Archive: Public Health

UK 'not ready' for national health emergency

Serious question-marks about who would be in charge in the event of a national health emergency are hanging over the UK, MPs have warned.

Default 'yes' for planning proposals under pressure

MPs pour scorn on 'national citizen service' idea

Minister warns of cousin marriage birth defects

Opinion Former Articles

Rethink: People with mental health problems helped to hold health services to account

Wednesday, 10 October - Four leading mental health charities are launching a guide today to provide practical advice for people with mental health problems and their families, on how they can have their voices heard in the mental health system and hold services to account.

ESRC: A picture of health in schools

Feeling comfortable and confident in sport, health, or PE can be very difficult for some young people who can be seen as a 'risk' of becoming obese. Young people from ethnic minorities, especially girls, are more likely to be physically inactive and unhealthy.

IET: No strong evidence that mobiles or pylons harm your health

There continues to be no persuasive evidence that normal mobile phone use or adult exposure to pylons and power lines causes harmful health effects, such as cancer, according to Europe’s largest body of engineering and technology professionals.

New report shows scandalous lack of physical health support for people with schizophrenia, says Rethink

Nearly three quarters of people with schizophrenia are missing out on vital support for their physical health, according to the first ever national audit for people with severe mental illness.

The Political Week Online: Scrooges vs Scroungers?

BREAKING: Labour have a policy. A whole one. Not a mouldy one they've peeled out from the bottom pages of an old manifesto and shoved into the microwave, or an indignant criticism of a Conservative policy.

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UK's schizophrenia sufferers 'frightened and desperate'

Mental health continues to increase in prominence as an important issue for the NHS to cope with

Britain's psychotics and schizophrenia sufferers are frightened "far too much of the time" and need more support, an MP has said.

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Gove 'ignored independent advice' to back playing field sell-offs

School playing fields are especially sensitive after the Olympics

Ministers have been left red-faced after it emerged the government had got its figures wrong on the number of playing fields sold off under the coalition.

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Playing fields rule change anger after Olympics

School sports provision is coming in focus after the Olympics

The coalition's decision to abandon rules ensuring outdoor space per school pupil is coming under fire from campaigners after the Olympics.

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Comment: Without action, the obesity bill will just keep rising

Dr Matt Capehorn is the National Obesity Forum's clinical director

GPs must do more than monitor Britain's growing obesity problem.

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MPs demand booze guidelines rethink

Government alcohol guidelines should be revised to recommend two dry days every week, MPs have said.

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Comment: Taxing meat can solve our ballooning obesity crisis

Yvonne Bishop-Weston is a nutritionist who works with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals

Promoting plant-based eating would give us another possible chance at slimming down and enjoying good health.

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Comment: We've got to close the health gap

Andrew Harrop is general secretary of the Fabian Society

It looks like Labour's anti-poverty agenda before the crash was a heroic effort at running up a down escalator.

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MPs doubtful over public health commitment

In the balance? Public health plans questioned by MPs

Plans to create a new body overseeing public health in England will only succeed if the organisation is able to "speak truth unto power", MPs have said.

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Report documents 'persecution' of smokers

Smokers are a new persecuted minority, according to a new report by privacy campaigners.

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Lansley 'responsible for swine flu deaths'

Andrew Lansley is responsible for the increase in deaths from swine flu last winter, Labour has said.

Morning-after pill free in Welsh pharmacies

Wales has some of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the UK,

The morning-after pill will now be offered for free in pharmacies across Wales.

Children 'targets' of alcohol advertising

The bill has been modelled on the French 'loi evin'.

Proposed legislation ensuring that alcohol advertising should not be targeted at children has been backed by medical experts.

Govt 'must combat' spiralling food prices

The SDC recommended the government promote food production of fruits and vegetables in the UK.

The government has failed to lay out a plan to tackle spiralling food prices, a report has said.

Alcohol policy in disarray as health groups pull out on eve of report

The price of a pint? Cost was excluded from the deal.

The government's claims of having secured a deal with the alcohol industry were in disarray today after health groups pulled out.

Govt delays cigarette display ban on No Smoking Day

The government has delayed the implementation of a point-of-sale display ban but pushed ahead with plain packaging proposals.

Cold turkey: Drug addicts may face benefit sanctions

So-called 'legal highs' will face temporary bans

Drug addicts who refuse government support will face losing some of their benefits, under new government plans.

May bottles 24-hour licensing overhaul

24-hour licensing is here to stay - despite Theresa May's rhetoric

Theresa May's pledge to 'tear up' Labour's 24-hour drinking Licensing Act quickly unravelled today after it emerged pubs and clubs would still be able to open 24 hours a day.

Comment: Why we should end the sex education opt-out

Chris Bryant is Labour's MP for the Rhondda

It's difficult to be critical when there's a new baby in the family - but one of the toughest problems facing modern Britain remains the dramatically high figures for teenage pregnancy.

PM backs 'local' booze minimum pricing

Minimum pricing would only affect problem drinkers, campaigners say

David Cameron has indicated his support for local bans on cheap alcohol but refused to implement a national level policy, according to a report.

Milk U-turn 'reflects coalition chaos'

Free milk for under-fives will remain after No 10 intervention

Labour leadership contenders have jumped to criticise Downing Street's intervention on free milk for under-fives, after David Cameron quashed a junior minister's proposal yesterday.

Cloned meat eaten in UK

Experts say there is no evidence cloned meat is harmful

The meat of the offspring of a cloned cow was eaten in the UK last year, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) has warned.

Health inequality slumps to Great Depression levels

Poverty through the ages: Life expectancy might drop

The inequality in life expectancy in the UK is as bad as it was in the Great Depression, new research has found.

Parents who allow obesity 'guilty of neglect'

Checking the scales: Experts say consistent failure to tackle a child's obesity shoud trigger state intervention

Parents who consistently fail to address their child's obesity should be prepared for child protection officers to step in, medical experts have argued.