I confront the UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock as to why young children with epilepsy are being offered End of Life Care Plans or major brain surgery rather than medical cannabis? Listen to my report on BBC Radio 4.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/4usu21hemrww3bx/MEDICAL%20CANNABIS%20Final%20Mixdown.wav?dl=0
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There has been an explosion of clinical trials involving psychedelic drugs for treatment resistant mental health problems in the UK. Three major trials of psilocybin the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, started in London earlier this year. The US Food and Drug Administration licensed a variant of the party drug Ketamine for treatment-resistant depression. But are these drugs the greatest breakthrough in psychiatry since modern anti-depressants and anti-psychotics or are the benefits only temporary or placebo? Listen to my BBC Radio 4 report.
The family whose 16 year old son William Jordan killed himself at the Priory Hospital last year have written to police calling for a criminal investigation into the group. Earlier this year the Priory Group was fined £300,000 for breaching Health and safety laws in connection with the death of 14 year old Amy El Keria at one of their hospitals. My report was a headline on BBC1 TV and and BBC Radio 4.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/u1bs06ll5kyhgbb/Caroline_Turriff_Priory.mp4?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/zkktz55zx5ou4rn/PRIORY%20FOLLOW%20UP%20Mixdown%206.wav?dl=0
Who says Britain’s National Health Service is not for sale? Almost half of all expenditure on Child and Adolescent mental health inpatient beds in the UK in the past 5 years has gone to private hospitals – mainly to the American owned Priory Group. Last year a Coroner said serious failings by staff at the Priory, Britain’s largest private provider of mental healthcare, has possibly contributed to 16 year old William Jordan’s suicide in one of their hospitals. Earlier this year the group received a fine of hundreds of thousands of pounds after pleading guilty to health and safety charges in connection with death of a 14 year old girl in 2012. I went to speak to William Jordan’s bereaved parents Mark and Wendy Jordan for my report for BBC Radio 4.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/4v2y9g8zrtk4j7d/PRIORY%20INTERVIEW%20FINAL%20VERSION.wav?dl=0
In a statement to the BBC, The Priory said it strongly refuted the allegation that it put making money ahead of patient safety. In a statement it said “Of our 85 CQC-registered healthcare sites, 88.2% are rated ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ overall. By comparison, the figure is 78% for NHS mental healthcare sites. Our services remain among the safest in England. Since this exceptionally sad incident, we took immediate action to address patient safety, including the installation of a CCTV patient-safety system, enhanced and specialist staff training, and the creation of 12 ‘safer’ rooms to support our most unwell patients. Swift disciplinary action was taken by the Priory Group against staff who failed to act in accordance with Priory observation policy. A CQC report, following a visit in October 2018 and published in December 2018, states ‘we found the provider had made good progress regarding our concerns.’ The hospital is under new leadership, and we have recruited additional, experienced staff to support our child and adolescent services.”
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Come to see my first ever standup comedy gig. As readers of bloginhotpants will know, I am the most successful and attractive person in the online dating universe. The number of years I’ve spent on dating websites: 20. The number of people I’ve slept with: 1.
Maybe there’s a problem with my dating username “Bunny Boiler.” That was what the only man I fancied on Guardian Soulmates called me on our first date. Actually our only date. But I have had a real boyfriend in the last fifteen years. Fourteen years ago. He was an ex-armed robber, pimp and drug dealer. Who says men can’t multi-task?
The Museum of Comedy The Undercroft St George’s Church Bloomsbury Way London WC1A 2SR Wednesday 2nd October 7pm turn up or book here https://bit.ly/2mP2cQe
“We suspect you have committed a criminal offence and that this offence is continuing.” So say the letters written by the UK’s government health watchdog the Care Quality Commission as a result of my BBC Radio 4 investigation. The letters warn the unregistered companies treating addicts coming off alcohol and drugs that the penalty for providing medical services without being registered is up to a year in prison. I discovered that some of these companies and many websites supply potentially lethal quantities of medication to withdraw from alcohol sometimes with no health checks. Listen to my report on BBC Radio 4.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/n2j4or60ckvsjca/HOME%20DETOX%20PACKAGE%20FINAL%20BBC%20RADIO%204.wav?dl=0
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Black men in England are 10 x more likely to experience psychosis than white men. But 3 recent studies of 60,000 children found black boys have fewer or no more mental health problems than white boys. What is going wrong? Listen to my BBC Radio 4 report https://bit.ly/2EbS8X0
Medical professionals assess up to 82% of people who kill themselves to be at no risk or low risk of suicide even if they’re seen in the week of their death. Could Artificial Intelligence do better? The first of my series mental health reports for BBC Radio 4 was a headline on the PM programme.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/jzoltpgx33osk9f/AI%20PREVENTING%20SUICIDE%20PACKAGE.wav?dl=0
Drug related deaths in Scotland in 2018 have reached almost 1200 the highest figure since records began in 1996. They’ve gone up almost 30% in a year the highest annual rise since records began. Deaths in some areas have more than doubled. Scotland already had the highest rate of drug deaths in the EU but has now overtaken the USA to become the country with the highest per capita death rate in the world. Scottish drugs charities say people are dying waiting for drug treatment. Listen to my report on BBC Radio 4
https://www.dropbox.com/s/5itzwdee5aoqlnz/SCOTLAND%20DRUGS%20Turriff%20pkg%20no%20cue.wav?dl=0
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While attacks on mental health staff in England have soared by over a third in 4 years one mental health Trust in a deprived area of East London has bucked the trend and achieved what they say is a world first reducing violence by up to 90%. And it hasn’t cost a penny extra and they haven’t used any extra medication. Watch my report that went out on BBC1.
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Mental Health Headlines 