Elderly face huge rise in fees to stay at home

By Mithran Samuel, Derren Hayes and Amy Taylor

Elderly face huge rise in fees to stay at home

Adult service users are facing average fee hikes of 23 per cent for home care, 31 per cent for day centres, 10 per cent for travel and nine per cent for meals, a survey of councils by Public Finance magazine has found.

The news came as the Local Government Association published a survey which found many councils were being adversely affected by cost-shunting from the NHS.

Source:- Daily Mail Friday 16 March 2007 page 50

A couple were jailed for five years each for the manslaughter of their 11-month-old daughter, who died of starvation weighting the same as an average six-week-old baby.

Bristol Crown Court heard how Neil and Alison Baker turned down several offers of help from health visitors before the death of their daughter Kimberley in April 2005.

A postmortem found almost no body fat on her and a pathologist told the court she would have been starved for several weeks.

Source:- Daily Mirror Friday 16 March 2007 page 11

Care home shuts after two arrests as police investigate deaths

A care home in Somerset was closed yesterday as detectives investigated the deaths of seven people there, having arrested two staff on suspicion of poisoning.

Rachel Baker, a registered nurse who ran Parkfields in Butleigh for 19 years until resigning in January, and her husband Leigh were arrested.

Her parents, neither of whom have been arrested or questioned on this matter, are registered as running the home by the Commission for Social Care Inspection, who ordered that it be closed for six weeks yeaterday due to “serious concerns”.

Source:- The Guardian Friday 16 March 2007 page 7

Warning on shifting asylum seekers to dangerous areas is revealed

A four-year old Home Office-commissioned report, finally released yesterday, revealed ministers were warned that their policy of dispersing asylum seekers put them in danger by sending them to “highly volatile” parts of the country.

The Oxford Brookes University report, released under freedom of information, said asylum seekers had been sent to places where they were harassed, including Glasgow, where one asylum seeker was murdered.

The report comes as the government plans to disperse 6,000 child asylum seekers from London and the South East.

Source:- The Guardian Friday 16 March 2007 page 12

Taxpayers get bill for asylum seekers

Hillingdon Council yesterday lost a High Court bid yesterday for the government to fund its support for unaccompanied asylum seeking children.

Source:- Daily Telegraph Friday 16 March 2007 page 2

Police ‘should not always be told’ if child is having sex

Sexually active children under-13 should not automatically be reported to the authorities by professionals, children’s commissioner for England Al Aynsley-Green said yesterday.

His comments follow concerns raised by sexual health charity Brook that guidance published last April was causing confusion by leading to automatic reporting of sexual activity, which was deterring children from seeking advice.

Source:-  Daily Telegraph Friday 16 March 2007 page 16

Scottish news

NHS staff have reported low morale and bullying are widespread in the service despite record levels of investment.

A snapshot of opinion among the Scottish workforce revealed the majority do not feel involved in decisions that affect them and would not recommend the NHS as an employer.

Nearly one in five staff had experienced bullying or harassment – mostly at the hands of colleagues and senior managers – but were unlikely to report it out of fear of repercussions or the belief that nothing would be done about it, it was found.

Source:- The Herald, Friday 16 March

Boy collapses in class ‘after buying drugs from pupil in playground’

A boy aged 13 collapsed in his classroom after taking drugs he allegedly bought from a fellow pupil in the playground, it has emerged.

The boy, who attends a school in Lanarkshire, is thought to have become ill shortly after swallowing three diazepam pills. He was taken by ambulance to Hairmyres Hospital in East Kilbride and released after treatment.

A 16-year-old boy has since been charged with selling drugs to him and has been suspended from the school.

Source:- The Scotsman, Friday 16 March

A confidential register of vulnerable children should be set up and managed by a single agency, Scotland’s police watchdog recommends.

In a critical report, Malcolm Dickson, the assistant inspector of constabulary, also calls on the Scottish Executive to pass laws requiring all public services to provide the proposed body with any information and intelligence raising concerns about children or vulnerable adults.
The recommendations come in the wake of several cases where police, social work, education, health and other agencies failed to share information.

Source:- The Scotsman, Friday 16 March

Home alone addict begs: lock me up

A heroin addict who left a young boy locked up in a house begged to be sent to jail.

Rebecca Brister pleaded with a sheriff to put her away so she could get help to beat drugs.

Sheriff Robert McCreadie sentenced the 26-year-old to three months after she admitted she had abandoned the child.

Source:- The Daily Record, Friday 16 March

Welsh news

Plaid Cymru has committed itself to supporting Labour’s pledge to wipe out child poverty in Wales by 2020.

The pledge is one of Labour’s key targets. Despite supporting the policy Plaid maintains that without policy changes it is unlikely to be met.

Source:- Western Mail Friday, 16 March 2007

An internet paedophile spared jail after the Home Secretary called on judges to use prison sparingly has been imprisoned for eight months.

Derek Williams, 46, of Blaenau Ffestiniog, North Wales, was given a suspended sentence in January after the judge said he had to adhere to John Reid’s request.

Source:- icWales, Friday, 16 March 2007