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• Hospitals have been accused of failing to ensure that sufferers of Alzheimer’s Disease are getting enough food and drink. A report from the Alzheimer’s Society claims that up to half a million sufferers may be at risk of malnutrition and dehydration because of high levels of neglect. Called Food For Thought, the report includes results from a survey of 4,000 carers, and concludes that a third of people with dementia do not get enough to eat and drink in hospitals. Daily Mail, 3 July 2000.
• Evidence of staffing problems in mental health care is nothing new, but an authoritative report today warns starkly that if difficulties of recruitment and retention are not addressed "there is a danger that large sections of existing mental health services will not be sustainable". Guardian 12 July 2000The trio of reports documenting serious failings in the health service yesterday is not entirely bad news. It signals more openness in what has too long been a stealth service. Each report is alarming reading: a Carlisle hospital for elderly mentally-ill patients with "a shocking culture of cruelty"; a Welsh hospital where a man died after his one healthy kidney was removed; a heart unit in one of Britain's most famous hospitals, Oxford's John Radcliffe, "on its knees and riven by internal conflict". Even the BMA did not try to gloss over their seriousness. "Today's reports paint a picture of an NHS in trouble and under pressure," it said. "It could leave the public seriously concerned about the ability of the health service to deliver quality patient care, to learn from mistakes and to act swiftly when problems and concerns have been identified." Perverse though it may seem, yesterday's reports are an advance. Four years ago, five student nurses blew the whistle on Carlisle's unacceptable procedures including tying patients to commodes. There was an inquiry, but nothing happened. The students' complaints were "lost". Nothing emerged publicly. All that has changed. Even before yesterday's report, the trust chairman had been dismissed, the chief executive suspended pending disciplinary hearings, senior managers warned. Similarly, Oxford's warring heart surgeons only came to light because a senior clinical nurse complained. She suffered severe harassment and an unacceptable two-year wait, but she finally succeeded. What does emerge is that whistleblowers still need more protection; that hospital authorities need to move more quickly (10 months on in Wales the action plan is still not in place); and less obviously, that care needs to be taken in deploying the new health watchdog, the commission for health improvement. Using it in Wales made sense. It looked at wider issues than a single death. It might have made sense to use it in Oxford too, but that did not happen. But the CHI should not have been sent to Carlisle, where there had already been an external review. This was a diversion to deflect any political heat from ministers. The CHI is not a hit squad. It is a crucial monitoring unit, with a remit to visit every hospital and GP practice within the next four years. To raise standards, it needs their trust. Set up a separate hit squad if necessary, but the CHI's prime purpose must be protected. Guardian Leader 16 November 2000.
• About 1,300 suicides by psychiatric patients over the last five years could have been prevented by better NHS care, the government's mental health tsar said yesterday. Guardian 16 March 2001.
• Sarah Lawson's tragic death could have been avoided, believes health editor Sarah Boseley. How can we stop others slipping through the net? Guardian Unlimited Tuesday May 15, 2001
• GPs' crisis dossier charts timetable of misery with delays of up to six years for necessary hip and knee operations on the NHS Guardian Tuesday May 15, 2001
• On the outside.  .  Guardian Wednesday August 15, 2001
• Mental health: the basics David Batty Guardian Society Friday October 26, 2001
• Mental health: the issue explained David Batty Guardian Society Friday October 26, 2001
• Waiting and hoping Alison Benjamin Guardian Wednesday November 21, 2001
• The story of my disabled daughter's toilet seat Leah Wild on an everyday saga of NHS incompetence and council red tape.  Guardian Society Thursday March 7, 2002
• Care cost ruling sought from NHS ombudsman.  James Meikle, health correspondent Guardian Monday April 1, 2002
• 'Non-spin' mental health bill expected.  David Batty Guardian Monday June 24, 2002
• Green light for schizophrenia drugs.  James Meikle, health correspondent Guardian Friday June 7, 2002
• Care in the community failing, say Tories.  Guardian Tuesday June 25, 2002
• The case for compulsion.  Letters Friday June 28, 2002 The Guardian
• Mental health on the psychiatrists' couch.  Guardian letters Thursday August 1, 2002
• Mental patients given evening meal in afternoon.  James Meikle, health correspondent Wednesday October 2, 2002 The Guardian
• Blair accused of 'stigmatising' mentally ill.  David Batty Wednesday November 6, 2002
• 'Mistreatment of disabled children is routinely ignored'.  Anne McDowall is director of family services at the National Deaf Children's Society Monday December 2, 2002
• The government's health inspectorate began an investigation yesterday into allegations of persistent abuse of dementia patients at a south Manchester hospital.  John Carvel, social affairs editor Friday December 6, 2002 The Guardian
• Survivors seek unity.  Stronger ties can help ex-service users in mental health work  Adam James Wednesday December 11, 2002 The Guardian
• Patients with mental health problems could end up on the streets because councils are faced with diverting money into different services to avoid new government penalties. Sunday December 15, 2002 The Observer  
• Ministers have failed to deliver on their commitment to preventative mental health care, a leading health think tank claimed today. Adam James Thursday December 19, 2002
• GPs 'failing' mentally ill.  Guardian  Wednesday January 8, 2003
• Union leaders today called for an independent inquiry into allegations of serious sexual abuse of female patients at one of the UK's high security psychiatric hospitals. Thursday March 6, 2003
• Broadmoor's cover-up.  Another brave whistleblower suffers.  Leader Saturday March 8, 2003 The Guardian
• The former director of high security psychiatric services, Ray Rowden, says vulnerable women should never have been left open to attack in Broadmoor.  Wednesday March 12, 2003
• Call to combat ethnic inequalities in mental health system.  David Brindle Wednesday March 12, 2003 The Guardian
• A woman with learning disabilities helps get to the truth. David Batty Wednesday April 16, 2003 The Guardian
• NHS trust violated clients' human rights, say inspectors. Matt Weaver Wednesday April 16, 2003
• Care workers infringed the human rights of people with learning disabilities by locking them out of rooms and stopping them coming and going as they pleased, health inspectors said yesterday. The quality of life at one home was "seriously and unacceptably compromised" by measures taken to contain one person with complex needs, their report on services provided by Bedfordshire and Luton community NHS trust says. James Meikle Thursday April 17, 2003 The Guardian
• New electric shock advice weak, say experts. David Batty Friday May 2, 2003
• Phil Barker hopes new advice on the use of electroconvulsive treatment in psychiatry will lead to more responsible use of a 'dubious therapy'. Friday May 9, 2003
• At least 16 suicides of people who took the antidepressant Seroxat have gone unreported by their doctors in the past few years, it will be revealed this weekend, raising serious questions about the monitoring capabilities of the medicines regulator. Sarah Boseley, health editor Friday May 9, 2003 The Guardian
• Mind is critical of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency for failing in its duty fully to investigate the extent to which people experience side effects from Seroxat, including suicides that bereaved relatives believe are directly linked to the drug (GPs accused, May 9). Letter  Saturday May 10, 2003 The Guardian
• How Britain is losing the drugs war. Today, the Guardian launches the biggest investigation of the criminal justice system ever conducted by a British newspaper. Beginning a series which will run throughout the year, Nick Davies looks at the government's attempt to deal with the most prolific of offenders - the drug users who commit an estimated 7.5 million crimes a year. Thursday May 22, 2003 The Guardian
• For years, the Bristol needle exchange has been funded by the local NHS. Then Whitehall accountants decided to impose "special measures" on the new primary care trust because it had inherited debts from the old Avon health authority. Nick Davies Thursday May 22, 2003 The Guardian
• Britain's new drug policy in the dock. Leader Friday May 23, 2003 The Guardian
• Continuing our major investigation into the criminal justice system, Nick Davies exposes problems of prohibition which has seen the government accidentally encourage drug-related crime and distort its treatment strategy. Friday May 23, 2003 The Guardian
• A £3m advertising campaign warning parents and children about the dangers of drugs will be launched by the government today. Friday May 23, 2003
• The government's new £3m drugs education campaign was today condemned by a drugs charity for failing to provide any useful information to young people or their parents. David Batty Friday May 23, 2003
• A £3m advertising campaign that jokes about heroin and acknowledges the pleasurable effects of ecstasy was launched yesterday, in a bid to make the government's battle against illegal drugs more credible among young people. John Carvel, social affairs editor Saturday May 24, 2003 The Guardian
• Bureaucracy becomes a battleground. Letters Monday May 26, 2003 The Guardian
