you can’t treat a head injury with a leaflet!

ONE serious head injury can trigger dementia in later life, according to researchers at Imperial College London.

This has profound implications for contact sports, especially in schools. The study vindicates the doctors and scientists who’ve been working to raise the issue with little support from education or sporting bodies.

Now both this and the follow up of head injuries over time must be addressed.

At the moment, too many patients are monitored in A&E for four hours then discharged with a leaflet advising them to come back if their condition deteriorates. This implies a head injury is inconsequential.

We must take head injuries more seriously as we better understand the potential effects in years to come.

SUICIDES among men spiked more dramatically last year than at any point since records began in 1981, according to the Office for National Statistics.

It is difficult to draw any definitive conclusions because so many factors may contribute to someone’s decision to committ suicide. We do know, however, that it is increasing in one particular group — working class men, especially builders, labourers and scaffolders.

Yet how often do we hear their needs discussed? They are the least likely to be diagnosed with depression, and the least likely to be offered treatment because they tend not to go to the GP.

We are letting them down simply because they are part of a group that it isn’t fashionable to champion.