ALMOST 200 tonnes of cigarette butts are littered across the streets of our region every year, according to a new study. The report found smoking materials make up 35 per cent of all street litter, with 11 tonnes discarded daily. Tobacco is the world’s leading cause of preventable death, accounting for around 6 million deaths each year. That’s thanks to the cocktail of over 5,000 chemicals in cigarette smoke, of which at least 70 may cause cancer. E-cigarettes, on the other hand, do not contain tobacco. Instead, they carry a nicotine-containing liquid which is heated into a vapour and breathed in. The nicotine satisfies the cravings associated with a smoking addiction, but doesn’t cause cancer. So although E-cigarettes are not perfect, they don't carry this huge annual cost of cleaning up the waste, like normal cigarettes do. This petition is calling on the health secretary to introduce an outright ban on normal cigarettes and stop the huge waste problem it causes every day.

One in eleven children in the UK suffer from asthma which is higher than any EU country and rising faster than any other EU country. Researchers have found 3.5 times the exhaust fumes in lungs of children in low prams compared to what is in their mum's lungs because they are at a higher position. They are recommending higher prams and using side and not main roads. The ongoing cost to the NHS must be huge plus the human misery resulting.

48% of people with epilepsy in the uk have refractory epilepsy (not controlled). This places them at increased risk of death and injury. In the uk deaths from epilepsy have increased 70%. Many people would benefit from a change of licence for epidiolex which has been shown to help in these cases but are been denied it due to current licensing guidelines. Sadly families and individuals are suffering currently due to the current situation.

DEMENTIA is an accumulations of symptoms it is a disease which is not recognized as such by the current government. Whose only help is by means testing on the assets of the patients home:::

There are people whose lives are suffering because they are not getting the provision they need, even though there are enough professionals that could be employed to carry out this work and also to make medications more affordable and more available. It is unethical to spend £100 million of the public's money on advertising something that is unquestionably controversial.

To ensure that free care is offered to alI patients who need 24 hour care for what ever reason are provided with information about continuing healthcare. Dementia care is a prime example of this. As a family we have had to fight to get this process under way and sadly it appears each council cherry picks bits of the The National Framework to suit themselves, even though The Framework states different And is backed up by caselaw. Nobody should have to see a loved one fade away in front of them and then have to deal will bullish bureaucracy.

Many people in the UK are now embarking on 'deliberate dehydration' tactics to reduce the need to to use the toilet when outdoors. According to the Royal Society Of Public Health Over half (56%) of the public now restrict fluid intake due to concern over lack of toilet facilities. Outdoor workers are facing similar problems with some resorting to deliberate dehydration which can seriously affect health and exacerbate existing medical problems, National and local governments must pilot innovative new ways of financing public toilets, including a “spend a penny” campaign. In recent decades an increasing pressure on local authority budgets has led to the privatisation or closure of many public toilets. Failure to provide adequate public loos also directly hampers some of the UK’s wider public health efforts, such as curbing obesity, and keeping our increasingly elderly population physically active and socially engaged with the community.The increasing decline in public toilets is a threat to health, mobility, and equality. Also .... The lack of public toilets disproportionately affects people with ill health or disability, the elderly, women, outdoor workers and the homeless. Three in four of the UK public think there are not enough public toilets in their area. Knowledge of lack of facilities nearby acts as a ‘loo leash’, deterring as many as one in five (20%) from venturing out of their homes as often as they would like. This rises to over two in five (43%) among those with medical conditions requiring frequent toilet use. Over half (56%) of the public now restrict fluid intake due to concern over lack of access to a toilet. We must therefore call the Government to make the adequate provision of public toilets a compulsory and urgent priority. Please share if you agree

They work very hard healing and looking after the sick. It is very hard and demanding work! Mental Health Nurses in particular receive a lot of physical and verbal abuse. Shorter shifts would mean they would be less tired and therefore do an even better job! They deserve to be highly paid for all the good they do! I was in a Psychiatric Hospital for five months with Bi Polar and Spinal Stenosis whIch was extremely painful and I had an absolutely brilliant physio and team, plus a lot of help from an occupational therapist who got a grant to have my house cleared, we filled a skip, tidied and deep cleaned because I had not been able to keep it tidy due to being so ill before my admittance! The nurses got my benefits sorted and got me some help towards the boarding fees for my dogs. Everyone of the staff helped me immensely!

