MONDAY 20 MARCH 2006

Saturday papers: no social care stories today

Prisoner freed to kill after ‘quick chat’ on the phone with probation officer
The decision to release a crack addict prisoner who went on to stab a man to death in his kitchen was taken after a probation officer spoke to him on the telephone for just 25 minutes. When 28-year-old Yousef Bouhaddou applied for early release from a five and a half-year sentence, he should have been visited in jail by a probation service official from his London neighbourhood.
Source:- The Sunday Telegraph, Sunday 19 March 2006, page 8

New inquest to be held on ‘heroin death’ Rachel
Police are preparing for a fresh inquest into the death of Rachel Whitear, whose death after taking heroin was captured in a photograph that became synonymous with the perils of drug abuse. Six years after she died in May 2000, the circumstances of her death remain a mystery.
Source:- The Observer, Sunday 19 March 2006, page 14

Mother’s job prospects are worst of all
Mother face greater discrimination in finding a job than disabled people, Asian women and the elderly, new research has found.
Source:- The Observer, Sunday 19 March 2006, page 14

500,000 children set to lose NHS dental treatment
Dentists are expected to remove more than half a million children from lists entitling them to free NHS treatment when a new pay deal comes into effect next month.
Source:- The Sunday Times, Sunday 19 March 2006, page 5

Health criteria strip old and infirm of free care
Thousands of elderly and disabled patients would lose their right to free long-term NHS care under draft proposals circulated by the Department of Health. Ministers want standardised tests to address a post code lottery but it is claimed the proposals would also sharply reduce the number of patients eligible for free NHS continuing care.
Source:- The Guardian, Monday 20 March 2006, page 7

Judges in salt poison plea to hear of illness
A pathologist whose evidence helped to quash the conviction of Sally Clark will be the main witness in the appeal hearing of a couple jailed for killing their adoptive son by poisoning him with salt.
Source:- The Guardian, Monday 20 March 2006, page 12

Broken lift leaves elderly care home residents stranded
A dozen elderly residents marooned on the top floors of a Scottish care home since Christmas because of a faulty lift will have to wait three weeks more before they will be able to leave their rooms and landings. The manager of Clashfarquhar House in Stonehaven said the lengthy maintenance delay had made the pensioners feel “a bit down”.
Source:- The Guardian, Monday 20 March 2006, page 11

Swords crossed over health service pay
Mounting Treasury impatience with the independent review bodies that recommend pay for more than 1.8 million public sector employees might begin to threaten their future, according to the analysts Income Data Services. Some ministers are understood to be arguing that there should be a freeze on pay for NHS staff, a proposition that Patricia Hewitt is resisting.
Source:- Financial Times, Monday 20 March 2006, page 3

Community care could cut NHS deficit, says Hewitt
Patricia Hewitt will announce plans today to cut the NHS deficit by cutting the number of times patients with chronic illnesses are admitted to hospital. She is expected to say that patients with asthma and heart disease could be better looked after in their own homes with the help of community nurses.
Source:- The Guardian, Monday 20 March 2006, page 10

Asylum seekers forced to return to using supermarket vouchers
Asylum seekers are to be forced again to live on supermarket vouchers instead of cash five years after the government scrapped the controversial system because it was unfair and unworkable.
Source:- The Guardian, Monday 20 March 2006, page 17

City academy fails Ofsted inspection for a second time
One of the first academies to be opened, Unity academy in Middlesbrough, has been condemned by inspectors – 12 months after failing an inspection and being ordered to improve.
Source:- The Independent, Monday 20 March 2006, page 14

Struggling pupils lose share of £700 million
Some secondary schools get more money than they need at the expense of others, John Dunford, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders said yesterday.
Source:- The Times, Monday 20 March 2006, page 28

Call for sea cadet inquiry after sex abuse case
Child rights lawyers are demanding an immediate inquiry by the British sea cadets after one of its most senior officers, Lt Cdr Allan Walters, 57, was accused of sexually abusing street children in Bombay.
Source:- The Daily Telegraph, Monday 20 March 2006, page 1

Scottish news

CSA parents face longer wait for cash
Thousands more lone parents face longer waits for payments through the doomed Child Support Agency after it emerged that its shambolic computer system is in an even worse state than originally feared.
New figures reveal that the CSA’s £460m system is suffering from more than twice as many problems as were acknowledged by its bosses after ministers decided to scrap the government agency last month. Some of the main problem areas include calculating payments, receiving and allocating money, and making payments at the end of the process.
Source:- Scotland on Sunday, 19 March 2006

Welsh news

Ben’s chain dumped in lane, court told
A 22-year-old mother told Swansea crown court how she had helped to dispose of murdered teenager Ben Bellamy’s mobile phone and silver chain.
Amy Hughes Jones, who had been a friend of the defendants at the time of Ben’s death, said that she also hid one of their T-shirts for them in a country lane.
Joel Taylor, Andrew Rafferty, both aged 18 and a 16-year-old have all been accused of the killing.
Source:- Western Mail, Saturday 18 March 2006

Tagging shame of truant’s parents
A truant’s parents have been ordered to wear electronic tags in order to check that they are not going out and therefore can ensure their son gets to school.
The parents, who cannot be named, have to stay at home between 7pm and 7am for three months to ensure the 15-year-old does not truant from Cwrt Sart comprenhensive school in Neath.
Source:- Western Mail, Saturday 18 March 2006

Murder widow may be left empty-handed
The widow of a retired man who was murdered by a schizophrenic may not get any compensation from two Welsh health trusts.
Enid Dodd’s husband Brian was stabbed 37 times by mental patient Paul Khan as he took his dogs for a walk at Prestatyn’s festival gardens in March 2003.
Khan was being looked after by the Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust and the Bro Morgannwg NHS Trust at that time but had been released into the community due to their being no room for him at a hostel.
Last night Dodd’s lawyers said that her only hope was a House of Lords ruling.
Source:- Wales on Sunday, 19 March 2006