Daily roundup 10 June: Antidepressants, Prevent strategy and children's centres
Adam Offord
A study finds antidepressants could do more harm than good for children and young people; Shadow Home Secretary Andy Burnham says the government's Prevent strategy should be discarded; and more than 30 children's centres in Worcestershire are saved from closure, all in the news today.
The majority of antidepressants do not work on children and young people and prescribing them could do more harm than good, a study in UK medical journal The Lancet has warned. The Telegraph reports a review of clinical trial evidence found that just one of 14 antidepressant drugs was better than placebo at relieving the symptoms of young people with major depression.
Shadow Home Secretary Andy Burnham has called for the government’s Prevent strategy to be scrapped. The Guardian reports in a speech to the Chamber of Commerce in Manchester, Burnham called for a cross-party review of the strategy, but said his personal view was that the policy should be discarded.
More than 30 children’s centres across Worcestershire have been saved from closure but services face being cut with funding slashed by a third. Worcester News reports Worcestershire County Council is hatching a deal which will see schools or childcare organisations take over the running of sites to save them from closure. However the arrangements will see funding for the 32 centres drop from £4.5m to around £3m.
Britain’s top family judge has criticised a “comedy of errors” at a top NHS fertility clinic which could have left a child legally fatherless. The Express reports Sir James Munby revealed how clerical mistakes and ticks in the wrong boxes on consent forms at the clinic run by the Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital NHS Foundation Trust left the longed-for child’s father in legal limbo.
A Young Carer’s Allowance to give young people extra financial support is to be considered by the Scottish government. Under UK government guidelines only 250 people in Scotland under the age of 18 receive Carer’s Allowance. Carer advisory groups will now be asked to put forward their views on whether or not a Young Carer’s Allowance could help people who have previously lost out on financial support.
A two-year-old girl allegedly suffered “horrific” injuries to her feet and ankles after wearing a pair of Next jelly sandals. The Telegraph reports Esmé Connor received the pink, size five shoes as a birthday present. Her mother, Lisa, is now urging the clothing chain to recall the shoes to prevent more children suffering in the same way.
A school in Kent has brought in metal detectors to search pupils after homemade weapons were found on campus. Kent Online reports Harbour Specialist School in Dover took the action after weapons made by inserting blades from pencil sharpeners into the barrels of pens were brought into the Elms Vales Road site.
Nigel Farage’s former party aide is in jail for year-long sex attacks on a seven-year-old boy, it has emerged. The Daily Mail reports Aaron Knight, 30, was known as “Young Ukip” as he campaigned for the party in South Thanet, Kent in 2014 before switching his allegiances to Russell Brand.
