National Disability Insurance Agency boss resigns amid speculation over his future

Posted on June 7, 2022 by Admin

Advocates call for NDIA to be led by person with disability after Martin Hoffman steps down as chief executive

The chief executive of the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA), Martin Hoffman, has resigned ending weeks of speculation about his future.

Hoffman, who took on the role in November 2019, was heavily criticised during the last government’s term by Labor’s then NDIS spokesman, Bill Shorten, who accused the NDIA leadership of losing the trust of the disability community.

NHS bosses fear DHSC will use bullying report to blame leadership

Posted on June 7, 2022 by Admin

Department of Health and Social Care press release cited negative behaviours but not findings of political pressure

Bullying, discrimination and shifting the blame when things go wrong are rife in the NHS, a government-commissioned inquiry into health service leadership has found.

But NHS England bosses are fearful that Sajid Javid will use the report’s findings selectively to paint an unfair picture of the behaviour of senior managers.

White NHS nurses twice as likely as black and Asian colleagues to be promoted – study

Posted on June 7, 2022 by Admin

Research by Royal College of Nursing suggests racism is ‘endemic’ in health and care

White nurses are twice as likely as black and Asian colleagues to be promoted in the NHS, with minority ethnic staff overlooked due to structural racism, according to research.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said its study suggests racism is “endemic” in health and care. A survey of almost 10,000 nursing staff found that those who are white or of a mixed ethnic background are more likely than black and Asian colleagues to have received at least one promotion since the start of their career.

Gel that repairs heart attack damage could improve health of millions

Posted on June 7, 2022 by Admin

Injectable, biodegradable technology developed by UK team works as a scaffold to help new tissue grow

British researchers have developed a biodegradable gel to repair damage caused by a heart attack in a breakthrough that could improve the health of millions of survivors worldwide.

There are more than 100,000 hospital admissions every year due to heart attacks in the UK alone – one every five minutes. Medical advances mean more people than ever before survive, with 1.4 million Britons alive today after experiencing a heart attack. But hearts have a very limited ability to regenerate, meaning survivors are left at risk of heart failure and other health problems.

£98m wasted on failed upgrade of offender tagging system, say auditors

Posted on June 7, 2022 by Admin

Report says failings mean ministers still do not know if tagging criminals is helping to cut reoffending

A failed government plan to transform the system for electronically tagging offenders wasted £98m of taxpayers’ money, Whitehall’s spending watchdog has found.

The National Audit Office (NAO) said attempts to upgrade HM Prison & Probation Service’s (HMPPS) tagging system were abandoned in March after 11 years and a net spend of £153m.

Met officers ‘feared Sarah Everard vigil had become anti-police protest’

Posted on June 7, 2022 by Admin

Officers claimed they feared being violently attacked, say reports, but campaigners accuse force of ‘trampling all over human rights’

Attenders at Sarah Everard’s vigil were arrested by police officers who feared the event had become an “anti-police protest”, according to reports.

Officers claimed in witness statements first reported by the Evening Standard that they were branded “murderers” by those in attendance.

Minimum alcohol price ‘causes poorest to cut back on food’ in Scotland

Posted on June 7, 2022 by Admin

Some problem drinkers also reducing heating to afford rising alcohol costs, according to Public Health Scotland

Scotland’s minimum alcohol pricing policy has not encouraged problem drinkers to consume less but has prompted some to cut back on food or heating in order to afford rising costs, according to the first evaluation of its impact on those who drink alcohol at harmful levels.

The Scottish National party’s flagship policy, championed by Nicola Sturgeon when she was health minister and introduced after successive court challenges by the Scotch Whisky Association, came into force in May 2018. It introduced a legally enforced minimum price for all alcoholic drinks of 50p a unit and aimed to tackle chronic alcohol abuse by targeting low-cost, high-strength drinks.

Jamal Edwards died after taking recreational drugs, says his mother

Posted on June 7, 2022 by Admin

Loose Women panellist Brenda Edwards says she was in ‘state of shock’ after finding out how son died

The music entrepreneur and YouTube star Jamal Edwards died from arrhythmia as a result of taking recreational drugs, his mother has said.

Edwards, who helped launch the careers of Dave and Ed Sheeran, died in February aged 31. Brenda Edwards, a singer and Loose Women panellist, said in a statement on Tuesday she was in a “state of shock” after finding out how he died.

Polio outbreak in Pakistan worsens as eighth child reported paralysed

Posted on June 7, 2022 by Admin

Investigation launched as first cases in a year blamed on vaccine refusal fuelled by clerics and falsification of records by parents

Pakistan’s polio eradication campaign is in disarray after an alarming jump in cases last week. Eight polio cases have now been reported in children over the past month in North Waziristan district, bordering Afghanistan. They are the first cases in more than a year.

This new outbreak, officials believe, is due to parents falsely marking themselves and their children as vaccinated, and the government has launched an investigation into the outbreak.

Unscrupulous ivory traders can evade new UK ban, charity says

Posted on June 6, 2022 by Admin

Sellers could pass off elephant products as derivatives from unprotected mammals, Born Free Foundation says

Ivory peddlers may continue to sell elephant tusks after a new ban by disguising their products as walrus or narwhal derivatives, campaigners have warned.

From Monday, trade in elephant teeth and tusks is illegal in the UK, punishable by fines of up to £250,000 or up to five years in prison under the Ivory Act. Pre-1975 musical instruments and antique items of “outstanding importance” are exempted from the act, as well as ivory from non-elephant species.

Over £1m owed by families in Scotland who cannot pay for school meals

Posted on June 6, 2022 by Admin

Exclusive: Report for Aberlour children’s charity reveals scale of school meal debt for first time

More than £1m is owed by families across Scotland who are unable to pay for their children’s school meals, new research has found.

