• Making a good end to life - part of the debate on the future of social care
    “I would like to die because life is a constant battle with symptoms and I am worn down by this. More and more my life is taken over by daily tasks such as eating, dressing, and showering, leaving little time for anything else. I still love life very much but I am very tired of trying to make life enjoyable. I would like to die now whilst I still love life, and it is clear to my friends and family that I love life." Jan Sutton https://www.quaker.org.uk/news-and-events/news/quakers-to-discuss-assisted-dying We need to do more to give people in Jan's position better choices at the end of life. The Prime Minister recently announced that he will begin cross party talks on the future of social care . That discussion should include consideration of what happens at the end of life. First we need better access to end of life palliative care. According to the institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR) 47% of people in Great Britain die in hospital but only 10% of medical staff feel equipped to deliver appropriate care at the end of life. The IPPR recommends that professionals working with people at the end of life should receive appropriate training and more effort should be put into delivering end of life care outside hospitals within the community. Second we need to consider legalising assisted dying for those who want that option. Appropriate safeguards would be required. The option of assisted dying at a point of their choosing for people should be avaialable to those who are terminally ill or whose life has become intolerable to them due to chronic illness or disability and who have previously publicly expressed a wish for this option Providing medical assistance to end a life is legal in Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Holland, Luxembourg, Switzerland and seven US States. Research among Canadians with experience of receiving palliative care showed that 78% of them wanted to have the option of assisted dying . A survey by IPSOS Mori for the Economist in 2015 found that 58% of the population of Great Britain believed that people who are terminally ill or find life intolerable due to incurable physical or mental suffering should have the right to assisted dying. Subject to appropriate safeguards we need to have that right here https://www.ippr.org/files/2018-05/end-of-life-care-in-england-may18.pdf https://bmcpalliatcare.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12904-018-0304-6 https://www.economist.com/briefing/2015/06/27/attitudes-towards-assisted-dying
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    Created by kathleen dunmore
  • Boots, Scrap Prescription Delivery Charges Now
    For the vast majority of people in the U.K. receiving their medications is a necessity and not a luxury, however, it is wrong for Boots to charge individuals like the elderly and disabled a £5 charge per prescription delivered or an annual charge of £55 unless the prescription is ordered online in which case delivery of such prescriptions from Boots are delivered free of charge. If the vast majority of small and independent Pharmacies can deliver prescriptions free of charge then surely one of the largest retailers in the U.K. can do likewise. This charge is almost a tax on health for those who can least afford it and I call on Boots to scrap this unfair charge immediately as it is hitting some of the most vulnerable members of our society. If Boots believe that the funding of Pharmacy services is not what it should be then that is a matter Boots should take up with the relevant Health Departments across the U.K. rather than introduce a charge which many can ill afford.
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    Created by John Bannon MBE
  • Keep Monklands Hospital where it is
    NHS Lanarkshire wants to move Monklands Hospital to a new site in either Gartcosh, Glenmavis or Easter Moffat - all of which are remote from centres of population and do not have the necessary transport links. The current site is central, has good transport links and most importantly will be redeveloped as a hospital (poorly disguised as a community health village). Why therefore move it to another site, ignoring recent important developments such as the Maggies and Lanarkshire Beatson and then build two hospitals? This is foolish and provides no value for money.
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    Created by Willie Cairns
  • Backdate Council Tax Discount For Severely Mentally Impaired to the date certified by the GP
    There are 850,000 people with Dementia in the UK and if a household has a person with Dementia (Severe Mental Impairment) such as Alzheimer's Disease or Vascular Dementia the local council is required to disregard (Not Count) the person with Dementia for the purposes of Council Tax. The current legislation says that the person must have certification from a GP to say when they were first diagnose with SMI and they must also be entitled to, but not necessarily in receipt of, a "Qualifying Benefit". For the majority of Dementia sufferers the Qualifying Benefit will be Attendance Allowance, which requires the person to be over 65, and they have been in need of day/night care for a minimum of 6 months and the DWP who administer this allowance must be in receipt of an application form for the benefit. Many councils choose to backdate to the date of receipt of Attendance Allowance rather than the date the GP states they are Severely Mentally Impaired as this is the last date and therefore the date they choose to minimise the cost of backdating the council tax discount. My beautiful wife was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in early 2018, our council only backdate to the date of receipt of Attendance Allowance and I have been pushing them to change their policy. Central Government insist it is a local issue but the legislation is so unclear that many councils naturally choose the cheapest option. Also there is no method (pathway)of informing sufferers and carers that either Attendance Allowance or Council Tax Discount is available, both of which are not means tested. Many carers do not apply for Attendance Allowance because they think it is means tested and because it is a 31 page application form. Public Health England say that they cannot disclose details of anyone with Dementia to responsible charities because of privacy and data protection issues so people find out purely by chance. The only way is to clarify the legislation which has already built into it in Schedule 1, section (3) the statement:- "The Secretary of State may by order substitute another definition.."