• Good order. Letters Monday May 26, 2003 The Guardian
• Drugs and alcohol: the issue explained. While the government has launched a welter of programmes on drug treatment, education and prevention, a strategy on tackling Britain's binge-drinking culture has been subject to countless delays, writes David Batty Thursday May 29, 2003
• Charity says mental illness costs £77bn a year. John Carvel, social affairs editor Wednesday June 4, 2003 The Guardian
• Measures introduced by Labour and Conservative governments to help carers of sick or disabled people are "not working", the main organisation representing carers says today. David Brindle Wednesday June 4, 2003 The Guardian
• Prozac killed my wife. Alastair Hay is an eminent toxicologist and well-known chemical weapons expert. So when his wife committed suicide, he used his specialist skills to try to find out why. Today, writes Sarah Boseley, he will tell an inquest what he believes happened. Wednesday June 4, 2003 The Guardian
• Prozac caused the wife of one of the UK's leading chemical weapons experts to kill herself, a psychiatrist and expert on antidepressant drugs told an inquest yesterday. Sarah Boseley, health editor Thursday June 5, 2003 The Guardian
• Coroner hedges on whether Prozac drove woman to suicide. Sarah Boseley, health editor Friday June 6, 2003 The Guardian
• The government is offering specialist help and funding to "community initiatives" aimed at fighting drug abuse, after progress made by projects where families, friends and ex-users have taken a lead. Martin Wainwright Monday June 9, 2003 The Guardian
• An unprecedented high-level warning will go out to doctors and patients today that Seroxat, the most commonly prescribed antidepressant in Britain, could cause young people under 18 to kill or harm themselves. Sarah Boseley, health editor Tuesday June 10, 2003 The Guardian
• Mood drug Seroxat banned for under-18s. Sarah Boseley, health editor Wednesday June 11, 2003 The Guardian
• Psychiatrists say the government should "hang its head in shame" over plans to extend powers of compulsory detention of mentally ill people beyond those already laid out in the draft mental health bill. Adam James Wednesday June 11, 2003 The Guardian
• Regulators have just banned the prescription of the antidepressant Seroxat to under-18s. Novelist Helen Walsh, who was suicidal during her time on the drug, knows why. Thursday June 12, 2003 The Guardian
• The government's strategy to improve mental health care is failing, with more than a quarter of people with severe psychiatric problems still being turned away from the NHS or social services, according to research published today. David Batty Monday June 23, 2003
• Thousands of people with severe mental illness are being turned away by their doctors when they seek help in a crisis, the charity Rethink said yesterday.  John Carvel, social affairs editor Tuesday June 24, 2003 The Guardian
• People who fear they will become mentally incapacitated would be able to appoint someone to ask doctors to stop life-sustaining treatment, under proposals published by the government today. Friday June 27, 2003
• The missing million. With a third of unemployed disabled people keen to return to work, the government needs to find a long-term strategy for reintegration. Kate Stanley Wednesday July 2, 2003 The Guardian
• People are becoming more fearful and intolerant of those with mental health problems, according to the Department of Health's three-yearly survey of public opinion. David Brindle Wednesday July 2, 2003 The Guardian
• Local authorities were yesterday ordered to repay £80m to mentally ill people who were charged for residential care that should have been free after they were released from compulsory stays in hospital. John Carvel, social affairs editor Thursday July 24, 2003 The Guardian
• The Alzheimer's Society welcomes the report (Council ordered to refund £80m care charges to mentally ill, July 24) into local authority funding of residential care for people with dementia. Letters Friday July 25, 2003 The Guardian
• A woman spent 10 years in hospital unnecessarily because of a series of failures on the part of her district council which should have found her suitable accommodation, the local government ombudsman ruled yesterday. Sarah Boseley, health editor Friday August 22, 2003 The Guardian
• A black woman who has to have a foot amputated was told she could only have a white artificial limb unless she was prepared to pay extra. Alexis Akwagyiram Monday August 25, 2003 The Guardian
• Raekha Prasad on a pioneering scheme that provides a dedicated nurse for disabled people admitted to hospital. Wednesday September 3, 2003 The Guardian
• The NHS and social services is failing to meet the needs of disabled children and their families, with vital support services often provided too late or not at all, according to the government's public spending watchdog.  David Batty Wednesday September 17, 2003
• Services for the mentally ill are facing a growing crisis across Britain due to soaring staffing costs and accelerating numbers of young patients. Jo Revill, health editor Sunday September 21, 2003 The Observer
• The government is today launching a root-and-branch overhaul of mental health services for ethnic minorities, after repeated criticism of standards in care and a series of high-profile scandals. David Brindle Friday October 17, 2003 The Guardian
• There is little dispute that black and minority ethnic people get a raw deal from mental health services, but exactly how raw is unclear. David Brindle Wednesday October 22, 2003 The Guardian
• The government's claim to be giving priority to improving mental health services is put in doubt today by research showing that they are not getting their fair share of NHS resources. John Carvel, social affairs editor Monday November 10, 2003 The Guardian
• The government's programme to modernise mental health services is failing in London, where the NHS admits too many people to psychiatric wards and treats too few in the community, a health thinktank warned last night. John Carvel, social affairs editor Tuesday November 18, 2003 The Guardian
• Mental health reforms will prompt staff crisis, warn NHS bosses. Tash Shifrin Wednesday November 19, 2003
• Proposals to reform mental health law to allow compulsory treatment and detention will create a massive legal log jam that could destabilise the whole mental health system and hugely exacerbate staff shortages. Wednesday November 19, 2003 The Guardian
• Hundreds of people with learning disabilities are stuck in Victorian asylums that ministers promised to close, a social care charity said last night. John Carvel, social affairs editor Thursday November 20, 2003 The Guardian  
• The community care minister, Stephen Ladyman, today admitted that the government would miss its target of providing all people with learning disabilities in asylums with a home of their own by next April. David Batty Wednesday November 26, 2003
• The government has shelved reform of mental health services from the Queen's speech for the second year running in the face of continued widespread opposition to its plans to widen the powers to compulsorily detain people for treatment. David Batty Wednesday November 26, 2003
• Chronic staff shortages in NHS mental health trusts in England and Wales are causing patients to be neglected and exposed to violence on the wards, government inspectors warned yesterday.  John Carvel, social affairs editor Thursday December 18, 2003 The Guardian
• People with dementia are receiving unequal drug treatment despite official guidance which was meant to end postcode prescribing, it was claimed last night. James Meikle Wednesday January 7, 2004 The Guardian
• Publication of a long-awaited report on the death of a black mental health patient at the hands of a group of nurses has been delayed after the victim's family accused the government of trying to bury its findings under other news events. Helene Mulholland Tuesday January 27, 2004 The Guardian
• A new NHS scheme is teaching patients how to help themselves.  Jude Maloney Wednesday February 11, 2004 The Guardian
• Psychiatric patient newly released from hospital in police custody after being discovered at scene of brutal killing. Rosie Cowan and John Carvel Thursday February 19, 2004 The Guardian
• The chief executive of Mind, the mental health charity, last night resigned from a high profile review of modern antidepressant drugs, accusing the British medicines regulatory body of negligence. Richard Brook had a unique position as a lay member of the expert working group on the class of antidepressants which includes Seroxat and Prozac. Sarah Boseley, health editor Saturday March 13, 2004 The Guardian
• It took the government's Committee on Safety of Medicines seven months to act on comprehensive evidence that a schizophrenia drug widely given to control the behaviour of elderly people in care homes could cause them to have a stroke. Sarah Boseley Saturday March 13, 2004 The Guardian
• GPs know they are overprescribing antidepressant drugs such as Prozac and Seroxat, but believe the lack of other forms of help for those suffering from mild depression and stress leaves them no choice, a survey reveals today. Sarah Boseley, health editor Tuesday March 30, 2004 The Guardian
• More disabled people would consider a role in public office - if there was a level playing field, writes Ben Furner.  Wednesday March 31, 2004 The Guardian
• Tomorrow sees the launch of the new Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI), and the Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection (Chai) as well as the first wave of foundation hospitals. But how many disabled board members are there on these and hundreds of other public bodies? Wednesday March 31, 2004 The Guardian
• The UK's psychiatric wards are chaotic, over-crowded and run-down, mental health charities warned in a report published today.  Debbie Andalo and agencies Wednesday April 7, 2004
