Shortage of qualified therapists to treat depression

Shortage of qualified therapists to treat depression
Three-quarters of the six million people suffering from depression fail to receive treatment because of a shortage of qualified therapists, according to a report by Lord Layard.
Source:- Financial Times, Saturday 17 June 2006, page 2

£12 billion IT system passes health check – for now
The NHS IT system, Connecting for Health, will cost more than £12 billion and parts of it are running two years late, the National Audit Office has found.
Source:- The  Times, Saturday 17 June 2006, page 11
Full story

Councils can grab homes left empty for six months
Homes left empty for six months can be seized by councils and rented out as social housing under legislation coming into force next month.
Source:- The Daily Telegraph, Saturday 17 June 2006, page 9
Full story

Church schools ask for exemption from gay equality laws
Church schools have applied for exemption from new anti-discrimination laws that would stop them from teaching children that homosexual acts are sinful.
Source:- The Daily Telegraph, Saturday 17 June 2006, page 10
Full story

Drug firm blocks cheap blindness cure
A major drug company is blocking access to a medicine that is cheaply and effectively saving thousands of people from going blind because it wants to launch a more expensive product on the market.
Source:- The Guardian, Saturday 17 June 2006, page 1
Full story

Back off, chief judge tells politicians
Head of the judiciary Lord Phillips, the Lord Chief Justice, harbours serious concerns about sentencing regimes. He fears that prisoners are in danger of being locked up “indefinitely” as a result of a media clamour for tougher penalties, and that prisons will face “serious disciplinary problems” controlling inmates and a constant fight against the ever-increasing stresses of overcrowding.
Source:- The Observer, Sunday 18 June 2006, page 8
Full story

Crisis as prisons run out of cells
The chief inspector of prisons has warned that Britain’s overcrowded jails are close to putting up “house full” notices and having to turn away newly convicted criminals.
Source:- Sunday Times, Sunday 18 June 2006, page 1
Full story

Is Sure Start working?
Tory leader David Cameron writes about a visit to deprived Wythenshawe in Manchester.” Sure Start took valuable resources such as carers and therapists out of other local services…In a nutshell, it was top-down big government knows best.”
Source:- Sunday Times, Sunday 18 June 2006, page 2
Full story

Ministers agree to MMR autism inquiry
An inquiry into whether the MMR jab has caused autism and bowel disorders in children is to be launched by the Department of Health.
Source:- Sunday Telegraph, Sunday 18 June 2006, page 4
Full story

High court to rule on who pays for care of accident victims
The high court will take further steps this week to clarify the law on big insurance claims where social services departments – and through them the taxpayer – are shouldering much of the financial burden for care after serious accidents.
Source:- The Guardian, Monday 19 June 2006, page 4
Full story

Reid warned of ‘lynch mob law’ over parental access to paedophile details
Senior probation sources last night warned that a promise by the home secretary, John Reid, of “controlled access” by parents and schools to the home addresses and other personal details of released child sex offenders could lead “lynch mob law”.
Source:- The Guardian, Monday 19 June 2006, page 4
Full story

‘Smarter approach’ needed in deprived areas
Government attempts to foster business in the most deprived areas are underachieving because they focus too much on promoting start-up enterprises and not enough on boosting employment, a report from a think-tank has found.
Source:- The Financial Times, Monday 19 June 2006, page 4
Full story

Tories plan to build more jails
The Conservatives are planning to build more jails so that offenders can be kept in prison longer.
Source:- The Financial Times, Monday 19 June 2006, page 4
Full story

Only three paedophiles banned from taking sex trips abroad
A law that was meant to stop paedophiles travelling abroad to abuse children has hardly been used since it was hurriedly introduced three years ago.
Source:- The Times, Monday 19 June 2006, page 4
Full story

Schools snub scheme to keep abusers out of the classroom
More than 90 per cent of schools are ignoring a government scheme designed to regulate supply teachers and prevent paedophiles from working with children.
Source:- The Times, Monday 19 June 2006, page 4
Full story

Murderer’s plea
Lawyers for Michael Stone, who was convicted of murdering Lin Russell and her six-year-old daughter Megan, in 1996, will ask the High Court today to block the publication of an inquiry report which details his treatment by mental health, probation and social workers before the attack.
Source:- The Times, Monday 19 June 2006, page 22

