DUSK started falling on Sir Keir Starmer’s premiership today as his government was engulfed by an extraordinary outburst of right-on-right political brawling.The Prime Minister was forced to declare “full confidence” in Health Secretary Wes Streeting in the Commons after Downing Street aides launched a briefing war against the leading Blairite.Mr Streeting denied that he was plotting to overthrow Sir Keir, following allegations by No 10 that he was plotting to force out the beleaguered and blundering PM.
  • meejle@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    7 days ago

    Also, as a neurodiverse person, I can’t deal with his calling ADHD a “mental health issue” (it’s a neurodevelopmental disorder) and banging on about it being over-diagnosed (experts agree it’s slightly under-diagnosed).

    Not that he should be minimising mental health problems anyway. It’s so obvious that it’s designed to demonise more groups of sick and disabled people to make cuts more palatable. Just like Iain Duncan Smith tried to do with “bad backs”. 🙄

    • c10l@lemmy.world
      2·
      3 days ago

      experts agree it’s slightly under-diagnosed

      Do you have references of that? It would be very valuable in some conversations I’m having.

      • meejle@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        2 days ago

        I think there might be less of a consensus than I first thought (oops 🙈), but it is backed up by a literal NHS report from June. Emphasis my own:

        England and the rest of the UK have much lower service recognition and treatment rates of ADHD diagnosis compared with other European countries (e.g. Norway, Denmark, Spain). Recent data show a very high level of under-recognition and under-treatment of strictly diagnosed ADHD, with significant inequalities in access to care (e.g. minority groups). […] There is also concern by some about potential over-medicalisation and over-diagnosis and a lack of regulation of ADHD service providers as this has been reported in some parts of the world. Some also raise concerns about ADHD self-diagnosis based on information from social media. However, currently there is no good evidence on what percentage of those waiting to see a clinician have self-diagnosed ADHD using social media and eventually meet or do not meet ADHD diagnostic criteria after a high-quality assessment. We only know currently that in England, recognised rates of ADHD are lower than the expected prevalence of ADHD. https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/report-of-the-independent-adhd-taskforce-part-1

        I also found this:

        Reports indicate that ADHD affects 2.5%–5% of adults in the general population […] However, fewer than 20% of adults with ADHD are currently diagnosed and/or treated by psychiatrists. Some adults with ADHD will have received a diagnosis in childhood, although some will no longer be in contact with psychiatric services and will not have access to treatment. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4195639

        Both sources have a list of references. Hope they help! 👍