Better mental health support needed in Cornwall, report finds
The report by HealthWatch Cornwall said the county was experiencing workforce shortages, long waiting times and rural health inequalities
A healthcare watchdog in Cornwall has called for immediate action to improve mental health services after a review found critical gaps in the area.
The report by HealthWatch Cornwall said the county was experiencing workforce shortages, long waiting times and rural health inequalities.
It said feedback was gathered from more than 500 people in two surveys carried out between October 2024 and January 2025.
Debbie Gilbert, CEO of Healthwatch Cornwall, said the stories within the report made it clear that "change is needed now".
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Daily Mail
7 hours ago
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE New mom details shocking cost of giving birth in America
A new mom has shared the shockingly high cost of giving birth in America - and it's well over six figures. Emily Fisher, 36, from Columbus, Ohio, welcomed twin girls last month and was left stunned when she saw an insurance claim come through for her delivery that was over $10,000. Completely shocked by the immense figure, she decided to go back and total up all the bills she had received over the course of her pregnancy to determine just how much having a baby in the US really costs. And after adding everything up, Emily found that having her baby girls would have cost her a whopping $120,527.51 had she not had insurance. She shared her findings in a video shared to TikTok earlier this month and it quickly went viral, leaving thousands across the globe just as surprised as she was. 'So I am five weeks postpartum with twin girls and I've been seeing a lot of headlines recently about how the birth rate in America is declining and how concerning that is,' Emily began in the video. 'I thought to myself, I could think of a lot of reasons why the birth rate might be declining. First and foremost, cost. 'So I decided to take it upon myself and look at every bill that I received over the course of my pregnancy and total what it costs to deliver twins in America.' Emily explained that she is considered 'advanced maternal age' and was pregnant with 'dichorionic diamniotic twins' which made her pregnancy 'high risk.' In addition, about halfway through the pregnancy her doctor raised concerns about potential 'fetal growth restriction,' so from about 22 weeks on she had to have two appointments every week with her OBGYN and a maternal fetal medicine specialist to make sure the babies were healthy. 'So what was the total cost of that? From the start of my pregnancy through delivery and me walking out of those hospital doors, the total bill for my care was $120,527.51,' she said in the video. 'Now I am very fortunate great insurance and I have a low deductible so over the course of my pregnancy out of pocket I paid $2,038.70. 'I know that is relatively good but still, $2,000 for something that is considered necessary and vital to the future of America is pretty significant.' Emily added that on top of that, her newborns both received bills for their delivery. 'It's kind of funny, they're not even able to blink yet and they've already been billed more than the total cost of my student loans,' she continued. 'Baby A received a bill for $15,124.55 and Baby B was billed $14,875.55, I guess there was some sort of sibling discount. She added, 'The total cost I owed for those two bills was $750, which was the cost of my deductible.' The bills are seen above 'The total cost I owed for those two bills was $750, which was the cost of my deductible.' She then broke down what some of the highest costs were during the pregnancy. Unsurprisingly, the delivery itself and the hospital stay afterwards was the most costly expense. Emily explained that she had a scheduled C-section at 37 weeks and spent four days in the hospital post delivery, and the total cost of her care before insurance was $65,665.50. The second highest cost during the pregnancy was an appointment she had about seven months in, during which she complained to her doctor that she was having headaches. She said they took her blood pressure and it was slightly elevated, so they monitored the heart rate of the babies for 20 minutes to 'make sure they were okay.' She was then given 'two extra strength Tylenol' and they 'did some blood work.' 'The cost that was billed to my insurance for that visit was $9,115,' shared the new mom. 'All things considered, I'm very grateful for the experience that I had and very grateful to have great insurance, but I know that for a lot of people who live in America that is simply not possible,' she concluded. 'And if I did not have insurance delivery my two baby girls, I would not be able to afford it. 'In fact, I probably would have had to file bankruptcy had I not had insurance. So when people act confused why the birth rates are down, maybe it's not necessarily all attributed to lifestyle choices, maybe it's not because people aren't feeling the vibe of having kids, maybe it's because the cost of having a baby in America is over six figures.' While chatting with the Daily Mail about it, Emily, who used to work on the healthcare space, said she believes the insurance system in America 'needs a complete overhaul.' 'Given that the US is the one of (if not the only) developed nation in the world without some sort of universal healthcare, we're falling behind,' she said. 'People are spending too much on basic and necessary care. Medical debt is one of the number one reasons for bankruptcy in the US, and it shouldn't be that way. 'If we invested in a system that put the health its people first, everyone would be better off. 'And given the decline in birth rates, if our politicians are genuinely concerned about falling birth rates, they would be incentivizing people to have children. You shouldn't have to pay to give birth.' She added that while she was 'shocked' by the high number that her insurance was billed, she was 'not surprised at the same time.' 'The first thing that came to mind when I saw the total was, "How do people without insurance afford this?"' she shared. 'But I've always known that healthcare in America is a business. Ultimately, like most necessities in the US, privatized insurance is designed to make money.' She said she certainly wasn't expecting her video, which was viewed more than one million times, to get as much attention as it did, but she's so glad that it has sparked a conversation. 'I hope my video makes people think twice about having kids in America. Because until the system is redesigned to truly support the people, we shouldn't be buying into it,' she concluded. 'I'm fortunate to have good health coverage. I'm not on the hook for much as far as the cost of my pregnancy, but that is only the beginning for my family and what we'll pay to raise my kids. 'Now we have to think about things like paying for their health coverage, daycare, food, housing and college. 'All of these things are only getting more and more expensive and almost unreachable for people.'
