Hospital set death-threat patient free to stab his social worker

June 18, 2007 in Community Care

Hospital set death-threat patient free to stab his social worker

A psychiatric patient who was about to be released from hospital, warned doctors he wanted to kill his social worker. He was released from hospital anyway – and then he tried to murder her. Medics had discharged the man after deciding he was just frustrated and did not really intend to harm the woman.

Source:- Daily Mail, Saturday 16 June 2007, page 39

Smacking law to be review

The row over parents’ rights to smack their children reopened last night after ministers announced a policy review.

The review will investigate practical problems with the law.

Source:- The Guardian, Saturday 16 June 2007, page 9

Counter-terror methods used online to trap paedophiles

Police monitoring paedophiles who use the internet to abuse children are adopting counter-terrorist techniques to gather evidence. Exploiting freedoms unavailable to police in other countries, British detectives are infiltrating sex offender networks on the internet.

Source:- The Guardian, Saturday 16 June 2007, page 13

Private boarding school places for children in care

Children from care homes will get places at private boarding schools under plans to be unveiled in the government’s children in care white paper.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph, Saturday 16 June 2007, page 2

Scandal of the end of home help for the elderly

More than 200,000 elderly and vulnerable people have stopped receiving help at home with basic tasks such as washing and dressing over the past decade as local councils desperately try to save money.

Officials figures show that many pensioners no longer get personal care services which are vital to their health and well-being because of cutbacks by local councils, which have excluded growing numbers of people officially classed as ‘needy’.

Source:- The Observer, Sunday 17 June 2007, page 3

Outrage of changes to child custody

Guidelines governing the restraint of children in custody have been changed, provoking outrage among those working with young offenders. A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice confirmed that an order was introduced to Parliament last week that ‘amended secure training centre rules to make it clear physical restraint may be used for the purpose of good order and discipline’.

Source:- The Observer, Sunday 17 June 2007, page 12

Revealed: the growing toll of deaths before dishonour

A Sunday Telegraph investigation has established that honour killings are increasing rapidly in Britain. Home Office statistics suggest that there are 12 such murders each year. However, according to research, the true figure is much higher.

Source:- The Sunday Telegraph, Sunday 17 June 2007, page 12

Blood tests to diagnose mental illness

A blood tests has been developed that could allow doctors to diagnose mental illnesses, such as depression and schizophrenia, before patients begin to display symptoms.

A psychiatrist at Cambridge University has found different mental health disorders have their own distinctive chemical signatures.

Source:- The Sunday Telegraph, Sunday 17 June 2007, page 14

Kate McCann may quit as GP to fight child trafficking

The mother of Madeleine McCann may give up her job as a doctor to campaign against child trafficking and raise awareness about missing children.

Kate and Gerry McCann, whose four-year-old daughter vanished in Portugal 45 days ago, are alarmed that child trafficking is not taken seriously enough.

Source:- The Sunday Times, Sunday 17 June 2007, page 1

Children who are too scared to go outside

Eight out of 10 children with learning disabilities are in fear of being bullied, while almost 60% have been physically attacked by their tormentors, a survey by Mencap released today finds.

The poll also finds that over a quarter had been bullied for three years or more while over half of those who had been bullied had stayed away from places as a result.

Source:- The Times Monday 18 June 2007 page 28

£1m a month on youngsters’ ‘chill-out pills’

The NHS is spending over £1m a month on drugs to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children.

Figures obtained under Freedom of Information found that doctors wrote almost 7,500 prescriptions a week for Ritalin.

Source:- The Times Monday 18 June 2007 page 28

330,000 users to get access to database on England’s children

An electronic database containing information on all 11 million children in England will be open to at least 330,000 users when it launches next year, according to government guidance.

ContactPoint, which was proposed in the wake of the death of Victoria Climbié, will store every child’s date of birth, address, and parental information, alongside contact information on services involved with the child, to improve information sharing, though campaigners have raised warnings over confidentiality.

Source:- The Guardian Monday 18 June 2007 page 12

Legal dance drug faces ban amid fears over side-effects

A legal dance drug known as legal XTC, Jax, Pep Twisted or Pep Love could be banned across Europe because of concerns over its side-effects.

A joint report from Europol and the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) warns that benzlypiperazine can cause vomiting, palpitations, confusion, irritability and tremors.

Source:- The Guardian Monday 18 June 2007 page 13

Agencies combine to help socially excluded

The government will today lay out plans to support around 66,000 adults facing chronic social exclusion through involving the private and voluntary sector.

It will propose 12 pilots designed to offer a much more co-ordinated approach to tackling their problems, including mental illness, crime and homelessness.

Source:- The Guardian Monday 18 June 2007 page 15

GPs to ask patients about crimes

Doctors are now required to ask substance misusing patients whether they have been involved in criminal activity in the previous month, under new guidance from the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse.

Doctors have raised concerns about on how they would use the information and whether they would receive truthful answers.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph Monday 18 June 2007 page 1

Scottish Digest

Call for more NHS funding for motor neurone care

The Scottish Parliament will be asked this week to support a charity that cares for sufferers of Motor Neurone Disease.

The Motor Neurone Disease Association is the only charity in the country providing a care service for people with MND and spent more than £300,000 last year while receiving less than £11,000 from the NHS.

Campaigners have lobbied NHS authorities and MSPs to seek 50% NHS funding.

Source: The Herald, Monday 18 June

Women ‘choosing jail to solve problems’

Women in Scotland are opting for prison to escape their lives outside, according to a EU-funded report.

The study claims some women face such huge problems that they regard a jail term as “a refuge”.

Scotland has one of the fastest growing female prisoner populations in Europe, despite Executive promises to reduce the problem.

Source: The Scotsman, Monday 18 June

Dawn raids resume as two families deported

Relatives of a Turkish family taken in the first dawn raids since the Holyrood elections have accused the Home Office of treating them like “criminals or drug dealers” and violating their child’s rights.

The removal was one of two last week, raising fears among asylum campaigners that the controversial practice will be stepped up in an attempt to meet government targets of dealing with Scotland’s outstanding “legacy” cases within five years.

Turkish businessman Ozturk Kasmaz, who ran a food distribution business; his wife, Eleanor; and their two-year-old daughter, Ayse, were taken from their home in Eastriggs, Dumfriesshire, on Monday.

Source: The Sunday Herald, 17 June

Welsh digest

Row over call to cut minimum Welsh wage

Union leaders and politicians have criticised a study calling for the minimum wage in Wales to be reduced.
Research by the Economic Research Council called for the wage to be reduced from £5.35, which is the rate across the UK, to £4.84.

Source:- Western Mail, Monday, June 18 2007

Social worker fired over child porn

A children’s social worker has been fired after pleading guilty to downloading almost 100 pornographic pictures and videos of children.
Paul Neill, 33, admitted 17 charges of making indecent images between March 2005 and September 2006.
Neill had worked at Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council.

Source:- Western Mail, Saturday, June 16 2007