the end of the second Hunger Games novel, the heroine, Katniss escapes from the arena with her fellow victor, Fennick. Unsurprisingly, given their experiences, they both suffer mental breakdowns. I am struck by how the author, Suzanne Collins, deals …
For expectant parents, there can be no greater trauma, mental or physical, than to lose a baby close to term or to experience complications during birth resulting in death or injury of mother or child. The 2011 Lancet stillbirth series …
