Weight-loss jabs helped us when all else failed | Letters

Regarding Dr Helen Salisbury’s article (As an NHS GP, I can now prescribe weight-loss jabs – but a quick fix for obesity is not what we need, 26 June), I had a body mass index of almost 50 before starting on Mounjaro privately, even though I ate well and exercised more frequently than many of my peers. I could also have written several books on nutrition. I’d not got to that size as some bimbling idiot eating continually, but did have a binge-eating disorder linked to episodes of poor mental health that no medical professional was interested in discussing until I’d lost some weight.Healthcare for people suffering with obesity in the UK is abysmal. You cannot approach a GP about anything without it being linked to your weight and told that you just need to eat less and move more, yet we wonder why a significant number of people who are obese have malnutrition

Big food companies must be held to account in obesity crisis | Letters

Zoe Williams is right to call out the lack of affordable healthy food for people living on the lowest incomes, as well as the need to stop preaching healthy eating and instead address the root causes, including the way our food industry operates (The way to tackle obesity in the UK is to make healthy food affordable. But the government won’t admit it, 30 June). But it’s not as simple as demanding more price cuts, which could end up falling even harder on the very low-wage workers and farmers struggling to survive, rather than the big food profiteers she is calling out.Williams points to Hungary as an example, where there is also an additional levy on production and sales of unhealthy food and drink, with the money raised supporting nurses’ wages and public health interventions. Similar models could be deployed in the UK to get big food companies to change their recipes while subsidising fruit and vegetable access via school meals, early years feeding support or community initiatives

Demise of Healthwatch England will do NHS patients a disservice | Letters

Labour’s dismal record on providing an independent voice for patients in health and social care continues with “offstage” news of the demise of Healthwatch England. Twenty years ago, as the chair of Commission for Patient and Public Involvement in Health, I was suddenly summoned by the then Labour minister, Rosie Winterton, to be told that the commission was to be abolished. It had only just been set up 2003 in the wake of anger about its abolition of the successful Community Health Councils in that year.The disillusionment of thousands of patients and service users who gave their time and effort to the new system was palpable, so much so that few felt able to participate in the subsequent ill-fated LINks community engagement system, which never got off the ground.It was left to the Conservative government to address the absence of users’ voices in health and social care

Teenager murdered in care home said social services ‘destroyed my life’, inquest told

A teenager who was murdered by a fellow care home resident wrote a letter that social services had “destroyed my life”, her inquest has heard.Melissa Mathieson, 18, who was killed by Jason Conroy, said she was “dragged away” from home when she was placed at Alexandra House in Bristol.In the letter titled “Social services have destroyed my life”, Mathieson wrote: “I felt I was being dragged away from my home and everything I knew and been completely disrupted. They never took into consideration my age or the distance from my family. I was still a child, just very confused

Charity prepares legal challenge after NHS board pauses ADHD referrals for over-25s

A charity supporting people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is preparing a legal challenge against a regional NHS board that has temporarily stopped accepting referrals for adults over 25.Coventry and Warwickshire integrated care board said any new referrals for people over 25 would be paused from 21 May to reduce waiting lists for children.Several other ICBs, including Herefordshire and Worcestershire and some in London, have previously paused ADHD referrals but have accredited other providers for GPs to send referrals to under “right to choose” legislation.ADHD UK understands that this is the first time that local people aged over 25 will be able to obtain an assessment only by paying privately, which one former patient did at a cost of £1,500.The charity is beginning the process to mount a legal challenge under the right to choose legislation, which allows patients to choose their provider for certain healthcare services when referred by their GP

Young people in the UK: share your experiences of living in a coastal town

The Guardian is launching a year-long reporting series, Against The Tide, that will put young people at the forefront. For the past six months we have been travelling to port towns and seaside resorts around England to discover how younger people feel about the places they live and what changes would enable them to build the futures they want. We will continue our reporting over the next 12 months.Are you aged between 18-25 and live in a coastal town around England? What’s it like living there? What are the bonuses and also the challenges? How do seasons affect your experience? If you’re a parent or work with young people, please get in touch.And if you live in a coastal area around other parts of the UK, we’d like to hear from you too