Cost of private psychology soars in UK as practitioners turn away clients

The cost of seeing private psychologists is soaring and many are so busy they are turning away new clients, research has found.The prices psychologists charge have risen by 34% since 2022 and 12 sessions now cost an average of £1,550, compared with £1,152 just three years ago, according to a survey by myTribe Insurance, which tracks the cost of private medical care.Almost three in 10 (29%) psychologists are already treating so many patients that they are not taking on new ones, according to a survey of practitioners across the UK.The sometimes months-long delays people face in their efforts to access NHS mental healthcare and the record number of people seeking help, usually for anxiety or depression, appear to underlie the double-whammy facing patients of fee uplifts and closed waiting lists.Chris Steele, the founder of myTribe Insurance, said: “What we’ve seen over the last three years is a market that has become significantly more expensive for patients

NHS drug pricing is all about the art of the deal | Letter

Polly Toynbee describes NHS drug pricing as a “special circle of hell”, and I can vouch for that, but there are ways it can be made better (Who benefits if NHS drug prices soar? Donald Trump and big pharma. Just one more way he’s menacing Britain, 16 September).New drugs are never cheaper than the ones they replace, so if the NHS is going to use them, they need to be better. Most newly licensed drugs do something useful for at least some patients. While a few revolutionise treatment, most edge forward improvements in the quality and length of life, and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) recommends the great majority of them

Nearly one in three single-parent households in Australia live in poverty, Hilda report shows

A major national survey has revealed a “silent crisis” among Australian families, with nearly one-in-three single-parent households living in poverty.The newly released statistical report on the long-running Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey found that, after adjusting for housing costs, 31.3% of single-parent families were living below the poverty line in 2023.Sign up: AU Breaking News emailThis group is nearly three times more likely to be in poverty than two-parent households, the survey showed.The latest reported figure was down from a record high reported in 2022, but was still well above the 25% share of single-parent households in poverty a decade earlier and higher than the 28

Intersex people in Europe face ‘alarming’ rise in violence, EU finds

Europeans who do not fit the typical definition of male or female are grappling with an “alarming” rise in violence, the EU’s leading rights agency has said, as concerted campaigns seek to sow disinformation and fuel hatred towards them.The findings from the EU’s Agency for Fundamental Rights, published on Tuesday, were based on responses from 1,920 people in 30 countries across Europe. All of them identified as intersex, an umbrella term referring to those with innate variations of sex characteristics and which includes people who identify as trans, non-binary and gender diverse.It found that since 2019, the rates of violence and harassment against intersex people have sharply increased – particularly among those who identify as trans, non-binary and gender diverse – far outpacing the increases reported by others in the LGBTQ+ community.One in three surveyed, 34%, said they had been physically or sexually assaulted in the five years prior to the survey, up from 22% in 2019

Scrap policy that gives refugees with leave to remain 28 days to find housing, say UK groups

More than 60 homelessness and asylum seeker organisations have urged ministers to reverse an eviction policy that could leave thousands more refugees on the streets this winter.Leading homelessness organisations including Crisis, Shelter, St Mungo’s and the Chartered Institute of Housing and dozens of refugee and migrant organisations have written to the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, and the housing secretary, Steve Reed, urging them to cancel a controversial new policy that halves the length of time asylum seekers have to leave government-provided accommodation after they have been granted leave to remain, from 56 days to 28 days.The organisations and refugees say 28 days is not long enough to find rented accommodation, a job and to sort out benefits, leaving them more likely to end up on the streets after being moved on from Home Office asylum accommodation.The letter warns that as well as undermining the government’s strategy to end homelessness, having a big increase in refugees sleeping on the streets will exacerbate community tensions and put rthem at risk from those expressing racist and anti-migrant sentiments.It states: “The additional pressure for local councils comes as the number of people living in temporary accommodation is at an all-time high, and a lack of alternatives will result in further use of expensive, nightly, paid options for those eligible

Privately educated still have ‘vice-like grip’ on most powerful UK jobs

The privately educated are tightening their “vice-like grip” on some of the most powerful and influential roles in British society, such as FTSE 100 chairs, newspaper columnists and BBC executives, a report has found.Those in the most important positions are five times as likely to have attended private school than the general population, showing it is still possible to “buy advantage”, according to the Sutton Trust.Since 2019, the number of privately educated elites has barely changed and in some fields is growing, the report found. The social mobility charity said it was a “disgrace” that most of the country’s top jobs were still dominated by privileged people.Overall, senior armed forces personnel were the most likely to be privately educated, with 63% of officers of two-star rank (major generals and equivalents in other services) and above attending a fee-paying school, a rise of 14% compared with six years ago