• More than 50,000 people with long-term mental illness are being left to rot by the NHS because they do not qualify for emergency psychiatric care, the charity Rethink warned yesterday. It identified a "forgotten generation" of middle-aged patients who survive with an abysmal quality of life, often isolated in tower blocks or run-down estates. Many of the day centres providing them with support were closed over the past few years so that the government could divert resources into crisis intervention and services for younger people. John Carvel, social affairs editor Thursday April 15, 2004 The Guardian
• A woman being treated for severe depression led two teenage men in a triple suicide jump off cliffs in Devon after the psychiatric unit where they lived failed to act on danger signs, her husband told an inquest in Exeter yesterday. John Carvel, social affairs editor Tuesday April 20, 2004 The Guardian
• An NHS trust today admitted failing to ensure the health and safety of a severely disabled patient who died after being scalded in a bath.  Tynedale magistrates court heard that poor management of the hot water system at Prudhoe hospital, Northumberland, led to Catherine Hourie, 39, being taken to hospital with severe burns to her legs. Wednesday April 21, 2004
• Nurses are too quick to respond aggressively to violent patients, a conference heard.  Speakers accused mental health and learning disability nurses of using restraint against patients as the first resort.  Hélène Mulholland Thursday April 22, 2004
• Drug companies have deliberately suppressed evidence that many antidepressants are unsuitable or even dangerous for children, according to psychiatrists and child health experts. Researchers uncovered unpublished data about clinical trials of the most popular antidepressants on the market, known as selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs), which raise serious doubts about prescribing them to children. Friday April 23, 2004
• The prison service is facing a mental health crisis with rates of severe mental illness, such as schizophrenia, more than 10 times higher among male inmates than among the general population, ministers have been warned.  David Batty Wednesday May 5, 2004
• A major review of social work across Scotland was announced today with the publication of two damning reports into the care of a woman with learning disabilities who suffered serious sexual abuse over a 30-year period. The reports' recommendations were accepted by the minister for education and young people in Scotland, Peter Peacock, who said he would also introduce a bill aimed at improving measures to protect vulnerable adults.  Debbie Andalo Thursday May 6, 2004
• A five-year plan to tackle the stigma and discrimination faced by people with mental health problems was launched by health minister Rosie Winterton today. David Batty Wednesday June 23, 2004
• Drugs for Alzheimer's disease, which pharmaceutical companies and campaigners have lobbied the government to provide to large numbers of elderly patients with dementia across the country at a cost of over £39m a year, have little effect on their memory and do not stop the distressing deterioration of their lives, according to an important study published today. Sarah Boseley, health editor Friday June 25, 2004 The Guardian
• Stigma's days are numbered. The time is right to change attitudes and behaviour towards mental illness, says Louis Appleby, the government's mental health tsar. Friday July 16, 2004
• The number of mental health trusts to receive the poorest performance rating has more than doubled in the past year, according to an NHS watchdog. David Batty Wednesday July 21, 2004
• Private care for learning disabled people is a return to Victorian values, says David Brindle, public services editor Wednesday August 4, 2004 The Guardian
• Not enough is known about the side-effects of a new generation of drugs used to treat patients with schizophrenia, according to research published today. There is an urgent need to do more research on possible adverse side-effects of so-called "atypical" antipsychotics, which over the past decade have become the first choice treatment for schizophrenia, warned a report in the Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin (DTB). Wednesday August 4, 2004
• Mental health services are not in crisis: just ask the patients, says Louis Appleby, the government's mental health tsar. Wednesday August 11, 2004
• Anti-depressant's link to suicide. 'Warning signal' for Efexor, though maker says study does not allow for severity of in-patients' illness. John Carvel, social affairs editor Friday August 20, 2004 The Guardian
• A disturbing report into the state of Britain's psychiatric units will be published this week, showing that many patients feel threatened and unsafe in the very places where they are treated. The charity Mind is to publish a survey which suggests that a climate of fear and hostility exists on the wards, years after they were supposed to become more therapeutic environments. Jo Revill, health editor Sunday September 5, 2004 The Observer
• Over half the patients in psychiatric hospitals were threatened during their stay and 20% were physically assaulted, the mental health charity Mind reports today after a survey of conditions on the wards. It found that 51% of recent or current inpatients said they had been verbally or physically threatened, 18% were sexually harassed and 5% were sexually assaulted. The charity said it was particularly concerned that 23% of patients were accommodated on mixed sex wards, which the government had promised to abolish by 2002. John Carvel, social affairs editor Tuesday September 7, 2004 The Guardian
• Treating mental health patients in hospitals will soon be a thing of the past in north Merseyside. It's an ambitious plan - but can it work? William Little investigates. Wednesday September 8, 2004 The Guardian
• Rights and responsibilities in mental health. Letters Friday September 10, 2004 The Guardian
• Risk factor. Letters Saturday September 11, 2004 The Guardian
• The government last night pledged fundamental reform of children's mental health services after the Guardian published evidence of a sharp increase in emotional and behavioural problems among teenagers. John Carvel and Rebecca Smithers Tuesday September 14, 2004 The Guardian
• Nearly half of families with disabled children receive no support from the NHS or social services, according to research published today. Centre-right thinktank the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) found that 48% of families with disabled children received no help from outside the family and a further 30% received less than two hours support per week. Its report, People, Not Budgets: Valuing Disabled Children, concluded that the quality of care provided to Britain's 49,000 severely disabled children was "often extremely poor". Friday October 1, 2004
• The government is set to fail to meet its targets to improve mental health services, according to a report published today. The study by mental health charity Mind found that the NHS and social services had made poor progress in implementing six out of the seven standards laid down by the national service framework (NSF) for mental health. David Batty Thursday September 30, 2004
• An autistic man who was held informally in a psychiatric hospital without the safeguards for patients who are "sectioned" under the Mental Health Act, won damages yesterday for a breach of his human rights. In a judgment with big resource implications for the NHS, the European court of human rights ordered the UK government to pay £20,000 damages to the man, named only as HL. Clare Dyer, legal correspondent Wednesday October 6, 2004 The Guardian
• The gap years. Juliet Rix reports on attempts to build a vital bridge that will ensure a smooth transition between mental health services for young people and those for adults. Wednesday October 27, 2004 The Guardian
• People with learning disabilities are increasingly being cared for in large and remote private hospitals as local authorities fly in the face of government policy that they should be looked after in the community and near to their homes, a charity warned today. Mencap, which cares for people with learning disabilities, said it was crucial for organisations which commission services to be reminded that they should be provided locally and in the community - even if the individual has complex needs. The department of health has already published new guidance, backed by the Healthcare Commission, which reiterates the commissioning principals of care in the community. Debbie Andalo Thursday November 4, 2004  
• Mental health law must be reformed to ensure that people receive care and support at the earliest opportunity rather than only when they reach crisis point, MPs and peers heard today. The law must be changed to give patients the right to have a psychiatric assessment when they first experience mental ill health, according to mental health campaigners. The campaigners warned that the government's controversial draft mental health bill would lead to more resources being invested in secure mental health services at the expense of early intervention services - which could prevent people reaching the stage where they require compulsory treatment. David Batty Wednesday November 10, 2004
• Charities should be given a much broader role in delivering public services, says Stuart Etherington. Monday November 15, 2004
• The government says it is wrong for people to be shut away in long-stay hospitals. But private companies are now opening new ones. Wednesday November 24, 2004 The Guardian
• Hundreds of thousands of people with moderate depression or anxiety have been put on powerful anti-depressants unnecessarily, the country's most senior medical experts will warn tomorrow. Serious concerns about the overprescription of antidepressants such as Seroxat and Prozac will be spelled out by the two bodies regulating the safety and use of medicines in Britain. Jo Revill and Jamie Doward Sunday December 5, 2004 The Observer
