One in 20 affected by personality disorder

One in 20 affected by personality disorder
Almost one in 20 people in the UK has a personality disorder, according to a study in the British Journal of Psychiatry.
Source:- The Independent, Tuesday 2 May 2006, page 15

Bed blocker’s 4-year stay cost NHS £300,000
A patient occupied a hospital bed for more than four years after doctors decided the person was ready to leave. The cost of care at an unnamed hospital in Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS is estimated to have been more than £300,000.
Source:- The Guardian, Tuesday 2 May 2006, page 9

Guilty pleas may no longer cut the time spent in jail
Sex offenders and rapists could lose the right to receive big reductions in jail terms in exchange for pleading guilty. Sentences can be cut by up to a third in recognition of a guilty plea, but new guidelines are likely after a horrific case in which a couple raped a 12-week-old baby girl. Lord Goldsmith, the Attorney-General, is handling personally an appeal against their sentences.
Source:- The Times, Tuesday 2 May 2006, page 2

Instant Asbos proposed as curb on yob culture
Police will be given the power to impose on-the-spot antisocial behaviour orders under new powers being planned by Tony Blair to tackle yob culture. The Prime Minister wants to introduce instant Asbos as a way of halting bad behaviour immediately rather than waiting weeks before cases can be brought to court.
Source:- The Times, Tuesday 2 May 2006, page 4

Headteachers attack proposals for extra hours in school day
Plans to add extra hours to the school day to help parents get to work were attacked yesterday by the National Association of Head Teachers. It said it could put the extended schools policy on hold as they had “very worrying” financial implications.
Source:- Financial Times, Tuesday 2 May 2006, page 2

Union threatens strike ballot over compulsory Whitehall redundancies
Civil servants in every government department will be balloted on strike action if any official is made compulsorily redundant due to public sector cuts, the Public and Commercial Services union has warned.
Source:- Financial Times, Tuesday 2 May 2006, page 3

Heads may take court action
Head teachers may take children to court to punish them for false and malicious allegations that wreck their careers. The rising tide of unfounded accusations of child abuse must be tackled, says the biggest head teachers’ union which decided yesterday to consider a test case to act as a deterrent.
Source:- The Daily Telegraph, Tuesday 2 May 2006, page 2

Health trusts are ignoring advice on morning-after pill for under-16s
Primary health care trusts are “flouting” official advice that the morning after pill should be prescribed to girls under 16 only with medical supervision, the Family Education Trust claims today.
Source:- The Daily Telegraph, Tuesday 2 May 2006, page 10

£4.5 million to boost literacy scheme
Gordon Brown will announce a multimillion-pound initiative for workers who struggle with literacy and numeracy.
Source:- The Times, Tuesday 2 May 2006, page 2

Stalking tendency
Doctors and nurses who work in psychiatric care are much more likely to be the victims of stalking than the general public, a study has found.
Source:- The Times, Tuesday 2 May 2006, page 22

Scottish news

Fiscal under fire as abuse girl, 10, faces trial ordeal
A 10-year-old girl from the Highlands is having to give evidence in open court against her father who is accused of domestic abuse against her mother.
The ordeal of a young person or child being asked to serve as witness in a trial involving violence was meant to be averted by the Vulnerable Witness (Scotland) Act in 2004.
But Dingwall sheriff court is yet to have the equipment for witnesses to give evidence from another location installed and a request from the girl’s mother for a measure of protection was rejected by the local fiscal.
Source:- The Herald, Tuesday 2 May 2006
 
Fears over secret drugs for OAPs
One in seven Scottish care homes administers drugs to residents without their consent, according to figures from the Care Commission.
Campaigners say the findings prove care homes administer drugs to make life easier for staff, and have demanded that the regulations be tightened.
The research revealed that of 101 care homes surveyed across Scotland, 14 admitted administering drugs “covertly”.
Dr David Lyons, the Scottish executive’s mental health tsar, is poised to launch a formal consultation on the issue.
Source:- The Scotsman, Tuesday 2 May 2006

Welsh news

Nurses to lobby assembly over jobs
Welsh nurses are planning to lobby politicians in an attempt to stop NHS job cuts in England being replicated in Wales.
The Royal College of Nursing Wales is planning to lobby the assembly next week to express the need for nurses in the NHS.
The plans come after English health secretary Patricia Hewitt received a hostile reception at the RCN’s annual congress in Bournemouth last week.
Source:- Western Mail, Tuesday 2 May 2006