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Dire warnings on social care spending cuts and lack of compassion in mental healthcare – but statins are good for you

Even the Government doesn’t know how long families and the NHS will be able to cope with the unsustainable pressure they are being put under as a result of cuts to social care, the Telegraph reports.

The warning from the National Audit Office came as it found that despite pledges to protect social care, real term spending on help for older people fell by 12% in just two years.

Newspapers are also speculating about today’s announcement on NHS pay rises, you can find out more details on how it will affect GPs here.

A children’s heart surgery unit that was temporarily closed, at Leeds General Infirmiry, is safe, an official report has concluded, although some families were not cared for properly. The Daily Mail writes that in some cases there was a ‘tragic lack of communication, compassion and basic kindness’.

A House of Lords committee has warned that vulnerable adults are ‘being kept virtual prisoners’ in care homes, due to misuse of mental health laws. Lord Hardie told the BBC that some staff were treating the law like an ‘optional add-on’.3

Ready for some good news? All those statin pills being prescribed have ‘almost no side effects’. A new study, reported by the Guardian, found they had fewer side effects than placebo.


          

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