Debt with Disability News Articles

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[CENTER][B]A sore subject - In The Back
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A NURSING home with a long history of neglect and poor care of its residents has been criticised by a coroner following the death of an 88-year-old dementia patient who had developed severe pressure sores. Elsie O’Donnell had been in the New Park House care home in Stoke-on-Trent for eight months, during which she dramatically lost weight and developed serious pressure sores – some of which had gone through to the bone. She was taken to the University Hospital of North Staffordshire, where in January 2011 she later died from “natural causes” contributed to by immobility, sepsis and pressure sores. [B]
Flooded with urine[/B]
North Staffordshire coroner Ian Smith said: “I don’t like pressure sores because usually they indicate something has gone badly wrong.” However, he added that in Mrs O’Donnell’s case he did not find that there had been neglect or a “gross failure” to provide medical attention. Instead he said the home’s care “could have been better”.....[B]Read more on this story here: [url="http://www.private-eye.co.uk/sections.php?section_link=in_the_back&"]Private Eye In The Back: A sore subject[/url][/B]

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Re: Debt with Disability News Articles

[CENTER][B]Social Care Report: 'One In Four' Services Failing[/B]
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[B]The UK's ageing population and complex illnesses are being blamed for slipping standards in the social care system.[/B]

Vulnerable people are at risk of receiving "poor or unsafe care" as pressures on care services take their toll, according to a new report. The ageing population and the rising tide of patients who suffer from complex or multiple illnesses mean that some care providers are struggling to provide "person centred" care, according to the Care Quality Commission (CQC). Pressure on the care system is having an impact on the respect that patients are receiving in some areas, according to the State of Care report. The report, based on evidence found from 13,000 CQC inspections, found that one in ten NHS hospitals did not meet basic respect and dignity standards. And at 15% of 2,500 nursing homes there was a lack of respectful care. Inspectors noted that 20% of 1,362 nursing homes and residential care homes and 15% of 258 NHS hospitals failed to ensure that the people in their care were given the food and drink they need or helped them to eat or drink. The CQC also raised concerns about staff numbers. It found that 16% of 250 NHS hospitals did not have adequate staffing levels and a quarter of nursing homes failed to meet the CQC staff standards.....[B]Read more here: [URL="http://news.sky.com/story/1015333/social-care-report-one-in-four-services-failing"]Social Care Report: 'One In Four' Services Failing[/URL][/B]

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Re: Debt with Disability News Articles

[COLOR=#000000][SIZE=2]Family carers turn to eBay to make ends meet: Millions fear for their financial future. [/SIZE][COLOR=#000000][SIZE=2]Many carers looking after relatives are being forced to sell their possessions on websites such as eBay to make ends meet. [/SIZE][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000][SIZE=2]Some are even having to go without meals, according to a study. [/SIZE][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000][SIZE=2]It shows they are more likely to be worried about their financial future and have a poorer quality of life than those who do not have family members needing long-term care. [/SIZE][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000][SIZE=2]Researchers found that almost a third of Britons care for a sick, elderly or disabled person, with 13 per cent looking after someone they live with and 16 per cent helping someone outside their own household.[/SIZE][/COLOR][LEFT]
[LEFT][COLOR=#000000][SIZE=2]But many are struggling to cope with the recession, says the study from the Centre for the Modern Family, a think-tank set up by the Scottish Widows insurance company. [/SIZE][/COLOR][COLOR=#000000][SIZE=2]Forty per cent of carers felt their quality of life had got worse in the past year, compared with just over 30 per cent of the total population...[B][URL="http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/article-2238455/Family-carers-turn-eBay-make-ends-meet-Millions-fear-financial-future.html"]Read more here[/URL][/B][/SIZE][/COLOR][/LEFT]

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Re: Debt with Disability News Articles

