Oh is the medical care free now in Spain?!
We have no problems in getting a GP appointment and all medical care by NHS has been wonderful this last two years for us.
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Rough sleeper gives birth to twins outside wealthiest Cambridge college
(445 Posts)Rough sleeper gives birth to twins outside wealthiest Cambridge college. Woman delivered premature babies in front of Trinity College on Monday
A homeless woman gave birth to premature twins while sleeping rough outside Cambridge University’s wealthiest college.
The woman, believed to be about 30, gave birth outside Trinity College. She was helped by members of the public, who called an ambulance, according to reports.
A witness told Cambridge News she had seen the new mother and her two children wrapped up in blankets inside ambulances when she cycled past at about 7.15am on Monday.
“They were all in the ambulances by the time I cycled past,” she said. “My workmate was first on the scene, and luckily Sainsbury’s was open early that morning and she ran in there for help.
“I’m hoping she gets given somewhere to live and the babies are ok. With what people are doing right now with Corbyn’s Christmas Challenge [a social media fundraising effort in response to Labour’s election defeat] what happened is very relevant to many people.”
Is rough sleeping getting worse?
The government claims rough sleeping in England fell for the first time in eight years in 2018, from 4,751 in 2017 to 4,677. But the body that oversees the quality of official statistics in the UK has said the number should not be trusted after 10% of councils changed their counting methods. Rough sleeping in London has hit a record high, with an 18% rise in 2018-19.
The numbers of people sleeping rough across Scotland have also risen, with 2,682 people reported as having slept rough on at least one occasion.
Shelter, whose figures include rough sleepers and people in temporary accommodation, estimate that overall around 320,000 people are homeless in Britain.
What’s being done about rough sleeping?
The government’s Homelessness Reduction Act 2017, which places new duties on state institutions to intervene earlier to prevent homelessness has been in force for more than a year, but two thirds of councils have warned they cannot afford to comply with it. In 2018, James Brokenshire, the housing secretary, announced a one-off £30m funding pot for immediate support for councils to tackle rough sleeping.
How does the law treat rough sleepers?
Rough sleeping and begging are illegal in England and Wales under the Vagrancy Act 1824, which makes ‘wandering abroad and lodging in any barn or outhouse, or in any deserted or unoccupied building, or in the open air, or under a tent, or in any cart or wagon, and not giving a good account of himself or herself’ liable to a £1,000 fine. Leading homelessness charities, police and politicians have called on the government to scrap the law.
Since 2014, councils have increasingly used public space protection orders to issue £100 fines. The number of homeless camps forcibly removed by councils across the UK has more than trebled in five years, figures show, prompting campaigners to warn that the rough sleeping crisis is out of control and has become an entrenched part of life in the country.
Is austerity a factor in homelessness?
A Labour party analysis has claimed that local government funding cuts are disproportionately hitting areas that have the highest numbers of deaths among homeless people. Nine of the 10 councils with the highest numbers of homeless deaths in England and Wales between 2013 and 2017 have had cuts of more than three times the national average of £254 for every household.
What are the health impacts of rough sleeping?
A study of more than 900 homeless patients at a specialist healthcare centre in the West Midlands found that they were 60 times more likely to visit A&E in a year than the general population in England.
Homeless people were more likely to have a range of medical conditions than the general population. While only 0.9% of the general population are on the register for severe mental health problems, the proportion was more than seven times higher for homeless people, at 6.5%.
Just over 13% of homeless men have a substance dependence, compared with 4.3% of men in the general population. For women the figures were 16.5% and 1.9% respectively. In addition, more than a fifth of homeless people have an alcohol dependence, compared with 1.4% of the general population. Hepatitis C was also more prevalent among homeless people.
Sarah Marsh, Rajeev Syal and Patrick Greenfield
East of England ambulance service told Cambridge News that paramedics went to the scene just before 7am on Monday. The woman and her children were taken to Rosie hospital, a specialist maternity hospital on the outskirts of Cambridge.
