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Organisations can apply for a share of up to £250,000 to develop technologies that connect both young people & older adults in rural areas.

The GovTech Catalyst is to invest up to £250,000 in projects that combat digital exclusion and a lack of access to transport in rural communities in South Wales.  Monmouthshire County Council is home to 92,800 people, with isolation & loneliness having a significant impact on wellbeing.

Through the GovTech Catalyst - government’s £20m fund to find creative solutions to complex public sector problems - Monmouthshire aims to develop digital innovations that could connect isolated people, transform public services and support transport opportunities.

Priority groups for projects include:

• older adults
• people with disabilities
• volunteers with a desire to help those in need in the community
• young people trying to access work

In September 2017,  the CQC was tasked to carry out a review of the issues that contribute to the occurrence of ‘Never Events' in NHS trusts in England.

Never Events are serious, largely preventable safety incidents that should not occur if the available preventative measures are implemented.  They include things like wrong site surgery or foreign objects left in a person’s body after an operation. Whilst they are rare – 469 cases have been provisionally reported between April 2017 and March 2018 – incidents can have devastating consequences for the patient, their family and the NHS.

CQC have been progressing with this work in collaboration with NHS Improvement.  This has involved site visits to a number of NHS trusts, focus groups with frontline staff, interviews with patients and work with experts from other safety critical industries.

Although the CQC are still gathering evidence, some themes are starting to emerge:

• The high risk nature of healthcare is not always reflected by culture & practice.
• Embedding safety may need to be a fundamental part of every role, and this could have implications for training & learning throughout people’s careers
• It may be that trusts need to manage risks more proactively, as well as responding to incidents when they occur

The Commissioners on the National Infrastructure Assessment report on their findings / recommendations.

Sir John Armitt CBE said: “Whether it’s electric or driverless cars, new energy sources, tackling the risk of climate change or preparing for the newest & fastest broadband speeds, the issues we’ve been considering profoundly affect people’s everyday lives.

“The whole purpose of the UK’s first-ever National Infrastructure Assessment is to think beyond the technologies of today and to ensure we can make the most of future innovations.  It’s why it’s not just a one-off but something we will be repeating every five years to ensure we remain on the front foot.

“This is not some unaffordable wish-list of projects: it sets a clear direction for how to meet the country’s future infrastructure needs, and makes a realistic assessment of what can and should be delivered within the stated aim of Ministers for steady and continued investment over the coming years.

“I therefore look forward to the Government’s response to our report, and seeing how our recommendations can become reality.”

While mainstream media continues to concentrate on the clash of personalities, WGPlus brings you some more considered viewpoints from Briefings for Brexit & others, including those explaining how ‘No Deal’ (ND) is a realistic option.

The new White paper sprung on the Cabinet at the aptly named ‘Theresa May’s Chequers retreat’  May or May not be (pardon the puns) what ends up as the UK’s negotiating position, but the PM’s process of seeking Cabinet approval (in retrospect) seems to have been guaranteed to annoy (other less polite words & phrases also spring to mind) not only Cabinet & Parliamentary ‘Brexiteers’, but also the majority 17m+ people who voted to ‘leave’ the EU (White Paper:  The future relationship between the UK and the EU ~ Chequers' Brexit White Paper explained in 300 words | The Week UK ~ May's new Brexit plan. There is an alternative – from within the Government itself ).

It is time to remember just what we are ‘fighting’ for and also for mainstream media to examine the implications of the EU’s plans for the future and the loss of sovereignty they would imply for the UK (Editorial Commentary; Why don’t we extrapolate what the future spending plans of the EU might cost us? )

The current attitude of the political elite was summed up recently by one Welsh AM’s concern that ‘ND’ would mean that EU boats would no longer land fish caught in UK waters in Welsh ports!  Thus entirely ignoring the fact that UK fishermen would be able to build-up the UK fleet in the medium term and (in the short term) land their existing catches (which may currently be landed in EU ports) in UK ports (Editorial Commentary – A fall-back to ‘No Deal’, if the UK’s ‘Soft Offer’ is rejected, is not as ‘bad’ as Remainers have ‘painted’).