The report for the Aberlour children’s charity, seen exclusively by the Guardian, reveals the scale of school meal debt for the first time, and details an “alarming” rise in hidden hunger among Scotland’s school pupils.

Met police did not consult us on children’s data project, say youth violence experts

Posted on June 5, 2022 by Admin

Force claimed it approached groups before launch of Project Alpha which scours social media sites

Youth violence experts have said they had no involvement with a police scheme that collects children’s personal data, despite the Met claiming to have consulted them.

Project Alpha, involving more than 30 staff and launched in 2019 with Home Office funding, scours social media sites looking at drill music videos and other content. It has prompted concerns about racial profiling and potential privacy violations.

Elif Shafak: there’s a scream building up in young people

Posted on June 4, 2022 by Admin

Author cites Brexit and the climate crisis as examples of previous generations ‘breaking’ their future

The author Elif Shafak has said she thinks “there’s a scream building up” inside many young people, because they feel their future “is being shaped by older generations”.

“It’s difficult to be young, in this age in particular,” the Turkish-British novelist told the Hay festival. “It’s their future that’s been broken by previous generations,” she said, citing Brexit and the climate emergency.

Deborah James describes anger and fear over dying of bowel cancer

Posted on June 4, 2022 by Admin

Campaigner says death is ‘life’s last taboo’ and that she hopes talking about may bring comfort to others

Deborah James has said she is angry at the fact she is terminally ill, and scared of dying.

The campaigner, 40, who was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2016 and has documented her experiences since on social media, revealed that in the weeks since moving to end-of-life care she keeps “shouting at people and pushing them away”.

Nepali woman’s account of rape prompts wave of protest over laws

Posted on June 3, 2022 by Admin

Calls grow for repeal of statute of limitations and widening of definition of rape after former model makes allegations on TikTok

A young woman’s account on TikTok of being drugged, raped and then blackmailed by a beauty pageant organiser when she was 16 years old has provoked outrage in Nepal and prompted calls to reform the country’s “grossly inadequate” rape laws.

In one of a series of videos, which together have been viewed millions of times, the former model and child actor broke down in tears as she talked about Nepal’s statute of limitations that dictates survivors must report cases of rape within one year of the offence being committed.

Dismissal of women’s health problems as ‘benign’ leading to soaring NHS lists

Posted on June 2, 2022 by Admin

Exclusive: Gender bias means debilitating gynaecological conditions are played down, says RCOG president

Doctors’ routine dismissal of women’s debilitating health problems as “benign” has contributed to gynaecology waiting lists soaring by 60% to more than half a million patients, a senior health leader has said.

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) president, Dr Edward Morris, told the Guardian that waiting lists for conditions such as endometriosis, prolapse and heavy bleeding had increased by a bigger proportion than any other area of medicine in the past two years.

Criminal acts of violence at UK GP surgeries almost double in five years

Posted on May 31, 2022 by Admin

Doctors say violence now commonplace as surgeries struggle to cope with ‘unmanageable levels of demand’

GPs tell of ‘appalling’ abuse as violence at UK surgeries worsens

Criminal acts of violence at GP surgeries across the UK have almost doubled in five years, new figures reveal, as doctors’ leaders warn of a perfect storm of soaring demand and staff shortages.

Police are now recording an average of three violent incidents at general practices every day. Staff are facing unprecedented assaults, abuse and aggression by patients, with surgeries struggling to cope with “unmanageable levels of demand” after years of failure to recruit or retain sufficient numbers of family doctors.

Three jabs best for preventing Covid infections, global analysis finds

Posted on May 31, 2022 by Admin

Number of doses, not vaccine combinations, key to boosting immunity, according to largest study of its kind

Three doses of the same Covid-19 vaccine or a combination of jabs work equally well in preventing infections, according to the largest study of its kind.

While the effectiveness of individual coronavirus vaccines is well known, the evidence around combinations of jabs has been less clear, especially for particular groups such as older people and those who are immunocompromised.

UK sperm donor with genetic condition banned from contacting children

Posted on May 31, 2022 by Admin

Judge says James MacDougall, 37, was not upfront about fragile-X syndrome and should not meet some of those he fathered

A man with an incurable genetic condition who advertised his sperm to lesbians on social media has been banned from contacting some of the children he fathered as a result.

A family court judge took the unusual step of naming James MacDougall after finding he “took advantage of these young women’s vulnerability and their strong desire to have children”.

Roundup Newswires

Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network

Category Archives: Society

National Disability Insurance Agency boss resigns amid speculation over his future

NHS bosses fear DHSC will use bullying report to blame leadership

White NHS nurses twice as likely as black and Asian colleagues to be promoted – study

Gel that repairs heart attack damage could improve health of millions

£98m wasted on failed upgrade of offender tagging system, say auditors

Met officers ‘feared Sarah Everard vigil had become anti-police protest’

Minimum alcohol price ‘causes poorest to cut back on food’ in Scotland

Jamal Edwards died after taking recreational drugs, says his mother

Polio outbreak in Pakistan worsens as eighth child reported paralysed

Unscrupulous ivory traders can evade new UK ban, charity says

Met police did not consult us on children’s data project, say youth violence experts

Elif Shafak: there’s a scream building up in young people

Deborah James describes anger and fear over dying of bowel cancer

Nepali woman’s account of rape prompts wave of protest over laws

Dismissal of women’s health problems as ‘benign’ leading to soaring NHS lists

Criminal acts of violence at UK GP surgeries almost double in five years

Three jabs best for preventing Covid infections, global analysis finds

UK sperm donor with genetic condition banned from contacting children