Research by the Guardian last year identified Trinity as the wealthiest of all the colleges in both Oxford and Cambridge Universities, with published assets at the time of £1.3bn.
A crowdfunding campaign set up to raise money for the woman decried Cambridge as a place of “extraordinary inequality”. Jess Agar, who started the fundraiser, wrote: “Imagine giving birth alone on the pavement, in the shadow of the richest college in Cambridge.
“Whether we are religious or not, many of us will be familiar with the Christmas story of a mother who gave birth to her child in poverty, seeking refuge in a stable. This is the reality for many people living on the streets.”
Contributors have so far donated more than £9,000.
uk.yahoo.com/news/rough-sleeper-gives-birth-twins-144402965.html
The fact that she was on the streets tells you that there was a reason why she didn't want to get any services involved. Either drugs, an illegal or mental health issues. She was most likely scared of having her babies taken off her.
I'm glad she will now be assessed and will hopefully get the help that she clearly needs.
No Lemongrove we don't know the full story but it was enough that she was regarded as homeless and somehow gave birth on the street for what ever reason. Yes the NHS will look after her as no one is ever turned away. Hope we are going to still be saying the same in 18 months. Season Greetings.
Yes, lemongrove, medical care was COMPLETELY free in Spain. A&E, seen within 30 minutes Admitted to hospital 3 times, in a room where both baby and me were able to stay with her. Multiple exploratory procedures within 2 or 3 days. When baby had problems, they tested and tested again, opening haemotology for us out of opening hours to take bloods. They fast tracked the tests so we were able to get the results before leaving the hospital. Service was out of this world. And as you said, FREE.
You are very lucky. There isn't a GP practise in my area where the wait is less than 2 weeks. Unless of course, you use private healthcare.
When the baby was born, she had the same midwife with her all the time. She was the midwifes sole patient for her labour and delivery. The midwife and nurse who assisted spoke excellent English.
Of course it wasn’t free Gaga! Neither is it free here....just free at the point of delivery.
We can see the GP the same day if needed, no private healthcare either.
We don’t know if the woman became pregnant when living on the streets, she would have had health care, perhaps she didn’t seek it.
It is a terrible and sad story. One can only speculate as to how she came to be in such a situation.
I've been thinking hard about the homelessness problem. Obviously by the time people become homeless their lives have gone wrong somewhere. Where to start in addressing root causes? Providing homes is good but it would be better to work out how to stop people becoming homeless in the first place.
What might help? 1) good nutrition from an early age so children can maximise their learning.
2) good educational opportunities
3) a range of post school education including technical type training not just universities etc
3) ideally, families to be able to support children until they are really able to live independently
4) drug and alcohol education from an early stage but support if it does become a problem
5) housing support for people leaving the services
Och I could go on and on. There are as many routes to homelessness as there are these unfortunate people. So many ways of addressing the problem. It's like the old saying about looking why people are falling into the river rather than just concentrating on rescuing the drowning.
I lived in Spain.
My baby daughter was in hospital surg pneumonia.
The bill was eye watering
Homelessness has risen and keeps on rising, as a direct result of the Conservative policies. It started with the sale of council housing, with councils refused government permission to invest the money raised in new social housing. The bedroom tax, refusing housing benefit to those under 25, rise in housing costs etc, endless list of contributory factors.
The numbers of homeless people is visible in every town and city. Many homeless peopke have m.h, addiction problems. Sleeping rough compounds existing problems.
It’s shameful that this is continuing to increase. I hope this woman and her premature babies are safe and warm tonight. It will be a miracle if they can be helped to stay together. Who knows how desperate this woman is, or how great her needs.
I don’t know what the Johnson governments housing policies are. Let’s hope they’re positive for the country and it’s people. Now that would be a Christmas miracle
Semantics lemongrove. We paid not a penny.
As I said, YOU are lucky. That service doesn't exist for the vast majority of Brits in the UK. In other European countries, yes.
