A summary of social care stories from the main newspapers

By Clare Jerrom and Reg McKay.

Racism is rife in NHS, says study

Black and Asian doctors face racial harassment, bullying and
discrimination on a daily basis, according to a report published
today by the King’s Fund.

The research into institutional racism in the NHS, found that
doctors from black and minority ethnic groups were less likely to
get promotion, and more likely to be sidelined into unpopular
specialities and inner city general practice.

Naaz Cook, the fund’s race and diversity director, said:
“No aspect of a doctor’s working life is untouched by racism.
Discrimination begins in medical schools and affects the whole of a
person’s career.

“Harassment and bullying, from both colleagues and patients, are
daily facts of life for black and Asian doctors,” he added.

Source:- The Guardian Tuesday 19 June page 1

Expose freed Bulger killers, urges mother

The mother of murdered toddler James Bulger has urged future
girlfriends and colleagues of the killers to photograph them to
ensure their new identities are revealed.

A parole board met yesterday to hear whether Jon Venables, one
of Bulger’s killers, is no longer a risk to the public.

Denise Fergus said she wanted photographs taken of the pair when
they left custody.

In a statement she said: “It doesn’t matter how much the
authorities spend trying to protect Venables and Thompson, it will
be impossible for them to keep their identities a secret from
girlfriends they meet in the future, or drinking buddies.”

The statement criticised the decision to give the killers new
identities when they are released.

The pair have been granted lifelong anonymity by family division
president Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, who said in January she was
convinced their lives would be at risk if their identities and
whereabouts were disclosed.

Thompson is expected to have his hearing tomorrow.

Source:- The Guardian Tuesday 19 June page 5

Hanged prisoner was bullied, inquest told

An 18-year-old who hung himself in a young offenders’
institution was a victim of bullying, an inquest heard
yesterday.

David Henderson was found hanged from bars in his cell at
Brinsford young offenders’ institution, near Wolverhampton,
in March last year. He died five days later. He had served five
weeks of a five-month sentence for driving offences.

Staff at Brinsford did not record details of phone calls from
the youth’s father, telling them that his son was being
bullied, a jury at Stafford coroner’s court heard.

James Henderson said that his son was routinely beaten by other
inmates, was bullied every day and his possessions taken from
him.

He said his son had informed a member of staff about the
bullying, but was attacked three days later, as if in punishment
for approaching staff.

Damian Mynett, a senior prison officer at Brinsford, told the
hearing that the institution had a zero tolerance policy to
bullying, and allegations were taken seriously and
investigated.

The hearing continues.

Source:- The Guardian Tuesday 19 June page 8

Prison for Briton who went abroad for child
sex

A sex tourist was jailed for eight years yesterday after
admitting abusing children in Cambodia in one of the first cases of
its kind to be heard in Britain.

Under legislation which allows Britons to be tried in this
country for offences committed abroad, pornography obsessed Mark
Towner pleaded guilty to 14 charges of abusing minors. Maidstone
crown court heard that two of Towner’s victims were
seven-year-old girls, who he had hired for sex.

Towner was arrested after his wife informed police about images
she had found on his computer. The father of two had taken pictures
of himself carrying out lewd acts with children and e-mailed them
back to Britain.

He was charged with having sex with a child under the age of 13,
three charges of indecent assault and 10 of possessing gross images
of a child.

Towner was sentenced to eight years for having sex with a child
under 13, four years for each charge of sexual assault on a child,
and 18 months for the 10 counts of making indecent photographs of a
child, all to run concurrently.

Source:- The Guardian Tuesday 19 June page 10

Release women and children, says Ramsbotham

The chief inspector of prisons will deliver a final broadside
against the government penal policy as he prepares to leave his
post.

Sir David Ramsbotham will renew his criticisms of the poor
conditions and overcrowding that he has regularly denounced during
more than five years in his role.

Ramsbotham will attack Treasury budget cuts and condemn the
prison system’s failure to prepare inmates properly for their
release.

His lecture in London will also urge children, asylum seekers
and women, who pose no danger to others to be removed from
prisons.

The complaints will be reinforced next week with the publication
of his annual report before he retires in July.

Source:- Daily Telegraph Tuesday 19 June page 8

Union told to rethink its funding of Labour

Mounting anger over the government’s policy towards public
services has led to Labour’s biggest single donor to rethink
its relationship with the party.

At the annual conference of the local authority union, Unison,
starting today, members are increasingly asking “why we hand over
millions of pounds of members money to fund a party which is
attacking our jobs, wages and conditions”.

The leadership is urged to look at the link and report back next
year.

Delegates at the Brighton conference will decide whether to
endorse the proposition after a speech by Stephen Byers, who has
cabinet responsibility for local government and who will be
expected to reassure delegates of the future of public
services.

The union will produce evidence that private sector deals are
not good value for money.

A survey of 4,500 local authority workers released by Unison
yesterday, showed that two thirds of council workers had considered
leaving their jobs in the past year because of low pay and “feeling
undervalued”.

Social workers, housing staff, planning officers and leisure
employees were among the most likely to have considered
leaving.

Source:- The Independent Tuesday 19 June page
2

Blunkett urges religious leaders to heal
society

The home secretary will urge religious leaders to play a central
role in fighting the “undercurrent of violence and hostility” in
Britain’s towns and cities.

David Blunkett believes the religious leaders have a key part to
play in healing the “lesions” that have divided some
communities.

Today in a speech in London, Blunkett will call upon religious
leaders to take a greater role.

The speech is a clear signal that faith will play an increasing
role in government policy on tackling social division and fighting
crime.

Source:- The Independent Tuesday 19 June page 2

Immigrant workers form ‘US-style
underclass’

American style populations of cash-in-hand foreign workers,
living outside mainstream society, are developing in
Britain’s main cities, according to evidence gathered by the
largest immigration support groups.

London could mirror cities like Los Angeles and San Diego, where
populations of so-called “wetbacks” live permanently. but without
civil rights, warns Nick Hardwick, chief executive of the Refugee
Council.

Hardwick adds that Britain could face increasing social problems
in the future with children growing up with no access to education
and health services.

Hardwick’s warning follows an acknowledgement last week
from David Blunkett, that the presence of low paid illegal workers
risked undermining the minimum wage.

Source:- The Independent Tuesday 19 June page
10

Scottish newspapers

500 Scots contract hepatitis c in surgery

It was revealed yesterday that at least 500 Scots have
contracted Hepatitis C as a result of surgery or blood transfusions
though the real figure is expected to be much higher. The British
Liver Trust warned that this figure represented only the tip of the
iceberg with many people not being diagnosed or having died
already. Overall, 10,929 Scots are known to have contracted
Hepatitis C.

Source:- The Herald Tuesday 19 June page 9