A summary of social care stories from the main newspapers

By Clare Jerrom and Reg McKay.

Asylum seekers end strike

Asylum seekers detained at Cardiff prison ended their hunger
strike yesterday.

The 30 strikers had refused to eat for six days in protest at
being held in custody. They are among 1,100 people detained under
the Immigration Act.

The prison service confirmed the asylum seekers had agreed to
receive food.

Source:- The Independent Wednesday 15 August
page 4

Huge rise in foreign NHS nurses

The number of foreign nurses registered to work in Britain rose
by 41 per cent last year, figures have shown.

The UK register holds more than 8,400 nurses and midwives names
from at least 24 countries outside the European Union,
demonstrating Britain’s increased reliance on NHS staff from
overseas. The figures compare to 5,945 in 2000 and 3,621 in
1999.

The Philippines supplied the highest figure of 3,396 registered
nurses. South Africa and Australia were second and third in the
list.

Acute shortages in some hospitals, especially in London, mean
that up to a third of nursing staff are recruited from abroad.
Private nursing homes have also turned to foreign staff.

Source:- The Independent Wednesday 15 August
page 1

Guardian Society

Moral victory

How English Churches has emerged from a nightmare period to
become a model housing association.

Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 15 August page
8

On the outside

Raekha Prasad on how people with mental illness are kept in the
dark about assessments of their state of mind.

Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 15 August page
64-63

Clouded vision

An everyday story of how the health service’s treatment of
older people fails to live up to its ambitious pledge

Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 15 August page
63

Scottish newspapers

Scotland’s prisons face chaos

The first joint action by prisoners against the slopping out
regime in Scotland’s prisons is threatening to bring the
country’s penal system to a standstill.

Sixty prisoners from Glasgow’s Barlinnie Prison are
claiming that their human rights have been infringed because of the
lack of toileting facilities and the continuation of slopping
out.

Raising the claim on their behalf under article three of the
European Convention on Human Rights, solicitor Cameron Fyffe is
demanding £5,000 compensation for each man, and has said he
will raise similar cases on behalf of prisoners at other jails.

Source:- The Scotsman Wednesday 15 August page 1