Anti-gay Christian couple lose foster care case

Well I agree that this couple should not be aloud to foster if they can not accept Homosexuality in today’s world, we should all be living in a diverse world but then you get people like this.

I am also shocked that this couple come from an ethnic background so they should know about prejudice and the effect it can and does have on people.

News taken from The Guardian News website click here for website

Court rules against Christian couple who claimed their beliefs on homosexuality should not prevent them becoming foster carers.

A Pentecostal Christian couple have lost their high court claim that they were discriminated against by a local authority because they insisted on their right to tell young foster children that homosexuality is morally wrong.

Eunice and Owen Johns, who are in their sixties and have fostered children in the past, claimed they were being discriminated against by Derby city council because of their Christian beliefs, after they told a social worker they could not tell a child a “homosexual lifestyle” was acceptable. The couple had hoped to foster five- to 10-year-olds.

The case was the latest to be brought by conservative evangelicals, led by the Christian Legal Centre, over their supporters’ right to discriminate specifically against gay people and not be bound by equality regulations. All the cases have so far been lost. Read full story here

 

Infection

Well 4 different courses of Antibiotics since December 2010.

I was put on a course of Doxycycline Antibiotics back in December for an infection on my chest, along with these I got course of steroids too, finished the course and thought that was it but as the weeks went on I got worse again so back to the doctors and another course of Amoxicillin Antibiotics just in time for Christmas.

Christmas passed and I felt fine then last week bang back down and back on yet another course of  Doxycycline Antibiotics and a new inhaler, but these weren’t helping.

So on Friday just gone I was put on my last course and stronger ones called ,Klaricid MR 500mg told to rest up and take it easy and if these Antibiotics don’t work then it’s into Hospital for IV drugs for maybe a week “which I do not want”.

They think I was unlucky and got 1 infection after the other and my chest infection went into a mouth and throat infection.

Well today was back at the doctors and my Peak flow and Blood Pressure was at a good level so need to continue my resting and take the rest of the Antibiotics and go back in a few weeks.

I was always under the impression that too many Antibiotics can do more harm than good, well time will tell so they say.

While I was ill my Hubby bought me a new phone Blackberry Curve 9300 so that cheered me up.

I recieved lots of well wishes while I was ill well still ill, we don’t have many friends but the few I have are top class and got a good in-law based family and my own family are dear to me too.

Wayne

XxX

TAKE A BREATH AND SAY 99

I have just read the most remarkable story on a guys blog page about his journey with having lung disease, I have given a paragraph below to give you an incite but to get the full story you need to read his blog.

Where did it all go wrong!!

The year started off well and I was doing well.But things were destined to take a unusual turn after my visit to clinic after Christmas. I was still getting headaches in the morning, had mentioned this with the doctor who felt it would sort it self out or may be as a result of a side effect of one of the medications.I felt that it could have been due to CO2 and asked about Bi-Pap.The doctor said that it was rare for people to need it and he would adjust the medication if needed should the headaches continue.
The suggestion was made that regular 20 minutes of exercise would help increase my lung function as this had dropped if this did not improve it would mean a bronchoscopy  to clear the lungs and check for rejection.
I had been out and done some walking and exercise but evidently not enough.

Read full story here

COPD and Understanding it.

Understanding  COPD?

COPD stands for chronic obstructive pulmonary (lung) disease. COPD is a term applied to a family of diseases that includes emphysema, chronic bronchitis, and emphysema due to alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency.

COPD usually progresses gradually, causing limited airflow in and out of the lungs and add’s to the work of the heart.

Diseased lungs might reduce the amount of oxygen that goes to the blood. High blood pressure in blood vessels from the heart to the lungs makes it difficult for the heart to pump; this could alsocause the body to produce too many red blood cells, whichmightmake the blood thicker and harder to pump.

People who suffer from COPD and have low oxygen levels might develop an enlarged heart, this condition may weaken the heart and causes increased shortness of breath, and swelling in the legs and feet.

Chronic bronchitis and Emphysema

Chronic bronchitis is irritation and inflammation of the lining in the bronchial tubes or air passages, the irritation causes coughing and an excess amount of mucus in the airways.

The swelling makes it difficult to get air in and out of the lungs; the small, very fine structures on the inside of the airways might be damaged by the irritation,

Bronchitis is generally considered chronic when you have:  and cough and coughing up mucus and shortness of breath that lasts about three months or more each year for two or more years in a row.