• Scandal of society's misfits dumped in jail. Nick Davies Monday December 6, 2004 The Guardian
• Antidepressant pills 'too readily prescribed' . Medicines regulator decides there is no evidence drugs cause increased self harm but inquiry criticised for not seeing full trial data. Sarah Boseley, health editor Tuesday December 7, 2004 The Guardian
• Trapped in a cycle of self-harm and despair for want of a psychiatric bed. In the second part of his investigation into mentally disordered prisoners, Nick Davies tells the story of an inmate for whom life has become a constant nightmare. Tuesday December 7, 2004 The Guardian
• Four decades ago Enoch Powell, then health secretary, announced to wide acclaim the closure of Britain's grim Victorian mental hospitals. In fact it took a generation before the first asylum was finally closed in 1986, but then closures accelerated - even though funds for the community care that was supposed to replace them remained in short supply. Two decades on, when mental health is meant to be one of this government's top three priorities, there are still far from sufficient funds, as Nick Davies's powerful three-part series this week on the numbers of mentally ill people in prison has graphically documented. Leader Wednesday December 8, 2004 The Guardian
• A teenager with severe learning difficulties was heavily sedated, sometimes forcibly, and locked up in an adult psychiatric unit for 18 months because a local council failed to fund an appropriate place for him, the local government ombudsman said yesterday. Sandra Laville Thursday December 9, 2004 The Guardian
• The government looks set to miss its targets with regard to improving mental health services, campaigners warned today. Mental health charities doubt whether the seven standards laid down in the national service framework (NSF) for mental health will be fully implemented due to financial and staffing shortages. David Batty Monday December 20, 2004
• The government warned yesterday of a widening regional divide in mental health services, which means that millions of people in East Anglia and the north are being denied better care. Louis Appleby, the mental health tsar, said the mental health budget for England had increased by 22% in real terms over the past four years - well above average for the NHS. But some of the money had been spent by local managers on developing the wrong services, and some had been "swallowed up" to pay debts unrelated to mental health. John Carvel, social affairs editor Tuesday December 21, 2004 The Guardian
• The government will this week order the NHS to introduce comprehensive ethnic monitoring of all mental health patients in England after evidence of persistent racial discrimination against black and minority ethnic groups. Rosie Winterton, the health minister, will publish a long-delayed response to an official inquiry into the death of David "Rocky" Bennett, a 38-year-old Jamaican-born Rastafarian who died in a psychiatric ward in Norwich in 1998. The inquiry, under Sir John Blofeld, a retired high court judge, found in February last year that Mr Bennett was killed by being held face down on the floor for 28 minutes by at least four mental health nurses. John Carvel, social affairs editor Monday January 10, 2005 The Guardian
• The government today refused to accept that the NHS is "institutionally racist" despite admitting that people from ethnic minorities have long suffered discrimination and unfair treatment in mental health services. Health minister Rosie Winterton denied the charge of institutional racism as she launched a five-year strategy to reduce the discrimination and unfair treatment suffered by people from ethnic minorities with mental health problems. David Batty Tuesday January 11, 2005
• Race reform of NHS mental health services: reaction in quotes. A new blueprint for prevention of racism against people from ethnic minorities by NHS mental health services was welcomed by campaigners although they they are disappointed the government did not go further. Tuesday January 11, 2005
• Ministers committed the government yesterday to a five-year plan to halt racial discrimination in NHS mental health services in England, which was exposed last year by an inquiry into the death of David "Rocky" Bennett. Rosie Winterton, the health minister, said people from black and minority ethnic communities were less likely to come forward voluntarily for mental health treatment, more likely to stay longer as in-patients in psychiatric wards, and more likely to be prescribed medication or electro-convulsive therapy (ECT) instead of psychological treatment. Young black men were six times more likely than their white contemporaries to be sectioned under the Mental Health Act for compulsory treatment, although international studies showed they were not genetically more susceptible to serious mental illness. John Carvel, social affairs editor Wednesday January 12, 2005 The Guardian
• Overcrowded jails are struggling to cope with rising levels of severe mental illness, with nearly two suicides a week and epidemic levels of self-harm, the chief inspector of prisons warned today. David Batty Wednesday January 26, 2005
• No time limit on restraint. James Meikle February 23 2005
• The only drugs available to thousands of people suffering the distressing memory loss and other symptoms of Alzheimer's disease are being withdrawn from use for new NHS patients amid concerns about cost and effectiveness. The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice) last night reversed an earlier decision and recommended that NHS doctors should not prescribe three drugs - donepezil (Aricept), rivastigmine (Exelon) and galantamine (Rem-inyl) - to new patients with mild to moderate dementia. Sarah Boseley and Mark Gould Tuesday March 1, 2005 The Guardian
• Drug companies, doctors and patient groups yesterday attacked a government advisory body for recommending that the NHS stop using the only drugs available to treat Alzheimer's disease. Sarah Boseley, health editor Wednesday March 2, 2005 The Guardian
• Will Blair's pledge to disabled children be met? He still has a few options, says Francine Bates. Wednesday March 9, 2005 The Guardian
• Controversial plans to withdraw drugs for Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia from the NHS are to be blocked by government ministers amid growing political and public anger. Ministers acknowledged yesterday that there was widespread 'bafflement' at guidance from the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice) which said the drugs were not cost-effective and should not be freely available to patients on the NHS. Four different medications, given to more than 54,000 patients, cost £2.50 a day per person and are the only drugs licensed for the treatment of Alzheimer's. By delaying the onset of the worst symptoms of dementia, such as personality change and memory loss, they help thousands of patients to lead independent lives. Jo Revill, health editor Sunday March 13, 2005 The Observer
• We welcome the government's decision that anti-dementia drugs should continue to be available to National Health Service patients. The decision that the NHS will pay for proper treatment for those with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia is right. More important, it is a triumph for the open process which now governs decisions about drug-spending priorities in Britain. Leader Sunday March 13, 2005 The Observer
• The drugs do work. The big issue: Alzheimer treatment. Letters Sunday April 17, 2005 The Observer
• Long neglected, mental health might yet become the government's highest priority, says David Brindle.  Wednesday May 11, 2005 The Guardian
• James Bateman was five when he suddenly lost his hearing. Clare Longrigg on his family's struggle to cope with his disability. Tuesday May 24, 2005 The Guardian
• Two reports have highlighted the poor state of mental health inpatient services, plagued by violence, alcohol and drug abuse, compounded by staff shortages. John Carvel reports. Wednesday May 25, 2005 The Guardian
• The case of James Bateman (He'd gone deaf, G2, May 24) is sadly not unique. Many children are facing serious delays in receiving cochlear implants throughout the, country, with some NHS centres closing their doors due to funding, staffing and other restrictions. Wednesday May 25, 2005 The Guardian
• Mentally ill patients are being sedated with drugs due to critical staff shortages in psychiatric hospitals, according to research published today. Only a fifth of psychiatric wards in England offer patients psychological treatments, such as cognitive behaviour therapy, as well as medication due to a lack of psychiatrists and nurses, found charity the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health (SCMH). Wednesday May 25, 2005
• London will soon have the world's most accessible bus network, aiming to make life far simpler for people with a disability. Kaye McIntosh goes on a journey with a wheelchair user and her 'travel pal'.  Wednesday June 29, 2005 The Guardian
• Government advisers have delayed a decision on the use of drugs to combat Alzheimer's disease as a row intensifies over the way the NHS determines which treatments it can afford. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) has appealed for further evidence on whether particular patients benefit more than others before a giving verdict on a controversial review of their effectiveness. James Meikle, health correspondent Tuesday July 19, 2005 The Guardian
• Substantial reductions in the number of children suffering from mental disorders will not be seen for around 10 years, a mental health charity said today. The warning from the charity, Young Minds, came after government figures revealed that the prevalence of mental disorders among children and teenagers had not fallen between 1999 and 2004. David Batty and agencies Wednesday August 31, 2005
