A daily summary of social care stories from the main newspapers

By David Callaghan, Reg McKay and Alex Dobson.

Hidden costs of social care will rise £3.6 billion
by 2020

Social care costs will rise by an extra £3.6 billion a year
by 2020, according to a report from former National Westminster
Bank chief executive Derek Wanless.

Spending on adult services will rise from £6.4 billion to
between £10 and £11 billion, Wanless says.

Wanless based his calculations on population trends for the next
20 years, and the huge rise in the number of older people. He
recommended a full review of social services spending to start
immediately.

Source:- The Times Thursday 18 April page 22

Tax credits help families and low paid

The Chancellor announced new tax credits for families and low
paid workers in the Budget. The new child tax credit will provide a
total of £13 billion to 5.75 million families.

But the concessions to middle and lower income families have
been criticised as being too complicated, which will result in a
low take up.

Source:- The Times Thursday 18 April page 14

Tax credit may herald subsidy for nannies

The government’s decision to help families with registered
childcarers will help parents who work. The move will especially
help parents with disabled children and the 61 per cent of families
who have parents working unsocial hours.

Source:- The Times Thursday 18 April page 14

Scottish newspapers

Executive bids to buy controversial private
hospital

The Scottish executive is in “very serious” negotiations to
purchase the controversial Health Care International (HCI) hospital
in Clydebank, it was revealed last night.

HCI, owned by the Abu-Dhabi Investment Company, deals mainly
with foreign patients, and has stirred public debate when it
received government subsidies of around £40 million to help it
through difficult financial situations.

The executive has previously refused to follow the English model
of purchasing health care from the private sector to deal with NHS
waiting lists. Opposition MSPs were highly critical of the move to
buy HCI. The SNP accused the executive of reducing NHS beds only to
be forced into a deal from which the private sector will benefit.
The Tories said there was no need to buy the hospital when the
executive could buy the services.

A spokesperson for the Scottish executive confirmed that
negotiations were underway, but could say no more due to “reasons
of commercial confidentiality”.

Source:- The Herald Thursday 18 April page 1

Welsh newspapers

Elderly consider selling homes to save
eyesight

Older people desperate to save their eyesight are being forced
to consider selling their homes to pay for operations.

The operation is available through the NHS, but lengthy waits
mean that some patients in south Wales may go blind before they
receive treatment.

Revolutionary new treatment for a condition known as wet AMD is
available at a hospital in Cardiff, but the National Institute for
Clinical Excellence (NICE) has not approved its use, and NHS
patients cannot access it easily.

Patients are forced to choose between risking their rapidly
deteriorating eyesight by joining a waiting list for treatment in
Liverpool, or paying privately at a cost of up to £8,000.

The Royal National Institute for the Blind called the situation
wholly unacceptable and demanded action to overturn the NICE
decision.

Source:- Western Mail Thursday April 18 page 1

Parents seek friends’ help to solve daughter’s
death

The parents of a 13-year-old girl found hanged at her family
home near Cardiff have called on her friends to help them piece
together what happened.

Police are not treating the death of Laura Kilibarda as
suspicious, but are looking into claims that she may have been
bullied at school.

Source:- Western Mail Thursday April 18 page 1

‘Hero’ optician is suspended from practising for three
months

An optician who defrauded the NHS to provide spare pairs of
glasses to underprivileged and special needs children was yesterday
suspended from practising for three months.

The General Optical Council (GOC) said that it had decided as an
exception, not to strike 47-year-old Gwyn Evans from Bridgend from
the professional register.

Disciplinary chairperson Barrie Wilcox said that the committee
took a serious view of fraud against the NHS, particularly where it
was systematic and substantial. He added that Evans had co-operated
fully with the investigation and repaid the money, which had worked
in his favour.

The hearing came after the optician received a suspended prison
sentence at Cardiff crown court last year after admitting making
fraudulent claims on more than 800 occasions.

Source:- Western Mail Thursday April 18 page 5

I was beaten up after annoying teacher, ex-pupil tells
inquiry

The Clywch inquiry investigating child abuse at a school in
south Wales was told yesterday how a former pupil may have been
beaten up following criticism of the school.

The Rev Gethin Rees told the inquiry that after he wrote a
critical letter to a newspaper, he suspected that alleged
paedophile, John Owen, a drama teacher at the school, had arranged
for older boys to teach him a lesson by roughing him up.

The inquiry that is looking into the circumstances surrounding
the activities of Owen who taught at the school in Pontypridd also
heard from a former governor who cannot be named for legal
reasons.

Source:- Western Mail Thursday 18 April page 7

Put a time limit on claims

A two-page feature on child abuse with an interview with the
former head of an approved school in south Wales which formed part
of the police inquiry into abuse called Operation Goldfinch.

Source:- South Wales Echo Wednesday April 17 page 4 and
5