Emphysema is the destruction, or breakdown, of the walls of the alveoli (air sacs) located at the end of the bronchial tubes. The damaged alveoli are not able to exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide between the lungs and the blood. The bronchioles lose their elasticity and collapse when you exhale, trapping air in the lungs. The trapped air keeps fresh air and oxygen from entering the lungs.

Symptoms of COPD

• Shortness of breath
• Shortness of breath with mild exercise (walking, using the stairs, etc.)
• Chronic, productive cough (with mucus)
• A feeling of “tightness” in the chest
• Wheezing

What causes COPD?

The two primary causes of COPD are cigarette smoking, Air pollution and occupational dusts might also contribute to COPD, especially when the person exposed to these substances is a cigarette smoker.

Cigarette smoke causes COPD by irritating the airways and creating inflammation that narrows the airways, making it more difficult to breathe. Cigarette smoke also causes the cilia to stop working properly so mucus and trapped particles are not cleaned from the airways. As a result, chronic cough and excess mucus production develop, leading to chronic bronchitis.

In some people, chronic bronchitis and infections can lead to destruction of the small airways, or emphysema.

AAT deficiency, an inherited disorder, can also lead to emphysema. Alpha-1 antitrypsin (AAT) is a protective material produced in the liver and transported to the lungs to help combat inflammation. When there is not enough of the chemical AAT, the body is no longer protected from an enzyme in the white blood cells. This can cause a breakdown in the walls of the air sacs (alveoli). When the alveoli are destroyed, oxygen cannot be transferred into the blood and carbon dioxide cannot be taken from the blood to be exhaled.

How is COPD diagnosed?

To diagnose COPD, the physician needs the answers to the following questions:

• Do you smoke?
• Have you had chronic exposure to dust or air pollutants?
• Do other members of your family have lung disease?
• Are you short of breath?
• Do you get short of breath with exercise?
• Do you have chronic cough and/or wheezing?
• Do you cough up excess mucus?

To help with the diagnosis, the physician will conduct a thorough physical exam, which includes:

• Listening to your lungs and heart
• Checking your blood pressure and pulse
• Examining your nose and throat
• Checking your feet and ankles for swelling
• Take Bloods for gases
• Chest X-ray
• Spirometry test
• Exercise test

Treatment?

In the beginning stages of COPD, there is minimal shortness of breath that might be noticed only during exercise, but as the disease progresses, shortness of breath might worsen, and you might need to wear an oxygen device.

To help control other symptoms of COPD, the following treatments and lifestyle changes might be prescribed:

• Quitting smoking
• Avoiding cigarette smoke areas
• Other irritants
• Taking medications prescribed for you
• Maintaining a healthy diet
• Following a structured exercise program
• To and avoid respiratory infections

In some cases if your COPD progresses, you might be eligible to be evaluated for lung surgery or lung transplant

Although COPD cannot be cured, its symptoms can be treated and your quality of life can be improved. Your prognosis, for the future will depend on how well your lungs are functioning, your symptoms, and how well you respond to treatment.

Big Society My Mission In Politics Says PM

Sky News

David Cameron has launched a major defence of his controversial Big Society plan, declaring the initiative his “mission”

The Prime Minister has defended his flagship policy in a speech to social entrepreneurs in London, after weeks of criticism from volunteering groups, charities and politicians.

Mr Cameron rejected criticism that the concept was “too vague” and a “cover for cuts”, insisting it was central to the “social recovery” the country needed.

He said: “This is my absolute passion.

“I think it’s a different way of governing, a different way of going about trying to change our country for the better, and it’s going to get every bit of my passion and attention over the five years of this Government.”

Mr Cameron described the Government’s deficit-reduction programme as only his “duty”.

He went on: “What is my mission, what is it I am really passionate about? It is actually social recovery as well as economic recovery, and I think we need social recovery because as I’ve said lots of times in the past, there are too many parts of our society that are broken

“Whether it’s broken families or whether it’s some communities breaking down or whether it’s the level of crime, the level of gang membership, whether it’s problems of people stuck on welfare unable to work, whether it’s the sense that some of our public services don’t work for us, we do need a social recovery to mend the broken society and to me that is what the Big Society is all about.”

He said people needed to “take more responsibility” and “act more responsibly”.

The Government’s response to any problem was only ever “half the answer”, he said.

The passionate language means Mr Cameron has personally invested in the success of the Big Society. Read full story here on Sky news website.

