Latest news with #earlyintervention
ABC News
29-05-2025
- Health
- ABC News
NSW regional youth crime inquiry calls for stronger early intervention programs
A New South Wales parliamentary inquiry into regional youth crime has called for more early intervention projects as the cost of incarcerating a single young offender soars to more than $1 million per year. Stronger investment in regional youth hubs and better access to drug and alcohol rehabilitation were among the 19 recommendations made in the interim report tabled today. In his forward to the report, committee chair Edmond Atalla said youth offending was a "deeply complex social issue" that could not be solved through policing alone. "Tough-on-crime approaches may seem appealing, but they won't deliver lasting change for communities – smart, evidence-based strategies will," he wrote. Mr Atalla said the evidence showed early intervention was the most effective way to prevent young offending. He said there were gaps in support for young people, with barely any services available to young people after dark. "There's plenty of good services out there for young people, but those services end at 5pm," Mr Atalla said. The report comes after the inquiry into youth crime received nearly 200 written submissions and four public hearings across regional towns like Kempsey, Bourke and Broken Hill. It found regional crimes like car theft exceeded pre-pandemic levels by 20 per cent in 2023, driven by an increase in youth offending. Mental illness, drug and alcohol use and prior contact with the criminal justice system were found to be some of the "complex" drivers behind youth crime. Meanwhile, the costs of detaining young people were found to have doubled in five years, jumping to $2,700 a day or more than $1,000,000 per year. The report stated this figure did not include "the cost of policing, courts or the cost of the crime itself". Outreach manager Deb Tougher for the Kempsey youth homelessness service YP Space said the report showed punitive measures for young offenders were ineffective. Longer employment contracts for youth service providers were another key recommendation of the report. It found irregular funding cycles were rife across the sector, leading to staff being routinely offered contracts spanning up to a year. Ms Tough said while YP Space had recently secured funding for five years, unstable funding had previously hampered the efforts of social workers. "Sometimes if it's a government-funded program, they'll reshuffle it, rejig it and then bring it out as something else," Ms Tougher said. "By the time all of that happens, any sort of trust in that particular program by the young people or the community is lost." Mr Atalla said the committee would review policing strategies and justice diversion programs before the final report was delivered by November this year. "We need the policing, we need all of the other services that are available to divert young kids from engaging in the justice system," he said.
The Independent
23-05-2025
- Health
- The Independent
Specialist teams to tackle post-pandemic school speech therapy backlog
The Government will deploy specialist teams to primary schools to tackle the backlog of children waiting for speech and language therapy since the pandemic. It is hoped earlier targeted support will help those who struggle to talk and understand words before problems escalate. More than 40,000 children had been waiting 12 weeks or more for speech and language therapy as of June 2024, the Department for Education said. A lack of early identification can have a devastating impact on children's social skills, attendance, and academic performance. The Government has backed the Early Language Support for Every Child (Elsec) programme with £3.4 million funding this year, which it said will benefit up to 20,000 more children. Early intervention is particularly important for children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send), as numbers have skyrocketed from 1.3 million in 2020 to 1.67 million in 2024 – with one in four of these children requiring extra help with speech and language. Minister for School Standards Catherine McKinnell said: 'When challenges with speech and language go unnoticed, it can have a devastating impact on children's attainment, attendance, social abilities and future life chances. 'Elsec is turning this around for so many pupils – and particularly those with Send – helping them find their voice and thrive at school and with their friends and family. 'This type of approach is exactly what we want to see in a reformed Send system that delivers the support children need at the earliest stage and restores parents' trust in a system which has let them down for too long.' Steve Jamieson, chief executive of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists, said: 'We're delighted that the Department for Education and NHS England will fund the Early Language Support for Every Child programme until March 2026. 'It has shown that when speech and language therapists, therapy support workers and education staff work together, they can identify children's needs earlier and put timely support in place.'