With* not surg
If you had no insurance you had to pay
X post with you jane10, agree with your post
Oopsminty, why weren't you entitled to state healthcare? We were completely covered. Were you (or your husband) working?
I think it does exist in many places in the UK Gaga it's called the triage service and works well, cutting out unnecessary GP visits/ wasted appointments etc.You simply call the surgery, outline the medical problem ( or not if you don’t want to say what your problem is) and within two hours the GP calls you, discusses the problem and calls you into the surgery the same day if she/he wants to examine you.
It seems that the election of this far right government has given some the permission they need to display their utter lack of humanity.
Bring back the workhouses?
You're very lucky. My GP WILL call back, but that only is suitable for people that don't work. Most employees are not able to take a phone call in the middle of the working day.
My GP is a lovely, lovely guy. 10 years ago, he referred me to an expert in my particular type of cancer to Guys in London for 2nd opinion, despite it not being strictly according to the rules.
But his practise is stretched beyond belief and the service they are able to offer is very poor now. NOT his fault. Not enough GPs. Not enough funding.
And that is exactly the problem with some attitudes - that the NHS is "free"! It is only free at the point of delivery, it still has to be paid for by taxpayers. There are some who are happy to use it unnecessarily and also abuse it, e.g. going to see the doctor "for a cold", booking appointments and failing to turn up, expecting the NHS to look after all of their health, without taking responsibility and looking after their own health as much as possible. And please don't try to tell me I don't know what I'm talking about, I worked in primary care for years, I've seen it for myself. There needs to be a change in attitude towards the NHS, and people need to start seeing it as a valuable resource that has limitations, and to be respected and properly used, not as the free for all answer to all of life's health and social problems. There needs to be a Parliamentary cross-party review of the NHS and social care, and what it can and can't reasonably be expected to provide. And yes, before I'm shouted down, I am a GREAT supporter of the NHS, and yes it has saved my life - BUT it needs to be ringfenced, properly funded, turned into a streamlined, efficient and effective health provider and USED RESPECTFULLY. Then we can all have the benefit of a fantastic NHS that is there for all when needed.
Yehbutnobut, perhaps they approve of 'decreasing the surplus population'. Thomas Malthus, Victorian political economist, delineating part of the purpose of the workhouses (to kill off the poor through viciously hard work).
....it’s certainly given some the permission to decry and deride
And display their virtue signalling towards anyone who didn’t vote for the plonker Corbyn, that’s for sure.Also to believe that a woman has to give birth on the street when we all know that isn’t the case. There are many and varied reasons for homelessness it needs a commission ( cross party) to investigate it, just as social care for the elderly needs a cross party consensus.Too many things are used as political footballs.
Regarding homelessness, one of the things for the increase is UC. You get 2 weeks credit when applying, then you have to pay the full rent or you are in errors but you have to wait 5 weeks or more for the money. The Council is required by law to start hounding you if you fall into errors after 2 weeks. If you are in private accommodation then you could be out before you know it. You get your money eventually and you are already in deep debt paying back rent errors, Council tax errors and any money your borrowed for living expenses while waiting for your money. This is all caused by government policy.
Bringing the thoughts of a Victorian economist is labouring your point now GagaJo
Let’s stay relevant.
Opal, I pay A LOT of tax and national insurance. It may be free at the point of contact, but I pay thousands every year. And currently, in my city, NHS healthcare is virtually unavailable unless you can sit by the phone most of the day waiting for a call back.
When I lived in Spain, I also paid a lot of social security for my healthcare.
I pay in A LOT into the systems in the UK. And given that I will probably never get a pension could wonder why I should pay in. However, I pay in so those who are vulnerable have some sort of safety net.
If that safety net goes, tax payers such as myself will begin to wonder WHY we pay hundreds of pounds every month for a system that never benefits us OR those that really need it.
X posts Opal ?
Gagajo the far right, as exemplified by some, probably do think like that. Wait until they or one of their family gets caught in the system. Then they will squeal.
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