Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

Malnutrition soars by more than 70% since Coalition came to power
Jul 23, 2014 21:53 By Martin Bagot


During the Tory-led Government’s relentless cuts drive doctors in England have seen huge increases in conditions usually associated with the Third World

Malnutrition has soared by more than 70% since the Coalition came to power according to shocking data on hospital admissions.

During the Tory-led Government’s relentless cuts drive doctors in England have seen huge increases in conditions usually associated with the Third World.

People unable to feed themselves saw a staggering 6,686 admissions where malnutrition was the primary or secondary diagnosis during 2013/14.

This is a rise of 71% from 3,899 in the year up to April 2010.

Data from the Health and Social Care Information Centre released today also revealed admissions for scarlet fever were up by 110% and cholera by a staggering 450% since 2010.

Labour has branded the figures a “national scandal”.

Luciana Berger MP, Labour’s Shadow Public Health Minister, said: “This shouldn’t be happening in 21st century Britain and the Government’s response is hopelessly complacent.

“People are living under greater pressure and struggling with the cost of living.

“Hundreds of thousands are forced to turn to food banks and sadly it’s unsurprising people are eating less, and eating less healthily too.

“David Cameron needs to listen to what the experts are saying and tackle the cost of living crisis that is driving people into food poverty.”

Cases of malnutrition have been steadily increasing since the 2010 general election.

In 2009/10 there were 3,899 hospital admissions for this, in 2010/11 there were 4,660, in 2011/12 there were 5,396 then in 2012/13 this had risen again to 5,594.

Greater Manchester had the highest rate of malnutrition diagnosis last year at 2.1 for every 100,000 people - nearly double the national average.

Many of those taken to hospital with malnutrition were also suffering from other conditions.

In most severe cases where malnutrition was the primary reason for admission London came top with 65 cases last year, followed by Greater Manchester with 58 and the Wessex region with 53.

Chris Mould, chief executive of the Trussell Trust which runs a nationwide network of food banks, said: “This shows increases in diseases related to poverty and that’s alarming.

“Our food banks see tens of thousands of people who have been going hungry, missing meals and cutting back on the quality of the food they buy.

“We know quite a large proportion of the population are struggling to get nutritious food on the table. And at the extreme end of that you get people who are malnourished.

“We don’t believe anyone should have to go hungry in the UK.

“The scale of the increases we’re seeing must be further investigated to find out why this is happening.”

Scurvy - a disease associated with pirates stuck at sea for long periods - has increased by 31% in England since 2010.

This is caused by a lack of vitamin C and can be caused by a diet without enough fresh fruit and vegetables.

Victorian diseases such as mumps and measles have fallen but have still not been eradicated.

There were 393 cases of mumps last year which was a rise from 319 the previous year but down from 543 cases in 2010.

Hospital admissions for measles saw a spike in 2012/13 with 692 cases. This fell to 205 admissions last year.

Kingsley Manning, Chair of the HSCIC, said: “It is fascinating to look at current statistics for some of the diseases and conditions that were prevalent in the 1800s and early 1900s.

“We are fortunate that these diseases are not as widespread today, however our figures do show that hospital admissions for gout are increasing.

“Healthcare organisations may be interested in undertaking further study into the trends highlighted in our report.”

The figures also revealed we are more susceptible to allergies with 20,318 admissions due to severe reactions last year. This was up 8% on 2012/13.

The Government claimed the rapid increase in malnutrition cases “could be partly due to better diagnosis”.

Health minister Dr Dan Poulter said: “We want everybody to live a healthy life and a good diet is essential.

“We want to reduce levels of malnutrition, particularly amongst frail and elderly people.

“We are working with Age UK on a half a million pound project, which aims to tackle the issue in a range of health and care settings.

“We’ve also given local authorities a £5.4billion budget over two years to help them manage public health issues including malnutrition."

Rise in NHS trusts in financial difficulties

By Nick Triggle
Health correspondent, BBC News

Nineteen NHS trusts have been referred to ministers after auditors raised concerns about their financial health.

The Audit Commission made the move after reviewing the health of 98 trusts running a combination of hospital, ambulance and community services.