Daily Mail
7 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Richard Bacon reveals he's now reliant on heartburn tablets and vitamin injections to cope with the fallout from his heavy drinking - and quit AA because it's 'boring'
Richard Bacon has opened up about his long-running struggle with alcohol addiction - admitting he's sleep-deprived and reliant on heartburn tablets and vitamin injections to cope with the fallout from heavy drinking. Richard was famously just 18 months into his dream job at Blue Peter when he was fired at the age of 22 after admitting he took cocaine in a London nightclub in 1997. He has since been open about his continuing addiction struggles, recently opening up in a candid podcast chat. The presenter, now 49, said that he struggles to take accountability after a doctor told him his addiction is a disease inherited from his alcoholic mother. 'I went to see an alcohol doctor not long ago,' he said in the chat. 'I'm not out of control or anything, but I do think I should drink less. It affects your sleep and I get bored of being tired. 'I don't get enough sleep because I drink too much. I enjoy drinking.' Speaking on The Perfect Day podcast with Jessica Knappett, he added: 'You know you drink too much when you have a lot of Rennie. You know you're middle aged and you drink too much and you're popping those things.' The father-of-two also confessed to a regular habit of having vitamin B12 injections to cope with the after-effects of drinking too much. 'A vitamin B12 injection in your bum is famously good for hangovers. It brings you back to life,' he said. 'At the end of last year and for the first few months of this year, I had one a week. I've got this doctor - he's a bit like Michael Jackson's doctor - he just gives me anything I ask for.' 'At one point I had eight prescriptions and there wasn't really much wrong with me. He's just like, 'you're a bit deficient in this, bit deficient in that. Bit of this, bit of that.' A lot of it's sort of vitamin based, but weirdly prescription based. But it did work… He's terrific.' Richard was sacked from children's TV programme Blue Peter in 1998 after admitting to taking cocaine. To this day he is the only presenter in the history of the show to have been sacked. 'I got a Blue Peter job at 21 and then lost it at 22 and it was a big scandal at the time,' Richard reflected. 'I suppose there's something about getting caught for taking drugs where you can just come back, can't you? It's not one of the worst ones. 'There are far worse ones that make you look like a malicious person. If you beat someone up, do something aggressively sexual, say something racist... those reveal something about you that people don't like. I think the desire to get drunk and get high is something people generally can get over.' Now a successful creator of TV formats and the man behind shows like This Is My House and I Literally Just Told You, Richard admits his lifestyle can still get in the way. 'What I find annoying about myself is if I have a night of not drinking, I'll go into the office - I work on ideas... and I'll just have so much energy, and I'll be better at it.' Despite still drinking regularly, he added he ditched Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) because he found the meetings 'boring'. 'I've gone through loads of periods of stopping, and I've done periods of AA. I admire AA. It's a strange combination of people telling the most dramatic stories you've ever heard that I find really boring. I'm not even joking.' He recalled one meeting in Chelsea with several famous faces in the room. 'This guy was telling this story - he'd come out of prison and he'd gone to prison because he'd got high and he'd stolen a car and he was chased by a police helicopter then he drove through a police barricade. And I remember just sitting there checking my watch going, 'boring!' 'Imagine someone you know telling you that story? But somehow it's just one dramatic story after another, and it became a bit numb to it.' Despite this, he praised the 'generosity' of long-term sober members who continue to attend meetings seemingly to help others. 'If I'd been sober for 15 years, I wouldn't still be going to AA, and listening to more stories,' he said. 'I think for some of them, they are fairly certain they won't drink again but they do want to help. So it's a very positive place. It just didn't work for me.' Richard, who said he was diagnosed with 'a particularly strong strain of ADHD' aged 42, recently consulted a specialist about why he drinks so much - and was told he inherited the destructive tendency. 'My mum's basically an alcoholic. My granddad died of alcoholism. He went, 'Well that's why, it's just genetics.' 'I said, some people think it's the result of childhood trauma or something you've been running away from or not dealt with. And he was like, 'Nah, it's just genetics. It's a disease.' 'So now I think I can just say to my wife: it's not my fault! It's grandad's fault. It's mum's fault.' He added: 'I drink and I enjoy it and I don't seem to get in trouble so it's fine. It's not so much that I'm worried about being dangerous. I just the calories and the sleep. That bit is annoying.' To slash calories in his drink, he said, he avoids beer and red wine and sticks to vodka - particularly in the form of a martini with a twist. 'When you go to a bar and order vodka and they go, what sort of vodka do you want? I think they all taste the same! It's so irrelevant.' The former Radio 5 Live and Capital FM host lives in north London with his wife Rebecca McFarlane and their two children, Arthur, 13, and Ivy, 11. He admits parenthood didn't quite sober him up the way people might expect. '[Rebecca] had always wanted to be a mum,' he explained. 'So it was a really wonderful thing, but I think she looks back with disappointment at me at that time because I was still going out and not pulling my weight and coming in late. 'I think those first few years, I didn't snap into what you're kind of required to do quickly enough. So there was too much of a burden on her.' He continued: 'I hadn't wanted to be a parent until I met her, and then we fell in love really intensely. And she would talk about kids a lot, and that made me think, oh, right, OK. 'I recently tried to imagine having another baby... I'm so pleased I'm out of that phase. Rebecca did the real work here, but it is definitely harder than people say. 'No one really says how hard it is. They're constantly relying on me to keep them alive. It's like, f***ing hell. When they're young - two, three, four - they're flat out annoying.'
