WIREDGOV NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE
EU News: Lots of it, but little appropriate or of good quality - Children in Europe are on average starting to use the Internet at the age of 7, but only one in three 9-12 year olds feel that there are enough ‘good things for kids’ of their age online, according to a pan-European survey published by the European Commission.
The study also shows that 1 in 8 children have upsetting experiences online and they still lack skills & confidence using Internet. To help deal with these problems, the Commission has launched a competition to encourage the creation of online high quality content for children. The Commission is committed to helping parents and their children keep safe online as part of the Digital Agenda for Europe.
Press release ~ Report: Risks and safety on the internet: The perspective of European Children ~ www.eukidsonline.net ~ Safer Internet Forum ~ European Award for Best Children's Online Content 2011 ~ EU's Safer Internet Programme ~ INSAFE network ~ SafeKids.co.uk ~ KidSMART ~ Childnet International ~ ISPA – Children on the Internet ~ UK Council for Child Internet Safety ~
NICE: Co-ordinated care is the best way forward - NICE has joined forces with charities, royal colleges, public & private sectors in a pledge to transform the quality of life for people living with dementia. Currently, there are around 750,000 people living with dementia in the UK at a cost of £20bn p.a.. It is estimated that 1m people will have dementia within 15 years, rising to 1.7m by 2051 as the population ages.
A total of 45 organisations have now united to form the Dementia Action Alliance, set up to bring about radical changes in the way society responds to dementia. In the first step in a major campaign for change, the Alliance has launched a National Dementia Declaration. This far-reaching charter spells out exactly what each Alliance member plans to do to improve the quality of life for people with dementia in England.
NICE's main contribution to the Declaration is the development of a quality standard on dementia care, launched by the health secretary Andrew Lansley in June 2010. The dementia quality standard sets out a vision of what high-quality care should look like for dementia patients on the NHS and is underpinned by the joint NICE/Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) clinical guideline on dementia care and appraisals on medicines relevant to the condition.
Press release ~ Dementia Action Alliance ~ Dementia quality standard ~ Clinical guideline 2006 ~ Alzheimer's disease - donepezil, galantamine, rivastigmine and memantine (review) ~ Related previous press release ~ Revised Strategy Implementation Plan ~ Dementia information portal ~ Revision to the Operating Framework for the NHS in England for 2010/11 ~ PAS 800: Use of Dementia Care Mapping for person-centred care in a provider organization ~ 1,000 Lives Plus Campaign ~ NAO: Improving dementia services in England - an interim report ~ Improving services and support for people with dementia (2007) ~ Living Well with Dementia ~ Dignity in Care Campaign ~ The use of antipsychotic medication for people with dementia: Time for action. A report for the Minister of State for Care Services by Professor Sube Banerjee ~ Government response ~ Alzheimer's Society ~ Worried about your memory? ~ Prepared to care: challenging the dementia skills gap ~ Oral evidence ~ Alzheimer Scotland ~ Foresight Project on Mental Capital and Wellbeing ~
KF: Departing with minimal pain and maximum dignity - Much more needs to be done to give patients & carers real choices about their care at the end of life, according to a new report by The King’s Fund. The report, which provides examples of good practice in end-of-life care, highlights progress made in enabling patients to be cared for & die in their place of choice.
Following on closely from the government’s announcement of a review of end-of-life care in 2013, it has prompted The King’s Fund to warn of the dangers of losing momentum in the drive to improve end-of-life care.
‘Implementing the End of Life Care Strategy: lessons for good practice’ looks at 3 Marie Curie Delivering Choice programmes, which work to identify the barriers to good care and highlights examples of good practice from across the country. It argues that significant progress can be made by rolling out existing good practice & adapting it to local contexts and that the public spending squeeze need not stand in the way of further improvements to end-of-life care.
‘Implementing the End of Life Care Strategy: lessons for good practice’ looks at 3 Marie Curie Delivering Choice programmes, which work to identify the barriers to good care and highlights examples of good practice from across the country. It argues that significant progress can be made by rolling out existing good practice & adapting it to local contexts and that the public spending squeeze need not stand in the way of further improvements to end-of-life care.