The referrals have been made because the trusts have failed to break even and do not have robust enough plans to balance the books in the coming years.

The number represents nearly a four-fold rise from five last year.

It is another sign of the growing financial problems being seen in the health service. Earlier this month the Nuffield Trust warned that a quarter of trusts had finished the year in deficit, but that included nearly 250 trusts across the whole health service.

The Audit Commission looked in-depth at only those trusts that have not achieved foundation trusts status - given to the elite performers - and, as such, they tend to be the most financially-challenged organisations.

'Worrying'
Overall the watchdog had concerns about a third, but the 19 hospital trusts who got referrals are effectively the ones with the most deeply-rooted problems.

Not only did they fail to break even in 2013-14, but they were unable to convince auditors they could rectify the issues in the medium term.

The referral to Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt means the trusts will face closer scrutiny from the authorities.

One of those referred is Hinchingbrooke, which is the first hospital trust to be run by a private firm, Circle.

Audit Commission controller Marcine Waterman said the findings were "worrying".

A Department of Health spokesman said the government recognised there were challenges which was why the budget had been protected this parliament.

He added: "It is essential that trust chief executives have a tight financial grip and ensure they live within their means."

The 19 trusts are: Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust; Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust; Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust; George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust; Hinchingbrooke Health Care NHS Trust; Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust; Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust; Mid Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust; Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust; North Bristol NHS Trust; North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust; North West London Hospitals NHS Trust; Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust; Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust; The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust; United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust; University Hospital of North Staffordshire NHS Trust; Weston Area Health NHS Trust; Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust.

Hinchingbrooke Health Care NHS Trust, run by Circle (private)

They done a big puff piece on that a while back..saying how well it was doing etc etc.

And now it's broke.



And what about the Queen Alexandra hospital.... PFI'd to death, so much so they recon the debt will never go away unless they get a bailout.

OUT OF TOUCH TORIES..........they know they have to do well in the NORTH if they are to get an overal majority at the GE. At the moment NO CHANCE. Anyone dissolusionised up here with Camoron from the tories are voting for UKIP.

Its as TANKER says, Northerners dont trust Camoron and the Bullingdon Boys.

Northerners? They are foreigners aren't they?

Say goodnight Dick.

Goodnight Dick head

LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL austerity!!!!!!!!!!!!what austerity?????????

Éoin Clarke ‏@DrEoinCl Jul 23
At 9.30am ONS confirmed

George Osborne has grown deficit by £2,500,000,000 this year
Has grown National Debt by £500,000,000,000 since 2010

Éoin Clarke ‏@DrEoinCl 10h
In May 2010

Economy growth was 25% faster
Wages grew 9 times faster
National Debt was £500bn less
There were 1m fewer Zero Hour Contracts

Éoin Clarke ‏@DrEoinCl Jul 24
Tories magicked 1/2 million jobs by pretending Workfare = Work & FE Teachers = Private Sector

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171778_278358.pdf …
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2012-10-23e.124129.h …

Éoin Clarke ‏@DrEoinCl 8h
GDP per head (that's you and I) has *not* recovered to its 2008 level, nor is it likely to for many years.

Éoin Clarke ‏@DrEoinCl 6h


Since May 2010

Nat Debt ↑ £500bn
Wage Growth ↓ 800%
Zero Hours ↑ 1m
Homelessness ↑ 34%
House Building ↓ 90yr lows
GDP Growth ↓ 20% slower

The TORIES LIES blasted wide open.

44326 = 2008-2013 ...... you probably haven't realised that we are now over half way through 2014

You can only publish what is to hand.

The Tories dont have any up to date statistics.

If they had they would have published them if they were to thier advantage.

Anyway you old git where have you been for the lasr 2 days ...playing golf?

no on both counts sticky .... you chose to cherry pick what suited your "cause"

can't remember what i did on thursday, but certainly not golf as that was wednesday afternoon ..... today was the gym followed by having to go up to london

overall, i generally flit straight through this thread as i get oh so bored with the incessant polemics and soapboxing

Thats strange as we get more hits from you over a two week period than anybody else.!!!!!!!

