By David Callaghan, Reg McKay and Alex Dobson.
Anger at blindness drug ruling
Organisations campaigning for blind and partially sighted people have reacted angrily to a recommendation that drugs to treat the leading cause of age-related blindness should only be used to treat one eye.
The RNIB and other bodies said they were outraged by a proposal of the National Institute of Clinical Excellence that the drug Visudyne should only be given to treat the ‘good eye’ in people suffering from age related macular degeneration (AMD).
Source: The Guardian Thursday 13 June page 5
Boy, 15, on sex charges
A 15-year-old boy from Newport, south Wales, has been charged with attempted murder, attempted rape and kidnap after an incident involving a six-year-old girl.
Source:- The Guardian Thursday 13 June page 13
Woman to sue NHS for post abortion trauma
A woman, who has not been named, is to sue the NHS for the psychological effects of an abortion she said doctors failed to warn her about.
The abortion took place four years ago, and although the woman said she regretted it immediately, the full psychological impact did not really affect her until the birth of a son. She then began to experience feelings of guilt and self-hatred
She said a GP and a surgeon warned of the possible physical effects of the abortion, but not the mental impact.
Source:- The Guardian Thursday 13 June page 13
Public given say over dangerous sex offenders
Home secretary David Blunkett is to announce plans for local communities to have a say in the monitoring of paedophiles.
The plan stops short of ‘Sarah’s law’, put forward by the parents of the murdered schoolgirl Sarah Payne, which would give the public access to the 18,000 names on the sex offenders register.
Under the proposed system, two lay members would be appointed to multi-agency public protection panels to act as ‘watchdogs’ over the criminal justice professionals.
Source:- The Independent Thursday 13 June page 1
Climbie inquiry ‘snubbed’
A senior social worker involved in the care of Victoria Climbie appeared before Camberwell magistrates in London yesterday.
Carole Baptiste is charged with ignoring repeated requests to attend the Laming inquiry to give evidence. The hearing continues.
Source:- The Times Thursday 13 June page 9
Scottish newspapers
Probe into council’s £1.4 million social work overspend
East Dunbartonshire council has launched an internal audit into how its social work department overspent its £17.5 million budget by £1.4 million last year.
As recently as 26 March, the Liberal-Democrat council had predicted a social work overspend of less than £500,000. The sudden jump will be reported to councillors today. There is said to be no suspicions of fraud. The council also says its overall budget is likely to stay on course due to underspends in other departments.
Source:- The Herald Thursday 13 June page 5
Welsh newspapers
Police chief defends officers heading child abuse inquiry
The chief constable of south Wales last night strongly defended the officers heading the controversial Goldfinch inquiry into child abuse.
Sir Anthony Burgess said that he has no concerns about the way that his officers have conducted their inquiries into child abuse in care homes in south Wales, which have resulted in 13 people being imprisoned.
But campaigners have claimed that some of those currently serving sentences are innocent, and the parliamentary home affairs committee is now examining the way that such investigations are handled.
Burgess said that he felt his officers had acted correctly in gathering evidence, and added that if he had any concern he would be the first to publicly declare it and do something about it.
Source:- Western Mail Thursday 13 June page 1 and 8