• Psychological therapy for alcoholics saves society five times as much as the treatment costs, according to research published today. Friday September 9, 2005
• Thousands of people are on prescriptions for anti-depression drugs such as Prozac because of a lack of therapists who could be much more effective in treating the condition. Richard Layard, the eminent professor and Labour peer, will say tomorrow that people suffering from depression are given little 'except a few minutes with the GP and some pills'. Anushka Asthana and Ned Temko Sunday September 11, 2005 The Observer
• Richard Layard calls for a network of 250 treatment centres to offer psychological therapy to the public. Wednesday September 14, 2005
• The concern highlighted in your article 'Call for more therapists to end Prozac nation (News, last week) is all too real. The NHS is overreliant on pharmacological approaches to depression and does not always make effective use of psychotherapy. Letters to the Editor Sunday September 18, 2005 The Observer
• Mental health services were "appalling" in the past and are still not good enough, the health secretary has admitted. Hélène Mulholland in Brighton Tuesday September 27, 2005
• Doctors were yesterday told to stop giving antidepressants to children and people under 18, because of the risks that the pills will make them feel suicidal. Sarah Boseley, health editor Wednesday September 28, 2005 The Guardian
• Nine out of 10 male prisoners have a mental disorder, the Zahid Mubarek inquiry was told today, on the last day of hearings. The Zito Trust, which campaigns for better care for mentally ill people, told the inquiry that "prisons have become psychiatric asylums by default". David Callaghan Wednesday October 5, 2005
• The government's health watchdog has ordered a national audit of services for 1.5m people with learning disabilities after inspectors unearthed evidence of abuse at a treatment centre in Cornwall. The Healthcare Commission said it found "significant failings" at Budock hospital near Falmouth in a unit for 14 patients with severe disabilities. It said there were also problems at some of the 45 houses around the county where 170 people with learning disabilities get NHS support with living requirements. John Carvel, social affairs editor Wednesday October 26, 2005 The Guardian
• Restraint methods prone to disaster. Mary O'Hara Wednesday October 26, 2005 The Guardian
• The government's health watchdog has ordered a national audit of services for 1.5m people with learning disabilities after inspectors unearthed evidence of abuse at a treatment centre in Cornwall. The Healthcare Commission said it found "significant failings" at Budock hospital near Falmouth in a unit for 14 patients with severe disabilities. It said there were also problems at some of the 45 houses around the county where 170 people with learning disabilities get NHS support with living requirements. John Carvel, social affairs editor Wednesday October 26, 2005 The Guardian
• Care for carers. Congratulations on Anushka Asthana's article on home carers (News, last week), highlighting the extremely difficult and vital role they play in our society. This is a stressful and heroic job, due to become even harder if state-funded support for carers is to be frozen. When it appears that we are approaching a period of national debate over the balance between taxes and spending, it is useful to be reminded of the human cost of cuts in public funding. In an area where support is already inadequate, local councils would be better focusing their efforts on delivery of care rather than penalising families that need more, not less, support. Matthew Kirk London SE16
      Anushka Asthana's searing report throws a sharp light on the government's current mantras for the NHS: choice and contestability. It believes that it can create more choice for patients by opening up NHS services to private providers. The result is that attention and resources are diverted largely to short-term conditions which can be treated quickly and profitably by the private sector. Severely damaged children and other difficult patients, and their carers, are offered no choice at all, and the meagre help they receive is cut even more. That is the kind of thing that happens - inevitably - when the NHS is driven by choice, rather than need. Richard Heller London SE1. Letters to the Editor Sunday November 13, 2005 The Observer
• The landmark closure of a hospital inpatient unit today suggests that the health regulator is getting to grips with the poor quality of services for people with a learning disability. The Harleston adolescent mental health unit, at St Luke's hospital in Norfolk, is to shut after an unannounced inspection by the Healthcare Commission uncovered a number of serious problems. It is the first forced closure of an independent provider by the commission. It follows an investigation by the commission in the summer into alleged abuse at the Cornwall Partnership NHS Trust, which found "significant failings" in the level of care of adults with learning disabilities at Budock hospital, near Falmouth.. The commission today launches a three-year strategy for improving the care of adults with learning disabilities across England. It incorporates a number of initiatives to improve care, including an audit of all inpatient care, an investigation of long-stay hospitals, and the appointment of regional "champions" to monitor services on an ongoing basis. Mary O'Hara Wednesday November 23, 2005 The Guardian
• When it comes to learning disability, there's nothing like the personal touch, says David Brindle. What's troubling local authority chiefs? Council tax? Trust schools? Talking to a group of senior managers the other day, the first answer, surprisingly, was learning disability. The costs of providing services for learning disabled people are going through the roof. More than six in 10 English authorities expected to bust their learning disability budgets last year, the total overspend representing almost half a projected £100m deficit on social services as a whole. And the sums involved are truly destabilising: one manager reported that a disabled person new to their area needed services costing £288,000 a year. Wednesday November 23, 2005 The Guardian
• Walking the happy talk. Therapy for all who need it on the NHS. A network of counselling centres for the depressed and anxious. Could the government be about to take mental health seriously? Mary O'Hara reports. Wednesday November 30, 2005 The Guardian
• A national network of NHS centres offering "talking therapy" for depression and anxiety, taking people off benefit and back into work, thus helping the economy and giving mental health service users what they have been asking for - it must make sense. But does it?  Letter Tuesday December 6, 2005 The Guardian
• Black people three times as likely to be in mental hospital.  · Survey exposes racial discrepancies in care.  Greater likelihood of being sectioned or secluded. John Carvel, social affairs editor Wednesday December 7, 2005 The Guardian
• Your prediction that the government is likely to back Lord (Richard) Layard's recent report advocating more psychological therapies for people with mental health problems may be right, but such an outcome would be flawed (Walking the happy talk, November 30). Letters Wednesday December 7, 2005 The Guardian
• A group of 27 consultant psychiatrists at Addenbrooke's hospital in Cambridge warned yesterday that the government's squeeze on NHS deficits will put patients at risk of suicide and may lead to violent attacks in the community. Criticising the decision by the health secretary, Patricia Hewitt, to crack down on deficits in the NHS, they said Cambridge and Peterborough mental health trust is being forced to make a £2m cut in services to bail out other NHS organisations. John Carvel, social affairs editor Thursday December 8, 2005 The Guardian
• Psychiatric wards should be closed down and replaced by hotel-style "sanctuaries" in the community where people with mental health problems can relax and get help during a crisis, according to research published today. Community health centres open 24 hours a day should also be provided as an alternative to family doctor services to provide people with mental health problems with the support and information to help them manage their own care and avoid relapse, according to the mental health charity Rethink.  David Batty Thursday December 8, 2005
• The decision by some NHS trusts to deny hip and knee replacement surgery to obese patients has been criticised by doctors. Last month it emerged that obese people would not be entitled to such surgery on the NHS in East Suffolk. The ruling came as part of a series of measures to be taken by the three primary care trusts in the area in an attempt to save money locally for the NHS. It is believed that the risks of operating on obese patients are higher and the treatment may be less effective, with replacement joints wearing out sooner. But Nicholas Finer, a consultant in obesity medicine at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, challenged claims that surgery could be withheld on the grounds of increased risks for obese people, saying no evidence supports withholding joint replacement from obese people. Friday December 16, 2005 6:58 AM
• NHS mental health crisis means "risky" patients are sent home. A Mental Health Act Commission report says that NHS psychiatry is in a state of "permanent crisis management." Three quarters of wards breach occupancy safety margins and more than half are overflowing. The number of NHS patients detained in private hospitals has risen from 700 to 2,300 since 1997, costing the NHS millions as each private bed costs up to £5,000 a week. The number of NHS beds fell by 20% between 1994 and 2001, to around 32,000. More people are being detained under the Mental Health Act - there are now 14,000, the highest number since the Act was passed in 1983. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  Daily Telegraph 11 January 2006
