Health & Wellbeing

The British Heart Foundation (BHF) is urging local residents to support a new Fund to improve genetic testing for families at risk of the undiagnosed heart condition that killed Sir David Frost’s eldest son last year. The heart charity estimate that 11,000 people in the West Midlands are living with the faulty gene that can cause hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which led to Miles Frost’s sudden death at the age of just 31.

Ensuring there are enough clinical staff with the right skills to meet the demand for high-quality, safe healthcare is essential to the operation of the NHS. However, the current arrangements for managing the supply of clinical staff are fragmented and do not represent value for money, according to the National Audit Office. The arrangements for managing the supply of clinical staff involve the Department of Health, various arm’s-length bodies and healthcare commissioners and providers.

An exciting new walking challenge is being launched this month, encouraging people in Wolverhampton to team up and 'Beat The Street'. The seven-week walking and cycling challenge allows residents to collect points for the number of miles that they travel, be it by bike or on foot. Individual and team prizes are up for grabs, with a share of £5,000 available for the teams travelling the furthest during the challenge.

Sir Doug Ellis OBE has made an incredible donation worth £125,000 enabling QEHB Charity to purchase a Nexstim brain scanner. The Former Aston Villa FC chairman visited the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham (QEHB) and presented a cheque for £100,000 which is worth £125,000 with government Gift Aid taken into account to Ismail Ughratdar, Consultant Neurosurgeon, and Mike Hammond, Chief Executive of QEHB Charity.

Almost nine in ten local authorities (86 per cent) in the West Midlands are still limiting homecare visits for their elderly, ill and disabled residents to just 15 minutes, says UNISON in a report published. The report – entitled Suffering Alone at Home – is based on an online survey of 1,100 homecare workers and data obtained from a Freedom of Information request (FoI) to the 152 local authorities in England that commission social care visits. 

Birmingham St Mary’s Hospice is looking for local businesses and organisations to battle it out in their ‘Accumulator Challenge’. The three month fundraising challenge sets local businesses and groups the task of raising as much money as possible from a starting point of £50. Teams can organise bake sales, sports or social events, karaoke challenges, dress down days –the choices are endless!  This can be done through multiple events or just the one, and over the three months or just on one day.

Stark differences in access to new medicines to reduce the risk of strokes in people with the heart rhythm disorder atrial fibrillation (AF) are revealed in a new report from the Atrial Fibrillation Association. The chance of receiving the newer treatments varies 16-fold across England, the report says. In one part of England 69% of patients receive the newer treatments – in another part just 4% are prescribed them.

Asthma UK is urging people with asthma to be vigilant in winter as data shows the number of people who die because of an asthma attack peaks in January and remains high in February and March. Data from the Office for National Statistics highlights that asthma is the cause of proportionately more excess winter deaths than other conditions and respiratory diseases were the underlying cause of death in more than a third of all excess winter deaths in 2014/15.

With flu cases on the rise, people in "at risk" groups are being reminded that they can still get a free flu vaccination. While symptoms of flu are generally unpleasant, it can lead to more serious complications like middle ear infections in children and pneumonia or bronchitis for those with underlying health conditions. Every year, tens of thousands of people are hospitalised because of flu, and in some cases it can be fatal.

Birmingham Children’s Hospital is encouraging fearless fundraisers to take on its highest ever indoor abseil to raise vital funds for the charity. The sponsored plunge, which will take place on Saturday 5 March at the One Snow Hill building near to the hospital, will offer plucky participants the chance to abseil from the office’s 12th floor at 150ft – a massive 30ft more than the last abseil at One Snow Hill.

Kale juice, faddy diet plans and Lycra are all off the menu as a new no-nonsense fitness class reaches Birmingham this January.  A new fitness session has been devised by Kwik Fit technicians and personal trainer Mikah Simpson, using only car and van tyres which are readily available at centres up and down the country. The stripped down, no-frills exercise regime is being launched by the car servicing giant, with initial sessions available from their Halesowen centre billed as ‘Fit Kwik’.