A daily summary of social care stories from the main newspapers

By
Sally Gillen, Reg McKay and Alex Dobson.

13-year-old triplets terrorised town centre

Three
teenagers branded the "Terror Triplets" were publicly named by
magistrates yesterday after their catalogue of disruptive behaviour was judged
to have gone a step too far.

Magistrates
at Chatham, Kent, told Shane, Sarah and Natalie Norris, 13, that they face five
years in custody for continuing to terrorise shopkeepers in Gillingham, despite
being banned from approaching them.

They
were finally caught on CCTV egging on a riot when a teenager was arrested
outside Woolworths for stealing. The footage put them in breach of an
anti-social behaviour order imposed on them in February last year.

The
three can expect to be given the maximum sentence of five years in a young
offenders institution for breaching the order when they are sentenced in three
weeks’ time.

Source:
The Times Wednesday 6 March page 5

Court bans boy of 12 from his community

A
12-year-old boy who terrorised a neighbourhood armed with a baseball bat and
knives was banned yesterday by a court from the area where he was brought up.

Sean
McInerney was told he faced custody if he returns to the Kensington area of
Liverpool after he admitted to a catalogue of crimes.

The
anti-social behaviour order applies even though his parents live in the
district.

The
court, which allowed the juvenile to be named because of the seriousness of his
crimes, heard that they had “abandoned him”.

Source:
The Daily Telegraph Wednesday 6 March
page 6

‘Wake-up’ call on child abuse in the NHS

Children
being treated by the NHS are poorly protected against the risk of abuse from
their professional carers, according to a report yesterday which advises
bringing in 150 extra safeguards to avoid more suffering.

Lord
Carlile of Berriew QC, head of an inquiry into child protection in the NHS in
Wales, said its findings were a “wake-up call” to parts of the service “where
child protection has been forgotten, including [in] some accident and emergency
departments, GP practices, optometrists, opticians and dentists”.

He
called for rigorous checks on the background of those seeking work with
children. There should be police checks on all NHS staff working with children
and better information sharing across the service.

Source:
The Guardian Wednesday 6 March  page 13

Scottish
and Welsh newspapers

700 beds blocked admits minister

Seven
hundred patients are delayed from being discharged from hospital each year in
Scotland, according to Malcolm Chisholm, minister for health and community
care.  About 300 of these patients are
forced to stay in hospital for longer than a year as they wait for more
appropriate care. Nearly 10 per cent (3,138) of all Scottish NHS beds are
occupied by patients waiting to be transferred into community care
services.  Chisholm revealed the figures
as he confirmed an earlier announcement that the Scottish executive will
allocate £20m of new, ringfenced funds to tackle delayed discharge.

Source:
The Herald Wednesday 6 March page 8

Rape trials to change

New
powers giving greater protection to alleged victims of rape and sexual offences
are expected to come into force early next year.  

The
announcement is expected to be included in details of the Sexual Offences
(Procedure and Evidence) (Scotland) Bill which is to be released by justice
minister Jim Wallace later today. The bill will prevent the accused in such trials
from cross-examining the alleged victim personally, instead they will only be
able to be questioned by duly appointed legal representation.  

Source:
The Scotsman Wednesday 6 March page 9

Warning
to NHS over children put at risk from abuse

Children in Wales are being put at risk because
not enough staff are trained in child welfare issues says a major
new report.

The Carlile review recommends radical changes to
child protection within NHS Wales and highlights the need for more
rigorous checks into staff who work with children.

The review, which was chaired by Lord Carlile QC,
took two years to complete and came about following concerns over
shortfalls in the health service that first surfaced during the
North Wales child abuse inquiry.

Among the 150 recommendations there are calls for
an All-Wales NHS child protection service to be established which
would be overseen centrally by the Welsh Assembly and a complaints
procedure specifically designed for children.

Source: Western
Mail Wednesday 6 March page 1

Council
chiefs hit out at care homes

Care home owners in Newport in South Wales have
been criticised by council chiefs after issuing ultimatums over
fees for residents.

The criticism comes following the decision by 15
private sector nursing homes to issue a 90-day notice of their
intention to end contracts with social services and charge higher
fees.

The Welsh Local Government Association says that
the home owners’ position is "unacceptable" . Its head,
Newport council leader, Sir Harry Jones, said that the home owners
were causing unnecessary distress to residents. He admitted that
care services for Wales’ elderly people have been seriously underfunded for almost
a decade, but said that the level of fee increases demanded by some of the
home owners was well above inflation.

Source: South
Wales Argus Tuesday 5 March page 4