Thursday 26 August 2004

By Clare Jerrom, Shirley Kumar and Alex
Dobson

Troubled teenager killed himself rather than return to
care

A 13-year-old is thought to have committed suicide after being told
he had to stay at a council care home he hated.

Jack Windsor Monson was found by his grandmother after breaking
into the family home. He was a ward of court and residing at a
private care home in Welney, Norfolk.

Source:- The Independent, 26 August 2004, page 18

Improving health of workforce to be aim of new
organisation

Ministers are to unveil plans for a new unit designed partly to
meet Scottish executive targets of cutting the number of days lost
to sick days.

The New Scottish Centre for Healthy Working Lives will combine NHS
and other health initiatives and draw in professionals aimed at
improving workers’ health.

Source:- Financial Times, 26 August 2004, page 5

Organist to Queen is jailed for sex abuse

The Queen’s former organist, Jonathan Rees-Williams, was
jailed for five years for sexually abusing children.

Rees indecently assaulted six children, five of them boys over a
14-year period starting in 1975.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph, 26 August 2004, page 8

Chaos at home ‘can disrupt learning’

A child growing up in a disorganised home could find it harder to
study, reveals The Institute of Psychiatry, London, and
Pennsylvania State University in America.

They studied 8,000 twins born in Britain between 1994 and
1996.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph, 26 August 2004, page 8

Rapists sex assault on patient

A judge is calling for background checks on hospital patients after
a convicted rapist indecently assaulted a 73-year-old woman in a
mixed ward in St Georges Hospital in Tooting.

Bernard Bush of Clapham, South West London was convicted of
attacking the woman who suffers from Dementia at Kingston Crown
Court.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph, 26 August 2004, page 8

Civil servants caught surfing child porn

Civil servants at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) were
found to be downloading between two million pages of porn from the
internet including 18,000 images of child pornography.

Around 227 civil servants are being disciplined.

Source:- The Times, 26 August 2004, page 2

Charities fear drugs appeal of dope opera

Drug charities are concerned with a new British drama series aimed
at 16-24 year-olds that follows the fictional lives of two Cannabis
dealers.

The programme, due to be aired on MTV has also caught the attention
of Ofcom the broadcasting regulator.

Source:- The Times, 26 August 2004, page 15

Girl with six A-levels who may miss Oxford because of
red tape

Kosovan refugee Vildane Berani, who gained six A-level grades, may
miss out on going to University unless the Home Office makes her a
special case.

If her status is not resolved, Berani would have to pay
£250,000 for tuition and accommodation under her
classification as an oversee student.

Source:- The Daily Mail, 26 August 2004, page 19

Scottish newspapers

GMTV’s Lorraine Kelly joins Camphill campaign

GMTV presenter Lorraine Kelly has become the latest personality to
back the protest against plans to drive a bypass through the centre
of a community for vulnerable people.

Kelly said yesterday that the routing the dual carriageway, which
will split the estate for adults and children with special needs in
two, would damage the lives of vulnerable residents in the Camphill
Community.

Source:- The Scotsman  Thursday 26 August

Open day for Dove Centre

A day centre for older people, which is threatened with closure, is
to hold an open day next month.

The Dove Centre, which has been forced to make its co-ordinator
redundant because of a funding crisis, is staging the event on 11
September.

Organisers fear that unless £40,000 of funding can be found,
it may have to scale its services down dramatically or close
completely.

The open day will allow people to see the work the centre carries
out and talk to people who use the service.

Source:- Evening News  Wednesday 25 August

Call goes out for helpline volunteers

Alzheimer Scotland’s helpline is looking for new
volunteers.

The national freephone helpline is looking for people who are good
listeners and who can provide people with accurate information,
have an interest in dementia and can spare time during weekdays,
evenings and weekends.

Volunteers can work from home in Scotland or at the charity’s
national office in Edinburgh.

Source:- Evening News  Wednesday 25 August

Drug related deaths fall as agency praises new
measures

The number of drug-related deaths in Scotland has fallen by more
than 25 per cent, according to new figures.

There were 85 fewer deaths in 2003 than in 2002, according to the
Scottish Drug Enforcement Agency. It explained that 226 people died
as a result of drug abuse last year compared to 311 in 2002.

Source:- The Herald  Thursday 26 August

Welsh newspapers

‘Demolish it’ plan

Bulldozers could be sent in to demolish a former residential
home for older people in Cardiff.

The Hazelcroft care home was closed in 2001 after almost two years
of allegations and inquiries, including hundreds of complaints by
staff against each other. Now it is estimated that work to bring
the building up to current government standards would cost
£800,000 and the preferred option is to demolish it.

Source South Wales Echo Wednesday 25 August page 14

More consultants but growing number of NHS jobs
unfilled

Hospitals have more consultants than ever before according
to the Welsh assembly. 

Assembly health minister Jane Hutt said that 70 new consultants had
joined the NHS since January thanks to a recruitment
campaign.
But opposition politicians have hit out at the growing number of
NHS jobs going unfilled in Wales.

Source Western Mail Thursday 26 August page 8