CTV News
14-05-2025
- Health
- CTV News
Fischer Hearing Centre - Signs of hearing loss
Regina Watch Recognizing signs of hearing loss is crucial for early intervention and treatment. Candace Fischer takes us through these tell-tale signs. #sponsoredcontent
BBC News
14-05-2025
- Health
- BBC News
New Warwickshire health partnership between universities and NHS
A new partnership between academic and health bodies has been announced with the aim of tackling health Arden Health Partnership (AHP) has been formed by the University of Warwick, Coventry University and five Warwickshire NHS institutions."We are lucky in this country to have the NHS, where care delivery is free at the point of access," said Prof Sudhesh Kumar OBE, vice-president (health) at the University of Warwick."But it's surprising that we still have so much disparity in health outcomes." Figures suggest life expectancy in Coventry is lower than the national Kumar says pockets of deprivation and areas with high ethnic minority populations are contributory factors."I think sometimes spending enough time to look after your health takes a back seat," he explained. "Increasing health literacy is important, so more people are aware of what the issues are."Even if you are aware, imagine [someone running] a corner shop - they can't take time off to do the things they should be doing." Prof Kumar said early intervention - educating people about how to take care of themselves - was vital."Many of the problems we have here are very similar to health problems in other parts of the country," he said, citing smoking as an example of unhealthy behaviour people still engage in. 'Develop innovative solutions' "We know that one organisation cannot solve challenges like tackling health inequalities and improving health and wellbeing outcomes in our area on their own," said Prof John Latham CBE, vice-chancellor of Coventry University and CEO of the AHP."This collaboration is a commitment to working together to address regional health challenges."Prof Kumar said groups were being set up to include people with expertise in dealing with health issues."They will articulate [the issue], then get in people who can produce solutions," he said."They may be from universities... or they could be from businesses or industries that have developed innovative new solutions."And we are putting together processes to help increase the rate of adoption of these processes by the NHS." Follow BBC Coventry & Warwickshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
Medical News Today
08-05-2025
- Health
- Medical News Today
Obesity, unhealthy lifestyles may cause heart to age by 5–45 years
The key to early intervention for cardiac problems may lie in determining the heart's 'true' age, new research suggests. Sven Braun/picture alliance via Getty Images Tracking and evaluating cardiac health are critical to catching heart problems early and finding helpful interventions. One study found that cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) may help determine the heart's functional age compared to biological age. The findings showed that unhealthy lifestyles, as well as some chronic conditions such as obesity and atrial fibrillation (AFib), made the heart age faster. The methods described in this study could help with early intervention before major heart concerns develop. Evaluating how well the heart is doing and what changes have occurred can help doctors and people make informed decisions about heart health. To do that, a recent study examined a way to calculate the functional age of people's hearts compared to their biological age. The study used a model based on cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and found that certain health conditions, such as obesity and AFib, and leading an unhealthy lifestyle, can increase the functional age of the heart. People with certain conditions can also experience distinct heart changes that differ from healthy heart aging. The findings were published in the European Heart Journal Open. Researchers of this retrospective observational study wanted to explore a way to measure the age of people's hearts and what happens in healthy versus unhealthy aging. They note that certain modifiable risk factors, like high blood pressure, can speed up how fast the heart ages. One potential tool to look at how the heart looks and functions is cardiac magnetic resonance imaging. Researchers used a healthy reference population of 191 participants and compared them to a testing population of 366 participants who had at least one comorbidity, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, or obesity. Researchers also used another group of 25 people as a 'preliminary external validation' cohort. Participants were from five different locations across three countries. Researchers were able to look at several components of heart structure and function. They then developed a model to help determine the age of participants' hearts and also did statistical analyses. There were distinct heart differences between the healthy and unhealthy groups. For example, the unhealthy group had a higher median stroke volume , which involves how much blood the left ventricle is pumping out when it contracts. The final model researchers used considered left atrial end-systolic volume and left atrial ejection fraction, which both evaluate the function of the left upper chamber of the heart. These two factors were functional parameters significantly related to age among 169 healthy participants. Researchers found that healthy participants' heart ages were about the same as how old they were. Unhealthy participants saw heart