Daily Mail
8 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Is YOUR wife a secret narcissist? Expert reveals how symptoms differ in women - but are no less toxic
A narcissism expert has shared examples of how the personality disorder manifests in women, and the signs that there might be a female narcissist in your family. Psychotherapist Kathleen Saxton has spent years writing about narcissism, and in her forthcoming book, My Parent The Peacock, she digs deeper into how people with the personality disorder inflict pain and chaos on their loved ones. Writing in Stylist, she explained that while narcissism is usually seen as a male-centric condition, it affects women too—but how they behave is totally different to the actions you'd usually associate with a narc man. This, she says, is because 'its classic diagnostic criteria—grandiosity, need for admiration, lack of empathy—align with traditionally masculine behaviours'. Because of this, there's a lack in 'both clinical recognition and public understanding, and it means many female narcissists are left 'hidden in the shadows'. Dr Saxton writes that female narcissists often display behaviour which is seen as 'feminine', but is actually a smokescreen for manipulation and control. She said: 'For decades, narcissism has carried a distinctly masculine shadow. 'Popular culture often casts narcissists as dominant, arrogant, manipulative men – think Wall Street tycoons, cult leaders or domineering romantic partners. 'Now consider a female narcissist. She may appear self-sacrificing, constantly 'helping' or 'mothering' her partner in ways that undermine their autonomy. 'She may weaponise vulnerability, play the victim or use passive-aggression to control the relationship. 'These behaviours, while equally manipulative, are less often labelled as narcissistic because they conform to feminine stereotypes.' Dr Saxton added that stereotypically 'feminine' traits are usually looked at through a rose-tinted lens, giving women narcissists even more opportunity to act out unchecked. 'Culturally, we are conditioned to see women as nurturers, carers and emotional empaths—gentle by default and giving to a fault,' she said. 'Traits like neediness or emotionality are more likely to be excused or romanticised than recognised as controlling. 'But these stereotypes are not only misleading – they are dangerous. 'They obscure the reality that narcissism in women can be just as emotionally corrosive as it is in men, albeit through more covert means.' Dr Saxton was also keen to explain that when operating within a family dynamic, there is a stark difference between male and female narcissists, adding that both genders 'often cloak control in performative devotion, creating psychological confusion and trauma for their children'. While a narcissistic father often runs a household with an iron fist—'authoritarian to the point of cruelty or emotionally distant to the point of neglect'—a narcissistic mother demonstrates totally different behaviours. Dr Saxton said: 'She may control through guilt, enmeshment or martyrdom. 'She may claim to 'live for her children' while eroding their boundaries and identities in the name of love. 'She may compete with her daughter or infantilise her son. But society resists naming this abuse because it conflicts with idealised notions of motherhood.' It's estimated that around 1 in 20 people in the UK have a diagnosis of the mental disorder narcissistic personality disorder, but the number of people who display narcissistic traits remains unknown. According to the National Comorbidity Survey Replication, about 7.7 per cent of men versus 4.8 per cent of women in clinical care are diagnosed as having a narcissistic personality disorder. Narcissists can be can be manipulative, controlling, volatile and emotionally abusive, and they may withhold love and compassion from their partners or children. The unpleasant personality trait is characterised as a tendency to be self-centred, have a grandiose sense of self, lack of empathy and a need for admiration. Those who exhibit narcissistic tendencies are more likely to develop mental health problems, have relationship difficulties and struggle with substance abuse, studies show.
