Ed Davey accuses care home trustee of embezzlement amid watchdog inquiry

Ed Davey has accused a trustee of a learning disability care home of embezzlement and called for watchdogs to take over the charity to resolve a crisis he described as “one my worst nightmares”.The Liberal Democrat leader’s intervention at prime minister’s questions came hours after the Guardian revealed the Charity Commission had opened a serious inquiry into concerns around financial mismanagement and potential misuse of funds at William Blake House.Families of residents at the Northamptonshire-based care home raised the alarm with the authorities after discovering that it faced imminent closure after running up a £1.6m unpaid tax bill and paying its chair of trustees £1m in consultancy fees.The home, one of only a handful of specialist providers of its kind in the country, cares for 22 adults with severe learning disabilities

Jean Wilson obituary

On 5 January 1950, Jean Wilson, who has died aged 103, inaugurated her charity, the British Empire Society for the Blind, answering the phone to journalists with “Which department would you like?” in a bid to conceal that it was such a tiny, two-person operation.Founded with her husband, John, and renamed Sightsavers in 1986, from these acorn beginnings it became a leading charity tackling blindness in developing countries. Today each year it funds more than 9m eye examinations and half a million sight-saving operations in 30 countries.Aged 19, Jean McDermid, as she was then, met John Wilson in 1943 when he lodged in her family home in Eastcote, west London. The couple, who married in 1944, shared a radical vision to help the millions of people globally affected by blindness

People living in UK’s poorest areas have less diverse gut bacteria, study finds

People living in the poorest areas of the UK have a less diverse range of bacteria in their gut, leading to worse health outcomes than their more affluent counterparts, according to a study.The research, led by academics at King’s College London and the University of Nottingham, analysed the gut bacteria of 1,390 female twins across the UK alongside their residential postcodes in order to identify the area’s socioeconomic status.Deprivation was measured using the Townsend Deprivation Index, which takes into account measures such as unemployment and overcrowding, as well as car and home ownership.The gut, or gastrointestinal system, is the route that food and drink takes through the body. It ensures that all the beneficial nutrients are absorbed and used for energy, growth and repair

The rise of rejection sensitive dysphoria: ‘My chest feels like it’s collapsing’

It makes rejection, teasing or criticism feel unbearable, often prompting a strong physical reaction. Sufferers describe life with a condition that is only just starting to be understoodJenna Turnbull’s chest is tightening. The 36-year-old civil servant, who lives in Cardiff, can picture herself as she speaks: an 11-year-old in her PE kit waiting with the other kids for her lesson to start. “We were outside by the courts waiting to play netball,” she says. “Somebody commented that I had hairy arms, one of the boys

Charity watchdog opens inquiry into running of care home for vulnerable adults

Charity watchdogs have launched a formal inquiry into the management of a learning disability care home that paid its chair £1m in fees and is just five weeks away from possible closure over a £1.6m unpaid tax bill.The Charity Commission rapidly upgraded the status of its investigation into allegations of financial mismanagement and poor governance at William Blake House just weeks after opening a lesser regulatory investigation into the charity.The opening of the inquiry comes amid Guardian revelations about the parlous state of William Blake House’s finances and an urgent bid to take over running of the home by families who fear their loved ones will be evicted.The charity, which relies on more than £3m a year of council and NHS funding, is one of a handful of specialist residential homes in England for adults with severe and complex learning disabilities

Half of Britons avoid calling GP when they are ill, survey finds

Almost half the public delay or avoid contacting their GP surgery when they are ill, mainly because they think they will struggle to get an appointment.Overall 48% of people across the UK did not bother to ask their family doctor for help – either initially or at all – when they got sick over the past year, a survey found.Just over a quarter (27%) opted to manage the ailment themselves or waited for it to go away, despite doctors fearing that shunning GP care could seriously damage the person’s health.The findings underline the deep public concern about the ability to get fast access to vital NHS services such as A&E, GP care, hospital treatment and an ambulance if they call 999.The large number of people not calling their GP practice emerged in a survey that pollsters Ipsos undertook for the Health Foundation thinktank