Labour Leader

But commenting after the Big Society relaunch, Labour leader Ed Miliband said: “It’s the scale and pace of Mr Cameron’s cuts that is driving local libraries to shut, children’s centres are under threat, citizens advice bureau are closing down.

“And it’s not just me saying it.

“It’s Liberal Democrat leaders around the country who are saying ‘you are going so far and so fast, we’ve got no time to adapt, we’re going to undermine the big society that you claim to support’.”

Top Charities Warning On Health Reform Risks

Taken from Sky News Website

Radical plans to reform the healthcare system must be amended to give patients a stronger say over their local services, a group of leading health charities have said.

The eight organisations, which represent millions of patients, called on the Government to make “crucial changes” to the Health and Social Care Bill, “to ensure the NHS will be answerable to everyone it serves”.

They described plans to make a network of GP commissioning consortia – which will be responsible for £80bn of the health service budget – accountable to the public as “weak”.

They demanded that democratically elected representatives are used to scrutinise decisions and budget management at a local level.

“The new local HealthWatch bodies described in the Bill will not have the powers or resources to ensure that patients have a say in their local health services.

“If they are to serve a meaningful purpose they must be significantly strengthened.” Under the reforms, GPs will take control of commissioning services for patients.

Strategic health authorities and primary care trusts (PCTs), which currently commission services, will be abolished.

So far, 141 GP consortia, serving more than half of the population of England, have now signed up as “pathfinders” to pilot the new arrangements ahead of their planned implementation in 2013.

Don’t Cut Care.

The story below is shocking for Parents who have disabled children and need help in more ways than we can imagine.
I have worked with Children with server disabilities and they are the most wonderful people you can come across and loving too, and it’s hard to care for them 24 7 so respite care is a welcomed option for many, but not for all as some don’t want help in fear that they may be seen that they can’t cope and some who may not want it for Pride reasons.

Either way respite care needs to be continued and NOT cut in anay way.

I know how hard it can be both for the child and the parent, I was born disabled 38 years ago, I was lucky I had parents who thought for there rights and give me love and care and spent have a there lives in Hospitals with me, I was in hospital til I was 2 years old, so my parents who to do shifts to come and feed me, and it got so hard they had to foster my 5 siblings out for a while has they couldn’t be home with them all the time as they where at the hospital, I am so grateful to my parents Ian and Maureen for the care they give me and got me through my disabilities and into mainline schools after the Education said I need specalist school and wanted me to attend “Sunny Field” in Morecambe now called Morecambe Rd School, my parents got me into Greaves Secondary School later to become Central Lancaster High.

I grew up “in a normal family life” and today yes I am still disabled have various illnesses and I am glad my parents did what they did, and now I work for and with Disabled people in Lancaster and Morecambe area to help them get what they are entiltled too.

So when I saw this and the facebook page I felt I needed to join and hopefully we can all make a difference, wether it’s by sharing there stories with others or by campaiging it will all make a difference so please please join there Facebook Page by clicking this link

Wayne

Now it’s care homes

Sponsored by Anger: Derek and Sue Hamer with their son Matthew and (inset) Debra Welch, chairman of the Friends of The Bungalow

Published by Lancashire Evening Post.

Desperate parents spoke out today after cuts to eight respite care centres for severely disabled children were confirmed.

County council chiefs need to slash £3m off the budget for children’s respite care over the next four years, meaning at least one will close in the next 12 months.

It leaves eight homes under threat, including Maplewood House in Bamber Bridge, near Preston, which campaigners fought to save in 2006.

The others at risk are The Bungalow in Fulwood, Preston; Long Copse, Chorley; Alexandra House, Lancaster; South Avenue, Morecambe; Grimshaw Lane, Ormskirk; Hargreaves House, Oswaldtwistle; and Reedley Cottages, Burnley.

More than 150 families from across Lancashire were called to a meeting at Maplewood House this week to be told the £180m cut to the County Hall budget will impact spending on respite centres.

Among them were Derek and Sue Hamer, full-time carers to their 16-year-old son Matthew.

The family, who live in Lyndhurst Avenue, Ashton, often spend night after night with little or no sleep.

They rely on Matthew’s weekly visit to The Bungalow.

Derek, 47, said: “The Bungalow is all we have. Without it, I don’t know how we will cope. Families like ours are already on the brink, only just managing to cope. The services these respite centres provide are certainly not a luxury, they are our lifeline.”

