Grief brings the political world to a halt

I want to join the rest of the country in expressing my condolences and heartfelt sympathy for Conservative leader David Cameron and his wife Samantha, whose six-year-old son Ivan died yesterday. Ivan had a severe, progressive neurological condition, and his
parents knew from the day he was born that he could die in childhood. But, I imagine, this doesn't make it any easier to deal with.

I was completely shocked when I woke to the news yesterday. I was very moved by Brown's decision to cancel Prime Minister's Questions; and by the tributes in the Commons. It was a strong reminder that whatever our political beliefs, and however fiercely one side may oppose the other, we are united in our humanity, and grief. Brown too, after all, knows what it is like to lose a child.

“I know that in an all too brief life, he brought joy to all those around him and I know also that for all the days of his life, he was surrounded by his family’s love,” said Brown.

"Politics can sometimes divide us. But there's a common human bond that unites us in sympathy and compassion at times of trial, and in support for each other at times of grief.

William Hague, speaking in place of his leader said: “His parents lived with the knowledge for a long time that he could die young, but this has made their loss no less heartbreaking."

There is an article here here in the Times by writer Andrew Brereton whose son also dies from cerebral palsy.

Interestingly, the political comment that has come out of this tragic event is of how much Ivan has shaped Cameron and his Conservative party - namely his strong appreciation of the NHS given how much his family had come to rely on it.

In his first speech as party leader he said: “I believe that the creation of the NHS is one of the greatest achievements of the 20th century. When your family relies on the NHS all the time – day after day, night after night – you really know just how precious it is.”

Today's big health stories...

1. Cheap alcohol fuelling health crisis in Scotland

It has been revealed the World Health Organisation (WHO) figures that half of men and 30% of women in Scotland drink to excess. The country has the fastest growing rate of cirrhosis.
Alcohol misuse is estimated to cost Scotland £2.25bn per year in extra services across the NHS, police, courts, social services and lost economic productivity. The availability of cheap alcohol in supermarkets has been flagged up as a possible cause.

2. Mental health taboo

Research shows that coming out as being gay is easier than admitting to a mental health condition.

A survey commissioned by the Time to Change campaign, found that of 2,000 people across Britain, almost 30% said they would find it difficult to admit publicly to having a mental illness, compared with 20% who said they would have difficulty coming out as gay. Admitting to a mental health condition was also deemed harder than admitting to a drink problem or going bankrupt.

About a third of respondents believed someone with a mental health problem couldn't do a responsible job.


3. Start the obesity battle as early as possible

Department of Health officials have asked experts to develop ways to test children as young as two to determine if they are becoming overweight.

Tam Fry, Chairman of the Child Growth Foundation, said it was crucial to be monitoring the weight of children.

He told the Daily Mail: "One reason we have an obesity problem is that for 25 years we have consistently failed to monitor children and their increasing wirght from pre-school, such that we now hat 20 per cent overweight or obese at school."

4. Peanut allergy cure

Good news for sufferers of peanut allergies. In a world first, doctors have managed to cure children with severe forms of the allergy, by using a form of desensitisation treatment.

Doctors at Addenbrooke's hospital, Cambridge gave four children tiny doses of peanut flour every day, gradually increasing the dose. They can now eat ten or more nuts a day.

Previously the children would have been at risk of anaphylactic shock or even death if they accidentally ate even a trace amount of peanut.

5. Work pressure behind binge drinking boom?

Britons work hard and play harder, say psychologists. Bottling up our emotions at work leads us to let off steam by drinking a lot at weekends.

Prof van Wersch said (reported in the Daily Mail): 'Young people go out in large groups for the purpose of getting drunk because they have spent all week working hard and bottling up their emotions. It is an adventure. They do not know where the night will take them.'

She added: 'If people didn't have the 'big night out with friends' to look forward to, what would they do and feel like at the end of the week? We don't want a nation on Prozac, do we?'

War, what is it good for...

Yesterday I visited the Wellcome Collection's War & Medicine exhibition. Divided into three parts (organisation, the body and the mind), the exhibition looks at the paradox of war which means that as through history mankind has developed increasingly horrible and effective ways to maim and kill through warfare, so to we have had to rapidly adapt our medicine and health care to try to stem the damage we can do to each other.


Starting at the Crimean War and working through to modern day Afghanistan, the exhibition is an impressive collection of salvaged objects and memorabilia, photography, installation, videos and significantly, a lot of art - the link between art and science is present throughout all of the exhibits at the Wellcome Collection.

