Finding a home is the care leaver’s greatest problem | Letter

At Become, the national charity for children in care and young care leavers, we agree with your editorial that the government’s recent offer of free eye tests and prescriptions for care leavers is a welcome step in strengthening support for those leaving care (The Guardian view on care leavers: responsibility for looked-after children does not end at 18, 2 January). However, this measure does little to address the far more urgent crisis facing care leavers: a third will experience homelessness within two years of leaving care.Every year, thousands of young people are forced out of care before they are ready, often on their 18th birthday or even younger, with vital support vanishing overnight. Many are pushed into unsuitable housing, such as B&Bs and hostels where they don’t feel safe. They then face the challenge of managing household bills while trying to continue education or find work

Meg Turner obituary

My wife, Meg Turner, who has died aged 79, had a career in nursing, care of the elderly and carer training that spanned more than 30 years.She started her training to become a state registered nurse in 1964, at the Tunbridge Wells School of Nursing, Kent. Meg then worked at the Royal Sussex County hospital in Brighton, and did midwifery training in Taunton, Somerset. She became a ward sister at Dorchester hospital (now the Dorset County hospital) in 1970.Meg’s fund of ward stories provided entertainment for friends in later years

‘There’s a dark side to floristry’: are pesticides making workers seriously ill – or worse?

Unlike in food, there is no upper limit on the amount of pesticide residue levels in flowers. But after French officials linked the death of a florist’s child to exposure in pregnancy, many in the industry are now raising the alarmOn a cold morning in December 2024, florist Madeline King was on a buying trip to her local wholesaler when a wave of dizziness nearly knocked her over. As rows of roses seemed to rush past her, she tried to focus. She quickly picked the blooms she needed and left.I’m not doing this any more, she thought

Excessive screen time limits vocabulary of toddlers, experts warn

Excessive screen time is damaging toddlers’ ability to speak, the UK government has warned as it prepares to issue advice to parents for the first time on how to manage screen use in under-fives.Research has found that children aged two with the highest screen use – about five hours a day – could say significantly fewer words than those with screen use of about 44 minutes a day.Screen use is now near-universal in early childhood, with 98% of two-year-olds watching screens daily, the research also found.The education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, said parents and teachers had warned that “too much passive screen time can start to crowd out the talking, play and reading that are so important for children’s language and development in the early years”.“Screens are part of family life now

‘People think abuse comes with working in A&E. It shouldn’t be like that’

Hugo (not his real name), an advanced clinical practitioner, was on the night shift in A&E at Great Western hospital, Swindon, when a drunk patient started swearing aggressively at a nurse. “When I asked if I could help, he told me, ‘Fuck off you gay cunt.’ When I asked him not to speak to me like that and to return to his seat in the waiting room, he just walked up the corridor swearing and repeatedly shouting ‘gaydar’.”Hugo said he was initially more annoyed than scared, even when the patient grabbed a crutch and started swinging it about. “There wasn’t time to be frightened,” he said

Parents of critically ill children ‘crushed’ by lack of support, say campaigners

Parents of critically ill children are being “crushed” by a lack of statutory financial support when they need to take time off work, the parents of a six-year-old boy who died of cancer have said.Hugh Menai-Davis was diagnosed with a rare form of the disease when he fell ill suddenly in October 2020. The boy, then aged five, had been happy and healthy before he developed severe stomach pains.A GP initially told Hugh’s mother, Frances Menai-Davis, over the phone that it was probably gastroenteritis and would pass in a few days. She decided to take Hugh to hospital after growing concerned about his abnormally swollen stomach