Health of patients will set GP pay – Tory plan

Health of patients will set GP pay – Tory plan

The Conservatives will announce plans today to give patients with long-term conditions individual budgets to buy services from the NHS, including therapy, in a policy paper on health today.

This will open up political ground between the opposition and the government, which has rejected plans to extend individual budgets from social care to the NHS.

Source:- The Guardian Wednesday 20 June 2007 page 4

Abortions increase by 4% in one year

The abortion rate for under-16s and under-18s rose faster than the national average rise of 4% last year, government figures show.

Health minister Caroline Flint said the figures revealed the need for better contraceptive services.

Source:- The Guardian Wednesday 20 June 2007 page 12

Immoral support

Tony Blair was half-right when he said that violence among young people had its roots in youth culture – but half-wrong to confine this to young black people, the authors of a book on youth culture.

Dick Pountain and David Robins have investigated what they call the “cool ethic” in their book Cool Rules, which they say is a response among young people to consumer capitalism.

Source:- Society Guardian Wednesday 20 June 2007 page 1

Mental Health’s voice of reason

A corporate finance lawyer, who uses mental health services, has founded a charity to fight mental health stigma and make mental ill-health acceptable in public in the way that Stonewall has done for homosexuality.

Jonathan Naess has founded Stand to Reason during a sabbatical form his firm.

Source:- Society Guardian Wednesday 20 June 2007 page 2

Neglected option

The number of traumatised youngster needing intensive help has not reduced, yet one specialist school has seen a downturn in referrals. A report on an issue for tomorrow’s white paper on looked-after children.

Source:- Society Guardian, Wednesday 20 June 2007, page 3

Domestic abuse is a hidden epidemic, warns the BMA

All women who go to accident and emergency departments should be asked if they are victims of domestic abuse, health officials have said.

The British Medical Association, which makes the comments in a new guide, says that domestic abuse is happening on a large scale behind closed doors and that doctors need to be trained to ask the right questions to uncover the issue.

Source:- The Independent, Wednesday, 20 June 2007, page 6

The disturbed generation

More than a million children have got mental health problems according to new research.

The figures, from children’s charity NCH, show tat one in ten children now has a mental health problem.

Source:- Daily Mail, Wednesday, 20 June 2007, page 1

Scottish news

Councils still use hostel stripped of licence

Councils are still sending homeless people to a private hostel stripped of its licence.

At least four authorities are continuing to refer clients, some with severe addiction problems, to the Parkview B&B in the south side of Glasgow.

The hostel, which has been officially linked with a rise in crime in the neighbourhood, had its licence revoked by licensing officials last November. It remains open, however, while its owner, McKever Hotels, tries to reverse the decision.

Source: The Herald, Wednesday 20 June

Complaints about Kerelaw abuse ‘written off as lies’

Many complaints from children being abused at Kerelaw were written off as lies.

Glasgow Council last week said it believed a hard core of around 40 members of staff at the school had physically or sexually abused children in their care. But it has admitted that many of the victims had reported their experiences to social workers or other professionals but had been ignored.

Glasgow ran the residential unit in Stevenston, Ayrshire, until it was shut amid a police and council abuse investigation early last year.

Source: The Herald, Wednesday 20 June

More free nursery rights for all under £15m scheme

Every three and four-year-old in Scotland will be entitled to an extra five weeks free nursery education from August under Scottish Executive plans to be announced.

Fiona Hyslop, the Cabinet Secretary for Education, is expected to unveil the £15m initiative during a debate on education at the Scottish Parliament.

Under the plan – worth around £250 a year to a parent sending a child to a private nursery – the current entitlement of 12.5 hours a week for 33 weeks will be increased to cover a 38- week period – the length of the school year.

Source: The Herald, Wednesday 20 June 
 
Abuse victim to sue council which ‘gave her’ to fosterer with sex offence record

A woman who was sexually abused by her foster father is to sue the council chiefs who put her in his care.

Sianne McLeod was 14 when she was placed in the care of William Alexander, a convicted sex offender.

Alexander was allowed to foster children even though he had been convicted of lewd and libidinous practices against another girl 15 years earlier. The abuse began soon after Sianne moved into the home in Bridge of Don, Aberdeen.

Source: The Scotsman, Wednesday 20 June

Nurse left dying man in agony

Care home nurse Jannette Malcolm left a dying man in agony by failing to give him painkillers, it has been claimed.

The terminally ill dementia sufferer was screaming when day shift nurses arrived, a disciplinary hearing was told. And they discovered he had not been given his diamorphine through the night, while Malcolm was in charge of patients.

Malcolm has been accused of withholding medicine from two terminally ill patients at the Forebank Care Home in Dundee.

Source: The Record, Wednesday 20 June 

Welsh news

Abortions rise sharply

The number of women having abortions in Wales has increased by 88 per cent over the past year.

New official figures released by the Welsh Assembly Government show that there were 8, 430 abortions in Wales in 2006, an 8 per cent increase on 2005.

Source:- Western Mail, Wednesday, 20 June 2007

Wales behind in education funding

Wales spends £129 less on each child’s education a year than England, new figures have revealed.

Research carried out by the Welsh Conservative party show that Wales spends £61.8m less on education in total than England.

Source:- Western Mail, Wednesday, 20 June 2007