Press release ~ Implementing the End of Life Care Strategy: Lessons for good practice ~ KF: End-of-life care ~ Marie Curie Delivering Choice Programme ~ Evaluating MC Delivering Choice Programme ~ End of Life Care Strategy ~ KF: Improving Choice at End of Life ~ Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS ~ Shaping the future of care together ~ Carers UK ~ Dignity in Care Campaign ~ NAO: End of life care ~ The National End of Life Care Programme ~ Enhancing the Healing Environment Programme ~ Other related information ~ Marie Curie Cancer Care ~ Campaigning - Supporting the choice to die at home
DfE: Is it too much to ask – ‘Never Again’ - The Government has fulfilled its commitment to publish the two Serious Case Review (SCR) overview reports into the tragic death of Peter Connelly, in order to restore public confidence & improve transparency in the child protection system.
The SCR reports have both been carefully & appropriately redacted & anonymised to protect the privacy & welfare of vulnerable children and their families. Children’s Minister Tim Loughton wants the publication of the Peter Connelly reports to help enable:
* genuine lessons to be learned
* transparency to restore public confidence
* the identification of everyone’s roles & shared responsibilities
DfE press release ~ First Serious Case Review overview report ~ Second Serious Case Review overview report ~ Executive summary for the first Serious Case Review ~ Executive summary for the second Serious Case Review ~ Letter of 10 June 2010 sent to DCSs and LSCB chairs by Tim Loughton ~ Munro review of child protection: Analysis of the problems ~ Snap inspection praises Haringey child protection ~ Review of the involvement and action taken by health bodies in relation to the case of Baby P (May 2009)
Ofsted: A failure to implement & ensure good practice - Illustrated with detailed case studies, Ofsted’s latest serious case review report, ‘Learning lessons from serious case reviews 2009-2010’ was published last week. The report looks at 147 serious case reviews (SCRs) evaluated by Ofsted between 1 April 2009 and 31 March 2010. SCRs are local enquiries into the death or serious injury of a child where abuse or neglect is known or suspected to be a factor.
Overall, the quality of the reviews themselves continues a strong trend of improvement, with 42% judged good, 42% adequate and 16% judged inadequate. However, many of the cases reviewed reveal the persistence of some key issues in practice, which have contributed to shortcomings in the protection of the children involved.
The report found that of the 194 children involved, 119 children were known to children’s social care services at the time of the incident; 90 children were receiving services as children in need, of which 49 were the subject of child protection plans. 31 of the children who had died were receiving children in need services.
A consistent finding from the reviews was that there had been a failure to implement & ensure good practice even though established frameworks and guidance were available.
Press release ~ Learning lessons from serious case reviews 2009-2010 ~ Safeguarding Children - A review of arrangements in the NHS for safeguarding children (2009) ~ Notifications on safeguarding ~ Care Quality Commission (CQC) – Safeguarding Children ~ Better Safe than Sorry ~ Learning Lessons: Taking Action (2007 – 2008) ~ RCPCH & RCN response to the review ~ Safeguarding Children and Young People - Roles and Competencies for Health Care Staff ~ Local Safeguarding Children Boards ~ Working Together to Safeguard Children: A guide to inter-agency working to safeguard and promote the welfare of children ~ Local Safeguarding Children Boards: Practice guidance for consultation (closed on 9 June 2010) ~ Statutory guidance on children's welfare ~ Learning lessons from serious case reviews: year 2 ~ Safeguarding the young and vulnerable: The Joint Chief Inspectors' recommendations and the Government's responses one year on ~ The protection of children in England: Action plan ~ DH – Children’s Services
Forthcoming Event: SPRINT Annual Conference: ‘Apocalypse Now and the SPRINT response.’ - Warwick Hilton, Warwick, Thursday 4 November 2010. This 10th Annual Conference is open to everybody in the Public Sector.
SPRINT is a widely adopted method for Innovation & Radical Change, developed by Local Government for Local Government. It is also a community of 1000+ business improvement practitioners and change managers working in 150+ Local Government organisations across the UK.
SPRINT holds the view that organisations need to take direct responsibility for innovation and radical change rather than turning to external sources to achieve that for them. Fundamentally, SPRINT embraces a capacity-building approach and the impetus to do more with less.
Please choose from the links below to view individual sections of interest:
- General News
- Policy Statements and Initiatives
- Consultations
- Guidance Notes and Best Practice Guides
- Annual Reports
- General Reports and Other Publications
- Legislation / Legal
- EU Legislation, Initiatives, etc.
- Charity and Voluntary Sector
- Business and Other Briefings
- Industry News
- Forthcoming Event
- Editorial Content Statement