Joined July 2012
90 Photos and videos
Jackie Hewitt-Main OBE retweeted
In 2024, 65% of pain inducing techniques used against children and young people in YOIs and training centres, were “outside of policy”, or what we would call unlawful. Catch up on our Spotlights webinar on use of force: howardleague.org/spotlights/
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Jackie Hewitt-Main OBE retweeted
King’s College Hospital in London has opened a rooftop garden for critical care patients, with its first patient—a 29-year-old woman dependent on feeding tubes—saying the outdoor space gave her “a real boost to keep on going.”

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Jackie Hewitt-Main OBE retweeted
Investigation update 📢: We have extended the deadline to 5 August 2026 for women in prison who were restrained while pregnant to contact us, to ensure more women have the opportunity to share their experiences: ppo.gov.uk/news/ppo-extends-…

Today the Minister of State for Prisons, Probation and Reducing Reoffending commissioned the @PPOmbudsman to carry out an independent investigation into the use of restraints on pregnant women in prison during pregnancy-related hospital escorts: ppo.gov.uk/news/ppo-to-condu…
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Jackie Hewitt-Main OBE retweeted
NEW video. Professor Matthew Millings reflects on two decades of research into how probation works in partnership to support rehabilitation and desistance for vulnerable people. Watch here: buff.ly/QvjaEhz
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Jackie Hewitt-Main OBE retweeted
Short German TV clip. #MECFS cases have doubled since 2020, many linked to #LongCovid. Patients describe lives wiped out overnight, years housebound or bedridden, and having to choose between showering or playing with their child.
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Jackie Hewitt-Main OBE retweeted
#newsround: EXCLUSIVE: Prison watchdog merger spells the end for Independent Monitoring Boards insidetime.org/newsround/exc…
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Jackie Hewitt-Main OBE retweeted
"We're six years after the pandemic started and there's still not the investment in the research to fund the treatments we need and that's one thing that has to absolutely change." On the 6th anniversary of the first covid lockdown I spoke to the BBC about life with #LongCovid.
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Jackie Hewitt-Main OBE retweeted
We have responded to HM Inspectorate of Prisons’ decision to invoke an urgent notification for Woodhill prison and its report on Swaleside prison.. Read our press release: howardleague.org/news/woodhi…
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Jackie Hewitt-Main OBE retweeted
#Oliverscampaign Can you imagine entrusting your precious child who has a learning disability to a care home only for that home to refuse any family visits or contact. The gov has promised to crack down. @DanielHewittITV @SKinnock itv.com/news/2026-03-17/mini…
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Jackie Hewitt-Main OBE retweeted
Today is #LongCovidAwarenessDay Long Covid changed my life beyond recognition. I got ill. I never recovered. Lost my job. Became housebound. I rely on others to do things for me. I lie on my bed most of the day. Watch the Guardian's short film about my life with #LongCovid 👇
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Jackie Hewitt-Main OBE retweeted
Long COVID brain fog is real — and now, we know what’s causing it. A breakthrough brain scan reveals the science behind the symptoms. Scientists in Japan have identified a biological cause behind the cognitive “brain fog” experienced by many Long COVID patients—a breakthrough that could lead to reliable diagnosis and treatment. A team at Yokohama City University used a cutting-edge brain imaging method to detect abnormal increases in AMPA receptors (AMPARs), molecules essential for learning and memory, in people suffering from Long COVID. These elevated receptor levels, observed using [11C]K-2 PET imaging, were closely linked to the severity of cognitive symptoms and inflammation markers, offering the first clear molecular explanation for the condition. The findings, published in Brain Communications, show that AMPAR density not only tracks with brain fog severity but also enables near-perfect distinction between affected and healthy individuals—100% sensitivity and 91% specificity. This offers promise for both diagnostic tools and treatments, such as drugs that suppress AMPAR activity. With brain fog affecting over 80% of Long COVID sufferers globally, this research marks a significant step toward validating the condition and accelerating efforts to address it with targeted therapies. [“Systemic increase of AMPA receptors associated with cognitive impairment of long COVID” by Yu Fujimoto et al., 1 October 2025, Brain Communications]
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Jackie Hewitt-Main OBE retweeted
