A daily summary of social care stories from the main newspapers

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