General News
ScotGov: Scotland's national patient safety programme is helping the NHS achieve impressive results, Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon heard last week. Paisley's Royal Alexandra Hospital, which was recently praised by the Healthcare Environment Inspectorate (HEI), has reduced intensive care deaths by 12% as well as cutting the average length of patient stay by over 2 days. The first HEI annual report will be published in November 2010.
Newswire – UKSA: UK scientists have won the lead in over €5M worth of contracts, in a new initiative to unlock the complexities of climate change. This new programme, the ESA Climate Change Initiative, will use Earth Observation (EO) to help generate Essential Climate Variables (ECV’s) for our planet. ECV’s is the term used to describe those key environmental parameters which, taken together, are able to describe our past, present & future climate on Earth.
These include atmospheric variables, such as ozone content, as well as snow cover, fire disturbance and ocean salinity. Without a solid description of these key indicators of our environment we will not be able to understand & mitigate against consequences of climate change such as hurricanes, El Niño effects, flooding and other extreme weather events.
ScotGov: Scotland's 'flying doctor' service is to be rolled out to remote & rural parts of the country, following a successful pilot scheme in the west of Scotland. The service, staffed by air paramedics & consultants who are specialists in emergency medicine, will fly across Scotland to treat critically-ill patients on the spot. The team has undertaken 565 retrievals & given advice to a further 469 patients since it began in June 2008.
Directgov: 4 rural areas have been selected to pilot the next generation of high speed broadband. This is in preparation for a £530m project to help upgrade areas of Britain that the broadband market alone would not meet. The pilot exercise is intended to help establish the commercial costs & challenges involved in rolling out superfast broadband across the UK.
Press release ~ Technology and online services (home & community section) ~ Broadband speeds - consumer advice from Ofcom
Newswire – TUC: The TUC has called on the government to introduce a new Community Day public holiday on the last Monday in October 2013. A new bank holiday in late October would be particularly popular as it would break the 4 month gap between the August & Christmas bank holidays and would coincide with schools' autumn half term holiday, says the TUC.
PwC: A national search to find the most talented cyber security professionals of the future has yielded two winners. In the latest phase of challenges, competitors had to show amazing speed & skill to complete the ciphers (online security puzzles), created by PwC's OneSecurity threat & vulnerability management team.
CLG: Thousands of historically underpaid workers will benefit as 21 councils get the go-ahead to borrow against or sell assets up to £250m this financial year to settle their equal pay commitments. This financial flexibility is important for councils needing to meet & manage one-off costs of equal pay compensation, while protecting frontline services and keeping down council tax.
Newswire – RoSPA: The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents is expanding its nationwide campaign to raise awareness of the dangers of window blind cords with 60,000 free safety packs & the launch of new web pages.
FSA: All batches of Sokolów Home Black Pudding Sausage have been recalled because the product is contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. It is also sold under the name; Grill Black Pudding Sausage.
Press release ~ FSA: All batches of Sokolow's Home Black Pudding/Grill Black Pudding Sausage recalled due to listeria monocytogenes contamination
WGC: As Britain & the Commonwealth prepare to mark Remembrance Day, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission has released an introductory 12 minute DVD about the often-overlooked contribution made by servicemen from undivided India during the First World War. Every school in the UK will receive a copy of ‘Forever India’, which tells the incredible story of the hundreds of thousands of men who left their homes in the Indian sub-continent in order to fight for the Empire.
The Indian Army’s contribution, both on the Western Front and elsewhere, was vital and its involvement should never be forgotten. More than 74,000 died in this conflict and their stories of bravery & sacrifice are both inspirational & sobering.