New episode out now 🎙️ Sarah P. Blanchard published her first novel at 73 — proof it’s never too late to follow your passion. 🎧 Listen: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcas… #CreateTheCourageToBeFearless #NeverTooLate
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Jackie Hewitt-Main OBE retweeted
We're thrilled to release the #LongCovid Treatment Guide! This is a collaboration with @RTHM_Health to help patients & providers explore treatment options together. The guide focuses on 24 medications, but includes a few other interventions for breadth /1 rthm.com/treatmentguide
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Jackie Hewitt-Main OBE retweeted
#Oliverscampaign People with learning disabilities died after not being given access to routine cancer screening @UHSussex @NHSSussex In 2024-25, the LeDeR programme was notified of 158 deaths, 20 more than the previous year brightonandhovenews.org/2026…
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Jackie Hewitt-Main OBE retweeted
Benedict’s Law is a big step closer. New DfE guidance is expected to make allergy management a legal duty in #schools from September including spare AAIs, allergy plans, staff training & whole‑school allergy policies: buff.ly/bVTG6ev #Safeguarding @BenedictBlytheF
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Jackie Hewitt-Main OBE retweeted
Samuel is no longer with us.😔 He had COVID triggered ME/CFS. “I am Samuel, 21, I suffer from ME/CFS and in 12 days I will die. Please help me spread my story and generate attention for my illness and its injustices! I have been suffering from the severe multisystem disease ME/CFS since a corona infection. In my case it was corona, but it can also be triggered by other viral or bacterial infections. The average quality of life with this disease is extremely low, as the study in the picture shows. However, there are also severely affected people like me, for whom the suffering reaches unimaginable torment for healthy people. Because of this disease, I have an extremely limited energy window. I have to lie in bed 24 hours a day and must not move too much, it must be permanently dark because I cannot tolerate light. I wear double ear protection because I cannot tolerate any noise either. I cannot watch television for a single second, or look at videos on my phone, because moving things overtax my nervous system too much and trigger unbearable suffering. I cannot listen to music or podcasts. I cannot even talk to my own mother, who takes care of me, because listening is too exhausting and even speaking has now become completely impossible. So I have to communicate with a pen and notepad. I can only use my phone for a few minutes to seconds for messages. Sometimes not at all. (This message was recorded in advance under torment.) Going to the toilet is sometimes difficult, showering is currently impossible due to extreme physical weakness and sensory overload. Receiving visitors and talking or exchanging with someone is also far too exhausting and causes suffering and torment. But that is not yet the worst part. The worst thing about this disease is the leading symptom PEM (POST EXERTIONAL MALAISE), which ensures that every smallest exceedance of my energy limits leads to a so-called crash and a permanent worsening of all my symptoms and my general condition. So I have to pay bitterly for every attempt to live a little, and then end up in an even worse condition than before. Even if I just lie in bed, alone with my thoughts, I have to be careful, because even too positive or too negative thoughts mean a crash and thus a deterioration of my condition. Even worse than the restrictions that reduce your life to sleeping or trying to sleep are the physical sufferings of this disease. I would describe it as drowning and burning at the same time. They are always there, there is this feeling constantly, but especially during crashes. The body thinks it is dying because it is running out of energy and therefore triggers an extreme state of suffering. So bad that one often thinks there is only one option left. Many see no way out, the suicide rate is extremely high. My condition is also heading in a direction where I may need to be artificially fed. That is why I will make use of assisted dying in 12 days. But my death should not be in vain. This disease now affects around 1% of the population in Austria, almost 8 times as many as MS. However, due to the restrictions, those affected completely disappear from view and cannot draw attention to themselves. THERE IS NOT A SINGLE MEDICATION FOR THIS DISEASE. And in Austria there is not a single point of contact, although every 100th person is affected. Most doctors don’t even know this disease?! The PVA itself calls us charlatans and free riders. Many affected people receive exactly 0€ per month. Not a cent from the PVA, not a cent from the AMS. That is why I ask you: spread my story, get it into the media. Share it on social media. Help me draw attention to this terrible disease with my death! My message is: ME/CFS KILLS!”
