Too few medics, too many patients with lifestyle ills endanger Health Service

Arguably the most cherished institution in modern Britain is the National Health Service and news that it is facing a precarious future has raised alarms.

An investigation by the Care Quality Commission raised concerns about the shortage of doctors and nurses, the lack of beds, rising demands and increasing numbers of patients with preventable illnesses.

It said the quality of care has been maintained up to now but the system is “straining at the seams” and standards were likely to drop.

LIFESTYLE
Health care in the United Kingdom is free at the point of delivery, meaning working citizens pay regular National Health contributions but receive most treatment at no cost.

Dental treatment and prescriptions are usually charged.

A particularly difficult area is the increasing number of people with illnesses linked to unhealthy lifestyle choices, like obesity, diabetes, dementia and heart disease.

SHORTAGES
The Commission’s chief executive, Sir David Behan, said the NHS is “struggling to cope with 21st century problems.

"We are living longer but we are not living healthier.

"What we are signalling is that the system now and into the future has got to deal with those increased numbers of older people who are going to have more than one condition.”

The CQC report highlighted a 16 per cent increase in staff vacancies over the last two years; bed shortages in hospitals consistently above recommended levels; falling numbers of beds in nursing homes; rising numbers of people not getting support for their social care needs.

Caroline Abrahams of Age UK said the findings made worrying reading.

“This tells you everything you need to know about the state of care today,” she said.

“It’s like a rubber band that’s been stretched as far as it will go and cannot stretch any further.”

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ZOOS

Go to a children’s party today and instead of musical chairs and maybe Uncle Fred playing the fool, you are likely to encounter a snake or a tarantula, maybe a monkey, skunk, meerkat or a raccoon.

There are more than 200 mobile zoos in Britain today whose speciality is putting on events involving exotic animals.

They do hundreds of shows a year. However, animal protection societies are not happy and claim the animals, especially meerkats and raccoons, are not always properly cared for.

The government has announced that as soon as parliamentary time allows, it will introduce legislation requiring the zoos to be licensed.
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ACADEMIC

Paying someone to write an important essay is not unheard of in the university world, but according to a recent investigation, hundreds of companies are producing work for undergraduates to pass off as their own.

Essay-writing services to help cheating students gain their degrees have been advertised on posters at London Underground stations near universities and one company distributed flyers on the Queen Mary University of London campus.

GRADES

The Quality Assurance Agency discovered that companies charge a modest £15 for some essays and almost £7,000 for a PhD dissertation.

The government has asked the Agency to produce guidelines urging the universities to ban such companies, known as “essay mills”, from advertising on campus and to block their websites.

They should also be urged to use software to spot changes in students’ personal writing styles.

Amatey Doku of the National Union of Students said some students were turning to essay mills because the pressure for high grades when they faced debts of up to £50,000 was often overwhelming.
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CRIMINALS

In the criminal world, always something new… now it’s “cuckooing”.

Just as the cuckoo occupies a nest built by other birds, so criminals are taking over the homes of vulnerable people by violence or intimidation, then using them as bases for the supply of drugs.

Crack cocaine and heroin were found in a house in Gravesend, which Kent police said had been “cuckooed” by Raymond Olabode, 18, and Chelsea Richardson, 19.

Charged with false imprisonment and possession with intent to supply class A drugs, they were bailed to appear in court on November 2.

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A couple were contentedly sipping wine when the wife suddenly said, “I love you.”

Surprised, her husband asked, “Is that you, or the wine, talking?”

“It’s me,” said the wife, “talking to my wine.”

When a husband stood on the bathroom scales, his wife spotted him pulling in his stomach.

“That won’t help,” she said. “It lets me see the numbers,” he replied.

MARRIAGE
Husband: “Where do you want to go for our anniversary?”

Wife: “Somewhere I’ve never been before.”

Husband: “How about the kitchen?”

Marriage is an institution where a man loses his Bachelor’s degree and his wife gets her Master's.

Marriage requires a man to prepare for three rings: Engagement Ring, Wedding Ring, Suffer- Ring.

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