Trendy Meditation, Crisis in Social Care

Health

             The only exercise you ever get is jumping to conclusions.

Meditation, Gustave Jean Jacquet (1846-1909)

Photo Credit: Manchester Art Gallery [CC BY-NC-ND]

* Mindfulness is a natural painkiller, research suggests.

A study found the trendy meditation - favoured by the likes of Hollywood's resident 'health guru' Gwyneth Paltrow and pop sensation Katy Perry - is just as effective at easing discomfort as the go-to treatment cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT).

Focusing the mind on the present moment is thought to help sufferers cope with their discomfort, which also improves their 'physical functioning' and reduces their risk of depression.  

(The Daily Mail)

Do you know what thought did?  It followed a muck cart and thought it was a wedding.

Social Care

Maurice Henry Hewlett, James Kerr-Lawson (1864-1939)

Photo Credit: National Portrait Gallery, London [CC BY-NC-ND]

The social care system in England is at “crisis point”, with more people asking for care but fewer getting it, a report has warned.

The study, from the influential King’s Fund think-tank, found a 2 per cent rise in new requests for adult social care since 2015-16, hitting 1.84 million requests in 2017-18.

The research also showed that fewer people are receiving care, with almost 13,000 fewer granted help over the same period.

…However, local council spending on social care has dropped in real terms and is now £700m below what it was in 2010-11.

...Simon Bottery, senior fellow at the King’s Fund said: “This report shows that increasing need…is putting immense pressure on our care and support system, now and for the future. Yet there is little evidence that the Government understands or is willing to act on these trends despite the impact on older and disabled people, their families and carers.”

(The i, 2019)

                   The government has promised to deliver on social care for years.

*What a shocking state of affairs was portrayed by the BBC’s programme on social care funding. The Government’s delaying tactics in not addressing their responsibility on this subject is deplorable.

Yet the same government is going to spend billions of pounds on HS2 to save a little on rail travel times.

(David Radcliffe, Keighley, Yorkshire, The i, 2019)