Regularly using a mobile phone may increase the risk of tinnitus, which involves constant ringing or buzzing in the ear, a small study suggests. Austrian researchers recruited 100 people with the condition and 100 without, and compared mobile phone use. They found tinnitus was over 70% more likely in those averaging 10 minutes' daily phone use, reported Occupational and Environmental Medicine journal.
A rail operator has apologised to a disabled passenger after staff tried to "bar" him from a train. Tim Mason, 49, from Teignmouth, Devon, was told he could not travel on the First Great Western (FGW) train if his wheelchair could not be folded away.
People with learning disabilities receive worse healthcare than the rest of the population some doctors and nurses believe, according to a charity. Mencap has found almost half of doctors and a third of nurses from a poll of poll of 1,084 think this is the case.
A council has been criticised after it cancelled a travel scheme enabling elderly and disabled people access to cheap or free public transport. Eastleigh council said it believed an alternative scheme would offer a wider choice of travel options.
The social care budget needs protecting just as NHS spending has been, campaigners say. Age UK has warned that if the expected cuts to councils are made, just half the 1m people needing help at home in England will be getting it by 2012. The charity said social care should be put on the same footing as health, which will not see a funding drop.
It could be more difficult in future to bring a disability discrimination claim on mental health grounds, following an Employment Tribunal decision. The tribunal suggested that a claimant could be required to provide evidence from a consultant psychiatrist to prove a diagnosis of stress or depression. Previously, the threshold of proof had been lowered to make claiming easier.