Initially, although fascinating, it does not seem like the most uplifting of viewing experiences. But there is, I think, an interesting angle for the optimist who cares to seek it. I was struck by how many of the most important medical developments of the last hundred years or so only came about as a response to the injuries and casualties of war. For example, the Russian's invention of triage as a method of treatment prioritisation during the Crimean War. The first facial reconstructive surgery and skin grafts were carried out during World War I because of the damage done by shell blasts. The extent of ongoing medical problems and injuries as a result of World War Two even led to the creation of the NHS. The horror of war through the ages has forced the medical profession to raise its game and now in the 21st century we are reaping the huge benefits of their discoveries, which save lives.

War has also transformed the way we deal with people's response to stress and trauma. The third and final section of the exhibition is focussed on just this - the injuries sustained by service personnel that although not outwardly visible were no less serious. This section of the gallery is quieter and calmer than the rest, with fewer interesting oddities to examine and an abundance of art and photography, almost all of which is fittingly black and white. There is an emphasis on art as being a release for people who have suffered the psychological horrors of war, and a way to communicate what they perhaps cannot vocalise.

By the end of WWI, the British Army had dealt with over 80,000 cases of shellshock. During the war, there were some medical officers and physicians who argued that shellshock was merely a physical reaction to the shell bursts, characterised by exhaustion, hallucination and insomnia amongst other undesirable symptoms.

Shockingly at that time, those who were incapacitated by this 'shellshock' to such an extent that they didn't feel able to continue fighting, could be accused of 'desertion' or 'cowardice', both of which were punishable by death. Over the years, medical officers began to understand that everyone is susceptible to battle-related stress. As the narrator on one US Army film about the psychological effects of battle says: "Every man has his breaking point." Now we call it Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) - a term which can apply to the psychological outcome of any shocking or traumatic event, not just war. War has helped to develop our knowledge of this condition and out therapeutic response to it.

A list in one of the glass cases shows the names of 306 soldiers who were executed by the British Army during WWI for these reasons. I think this is something we now find very hard to swallow. There was an instance in 2005 were there was a prolonged campaign to secure a pardon for Harry Farr, a serviceman executed for cowardice, who had undergone five months of treatment for shellshock only a year before his death.

In 2006 the then Defence Secretary, Des Browne announced a formal pardon. He said: “Although this is a historical matter, I am conscious of how the families…have had to endure a stigma for decades.” The Government went one step further in Nov 2006 and agreed that all soldiers executed in WWI should be given posthumous pardons.

The last part of the exhibition is the most hopeful, and colourful. In 2006 Catherine Panter-Brick, an anthropologist at Durham University, conducted a large scale survey of schoolchildren aged 11-16 in Afghanistan, which aimed to assess their mental health in the context of their direct experience of war. As one part of this the children were asked to draw themselves as they saw themselves now and in the future. These drawings are displayed on the wall here. Though vastly different, they share a common theme – the children may be unhappy now, but the drawings of their future selves reveal optimism, hope and ambition. One Girl, 14, draws herself now collecting scrap plastic in the street for her father to sell to support their family. But she writes of her future, ‘I want to be a painter, newscaster and actress.’ I think the most striking thing about these drawings is they provide a visual manifestation of our ability to heal psychologically after even the most traumatic and horrible events. And it’s that thought that I take with me as I leave the Wellcome Collection.

(NB: The War & Medicine exhibition is a temporary collection which ends tomorrow, so if you want to check it out you need to be super quick. However, the two permanent collections at Wellcome are well worth a look, and I am also looking forward to their next exhibition ‘Madness and Modernity’ , with installations by performance artist Bobbi Baker about her experience of having a mental health condition).

'Encouragement not judgement'

The NHS Stop Smoking initiative this week launched a new campaign to help pregnant women quit the habit.

The campaign will target 100,000 pregnant smokers.

It is based around NHS research which has found social stigma is a major factor in preventing pregnant smokers seeking help to quit.

According to a statement on the Royal College of Midwives' website, over a quarter of 224 pregnant smokers surveyed in England said they would like to seek support to stop, but were worried about being judged. A further third (38%) said they sometimes hide their smoking as they were concerned about people criticising them and 39% said they were ashamed to admit they smoked to their midwife or healthcare professional.

An NHS specialist midwife adviser in smoking in pregnancy Lisa Fendall said: ‘We’re making sure they see there is plenty of help on offer, from pregnancy focused one-to-one or group support sessions at their local NHS Stop Smoking Service or the NHS Pregnancy Smoking Helpline giving friendly advice and support – we work together to find the best solution for them.’

Midwives have been provided with information and new tools, including a new DVD, to aid expectant mothers to stop smoking. It will stress how harmful smoking is to them and their baby, showing how every cigarette smoked restricts the oxygen supply to an unborn baby.