After 3 major Abdominal Operations, my last being 10 hours long at Liverpool Women's i lost part of my bowel ending in a permenant Ostomy (A Colostomy)... because my bowel and bladder had fused to my stomach wall, again. This last happened in 2013... my bladder was handled too much and as a result not only am i incontinent due to Stoma, but i do not have full bladder control. I have worked long hours all my life and paid my taxes. I was horrified to find when i first asked that you have to purchase incontinence liners from a pharmacy. This is outrageous as i am now declared unfit to work, and am on much reduced income. These items are also expensive. When so much on prescription is prescribed to people who self inflict harm on themselves through smoking, alcohol and drug misuse and obesity... they get items on prescription... yet people who are incontinent through no fault of their own do not. It is stressful enough having a stoma to be bladder incontinent as well. I am shouting for every incontinent person. What about the elderly on pensions too. Most unfair!

Yesterday, my wife and I received a letter from "Everyone Health" in relation to our son's measurements which were obtained at his school, as part of the National Child Measurement Programme. We were firstly amazed by the fact that our son (Charlie) who is a very healthy, very active five year old, was classed as "Very Overweight". We all like to see the best in our children, but I am pretty sure that anyone who meets Charlie would NOT consider him to be overweight. Our son is very active - attending swimming, football and karate classes. Couple that with the fact that he is always active at home, and that he nearly always chooses the healthy food option (for example preferring fruit instead of biscuits for a snack), I would suggest that Charlie is a very healthy child. The letter we received about Charlie being "very overweight" was very condescending. It explains that "Charlie is in the minority of children across the country who are overweight or very overweight for their age. 3 out of 4 children in Reception year have a healthier weight than Charlie............ It is important to be aware that when a child has excess weight for their age it can lead to health problems............... being overweight can also lead to low self-esteem and poor confidence.............. Your school nurse or doctor can also provide further advice and support on how to help your child achieve and maintain a healthier weight". So, here is the big problem. BMI is a very outdated method of calculating healthy weight. My son isn't the tallest boy in his age group, but he is very strong. He certainly is not carrying an abnormal amount of fat. BMI does not take into account what the weight actually is (for example bone, muscle or fat). This, therefore, makes the whole reading unreliable. So, what do I do....... should I follow the advice in the letter and make an appointment with our already overburdened GP, or do we need to take the time to see how to get things changed. What if everyone who received this letter made appointments with their GP. It would be ridiculous. It is time for the Government to change the methods used in the National Child Measurement Programme. I am massive advocate of ensuring that children have a healthy start to life. Yes, this starts with having a healthy body, but what about a healthy mind too. We have not shared the content of the letter with our son but, if we did, he would be quite upset. Do we really want a nation of children who are being branded as "fat" at the age of 5 years old? This really could cause mental anguish in our young people, and we are well aware of the implications of "fat shaming" people - potentially causing eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia - which are probably more life threatening than being overweight at that age. If Charlies letter was a one-off then I would probably just shut up, and move on. I know, however, that this scheme has been upsetting parents for years. I have two nephews, of Afro-Caribbean heritage who were identified, a few years ago by this scheme, as being obese. This was totally ridiculous. They are both very active and very muscular boys with virtually no fat! I, therefore, appeal to the Minister of State for Health to step-up and make a change. Yes, we should be making sure that our children are healthy, and happy, but let’s do it the right way. Parents do not need a condescending letter, and children do not need branding as fat when the information has been gathered using out dated methods. Thank you for reading!

It will have a huge impact on the local economy, and a big impact on addiction recovery. One of Scotland's largest Alcoholics Anonymous meeting meets on Sunday mornings in Garnethill. The introduction of parking charges will have a very damaging effect on attendance, and may rob Glasgow of a group which has been meeting for nearly 50 years, and which has seen thousands of alcoholics start on the road to recovery. This campaign is not affiated to or endorsed by Alcoholics Anonymous. AA has a strict policy of avoiding controversy in order that it can be seen to be open to all.

Automatic tendering is allowing private companies to quietly undermine the public ownership of the NHS. These private contracts are being forced on the NHS because this government legislation is a sneaky method of bringing in privatisation. (A perfect example of this was the £14 million contract given to QE Facilities Ltd to replace a free service Solihull Blood Bikes (WSBB) on April 1 2019) If we allow this to continue we will end up with an American style health system where only the wealthy will be treated.