Welfare cuts set for House of Lords challenge

Reforms to welfare payments for cancer patients are set to be challenged in the House of Lords.

A government plan to tighten the rules on welfare payments to cancer patients will be challenged by peers from across the House of Lords on Wednesday. Read More…

Bereavement raises heart attack risk

The newly bereaved are at greatly increased risk of heart attack after the death of a close loved one, US researchers say.

Heart attack risk is 21 times higher within the first day and six times higher than normal within the first week, a study in the Circulation journal of nearly 2,000 people shows. Read More…

PM orders merging of health and social care

David Cameron has ordered health and social care services to be brought together in order to benefit patients in a move which government advisers are calling the NHS’s most urgent overhaul. Read More…

Three million lives ”will improve through telehealth”

Three million lives could be improved across England thanks to new high-tech healthcare, the care services minister Paul Burstow said as he pledged to make it available to more people with long-term conditions. Read More…

Poorest families left in the cold by energy suppliers

Some of the UK’s poorest families are not getting the help they need to heat their homes this winter from energy suppliers because of a funding shortfall, a leading charity has warned. Read More…

Politicians urged to seize chance to change social care

Politicians from all parties have been urged to work together to find a way to overhaul the “failing” social care system inEngland.

Cross-party talks about the care given to the elderly and disabled failed in 2010 but will start again this month. Read More…

Dementia care: Hospitals ‘must improve’

Hospitals in England and Wales are falling short in the care given to dementia patients, a review says.

The Royal College of Psychiatrists’ audit of 210 hospitals – the first of its kind – says while services are safe, they are lacking in other areas. Read More…

DWP proposes new benefit rates from April 2012

The Department for Work and Pensions is responsible for welfare and pension policy. It is the biggest public service delivery department in the UK and serves over 20 million users. Read More…

New NHS report on Diabetes

Up to 24,000 people with diabetes are dying avoidably each year because they do not receive the right healthcare or do not manage their condition properly, a government-commissioned report has revealed. Read More…

Families betrayed over care homes funding

The scandal of pensioners selling their homes to pay for residential care could drag on until 2025.

It had been hoped a fairer system would be in place by 2015 but it emerged last night that it might take a decade longer. Read More…