• Mental health watchdog warns that NHS patients in some private hospitals may be at risk of receiving substandard treatment. David Brindle Wednesday January 11, 2006 The Guardian
• Mental health issues of NHS frequent fliers.  Letter Wednesday February 15, 2006 The Guardian
• One of Britain's leading charities for people with severe learning disabilities has been accused of abusing some of the most vulnerable people under its care, The Observer can reveal. An employee of United Response, which runs more than 100 care homes across England looking after people with learning disabilities, turned whistle-blower to report on 'appalling' events he alleges he witnessed at the company's Gombards care home in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire. Two senior members of staff at the home have been suspended, although the company claims this is unrelated to accusations of abuse. Sunday February 19, 2006 The Observer
• Talking therapy. Paul Farmer, the new chief executive of Mind tells Mark Gould why the charity should become a mainstream provider of NHS services, why sport is high on his agenda, and why opposition to the mental health bill won't go away. Wednesday March 1, 2006 The Guardian
• 'I am sorry you had to find my body'. A mother whose daughter committed suicide believes mental health cuts meant she did not get the care she deserved. She said her daughter was told suddenly in the autumn that she no longer had a mental health disorder even though she still talked openly about her wish to end her life. She said: "They pushed to get her off their books because of the financial situation. I think that's why her psychiatrist told her she did not have a mental health disorder, because nothing had changed. Up until that point, she did get tremendous care and help. But they have been asked to cut down their expenses and Julie was an easy target." Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  Cambridge Evening News 6 March 2006
• Residential-based services for people with alcohol abuse problems could be an early casualty of the current review of the government's £1.7bn a year Supporting People (SP) programme, argues campaign group Alcohol Concern.  Mike George Wednesday March 8, 2006 The Guardian
• Spreading the burden of NHS cuts. Oxfordshire's mental health trust is having to make cuts to save £5.5m despite consistently balancing the books, to offset the deficit of the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals Trust. Warneford and Littlemore hospitals in Oxford are facing the prospect fewer beds; seven psychiatric consultants and seven junior doctor posts are to be shed - nearly a tenth of the trust's clinical staff; and a specialist A& E service for self-harm and suicide patients is under threat. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  BBC Online 30 March 2006
• Funding blow hits new ward. Patients with mental illnesses will not be able to receive treatment at a £6m unit in Weston-super-Mare because of a funding shortage to staff a new ward. Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership is building a new treatment centre in the grounds of Weston General Hospital. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Bristol Evening Post 3 April 2006
• Mental health faces £5m deficit. Job cuts are anticipated after Norfolk and Waveney Mental Health Partnership revealed an estimated £5.2m shortfall in its budget for 2006 to 2007. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  BBC Online 4 April 2006
• The mood of crisis in the NHS deepened yesterday with the announcement of 720 further job losses at a hospital trust in the Midlands and the resignation of a trust chief executive in the north-west, with a £475,000 payoff. Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS trust said it would have to shed 720 jobs over the next 12 months to balance the books after accumulating deficits worth £31.5m over several years. The staff affected will include nurses, doctors and administrative workers at hospitals in Worcester, Redditch and Kidderminster, where Labour lost a safe parliamentary seat in 2001 due to local protest at the downgrading of NHS facilities. The job losses bring the total announced by trusts in England over the past five weeks to more than 6,000. The toll this week included 160 jobs at Medway trust in Kent, 400 at Surrey and Sussex Healthcare trust and up to 300 at Royal United hospitals in Bath. Meanwhile Pennine Acute, the largest NHS trust in the north-west of England, with hospitals in Bury, north Manchester, Oldham and Rochdale, announced the early retirement of its chief executive, Chris Appleby, who was under pressure to go after a vote of no confidence from the trust's doctors last summer. An independent inquiry into the trust by Sir George Alberti, former president of the Royal College of Physicians, found a "lethal mixture" of suspect leadership styles and poor relations between doctors and managers. Other NHS developments included a report from the Audit Commission warning of serious concerns about the financial position of George Eliot hospital trust in Nuneaton. It had "deteriorated to such an extent that it cannot be managed simply through local measures", said the auditors, PricewaterhouseCoopers. And in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, NHS managers said a new multimillion-pound mental health ward may never be opened because there was not the money to run it. John Carvel and Les Reid Friday April 7, 2006 The Guardian
• Mental health unit facing closure. A mental health ward at St Albans City Hospital in Herts could be closed in a bid to cut its £1m annual running cost. Watford and Three Rivers PCT is holding a public consultation over plans to close the 22-bed St Julian's ward. The trust admitted that full psychiatric services would no longer be available for all patients who currently received them if the ward closed. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  BBC Online 7 April 2006
• Plea for adults with autistic disorders. Letters Friday April 14, 2006 The Guardian
• The Government is publishing a "major review" of mental health nursing with the aim of improving care for patients.  It will recommend that nurses use their skills to promote the importance of physical wellbeing and offer more psychological therapies.  Thursday April 20, 2006 9:28 AM
• Is this our reward? The quality of healthcare for people with multiple sclerosis (MS) and other long-term medical conditions may be about to suffer a setback due to the NHS financial crisis. As trusts look to cut costs, specialist nurses for a range of conditions are in the firing line. Partnerships with the voluntary sector are being reneged upon; posts are threatened with being "frozen"; nurses are working reduced hours or are spending part of their time on non-specialist duties. The MS Society, which has co-funded specialist posts to the tune of £4m on the understanding that their cost would be carried by NHS trusts after the first three years, is now being asked to step in with more funding to keep the posts in place. Many of the highly skilled nurses could be lost to the health service, setting back MS care by years. The National Council for Voluntary Organisations has warned that there are hundreds of other charities that may have to axe services. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  Guardian 19 April 2006
• Children with cancer and leukaemia are among the frontline victims of sweeping cuts being forced through to contain the health service's ballooning financial deficits, nurses' leaders warned last night. The elderly and those with mental health problems are also suffering, with the closure of beds in community hospitals and the reduction in numbers of specialist nurses needed to treat them. Nurses' leaders yesterday published a dossier of examples to back their claims and said their research disproved ministers' assertions that trusts are seeking to balance their books without any detriment to patient care. The warning came as Patricia Hewitt, the health secretary, came under widespread attack for claiming yesterday that the NHS had just enjoyed its "best year ever". In a speech to Unison's health conference in Gateshead today, Ms Hewitt is expected to offer a stark message that the NHS must "modernise or die". As part of a coordinated fightback she will say that, after the additional resources put into the service by Labour over the past few years, the NHS was now "back in business". Beverly Malone, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, roundly denounced Ms Hewitt, saying that if this was the best year for the NHS she dreaded to think what a worse one could be like. Drawing from RCN research, she gave examples of how patient care was being affected in second tier services for the vulnerable. Among the examples were:
  • Children with cancer and leukaemia in Taunton, Somerset, are no longer being treated by a community nurse because the local primary care trust withdrew funding it had promised to the cancer charity CLIC. The children now have to make long journeys for treatment, wrecking their chances of continuing a normal life in their own community.
  • Avon and Wiltshire mental health trust has cut the number of beds by more than 65 to less than 40. The frail and vulnerable have to go further afield for treatment.
  • In the Cotswolds, 80 community beds have been closed within the last three months to reduce deficits. A similar number have been lost in Felixstowe.
  • Ward closures in Skegness has led to patients having to travel 40 miles to Lincoln.
  • Minor injuries units are being closed and opening hours reduced.