Perhaphs its you, you know getting it wrong with the Tax Tribunal having to defend yourself all the time.

Never mind keep telling the porkies, you know you love to be verbaly thrashed.

Poor doors: the segregation of London's inner-city flat dwellers

Poorer residents in capital's developments forced to use different entrances and facilities


Hilary Osborne


theguardian.com, Friday 25 July 2014 19.46 BST



Left, the luxury lobby of One Commercial Street, marketed to wealthy City workers. Right, the side-alley entrance reserved for affordable housing tenants. Photographs: Sarah Lee for the Guardian

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/jul/25/poor-doors-segregation-london-flats


Multimillion pound housing developments in London are segregating less well-off tenants from wealthy homebuyers by forcing them to use separate entrances.

A Guardian investigation has discovered a growing trend in the capital's upmarket apartment blocks – which are required to include affordable homes in order to win planning permission – for the poorer residents to be forced to use alternative access, a phenomenon being dubbed "poor doors". Even bicycle storage spaces, rubbish disposal facilities and postal deliveries are being separated.

The Green party accused developers of showing "contempt for ordinary people" by enforcing such two-tier policies.


This week New York's mayor, Bill De Blasio, said he planned to take action to prevent new developments being built with separate entrances and facilities for low-income residents. His pledge followed a furore over a luxury block on the city's swanky Upper West Side which will have what US newspapers have dubbed a "poor door" for the social housing units on the site. But while the approval for segregated entrances in just one building in New York generated headlines, they are fast becoming standard practice in London.

"When Ken Livingstone left office he was keen that all developments should have their social housing 'pepperpotted' – mixed in with all the other more upmarket accommodation," said Ed Mead, a director at estate agent Douglas & Gordon which sells upmarket properties in central London. "This didn't go down well with developers with the result that most developments now have a separate entrance and a different look."

Tracey Kellett, a buying agent who trawls the capital looking for homes for wealthy clients, said a number of developments have separate entrances "so the two social strata don't have to meet". In one: "The affordable [housing] has vile coloured plastic panels on the outside rather than blingy glass."

At one building bordering the City financial district, the Guardian discovered wealthy owners accessed their homes via a hotel-style lobby area, while social housing tenants enter through a side door in an adjacent alley alongside trade entrances.

In marketing information for another development currently under construction, would-be residents have been promised that the affordable homes will have a separate entrance, no access to car or cycle parking and that post and bins will also be divided.

As the London housing market has boomed the expectations of some of the capital's wealthiest homebuyers have grown and many properties now have communal areas akin to those in some of the world's best hotels.

Service charges to maintain these are high, and a separate entrance means housing associations and their tenants do not face these extra costs. However, as in New York, there are concerns that it is leading to increasingly divided communities.

Green party London assembly member Darren Johnson said: "This trend shows contempt for ordinary people, and is about developers selling luxury flats to rich investors who don't want to mix with local people."

He added: "The mayor and councils have been turning a blind eye to this for too long, they should simply refuse applications that have separate facilities or that refuse any affordable housing on this basis."

A spokesman for de Blasio's office in New York said this week : "We fundamentally disagree with (separate doors), and we are in the process of changing it to reflect our values and priorities. We want to make sure future affordable housing projects treat all families equitably."


Developers said separate doors let housing associations keep costs down as they avoided premium service charges paid by private residents.

Peter Allen, sales and marketing director for Londonewcastle which is behind the Queens Park Place development in north London said housing associations were sometimes unable to pay for all of the facilities covered by service charges. "The simplest way from a design perspective is to have things separate."

Side-entrance shame

The brochure for the upmarket apartments of One Commercial Street, on the edge of the City, boasts of a "bespoke entrance lobby ... With the ambience of a stylish hotel reception area, it creates a stylish yet secure transition space between your home and the City streets".

In common with many of London's new concrete and glass residential blocks there's a concierge, on hand 24/7 to service the every need of residents paying a minimum of £500,000 – which only buys a studio flat – to live in this booming part of the city.

But the lobby is out of bounds to some of those who live in the building. What the brochure doesn't mention is a second door, with a considerably less glamorous lobby, tucked away in an alley to the side of the building, alongside the trade entrance for Pret a Manger. This is the entrance for One Commercial Street's affordable housing tenants.