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    Created by Derek Brown
  • Free medication for asthmatics
    Asthmatics currently pay for their inhalers. People who are also unfortunate to have diabetes do not pay for their medication these people are born with the condition or develop type II later in life in which lifestyle can play a major role in this development. Although this is great, asthmatics however develop this chronic illness and. although it may not really be known how this develops it would seem this is through no fault of the person. 5.4 million people in the UK are currently receiving asthma treatment and on average 3 people die from an asthma attack every day. The NHS spends an average £1 billion a year on treating and caring for people with asthma in contrast they spend £14 billion a year on treating and caring for people with diabetes who obtain their prescriptions for free. There are a lot of articles on the internet regarding people unable to afford their medication and people who have skipped taking it because of the cost. One article I read last year particularly sticks with me about a 19 year old girl dying from an asthma attack all because she could not afford her medication. This was heart breaking. This was someones daughter, someones sister, aunt, cousin, or niece. Now imagine this was your child.
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    Created by Clair Slatter
  • Stop closure of St Damiens surgery in Melksham
    It isn’t safe. It is putting stress on patients worrying about how they will get to the next town to see a doctor. Melkshams infrastructure won’t cope as they are building more houses but closing a GP surgery.
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    Created by Lorna Coton
  • Justice for All Cancer Sufferers-JACS
    Because we have been working on this mission for 70 years plus now and basically only scratched the surface and have achieved very little. Cancer is the second largest cause of deaths, 164,000 last year with 50% being diagnosed with this disease over their life time. Government contributes very little, around £200million/yr whilst we spend £5.2billion/yr on maintaining our nuclear weapons. That means we spend 26 times more on these weapons than one of the worst killer diseases known to human race. This campaign is in memory of my wife Jacqueline McLoughlin & all other sufferers. She under went the orthodox treatment of surgery and chemotherapy that was crude, mechanistic & brutal, which resulted in hastening her passing from complications. We have got to find a better way of treating this terrible disease.
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    Created by Peter Mcloughlin
  • keep the NHS free and away from US interests.
    The people of this country cannot afford a US style insurance based health service, when so many people have existing health conditions that insurance companies wont cover, the NHS must remsin free as originally intended for the benegit of all regardless of income.
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    Created by Raymond Beale
  • Eye care for the homeless
    Research shows that homeless people have more eye problems than the general population. Problems include high prevalence of uncorrected refractive error, cataract and binocular vision problems. This is why we would like to benefit homeless people by providing them with the access to vision care.
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    Created by Izzy Aldred
  • Crossing at Weston Bus Stop For Jumping Beans Nursery&Atlantic Acadamy School Children
    I want our children to be safe knowing that they can get a cross that awful road, please support my petition.
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    Created by Robina Thornton
  • Save Neaths' health suite (sauna, jacuzzi, steam room)
    The Health Suite has become an important community facility, frequented by people of all ages and backgrounds. Some users of this facility are unable to use Gym, squash courts and even the swimming pools, meaning that the removal of a Health Suite will prevent them from accessing services that promote wellbeing. Excluding a Health Suite from the proposed new facility is short-sighted and will negatively impact the community as a whole. The service users and community members want to demonstrate the need for a dedicated Health Suite, which they demand is included in the proposed new recreation centre.
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    Created by Eugene Dubens
  • Hospital
    It’s important because members of families and carers are complaining of the ( old) sick kids having to stay open to the public because of the new hospital experiencing problem after problem after problem. It’s time to fix that problem and open the sick kids that is overdue it’s “ open date”
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    Created by Ryan Cuff