[CENTER][B]Disabled passengers in Darlington sue bus firm Arriva[/B]
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Disabled people in north-east England are being denied access to public transport because of discrimination by a bus company, a court has heard. Darlington Association on Disability (Dad) is suing Arriva North-East, claiming some drivers have failed to stop for wheelchair passengers. The case, which opened at Teesside County Court in Middlesbrough, is due to last two weeks. Arriva said its staff complied with Department for Transport guidelines. Seven members of the association also claim wheelchair users have been refused access to some buses where there was already a pushchair on board.....[B]Read more here: [URL="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-20591544"]BBC News - Disabled passengers in Darlington sue bus firm Arriva[/URL][/B]

[pompeyfaith]

Re: Debt with Disability News Articles

[B]Lords defeat part of legal aid cuts[/B]

Peers reject draft order in package of budget cuts that critics said would deny claimants fair hearing in point of law cases


The government has suffered an embarrassing 10-vote defeat in the [URL="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/lords"]House of Lords[/URL] over plans to slash the [URL="http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/legal-aid"]legal aid[/URL] budget.
Peers backed a rarely-used "fatal motion" to reject a draft order stemming from the controversial Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act.
Critics, led by the Labour former minister Lord Bach, said the government had failed to honour an earlier commitment to allow legal aid to appellants, often disabled people, in "point of law" cases at first-tier tribunal level. Urging peers to reject the order, Bach said the lack of legal aid would deny claimants a fair hearing in point of law cases.


More here: [URL="http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2012/dec/04/lords-defeat-legal-aid-cuts"]Lords defeat part of legal aid cuts | Law | guardian.co.uk[/URL]

So legal aid can still be sort in benefit claims if it is on a point of law, now my understanding is that regulations 29 and 35 of the employment and support act can be used by many disabled and/or ill citizens as it is a point of law.

[url="http://blacktrianglecampaign.org/2012/12/03/guardian-sick-and-disabled-braced-for-enforced-work-for-benefits-programme-btc-says-please-use-our-regulations-29-35-campaign-materials/"]GUARDIAN: 35 CAMPAIGN MATERIALS! | Black Triangle Campaign[/url]

[url="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2008/794/contents/made"]The Employment and Support Allowance Regulations 2008[/url]

[url="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2008/794/regulation/29/made"]The Employment and Support Allowance Regulations 2008[/url]
[url="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2008/794/regulation/35/made"]The Employment and Support Allowance Regulations 2008[/url]

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Re: Debt with Disability News Articles

[B]MPs block Human Rights Act repeal bid[/B]

MPs have defeated a bid by a Tory MP to scrap the Human Rights Act.
Richard Bacon said the act had been used by the European Court of Human Rights to influence British law, which was "fundamentally undemocratic".
But Labour's Thomas Docherty said Mr Bacon had misunderstood the legal impact of the act and praised it as one of Labour's most important reforms during government.


More here: [url="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-20598122"]BBC News - MPs block Human Rights Act repeal bid[/url]

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Re: Debt with Disability News Articles

Latest update on Remploy:
[CENTER][B]Remploy Closures: Hundreds More Jobs At Risk: [/B]
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[B]Ministers announce that more Remploy factories are set to close with the loss of 875 jobs[/B]

Hundreds more disabled workers at Remploy factories are at risk of losing their jobs under fresh closure plans. A further 875 employees, including 682 disabled people, have been told they face compulsory redundancy. Ministers announced earlier this year that a number of Remploy factories would close, arguing that the budget for disabled employment services could be spent more effectively. Thirty-four factories have ceased operations since then and are in the process of closing, with the loss of 1,752 jobs. The future of a further 18 sites remained unclear, but on Thursday ministers said some will close, while others have the potential to move out of Government-funded support. A Department for Work and Pensions spokesman said: "From today, Remploy will invite expressions of interest to take over the running of the remaining factories.....[B]Read more here: [URL="http://news.sky.com/story/1021547/remploy-closures-hundreds-more-jobs-at-risk"]Remploy Closures: Hundreds More Jobs At Risk[/URL][/B]

[pompeyfaith]

Re: Debt with Disability News Articles

Just cannot see any logic in closing these remploy factories at all.