Matthew, who attends Sir Tom Finney High School in Moor Park, is one of around 50 disabled children who stay overnight at the four-bed centre. He stays once a week and for a full weekend once every six weeks.

Mum Sue said: “The staff at the centre have helped us get him to where he is today. It’s not just our lifeline, it is his too.”

County council chiefs say the centres are currently only running at 80% occupancy, and they believe this figure will fall further when new laws, capping the number of respite care nights that children can receive to 75 a year, come into effect in April.

However, Debra Welch, chairman of the Friends of The Bungalow, claims the “vast majority” of families in Lancashire would not be affected by the law change. Her son Jon Curtis, who is now 19, attended the centre for 11 years, staying once a fortnight.

She said: “We all understand the need for spending cuts, but to attack the most vulnerable in society isn’t right. The long-term effects will be disastrous. It will break apart families, and force more children into full-time care, which is far more costly and not what anyone, least of all these dedicated parents, want.”

Staff at The Bungalow and Maplewood House declined to comment until their future is decided. However, a former Maplewood employee, who asked not to be named, claimed staff had already been asked to apply for voluntary redundancy.

Angela Murphy, who spearheaded the Evening Post-backed campaign to save Maplewood, said: “We fought and thought we won four years ago, but we seem to keep getting pulled back into the same battles.”

County Coun Bill Winlow, leader of the Liberal Democrat group, said: “To target the most vulnerable in society is totally wrong, and we have to stand against it.”

County Coun Susie Charles, cabinet member for children and schools, defended the proposals. She said: “I understand how important our respite care services are to those who use them and, because of this, we are involving parents and carers well before we reach the stage of formal consultation on any proposals.

“Our eight respite care homes for children are currently running under capacity. In addition, new legislation means that the maximum number of respite care nights per year will reduce from 120 to 75 before a child is legally classed as being ‘looked after’, or in care. It is anticipated that this will further increase spare capacity.

“The county council must make savings of £179m over the next three years and, because of the scale of the budgetary pressures, all service areas are coming under scrutiny.”
.

Health Adviser Sacked

Health adviser sacked for speaking out in the Guardian

David Richards pointed out that money for coalition’s new mental health strategy was coming from existing NHS budget

Sarah Boseley
The Guardian, Monday 7 February 2011

Nick Clegg announced the coalition’s mental health strategy on 1 February at the Marlborough Centre, north London. Photograph: Ian Nicholson/PA
The government has sacked an independent national health adviser for questioning in the Guardian whether the money for its mental health strategy was new or came from the existing NHS budget.

When Nick Clegg announced £400m to improve access to modern psychological “talking therapies” last Wednesday, David Richards, professor of mental health services research at the University of Exeter, told the Guardian that the money was not additional. Instead of being spent on training therapists, it could end up used to plug other gaps in the NHS, he said.

The case has echoes of that of Professor David Nutt, who was sacked by the then Labour home secretary Alan Johnson for publicly questioning drug policy.

Richards has been involved since 2006 in efforts to increase the numbers of trained therapists who can help the substantial numbers of people with anxiety and depression. For the last two and a half years, he has been a national adviser to the Department of Health’s improving access to psychological therapies (IAPT) programme.

He said it had been explained at a meeting of the IAPT group just over two weeks earlier that the money would have to come from the existing NHS budget. “We were very disturbed when we found this out,” Richards told the Guardian. “I personally feel very aggrieved that mental health is being used by this government to shore up its very poor opinion poll ratings and I don’t want to be part of it.”

In a letter to the paper today, Richards says his removal is “extremely disappointing”. His comments and sacking resulted from his frustrated efforts to get an answer to three important questions, he says. He wanted to know to what extent the money would come from cuts elsewhere in the budget; what mechanisms there were to ensure every penny was spent on training and therapy; and what systems had been put in place to ensure existing funds were not slashed as NHS cuts bit.

Richards writes in his letter: “The questions are not a matter of mere detail but of vital import for the many thousands of people trapped in a cycle of untreated misery and fear.”

There are potential problems in the interaction between the government and independent advisers from academia, he says, adding: “Politicians assume that independent advisers are just going to do what they are employed to do . There is a general issue about the use of advisers who come from a highly independent academic environment.”

However, unlike Nutt, who objected to government policy, Richards says he was simply asking for clarification.

Richards’s main achievement in the last few years has been the establishment of a highly trained group of around 1,500 psychological wellbeing practitioners, who deliver cognitive behaviour therapy-based, low intensity help to people suffering from anxiety and depression.

