Our resident nutrition expert, Mary Farmer, has been looking at blood pressure. What makes it go up? And what can we do to help keep it down?

In a long and informative article, there is some fascinating new information about salt, the role of magnesium, and how Public Health England are hoping to identify those at high risk of succumbing to "the invisible killer"...

Read more here.

 

With local government elections coming up next week in parts of England, questions are once again being asked about the accessibility of politics.

There was an Access to Elected Office Fund, which helped candidates with a disability to cover the extra costs they face. It has now been suspended for longer than it was in existence – time to reinstate it? 

Find out more here

 

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has recently ruled on a case where North Somerset Council were wrongly charging people for the first six weeks of intermediate care.

The council changed the name to "enablement", but the ombudsman was clear that this semantic difference did not entitle them to charge for something that should be provided free.

Find out more here

 

There is a new study about to get going at Brunel University, about assistive equipment, and particularly the guidance they have produced on measuring your home environment, to make sure that you get the right equipment.

If you are 65 or older, live at home, and either already have or could do with having some adaptive equipment, they would love you to get involved!

More details are here.

  

As part of the Mobility Unlimited Challenge, a new survey has found that 90% of wheelchair users in the UK have experienced pain and discomfort as a result of their mobility devices.

Half of those questioned say they experience back pain at least once a day, one third have shoulder pain at least once a day, while for a quarter, neck pain is a daily experience. One in five say that they constantly experience back pain.

The study also found that wheelchair users in the UK experience repetitive strain injury (RSI) and pressure sores (32% and 23% respectively).

Find out more here

 

The Work and Pensions Committee has produced a report about assistive technology (AT), and how it should be used to help close the disability employment gap, and improve Britain's sub-prime productivity levels.

One interesting suggestion is that Personal Independence Payments could be used to purchase AT in the same way that funding an adapted car or powered mobility aid is possible.

More details here

 

Don't forget that you can apply to join the Independent Living Facebook group, if you would like to spend more time discussing these themes with other interested people. 

There are various ways you can get in touch with us: email me; visit our Facebook page and leave a message there; or if it's short and sweet, Tweet!

Previous newsletters are archived here.

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Until next time, all good wishes,

Frances