In a bid to ease the housing crisis, developers are obliged to provide a set proportion of affordable homes when they draw up a new project, but they are often able to negotiate this figure down with local planners. Some provide the cheaper homes in separate blocks, but in a single structure development the affordable homes are often on separate floors – with separate entrances, lifts, car parks and even rubbish bins, so that upmarket apartment buyers have no contact with those occupying the social housing in their buildings.

In some cases, developers have even used the fact they need to provide separate doors and lifts to argue against putting affordable homes on the same site as their premium apartments. Planning documents for the 56 Curzon Street development in Soho show that the developers told the local council "that on-site provision of affordable housing would result in significant design inefficiencies due to the need for separate entrances and building cores".

Some are coy about the subject. Native Land, which is currently building Cheyne Terrace just off Kings Road in Chelsea, complete with a swimming pool and gym, refused to comment when asked if its 13 affordable housing units would be accessed via a separate door. However, the website of John Robertson Architects, which has designed the building, makes it clear this is the case.

In north-west London the developers behind Queen's Park Place are more upfront about how its 28 affordable and 116 market-rate homes will co-exist – its marketing website says the external appearance will be uniform across all properties – or "tenure blind". But inside the building the two types of resident will be treated very differently: "Affordable tenants will not have use of the main private residential entrance, private courtyard gardens or basement car and cycle parking. Services including postal delivery and refuse storage are also divided."

This does not just happen where there are large numbers of affordable homes on a site. In Chiswick, The Corner Haus development which is to be completed this summer, has just two affordable units, but these are also expected to have a separate entrance.

Of course, the separate doors to these developments mean that the housing associations who run the affordable properties and their tenants do not face the service charges attached with the luxurious surroundings that wealthy buyers have now come to expect and accept. However, the stark difference between the entrances, and, in some cases their positioning, rankles with some of those who live there.

Through the main door of One Commercial Street the lights shine brightly in the hotel-style lobby. There is luxury marble tiling and plush sofas, and a sign on the door alerts residents to the fact that the concierge is available. Round the back, the entrance to the affordable homes is a cream corridor, decorated only with grey mail boxes and a poster warning tenants that they are on CCTV and will be prosecuted if they cause any damage.

Brooke Terrelonga lives here with her nine-month-old son – they moved into a social rented flat four months ago and she was surprised to find that she wasn't allowed to use the front entrance. Her mother, who doesn't want to be named, said she felt unhappy about her daughter returning home at night to the poorly-lit alleyway. She motioned towards two lights on the wall, either side of the door, which were the only lightling in sight. She said: "It's like the cream is at the front and they've sent the rubbish to the back."

Another tenant, Judy Brown, had also expected to be able to get to her flat through the main entrance. "I call it the posh door. I feel a little bit insulted. It's segregation." Brown said that the lifts kept breaking down and she often had to take the stairs to her ninth-floor flat. "When both the lifts weren't working they did say that if you were pregnant, had a health problem or a baby in a buggy you could use the main entrance," she said. Otherwise, the tenants said, they were "locked out" of the main lobby.

James Moody, managing director of Redrow London, which built One Commercial Street said in a statement that his firm was committed to providing homes "at all financial levels" and that 34% of the total accommodation in the building was affordable.

"As One Commercial Street is located on the edge of the City, we have built a product that appeals to this market of young professionals and families who want to live close to their place of work and enjoy the benefits of a full concierge service and hotel style lobby, which they pay a premium for through their service charge.

"Affordable accommodation is managed separately by Network Housing who have full control of the services and facilities provided to its tenants and have a set cap for service charges.

"In addition, we have taken every step necessary to ensure that our development meets the needs of all of its residents and we go through a lengthy consultation process with housing associations to establish both a design that meets their requirements whilst making it as affordable as possible for their residents."

Whos nabbed all the bread???????????????????????????????????????????

Welfare News Service @WNSNews ·

‘Big Society’ in tatters as charity watchdog launches investigation into claims of Government funding misuse http://ino.to/1kfM2rl