Computer-based therapy should be available to all patients in England from April, says the government. Patients with mild depression or anxiety should receive therapy instead of drugs, but there are long waiting lists around the country. A trial of one computer programme - 'Beating the Blues' - found it more cost-effective than other treatments.
Macular Degeneration
A national inquiry into the scale of bullying should be undertaken by ministers because of fears that the problem is being downplayed by schools seeking to protect their reputations, a report demands today. New guidance is also needed to ensure that victims who dare to fight back are not suspended or expelled.
A charity believes a 60-year-old study of mental health in Scotland could hold the key to developing new treatments for conditions like Alzheimer's. Help the Aged in Scotland is hoping to raise £13.5m by 2015 to pay for long-term research resulting from the Scottish Mental Survey from 1947.
The NHS drugs watchdog is to face a judicial review in court for the first time over the guidance it offers. Two firms have been granted the review over the way the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence reached its conclusion on Alzheimer's drugs. NICE ruled NHS patients with newly diagnosed, mild Alzheimer's disease should not be prescribed the drugs. Eisai and Pfizer said the process was unfair, but NICE said the claims were without foundation.
Commenting on the Healthcare Commission's Count Me In census showing black people are more likely to be admitted to mental health and learning disability services, Liberal Democrat Health Spokesperson, Sandra Gidley MP said: