Fireball suicide mum kills disabled child

October 25, 2007 in Community Care

Police suspect that a mother killed herself and her disabled child by setting her car on fire with petrol.

Source: – Daily Mirror, Thursday October 25 2007, page 14

Karen Overhill, an American with 17 multiple personalities – which range across gender, race and age – talks about her condition and life exclusively to the Daily Mirror.

Source: – Daily Mirror, Thursday October 25 2007, page 24-25

Nurse abuse ruling

Nurses and care workers unfairly accused of abuse have won greater legal protection after a Court of Appeal ruling.

Source:- The Times, Thursday 25 October 2007, page 4

Ministers abandon truancy targets

A government target to reduce truancy in schools has been quietly abandoned on the eve of the publication of new absentee figures which are expected to show a rise.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph, Thursday 25 October 2007, page 4

U-turn over school cash surpluses

Ministers are preparing to back down in a row over surplus school budgets being clawed back through a new “stealth tax” on prudent heath teachers, it emerged last night.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph, Thursday 25 October 2007, page 4

Brown: we need a bill of right as well as Human Rights Act

Constitutional reforms plan will expand MPs powers and end protest ban.

Source:- The Guardian, Thursday 25 October 2007, page 1

Out-of-hours doctors first to use NHS database

Doctors providing out-of-hours care in north-west England will be the first to get access to a controversial database storing summaries of patients’ medical records.

Source:- The Guardian, Thursday 25 October 2007, page 4

Brown hopes to send home 3,000 foreign prisoners

Gordon Brown yesterday held out the prospect that up to 3,000 foreign prisoners could be sent back home to finish their sentences as a result of prisoner transfer agreements.

Source:- The Guardian, Thursday 25 October 2007, page 13

Too many mentally ill in jail

Too many mentally ill offenders are jailed rather than being given specialist help that they need, the prisons watchdog has warned.

Source:- The Independent, Thursday 25 October 2007, page 19

Welsh News

Scottish care for Cardiff resident

Almost 200 elderly Cardiff residents, whose care is funded by the taxpayer, are being looked after outside the city.

Most of the residents living in nearby authority areas such as Newport or Bridgend but 19 are being cared for elsewhere in Wales, 18 in England and one person in Scotland.

Councillor John Dixon said that the main reason behind people being placed outside the city was due to them wanting to be near to their families.

Source:- Western Mail, Thursday 25 October 2007

Scottish News

Impossible to rule on personal care, says ombudsman

The Public Services Ombudsman has suspended investigations into “unremedied injustice” facing patients who have problems with NHS provision of Continuing Care.

Professor Alice Brown said she cannot rule on them because the Scottish Government’s guidelines are so out of date, linking the problem to her repeated warnings to ministers that they have to sort out the confusing law on Free Personal Care.

In her monthly briefing on cases brought to her, the Ombudsman said she has formally suspended investigations into complaints on NHS Continuing Care until ministers address the weaknesses in the system.

Source: The Herald, Thursday 25 October

More must be done over risks from violent offenders

Not enough is being done by Scotland’s local authorities in assessing the risk posed by serious violent offenders in their care, a four-year study has concluded.

The inspection of criminal justice social work services across all 32 councils examined the quality of reports prepared for courts and the Parole Board, and the standard of supervision of offenders on probation, parole and non-parole licence and community service.

It found more than 60% of social inquiry reports prepared were beneath a “wholly acceptable standard”. In Aberdeen, only 10% of the sample was considered wholly acceptable.

Source: The Herald, Thursday 25 October

New bid to tackle antisocial conduct

The strategy for tackling antisocial behaviour is to be reviewed by the Scottish Government, it will be announced this week.

It is thought SNP ministers will say they want to look more at prevention than the previous administration.

Source: The Scotsman, Thursday 25 October