WIREDGOV NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE
EHRC: Another care time bomb ticking away and the clock is about to go silent - The Equality and Human Rights Commission's inquiry into the home care system in England ‘reveals disturbing evidence that the poor treatment of many older people is breaching their human rights and too many are struggling to voice their concerns about their care or be listened to about what kind of support they want’.
The final report of the Commission’s inquiry, 'Close to home: older people and human rights in home care', says hundreds of thousands of older people lack protection under the Human Rights Act and calls for this legal loophole to be closed. It questions commissioning practices that ‘focus on a rigid list of tasks, rather than what older people actually want, and that give more weight to cost than to an acceptable quality of care’.
Around half of the older people, friends and family members who gave evidence to the inquiry expressed real satisfaction with their home care. But the inquiry also revealed many examples of older people’s human rights being breached, including physical or financial abuse, disregarding their privacy & dignity, failing to support them with eating or drinking, treating them as if they were invisible, and paying little attention to what they want.
Press release ~ EHRC inquiry into the home care system ~ Mapping Long-Term Care Markets ~ AUK: PCTs must reveal spending on carers ~ AUK: Paying for care and support at home ~ Related CQC PR ~ Related UKHCA PR ~ 20 action points to help homecare workers promote human rights ~ Dilnot social care report launch ~ DH: New Approaches to Supporting Carers’ Health and Well-being ~ Safeguarding adults: report on the consultation on the review of No Secrets ~ No secrets: guidance on developing and implementing multi-agency policies and procedures to protect vulnerable adults from abuse ~ DH: Vulnerable Adults ~ General Social Care Council ~ BMA toolkit to help doctors protect vulnerable adults ~ Government to seek legislation to protect society’s most vulnerable people ~ DH: New Guidance to Improve Care for Vulnerable Patients ~ Safeguarding Adults: The role of health services ~ Research on safeguarding adults by SCIE ~ New approach to quality and outcomes in social care ~ The Government response to Law Commission consultation paper 192. Review of the law on adult social care ~ The King’s Fund: Home care ~ DH: We need a system that ‘protects them from public sector bean counters’ (first item) ~ Newswire – LGA: A cheaper (but effective alternative) to personal care (second item)
MoD: Out of horror & sadness comes some good - A recent 2-part TV series (still available on BBC i-player) about front line medicine looked at how UK military medics in Afghanistan have achieved the highest survival rate of casualties in the history of warfare.
It looks at how war accelerates medical research, how the current conflict in Afghanistan is contributing to the future of medicine and how these developments enhance medical care.
Press release & links ~ BBC2 Frontline Medicine ~ Female medics honoured for work with injured personnel ~ £20m to bring breakthroughs from battlefield to bedside ~ NHS Choices: Emergency care on the battlefield ~ New NHS & military trauma centre opens (see also ‘Related links’) ~ Defence trauma and rehabilitation services – ‘exemplary’ ~ Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham ~ Civilian Trauma Care And The Defence Medical Services - A Prospectus For Partnership? ~ New Life Saving Equipment for Fronline Medics ~ PM ltd: EnFlowTM 100 Rapid Blood and Fluid Warmer ~ Portable oxygen generator ~ Defence Medical Services ~ Medical Emergency Response Team (MERT) ~ NAO: MoD – Treating injury and illness arising from military operation ~ A review of the clinical governance of the Defence Medical Services in the UK and overseas ~ New blood storage containers to help military medics save lives ~ RFA Argus ~ 202 (Midlands) Field Hospital ~ MoD: Unless one has faced the dangers of bullets & IEDs, it is difficult to ‘understand’ (Second item) ~ Battlefield Medicine, Afghanistan 2011
HO: It seems a lifetime since the summer riots - The government has set out the start of crucial work to tackle gang & youth violence through prevention and tough punishment. Young people at risk of being drawn into gangs and violence will be targeted at every stage of their lives – from toddlers to teenagers – to prevent the next generation of gang members.