Scottish news

Thousands of Scots children get single jabs
Thousands of children in Scotland have received single jabs to protect them against measles, mumps, and rubella instead of the controversial MMR vaccine during the past five years.
One clinic offering the alternative to the triple MMR vaccine claimed demand has doubled in Scotland since 2001.
Source:- The Sunday Herald, 18 June 2006
Full story
 
Bad press adding to the woes of asylum seekers
Media coverage of the asylum debate in Scotland has become increasingly negative, which can have a direct and sometimes violent impact on asylum seekers’ lives, according to new research.
The report, Asylum And The Media, was commissioned by Oxfam and monitored all articles on the subject of refugees and people seeking asylum in a sample of Scottish newspapers over a three-month period in late 2004.
It found that the coverage was characterised by stereotypes and the use of misleading or inaccurate terminology, with a narrow focus on numbers and costs and with the voices of asylum seekers rarely featured – all of which could make the experience of asylum seekers in this country more difficult.
Source:- The Sunday Herald, 18 June 2006
Full story
 
Jamieson refuses to disclose identities of sex abusers
Scottish justice minister Cathy Jamieson has backed expert advice that disclosure is “almost invariably undesirable”, drives the problem underground and risks giving a false sense of security.
“The risks posed by sex offenders are serious, but they must not be allowed to create a climate of fear,” she said.
Her decision conflicts directly with that of John Reid, the home secretary who said he was considering calls to provide public access to information about paedophiles in English and Welsh communities.
Source:- The Herald, Monday 19 June 2006
Full story
 
Redisgned care homes can help children’s behaviour
A project to redesign and de-institutionalise a South Lanarkshire children’s home found residents are better behaved as a result.
Graven Images, responsible for some of the most stylish venues in Glasgow, was commissioned to work closely with children, staff, a colour psychologist and architects to ensure new homes provide quality house design and interiors which were safe, warm and welcoming.
The results had a noticeable effect on children’s relationships, improving their ability to interact with peers and staff.
Source:- The Herald, Monday 19 June 2006
Full story
 
Alarm as number of autistic pupils excluded from schools soars 62%
More than 110 autistic pupils were excluded from schools in Scotland last year, new figures have revealed, raising fears of a lack of understanding and facilities for youngsters with the condition.
The number of children with autistic spectrum disorder in Scotland has grown by 400 per cent in six years to more than 2,000, and experts fear many will miss out on education unless teachers are trained to cope with the condition.
In 2003/4 at least 70 autistic pupils were excluded from school, according to the Scottish executive figures. The number rose to at least 114 in 2004/5 – a 62 per cent increase.
Source:- The Scotsman, Monday 19 June 2006
Full story
 
Tsar is wrong – drugs war can be won, says minister
Scottish health minister Andy Kerr has rejected suggestions by the country’s leading drug expert that the battle to reduce drug abuse by focusing on weeding out dealers and traffickers was “long lost”.
Tom Wood, the former deputy chief constable of Lothian and Borders police, said Scotland had relied too heavily on enforcement, and insisted that reducing the demand for drugs through education was more important.
Source: The Scotsman, Monday 19 June 2006
Full story

Welsh news

Pensioners cancelling care visits after large increase in charges
Visits by carers are being cancelled by pensioners in the Vale of Glamorgan because they cannot afford to pay increased charges it has been warned this week.
Mike Williams who campaigns for older people in the Vales said that under new Assembly Government policy some pensioners are seeing the cost of the visits triple in price and are unable to meet the cost.
Source:- South Wales Echo 17 June Saturday 2006
Full story

Griffiths named carers’ champion
The assembly government’s deputy health minister, John Griffiths, has been named as the first ever carers’ champion in Wales.
Health minister Brian Gibbons said that his deputy’s appointment would mean that carers’ issues would have an ambassador at assembly government level.
Source:- The Western Mail, Sunday, 19 June 2006
Full story

Sweeney’s victims complain to watchdog
Police are being investigated after the parents of paedophile Craig Sweeney’s victim have complained that it took them too long to react to her kidnapping.
A row has erupted this week after the paedophile was told he would be eligible for release after five years and 108 days.
Source:- Wales on Sunday, 18 June 2006
Full story

MP to fight early releases
Monmouth MP David Davies is to launch a pressure group aimed at stopping prisoners from not serving their full sentences.
Stop All Forms of Early Release (Safer) aims to stop the number of prisoners from being released early from prison.
Source:- Western Mail, Monday 19 June 2006
Full story