Their interventions are brief, but effective, he says – as recommended by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence. They make up 40% of the 3,600 therapists trained in the past three years. The programme aims to eventually train a total of 6,000.

The shadow health secretary, John Healey, said: “Evidence from a range of independent experts gives lies to ministers’ claims that the NHS budget will be protected next year. And this ‘new’ funding for talking therapies again appears to show them misleading the public.”

Meanwhile, a thinktank founded by Iain Duncan Smith is criticising the government for failing to take account of the impact of family breakdown on mental health. The Centre for Social Justice says ministers should have assessed the impact of dysfunctional families on the mental health of children and adults.

Its report, which defines family breakdown as “divorce or separation, dysfunction or dad-lessness”, says: “Working with the whole family not only prevents many children from being labelled as mentally ill but can also tackle the causes of their problems – often rooted in or sustained by the dynamics of family relationships.”

Beauty and The Beast on Channel 4

Channel 4

Currently watching the new series on Channel 4 called Beauty and The Beast: Ugly face of prejudice, and I find it somewhat educational but at the same time I feel that these people are being paraded on national TV, but then it’s there choice, I hope people can the the Beauty behind these people’s disfigurements and see the real person and not the “Beast” as Channel 4 calls them.

I don’t have a face disfigurement, but do have a speech impairment Cleft Palate and I am very concious about this and have faced the discrimination of society, name calling and bullying etc

This series investigates the extremes of discrimination by bringing together two people often defined by the way they look: one has a facial disfigurement, the other an intense preoccupation with their appearance Click here for Channel 4 website.

Series Summary

We live in a society obsessed with physical perfection, surrounded by images of unattainable beauty. Nine out of ten women in Britain are unhappy with their appearance, over half would resort to surgery to change it, and nearly three quarters of Brits think that being better looking would make them more successful. Read More

Leo and Yasmin

Burns survivor Leo meets self-proclaimed beauty addict Yasmin.

When 59-year-old Leo from County Durham was 14, a fire at the shop he worked in left him with third-degree burns to his hands, face and legs. Leo survived the fire, but has since undergone over 120 different operations to rectify the damage and has been left with significant scarring. He is fiercely against the use of plastic surgery for cosmetic purposes and believes that women in particular are pressurised to attempt to emulate the physical perfection seen in the media.

Leo meets beauty addict Yasmin, who spends 40 days a year doing her make up and would rather be vain than ugly. Yasmin is desperate to have breast surgery and would also like liposuction. Read More

Sarah and Susan

Sarah claims to be Britain’s most cosmetically enhanced woman. She meets Susan, who has had over 60 corrective surgeries due to childhood cancer.

Susan and Sarah are two outgoing and passionate people with very different views on beauty and the beauty industry. Fifty-year-old Sarah says she would try any treatment to turn back the body clock. From breast augmentation to rhinoplasty, this self-proclaimed ‘vain cow’ jokes that the only thing she has not had done is her feet.

Sarah freely admits she would like to go to the grave looking 18. She is terrified of ageing and evangelical about the benefits of cosmetic surgery. She even carries cosmetic fillers in her handbag so she can inject herself when ever she feels that her face `needs a top up’. Read More

Andy and Elicia

Andy Tedder, who has Treacher Collins syndrome, meets Manchester beauty queen Elicia Davies.

As the reigning Miss Manchester, 23-year-old Elicia is totally dependent on makeup, taking up to three hours every morning putting it on. Elicia thinks nothing of spending the majority of her salary on her appearance.

Andy tries to persuade beauty queen Elicia Davies that beauty really is more than skin deep. A Landscape gardener from Bournemouth, Andy has Treacher Collins syndrome, a genetic condition that affects 1 in 10,000 people. The condition stopped his facial bones developing in the womb, as well as his ears. Andy has had to endure years of painful reconstructive surgery and taunts from the public. Read More

Visit Changing Faces Website Here

Public Data Corporation & The Transparent Government

Minister for the Cabinet Office Francis Maude and Business Minister Edward Davey have outlined plans for a new Public Data Corporation.

The Corporation will, for the first time, bring together Government bodies and data into one organisation and provide an unprecedented level of easily accessible public information and drive further efficiency in the delivery of public services.

Supporting the Government’s growth agenda, it will open up opportunities for innovative developers, businesses and members of the public to generate social and economic growth through the use of data.

To check out the Transparent Government Click here

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