  Dr Malone said: "NHS deficits are hitting patient services; to claim otherwise is simply wrong. These are real services for real people with real illnesses, and we have got to stop treating them as statistics on a balance sheet." Yesterday it emerged that Downing Street received a report from his delivery unit last week pointing out that prospects for reaching 11 of the government's 28 health targets by 2008 were poor. The Department of Health declined to name the 11 targets that received "red traffic lights", but it was understood they included public health objectives such as improved sexual health and reduced children's obesity. John Carvel and Tania Branigan Monday April 24, 2006 The Guardian

• NHS cuts put elderly in danger, say nurses. Patients are being put at risk by NHS cuts as hospitals try to reduce services that have less demanding government targets, the RCN has said. "Easy victims" in the NHS, such as care for the elderly and mentally ill, are bearing the brunt of job losses, bed closures and other service reductions because of the £700m deficit. New RCN figures show that more than 13,000 job losses have been announced by hospitals and health trusts over the past six months. At least one third of the lost jobs are expected to be nurses. A survey by the college of 660 hospital-based senior nurses revealed that almost half had seen redundancies or a reduction in nursing posts where they work. Nearly 60% of hospitals said that they did not have enough staff to give their patients the standards of care they would like. The RCN said vulnerable elderly patients were being moved frequently from bed to bed around hospitals as trusts struggled to find them specialist care, risking serious consequences for their health, as specialist beds for older adults recovering from falls, strokes and surgery are cut. Beverley Malone described the cuts as "kneejerk" and said that there was no strategy to cope with the repercussions for patients. Meanwhile Patricia Hewitt has admitted that the government is "not on track" to meet 11 of its 26 public health targets by 2008. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  Times 24 April 2006
• NHS deficits 'hit mental health'. Mental health services are being unfairly hit by the deficits problem gripping the NHS. According to the Tories over a half of the NHS trusts providing mental health services have had to close wards despite none of them running up a deficit. Shadow health minister Tim Loughton said 58% of trusts had had to close wards, while four out of five had introduced recruitment freezes. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  BBC Online 2 May 2006
• The politics column - Allyson Pollock. In the New Statesman's main political column, Allyson Pollock writes: "According to Patricia Hewitt the NHS has had its best year ever. So why is the Royal College of Nursing threatening industrial action over cuts and closures, and why did the annual conference of Unison, traditional Labour supporters, greet the secretary of state with heckling? In her words, "the NHS must modernise or die". So why, from Surrey to Manchester and from Gateshead to Shropshire, are local people banding into hospital action groups and "Keep our NHS public" campaigns in an effort to defend the health service ? The chief targets for cuts are mental health services, palliative care, older people's care and emergency hospital care, yet Hewitt maintains, to general derision, that quality will not be affected… Pay accounts for 60-70 per cent of NHS hospital budgets, but pay awards accounted for less than 30 per cent of the new money and should have been absorbed easily. Nor was greed involved; the increases returned NHS pay to previous levels after years of pay freezes. The hourly rate of the lowest-paid rose initially from £5.16 to £5.67 an hour; medical consultants got increases of 4-5 per cent a year, taking them to averages of between £75,000 and £95,000, while managers - their numbers swollen by the complications of marketisation - got 7.5 per cent more last year. The real reason for the decision to axe in excess of 13,000 clinical staff and 1,000 NHS beds, plus associated services, is market-oriented reforms such as "choose and book", "payment by results" and foundation hospitals. Hospitals and services are required to behave like stand-alone companies, competing with each other and private corporations for income and patients… The government plans to hand over most of the NHS budget to the private sector through "practice-based commissioning". Under this policy, local PCTs will eventually contract with for-profit companies such as the US-owned UnitedHealth Europe to provide GP services… The Prime Minister asserts that the reforms are bearing fruit, and so they are - for "investors" such as the lucky shareholders of Norfolk and Norwich and Bromley PFI hospitals, who received a windfall of more than £500m within months of the new hospitals opening. But the PFI has been less "fruitful" for local people, who have seen a quarter of beds closed and clinical staff and community provision cut. A large part of hospital trust deficits is due to PFI debts, running at £1.5bn a year… And then there are the costs associated with establishing and operating a market - costs the NHS was explicitly designed to avoid: these are for invoicing, marketing, advertising, drawing up hundreds of thousands of contracts, legal disputes with contractors and rival hospitals, and using management consultants… And though NHS hospitals remain responsible for balancing their books, the government has ensured that the only way they can do so is by cuts, closures, the sale of land and buildings - and more privatisation. Some foundation trusts are entering joint ventures with companies such as the Hospital Corporation of America, providing care to private patients in what were previously NHS beds. Others are charging NHS patients for "extra" care: Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea NHS hospital has introduced a fee of £4,000 for one-to-one midwife care - once the NHS standard - and the government is allowing it. The less fortunate hospitals - if that is the right word - are closing services and sacking staff. Is this what the English patient needs or wants ?" Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  New Statesman 2 May 2006
• Trusts Plan Thrown into Disarray. Cuts in mental health services by Stoke-on-Trent's two PCTs have scuppered the bid of North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare trust to become a foundation trust. Financial uncertainties mean the trust failed to be awarded foundation status by Monitor. While against foundation trusts in principle, leaders of Combined Healthcare's 2,500 staff have joined management in condemning the cuts to be imposed by North and South Stoke PCTs. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  Stoke Sentinel 4 May 2006
• £4m Budget cut for mental health care. Patients in Stoke-on-Trent face being denied some mental health services as the city's primary care trusts plan to slash £4m from their psychiatric services budgets. The figure represents a 10% reduction in funding and has wrecked North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare trust's bid for foundation status. Combined Healthcare is appealing to the PCTs for more time to avoid the cuts and possible redundancies. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  Stoke Sentinel 4 May 2006
• Mental health trusts get new status. The first three mental health foundation trusts have been launched following authorisation from regulator Monitor. From May 1, Oxleas Foundation Trust, South Essex Partnership Foundation Trust and South Staffordshire Healthcare Foundation Trust joined 32 acute foundations. The authorisation came a month late because of the complications surrounding the payments by results tariff. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  Public Finance 5 May 2006
• Britain's bestselling antidepressant, Seroxat, can cause adults as well as children to become suicidal, according to the manufacturer, GlaxoSmithKline. GSK, which for years denied there was a problem with the drug, has sent a letter to all doctors in Britain warning of the potential risk in some adult patients. The company has reanalysed data from the clinical trials of the drug and found that significantly more adults who were given Seroxat became suicidal than those given a placebo. Seroxat has been banned from use in children by the UK drug regulator for the same reason. The revelation came as the health secretary, Patricia Hewitt, declared the end of the "Prozac nation" yesterday, launching a programme to cut the numbers of patients on drugs such as Prozac and Seroxat and extend counselling to the thousands of people with mild to moderate depression and anxiety. Sarah Boseley, health editor Saturday May 13, 2006 The Guardian
• NHS deficits cast a long shadow. A report from Rethink, the mental health charity, concludes that mental health is being disproportionately hit by NHS belt-tightening in the wake of deficits estimated at around £700m. The report, A Cut Too Far, identifies £30m-worth of cuts in mental health services across England and suggests that further cuts are likely as trusts struggle to balance their books. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  Guardian 17 May 2006
• Mental health - the impossible save. The Mental Health Nurses Association has announced it is investigating the extent of cuts and service changes in mental health care across the UK. This comes amid growing concern that not only are PCTs targeting mental health services for cuts, but that the national service framework for mental health lacks the investment needed to carry out the outreach, early intervention and home treatment that is designed to counterbalance cuts elsewhere. Sophie Corlett, director of policy for mental health charity Mind, said: "Thousands of mental health service users are being affected by cuts in their services." She drew attention to health minister Rosie Winton's admission that 11 out of 84 mental health trusts in England are being forced to make cuts at a time when "community services are already stretched to breaking point." Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  Health Service Journal 25 May 2006
• Scrutiny committee overruled. A health scrutiny committee has complained to the health secretary after a mental health ward was closed despite its objections. In May, Hertfordshire's health scrutiny committee referred planned changes to mental health and learning disability changes to Patricia Hewitt. There was concern that the 5 per cent cuts Hertfordshire Partnership trust was planning - under pressure from primary care trusts - would affect patients. Since then the closure of St Julian's ward in St Albans has gone ahead. The trust says it had made interim changes to prepare for a ward closure, which included reducing the number of patients and staff. It then made the decision to close the ward because the ability to provide a safe and therapeutic environment had been affected. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  Health Service Journal 15 June 2006
• The market state approach to mental illness. Letters Saturday June 17, 2006 The Guardian
• Leading academics will call for a substantial increase in the amount of psychotherapy provided by the health service in a report out tomorrow, warning that only a quarter of the people suffering from depression or chronic anxiety are receiving any treatment at all. A course of cognitive behavioural therapy, a technique which enables people to find ways of tackling their depression and thinking more positively, costs £750 and would pay for itself in money saved on incapacity benefits and lost tax receipts, according to the authors of the Depression Report, produced by a group from the London School of Economics. Jo Revill, health editor Sunday June 18, 2006 The Observer
• Psychological therapy should be offered to every person in the country with depression, anxiety or schizophrenia, says a report from an influential group of health professionals published today. Only one in four people with these common mental illnesses receives any treatment, and often they are given drugs, says the mental health policy group of the centre for economic performance at the London School of Economics. Yet the government's advisory body, the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice), says psychological therapies work best. Sarah Boseley, health editor Monday June 19, 2006 The Guardian