Press release & links ~ August riots motivation ~ Troublesome Youth Groups, Gangs and Knife Carrying in Scotland ~ Research Findings ~ Information on the CIRV scheme ~ The management of gang issues among children & young people in prison custody and the community ~ Directgov: Gangs ~ Gangs: You and Your Child ~ It Doesn’t Have to Happen’ campaign ~ Magistrates’ Court Sentencing Guidelines – knife crime ~ Mothers Against Violence ~ Talk about Knives ~ Family and Parenting Institute ~ Tackling Knives Action Programme ~ An Anatomy of Youth ~ Ethnicity, Identity and Social Relations in Prison ~ Identities and Social Actions ~ NAO: Short prison sentences ineffective in addressing underlying causes of criminal behaviour (second item)
DH: If not equal wealth at least equal health - A new UCL (University College London) Institute that aims to reduce health inequalities through action on the social determinants has been launched by the Health Secretary Andrew Lansley and Professor Sir Michael Marmot.
Press release ~ Institute of health Equity ~ Measuring value for money in healthcare: concepts and tools ~ Does improving quality save money? ~ The link between health spending and health outcomes for the new English primary care trusts ~ Costs and benefits of health information technology ~ Improved version of the Health Inequalities Intervention Toolkit (includes infant mortality tool) ~ Marmot review: Fair Society, Healthy Lives ~ Association of Public Health Observatories (PHOs)
HPC: Let’s face it, individual ‘shareholders’ have no power over pay - The High Pay Commission has published its final report, Cheques with Balances: Why tackling high pay is in the national interest, shows stratospheric pay increases which have seen wealth flow upwards to the top 0.1% away from average workers. It sets out a 12-point plan based on transparency, accountability & fairness to halt spiralling high pay that is creating inequalities last seen in the Victorian era.
Press release & links ~ HPC: Nowhere near the ‘a maximum of 20 times the lowest paid’ then? (Third item)
DWP: Sometimes it is the only defence against a bullying manager - An independent review aimed at reducing the cost of sickness to employers, taxpayers and the economy is presented to the Government recently by health & business experts.
Press release & links ~ TUC comment ~ DWP: Qualitative research with GPs ~ Why Do Employees Come to Work When ill? An investigation into sickness presence in the workplace
Ofsted: Sometimes a ‘Place of Safety’ isn’t - With many countries around the world having celebrated Universal Children’s Day on 20 November, Ofsted explains how the Children's Rights Director for England, Dr Roger Morgan, is ensuring that some of our most vulnerable children & young people are being given a voice.
Press release & links ~ Agencies in Pembrokeshire must improve to safeguard and protect children ~ Action plan published calls on all local areas to take urgent action
CSPL: Better yet, why not limit party expenditure to £1m a year each (double for election year) - The independent Committee on Standards in Public Life recently published its report recommending fundamental change in the regulation of the funding of political parties and challenged the party leaders to work together to clean up party funding. They have recommended that the majority of the new arrangements should not come into effect until the beginning of the next Parliament, expected to be in 2015.
STFC: Give me warp drive Scotty - New results from the OPERA collaboration based at the Gran Sasso Laboratory in Italy support earlier experiments that suggested that neutrinos can travel faster than the speed of light.
Press release & links
Case Study: Land Registry: Successful Outplacement of 1800 Employees - In 2009, with an urgent need to achieve savings, Land Registry implemented its Accelerated Transformation Programme (ATP) in order to reduce the number of offices and staff whilst improving efficiencies across the organisation. Under the plans of the ATP, coupled with a shrinking housing market, economic recession and government targets to reduce public sector spending, a change management programme was initiated which included the outplacement of up to 1,800 of their employees. The Land Registry has recently been shortlisted for a Civil Service Award under the category of ‘Supporting staff through change’.
Click here to receive the Land Registry case study and find out more about a forthcoming webinar on 'Best Practices in Restructuring and Handling Redundancies', a highly topical subject in today’s public sector. The panel of experts will include David Evans, Director of HR for HM Land Registry who will share details of the Land Registry’s recent Accelerated Transformation Project, the objectives and design of HR Support, working with providers and lessons learned.
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