ages higher than their chronological age. The cardiac magnetic resonance-derived heart ages were almost five years older than the chronological age of these participants. Obesity appeared to increase functional heart age, with more weight increasing heart years. Participants with a body mass index of 40 or higher had a functional heart age 45 years higher than their chronological age. For participants with atrial fibrillation, heart functional age was also higher than it was for healthy participants. Functional heart age was sometimes higher for other comorbidities in certain age groups. In participants between the ages of 30 and 69, participants with high blood pressure had increased functional heart age compared to healthy participants who were in the same age category. Similarly, diabetes increased functional heart age for participants between 30 and 69, with the greatest increase seen in the 40 to 49-year-old group. But in the seventy to 85-year-old group, participants with diabetes and high blood pressure actually had lower functional heart ages than healthy participants of the same age. Speaking to MNT , study author Pankaj Garg, MD, PhD, Associate Professor in Cardiovascular Medicine, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK, highlighted a few key findings. A heart that's 5 to 45 years older 'We have discovered an equation—a simple math formula—that uses movies from heart MRI scans to figure out how old your heart looks. For healthy folks, their heart age matches their real age. But if someone has [conditions] like high blood pressure, diabetes, a wonky heartbeat, or extra weight, their heart can look way older—about 4.6 years older on average. For people with a lot of extra weight, their hearts looked up to 45 years older!' — Pankaj Garg, MD, PhD This research is a great possible step towards more effective cardiac health monitoring, but it also has limitations. First, this work involved estimations and estimated the functional age of the heart. Second, since the study was not long-term, there's a higher risk for survivor bias. This could then minimize how comorbidities truly affect older people. Thirdly, researchers did not measure how long participants had had the measured comorbidities. So, it's possible that there was variety among unhealthy participants regarding how long they had comorbidity exposure. Bias is noted in some of the calculations. Researchers also noted the possibility of selection bias. This study did not assess certain factors like exercise and diet. Researchers also acknowledge that there could have been variation in the unhealthy group because of medical treatments. Researchers had certain exclusion and inclusion criteria in place, which impacted who they could include in the study. For example, they excluded people with severe chronic kidney disease, which is a contraindication for the MRI scans they used. Development of the age calculation model involved making a number of decisions, and researchers may find areas for refinement. Patrick Kee, MD, PhD, a cardiologist at Vital Heart & Vein who was not involved in the study, noted several potential limitations of the study, including its inability to examine long-term data, lack of other measurements that could have been helpful, and use of a simple model that focused on left atrium end-diastolic volume and left atrium ejection fraction. Long-term studies will likely be beneficial, as well as seeing how changing factors like lifestyle could help alter outcomes. 'The model was preliminarily validated on a small cohort, necessitating larger-scale validation to confirm its reliability and robustness for clinical application. Furthermore, it remains unclear whether lifestyle and therapeutic interventions will alter the trajectory of the heart age due to underlying medical conditions,' Kee noted. Cheng-Han Chen, MD, a board certified interventional cardiologist and medical director of the Structural Heart Program at MemorialCare Saddleback Medical Center in Laguna Hills, CA, who was also not involved in the study, noted that determining the functional age of the heart could be a helpful preventive measure. 'An assessment of a 'functional heart age' (either through imaging or other biomarkers) can potentially motivate patients to improve their lifestyles, identify patients at risk for future clinical events, and possibly even evaluate response to clinical therapeutics and interventions.' — Cheng-Han Chen, MD Using cardiac MRI also has an appeal because of the ease of use. 'Heart MRI scans are completely noninvasive tests—meaning no cuts or needles—and for checking the heart age, only a few minutes of this test are required. If necessary, this can be done in a focused way to help lots of people quickly. That might help catch heart trouble early and stop bigger problems, like heart failure, later on,' Garg explained to MNT . Finally, there could also be improved communication between doctors and people at risk for heart problems. As the authors in the study noted, it could help people see the need to make changes. Chronological vs. functional age 'By comparing a patient's 'functioning heart age' with their 'chronological age,' clinicians can effectively communicate 'cardiovascular risk' to encourage lifestyle and therapeutic modifications. This approach can also serve as a tangible measure to motivate patients toward preventive strategies such as weight management, blood pressure control, and diabetes management to mitigate the progressive decline in heart health. Tracking changes over time allows clinicians to adjust treatment plans before irreversible damage occurs.' — Patrick Kee, MD, PhD