• Positive thinking. Leader Monday June 19, 2006 The Guardian
• Mental health savings not enough. A myriad of proposed small-scale cost saving exercises has not been enough to avoid cuts to frontline services at Norfolk and Waveney Mental Health Partnership. Plans to cut the number of hot meals offered, make patients pay for newspapers and haircuts, and an end to free parking will not be enough to avert cuts to clinical services as the trust attempts to recoup a shortfall of more than £4.6m. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Eastern Daily Press 20 June 2006
• Are mental health drop-in centres, where the public discuss their psychological problems with professionals, the solution to tackling Britain's rising tide of misery, as this week's Layard report says? Mark Gould reports. Wednesday June 21, 2006 The Guardian
• Talking up the benefits of therapy. Letters Wednesday June 21, 2006 The Guardian
• Mental health treatment 'needs more cash'. Terry Rooney, a senior backbench MP, has cast doubt on the private and voluntary sector's ability to deliver the improved access to mental health services demanded by leading academics this week. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of  Public Finance 23 June 2006
• NHS staff persistently abused a blind and deaf man with a low IQ by tying him up for 16 hours a day, government inspectors revealed today in a damning report on services for people with learning disabilities. Carers employed by the Cornwall Partnership NHS trust bound his arms together with cloth bandages and fastened them to his bed or wheelchair, to stop him slapping himself in the face. The prolonged use of restraint was illegal, the Healthcare Commission and Commission for Social Care Inspection said. John Carvel, social affairs editor Wednesday July 5, 2006 The Guardian
• Horror stories.  Investigations at institutions in Cornwall for people with learning disabilities have revealed appalling levels of abuse. Alison Benjamin investigates how this was allowed to happen and what is being done to stop it. Full text: Healthcare Commission report (pdf). Wednesday July 5, 2006 The Guardian
• Carers' pledge to fight bed cuts. Plans to cut the number of mental health care beds in Nottinghamshire will be opposed, campaigners have said. Rushcliffe PCT wants to cut the number of mental health and rehabilitation beds from 217 to 141. Relatives have said moving elderly patients with dementia from Lings Bar Hospital in Gamston to Highbury Vale in Bulwell would cause distress. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of BBC Online 5 July 2006
• It is disturbing that widespread abuse of people with learning disabilities was allowed to continue for so long in Cornwall. But, it was not just care staff and managers who failed these vulnerable adults. The Strategic Health Authority in Cornwall did not hold the primary care trusts accountable, and the NHS collectively failed to act on the abuse that was taking place.  Letters Friday July 7, 2006 The Guardian
• Protest at city health cutbacks. Around 300 health workers and patients marched from Leicester city centre to the constituency office of Health Secretary and Leicester West MP Patricia Hewitt to protest against the area's health cuts. Leicester's three hospitals are facing millions in deficits with Union leaders expressing fears that it will affect services. Plans to close a 21-bed specialist mental health unit in Narborough have already been announced. Unison steward Tom Smith said: We're angry because services are being closed and Patricia Hewitt is replacing them with false promises. Hands off our services!" Summary by Keep our NHS Public of BBC Online 10 July 2006
• Mental health unit faces closure. Patients and their families in Devon have said they are upset over proposals to close a unit for people with severe and long-term mental illness. They said the rehabilitation service at Watcombe Hall in Torquay offered a calm haven that aided recovery. The Devon Partnership Trust will decide next week whether to close the unit to cut costs. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of BBC Online 19 July 2006
• Cash diverted from mental health. Health Minister Rosie Winterton said there was "no evidence" mental health trusts were being affected by the current funding problems. Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health sent surveys to the finance directors of all 76 NHS mental health trusts in England, 32 of which replied. They found the vast majority of the trusts had managed to keep within their budget limits for the period 2005-2006, but three-quarters had had to take special measures, such as recruitment freezes, to achieve this. 83% said the reductions were being sought to deal with the wider heath economy, particularly PCT deficits. 68% of finance directors also said Payment by Results was diverting money away from their trusts. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of BBC Online 20 July 2006
• The devastating shortfall in care for young people with mental health problems is revealed today in a leaked government document showing that thousands of families are being left without the support they need. A letter sent from the Department of Health to senior NHS officials shows that the government will fail to meet its three key targets for children and young people's access to psychiatric care by its deadline of December. Jo Revill, health editor Sunday July 23, 2006 Observer
• Some of the poorest areas of London with the worst health problems are to bear the brunt of a fresh round of spending cuts imposed by the new NHS chief executive, David Nicholson, to try to drag the service out of the red. Health budgets for east London are being slashed in a further wave of savings designed to meet a persisting £70m shortfall in NHS funding in the capital. Tower Hamlets is to lose £2.4m, Newham £2.5m, and City and Hackney £4.4m. Further east, Barking and Dagenham must hand back as much as £6.7m. In another controversial part of the cuts package, all London NHS trusts that provide services and which balanced their books last year must forfeit any surplus they carried forward. Half of the 16 trusts affected are mental health providers, which together must surrender £14.4m, cash they saved and were reinvesting. David Brindle Monday August 7, 2006 The Guardian
• NHS user worry over cuts. Plans to close one in five beds across Cheshire and Wirral NHS mental health trust have raised concern from locals. Colin Creagh, chairman of the Chester branch of MIND, is concerned that, in the process of making 2.5% (or £2.1million) of efficiency cuts required by the government, patient care will be hit. The trust prefers closing unused beds to cutting community services but Mr Creagh is particularly concerned that "people in the community with mental health problems have not a chance of getting anything". Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Cheshire Chronicle 7 August 2006
• Health Staff "sick" at cuts. Health workers, pensioners and trade unionists protested against NHS cuts across Oxfordshire on Saturday outside the half-built East Oxford Medical Centre on Manzil Gardens in Oxford. They were objecting to 600 job cuts planned by Oxford Radcliffe Hospital NHS Trust as it tries to find £33m in savings. Dr Helen Groom, spokesmen for the Oxfordshire branch of Keep Our NHS Public, said that patients were already feeling the effect of cuts. She said: "Cuts in mental health mean the day hospitals, which people did not have to pay for, have turned into day centres, which patients have to pay to go to…The cuts mean there will be 700 less outpatient clinics at the Oxford Radcliffe, which will mean patients will wait longer for treatment". The protesters explained their choice of location by saying that PFI deals, like the East Oxford Health Centre, were placing strain upon the NHS that was contributing to cuts. Dr Groom said: "The Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals Trust have to make £33m of cuts this year. By the time we get to 2008 they will be paying £36m each year to private finance companies. Our worry is that the government s handing over little parts of the health service to the private sector. We feel it is wrong that tax payers' money is no longer staying in the NHS and is instead going into the pockets of private investors." Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Oxford Mail 7 August 2006
• The radar is blinking but who's watching? The government appears to be ignoring warnings about cuts to mental health services. The government has dismissed out of hand two reports - one from the mental health charity Rethink and another from the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health (SCMH) - and claimed that there is "no evidence" that mental health services are being disproportionately affected by deficits. But a leaked letter dated July 27 and written by the new NHS chief executive, David Nicholson, while still head of the strategic health authority of London outlines swingeing cuts to mental health trusts across the capital, and singles out eight mental health trusts in London required to make substantial savings. One trust, the East London and the City mental health trust, will have to find a total of £5.1m. Proportionally, mental health stands to lose more than three times as much as the acute sector. A spokesman for SCMH says these latest cuts reinforce the grim pattern its research has identified across England. It's report concluded that mental health is vulnerable "to the vicissitudes of the local health economy" and to national policies such as payment by results. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Guardian 9 August 2006
• Patient care 'hit by spending lottery'. A report by the King's Fund has highlighted "serious questions" about the postcode lottery of health care in England. Even when the socio- economic needs of local people are taken into account, there is still wide variation in primary care trust (PCT) spending on mental health, cancer and circulatory problems. For example, after adjusting for such factors, Islington PCT spends £259 a head on mental health - about four times the £66 spent by Bracknell Forest PCT. The proportion of PCT budgets spent on cancer also varies widely across England - from 3 per cent to more than 10 per cent of the overall budget. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Times 9 August 2006
• Mental health PbR could cover 85 per cent of users. A new system of payment by results for mental health could result in care for 85 per cent of service users being covered by the system. Proposals being tested by the Department of Health would mean trusts were paid for an average treatment package in one of 13 'clusters' of care. The clusters would be designed according to how much care service users require under a needs assessment. The idea is being piloted in seven mental health trusts. Countries such as Australia and the United States have attempted to introduce systems similar to PbR in mental health, but have never succeeded. The wide range of presentations people with mental health can have and the number of intervention options are thought to have made them too complicated to run. Originally the DoH said payment by results would be implemented in mental health in 2008. The project is also exploring whether social care could be included under PbR, and whether this would be best pooled or decoupled from the healthcare costs, as well as how payment would be made for 'one-off' interventions. Summary by Keep our NHS Public of Health Service Journal 10 August 2006
• Mental health a low priority. In a letter to the Times, Tim Loughton, shadow minister for health, writes: "Ticking the box by calling mental health a priority does not deliver. Judging its effectiveness on the basis of falling suicide rates ignores record numbers of people, especially schoolchildren, developing mental illness. Whereas mental health accounted for 14 per cent of NHS spending in 1997, that has dropped to 11 per cent - hardly suggesting a "priority". From Westmoreland to Sussex, acute mental health beds are being cut and day centres are closing. In Sussex every hospital is in the spotlight for downg