A new state-of-the-art unit for children and young people in South Wales living with mental health conditions moved a step closer following approval from the Welsh Assembly Government.
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A Mentally unstable Port Talbot man died of a paracetamol overdose just days after his father pleaded with social services to help him. Nigel Merrill, aged 45, who lived at Chestnut Road with his father, died at Morriston Hospital on April 26 last year.
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Two Swansea health workers who were restraining a patient at the time of his death have been accused of lying about their evidence.
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Thousands of vulnerable people are going without food and heating to pay the soaring costs of homecare services provided by local authorities, a coalition of 18 charities says in a report out today.
The charities found that charges for assistance with dressing, washing and eating have more than trebled since 1997 as cash-strapped councils try to limit growth in the social services budget.
Many disabled people and fragile pensioners had cancelled help because they could no longer afford to pay. Others were going short of food or fuel to pay for home care or transport to a day centre.
The charities – representing disabled people, older people, people with long-term medical conditions and carers – said councils had wide discretion about how much to charge. In some areas services were free, but in others the cost could be up to £17.30 an hour. Only the poorest households were exempt.
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Councils should be forced to spend a set amount of their funding on buying services from charities and social enterprises, the care services minister, Ivan Lewis, said today.
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A new Alzheimer’s research centre has opened in Newcastle. The Newcastle University’s Institute for Ageing and Health campus is based in the city’s general hospital, reports the Newcastle Journal.
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A charity worker stole £1,100 from the cancer care shop she managed in Edinburgh while claiming almost £4,000 in income support for “being ill”.
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A nursing shortage is causing a high dependency unit at Aberdeen Children’s Hospital to close for two months.
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Staff morale in Aberdeen City Council was “very low”, and managers and councillors were not showing the strong leadership needed, said the Social Work Inspection Agency.
On a six-point scale, the best that the council achieved in two categories was “adequate”. It was classed “weak” on five others and and “unsatisfactory” in two – leadership and resources.
The critical findings came in a report published today by the agency. The findings come less than a week after another critical report on the council, carried out by the Accounts Commission.
The commission’s report warned the city had “extremely serious” problems with management, finances and services, and it called for an organisational overhaul.
Today’s report by the Social Work Inspection Agency pointed to “long-standing difficulties” in health and care services.
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A council has reassured hundreds of home carers that there jobs will not be lost by plans to modernise services. Margaret Davidson, chairwoman of Highland Council’s housing and social work, said the authority did not “anticipate redundancies”.
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