„Ich bin Samuel, 21, leide an ME/CFS und in 12 Tagen sterbe ich“, schreibt Samuel. „Bitte helft mir, meine Geschichte zu verbreiten und Aufmerksamkeit für meine Krankheit und ihre Missstände zu generieren! Ich leide seit einer Corona Infektion an der schweren Multisystemerkrankung ME/CFS. Bei mir war es Corona, sie kann aber auch durch andere virale oder bakterielle Infektionen ausgelöst werden. Die durchschnittliche Lebensqualität ist bei dieser Krankheit extrem niedrig, wie die Studie im Bild zeigt. Es gibt jedoch auch schwerbetroffene wie mich, bei denen das Leid für gesunde Menschen unvorstellbare Qualen erreicht. Aufgrund dieser Krankheit habe ich ein extrem begrenztes Energiefenster. Ich muss 24 Stunden am Tag im Bett liegen und darf mich dabei nicht zu viel bewegen, es muss dauerhaft dunkel sein, da ich kein Licht ertrage. Ich trage doppelten Gehörschutz, weil ich auch keine Geräusche ertrage. Ich kann keine Sekunde fernsehen, oder Videos am Handy anschauen, da bewegende Dinge mein Nervensystem zu sehr überfordern und unerträgliches Leid auslösen. Ich kann keine Musik oder Podcasts hören. Ich kann nicht einmal mit meiner eigenen Mutter, welche mich pflegt, reden, da Zuhören zu anstrengend ist und selbst Reden ist mittlerweile gänzlich unmöglich. So muss ich mit einem Stift und Block kommunizieren. Mein Handy kann ich nur wenige Minuten bis Sekunden für Nachrichten benutzen. Teilweise gar nicht. (Diese Nachricht wurde unter Qualen im Vorhinein aufgenommen.) Klo gehen ist teilweise schwierig, Duschen momentan aufgrund der extremen körperlichen Schwäche und Reizüberflutung unmöglich. Besuch empfangen und mit jemandem darüber reden oder sich austauschen ist ebenfalls viel zu anstrengend und verursacht Leid und Qualen. Aber das ist noch nicht das Schlimmste. Das Schlimmste an dieser Krankheit ist das Leitsymptom PEM (POST EXERTIONAL MALAISE) welches dafür sorgt, dass jede kleinste Überschreitung meiner Energiegrenzen zu einem sogenannten Crash und einer dauerhaften Verschlechterung all meiner Symptome und meines Allgemeinzustandes führt. So muss ich jeden Versuch, ein bisschen zu leben, bitter bezahlen und ende dann in einer noch schlechteren Verfassung als vorher. Selbst wenn ich nur im Bett liege, alleine mit meinen Gedanken, muss ich aufpassen, weil auch zu positive oder zu negative Gedanken einen Crash und somit eine Zustandsverschlechterung bedeuten. Noch schlimmer als die Einschränkungen, welche dein Leben auf Schlafen oder Schlafen versuchen einschränken, sind die körperlichen Leiden dieser Krankheit. Ich würde es beschreiben wie ertrinken und verbrennen zugleich. Sie sind immer da, dauernd ist da dieses Gefühl, aber besonders in Crashes. Der Körper denkt, er stirbt, weil ihm die Energie ausgeht und löst daher einen extremen Leidenszustand aus. So schlimm, dass man oft denkt, es gibt nur noch eine Option. Viele sehen keinen Ausweg, die Suizidrate ist extrem hoch. Auch mein Zustand geht in eine Richtung, in der ich vielleicht künstlich ernährt werden muss. Daher nehme ich in 12 Tagen Sterbehilfe in Anspruch. Aber mein Tod soll nicht umsonst sein. Diese Krankheit betrifft in Österreich mittlerweile rund 1 % der Bevölkerung, fast 8 Mal so viele wie MS. Jedoch verschwinden die Betroffenen aufgrund der Einschränkungen völlig von der Bildfläche und können nicht auf sich aufmerksam machen. ES GIBT FÜR DIESE KRANKHEIT KEIN EINZIGES MEDIKAMENT. Und in Österreich keine einzige Anlaufstelle, obwohl jeder 100ste betroffen ist. Die meisten Ärzte kennen diese Krankheit nicht einmal?! Die PVA selbst nennt uns Scharlatane und Trittbrettfahrer. Viele Betroffene bekommen genau 0€ im Monat. Kein Cent von der PVA, kein Cent vom AMS. Deswegen bitte ich euch darum, verbreitet meine Geschichte, bringt sie in die Medien. Teilt sie auf Social Media. Helft mir, mit meinem Tod auf diese schreckliche Krankheit aufmerksam zu machen! Meine Botschaft lautet: ME/CFS TÖTET!“#Corona @mecfs @ninawarken
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Jackie Hewitt-Main OBE retweeted
Your visual system isn’t just about seeing — it’s one of the lead drivers of posture and orientation. That postural wiring is deeply connected to the autonomic nervous system, and that's why we look at the eyes first. #POTS #dizziness #vertigo #dysautonomia
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