Small doses of hope but much frustration

What the papers said in the week ending August 1^st

The most significant article for older people this week is the report of an update on preventative aspects for dementia from leaders in the field, published in the Lancet. They have added three factors to the nine they identified in 2017: Alcohol, head injuries and air pollution raise the risk of dementia. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30367-6/fulltext

Then there is evidence that government and others are struggling to respond to an awakened awareness that social care arrangements and funding in this country are not fit for purpose: so we have –

Plans for over 40s to pay for social care https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/jul/26/uk-ministers-looking-at-plans-to-raise-taxes-for-over-40s-to-pay-for-social-care
Alternatively the suggestion is that NHS and social care be fused – and an individual is appointed to look into this https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/jul/27/revealed-social-care-nhs-swelling-budget-camilla-cavendish
Sober minds point to the need for fair increases in taxation https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/jul/27/taxing-matter-of-solving-the-social-care-crisis
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/jul/30/there-is-no-magic-fix-for-our-social-care-crisis

There is frustration and confusion as attempts to ease the lockdown have been followed by an increase in the number of Covid 19 cases – and a return to some restrictions – https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2020/jul/26/more-coronavirus-handbrake-restrictions-may-be-imposed-on-travellers

There is international concern that the virus is not going away: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/27/europe-braces-for-second-wave-of-coronavirus
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/29/one-big-wave-why-the-covid-19-second-wave-may-not-exist-coronavirus
England is identified to have the highest number of excess death among 29 nations during the crisis: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/30/covid-19-england-had-highest-excess-death-levels-in-europe-by-end-of-may

Better news is that ‘excess deaths’ have become negative – in a sort of catch up, there have been fewer deaths per week than the five year average for the past three weeks. The catch up is small compared with the excess accumulated in previous weeks https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/jul/28/why-deaths-wales-england-below-five-year-average-covid-19-ons

Another health initiative – encouraging people not to be overweight or obese – is launched with the Prime Minister as a demonstration model, and with resistance to more Covid-19 as one of its selling points https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/jul/23/new-rules-on-junk-food-ads-could-threaten-uk-economic-recovery
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/jul/27/am-i-obese-heres-how-to-find-out-bmi
https://www.nationalfoodstrategy.org/

Discharges from general hospital wards have been blamed for deaths in care homes. There is now revelation that in the first weeks of the crisis, mental health patients were discharged at a greater rate than usual – again to free-up beds. There is concern that some people have been placed at risk by this: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/jul/26/concern-over-uk-mental-health-patients-discharged-at-start-of-lockdown

More bad news: The government is accused of giving misleading information about poverty amongst children https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/jul/30/boris-johnson-repeatedly-used-inaccurate-child-poverty-figures
https://osr.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/latest-on-regulation-blog/

And Allyson Pollock berates them for wasting time, money and resources on a chaotic contact tracing scheme placed in the hands of a number of private companies. It would have been done more cheaply and effectively by the NHS https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jul/31/outsourcing-england-test-trace-nhs-private

Barbara MacArthur, aged 93, tells of life as a carer: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/jul/30/we-feel-a-little-forgotten-uk-care-system-fails-93-year-old-mother

Virtual consultations are declared the norm: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/jul/30/all-gp-consultations-should-be-remote-by-default-says-matt-hancock-nhs

The Guardian ran three days of features about young black people