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Re: Debt with Disability News Articles

[CENTER][B]Disability Living Allowance change timetable extended[/B]
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Welfare assessments for people with disabilities will be made later than originally planned, the government has announced. About 3.2 million people receive Disability Living Allowance (DLA), a payment of between £20.55 and £131.50 a week to assist them in leading independent lives. From 8 April, it will be replaced by Personal Independence Payments (PIPs). Now the timetable of assessments for the new benefit has been extended. Originally, the government said that claimants already receiving DLA would be contacted between October 2013 and March 2016 and invited to make a PIP claim.....[B]Read more on this story: [URL="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20709623"]BBC News - Disability Living Allowance change timetable extended[/URL][/B]

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[CENTER][B]NHS owes families thousands over care home costs[/B]
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[CENTER][B]Families are losing tens of thousands of pounds because they are unaware that the NHS should have paid the care home costs of loved-ones, lawyers are warning. [/B]
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They are losing out on inheritances because health authorities have failed to pay for care home costs, sometimes topping £100,000, when they should have done. The Government is believed to have set aside £10 million or more to pay back wrongly-charged care home fees, according to Andrew Farley of Farley Dwek Solicitors in Manchester. But he said primary care trusts (PCTs) across England were using a “scandalous” strategy of “making it more complex than it needs to be to make a claim”. They were imposing false 28-day deadlines for making claims to scare people off pursuing them, he said. In usual circumstances, people in England with assets over £23,000 have to meet the full cost of their care......[B]Read more on this story here: [URL="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9746138/NHS-owes-families-thousands-over-care-home-costs.html"]NHS owes families thousands over care home costs
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[CENTER][B]Interserve buys Advantage Healthcare for £26.5m[/B]
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[B]Interserve, the FTSE 250 support services and construction group, bought home healthcare company Advantage Healthcare for £26.5m as it continued its push into front-line services. [/B]

The purchase of the business from private equity group Rutland Partners and management made sense as Interserve can build on its existing relationship with the NHS, management said. Shares in Interserve rose 1.5pc in morning trading following the announcement. Interserve is planning to grow its health business, which reported revenues over £300m for last year, by broadening the services it delivers. Advantage, which manages the care of 500 people, is part of a home healthcare market judged to be worth around £10bn. Analysts also believe public sector budget cuts should drive opportunities for outsourcing companies in this area......[B]more here on this story: [URL="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/supportservices/9753868/Interserve-buys-Advantage-Healthcare-for-26.5m.html"]Interserve buys Advantage Healthcare for £26.5m[/URL][/B]

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Re: Debt with Disability News Articles

[B]Alexandra Hospital neglect claims: Jeremy Hunt 'disgusted.[/B]

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has said he is "disgusted and appalled" at accounts of patient neglect at a hospital in Worcestershire. The Sunday Telegraph has reported that in the worst instance of mistreatment at the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch a patient starved to death. The newspaper says the health trust concerned is writing to 38 families and is to admit its failings in each case. In a statement, the trust issued an apology over its "shortcomings". The failings reportedly took place between 2002 and 2011, with 35 cases being brought against the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch and three against the Worcester Royal. The mistreatment was exposed after the families of patients took legal action, the Sunday Telegraph reports. It says Worcestershire Acute Hospital Trust is to pay out a total of £410,000 in compensation.

[B]Solicitor Emma Jones[/B]
According to the newspaper, instances of mistreatment at the Alexandra Hospital include the case of an 84-year-old man admitted to the hospital in June 2009 after a fall, who was prescribed a special diet but was not fed properly and starved to death....[B]Read more here on this story: [URL="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hereford-worcester-20830020"]BBC News - Alexandra Hospital neglect claims: Jeremy Hunt [/URL][/B]

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Re: Debt with Disability News Articles

[CENTER][B]Disability benefit changes 'should be reconsidered'[/B]
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Thousands of disabled people could lose some benefits because of last-minute changes to the new system of Personal Independence Payments, campaigners say. The group, We Are Spartacus, says tougher rules to assess how far people can walk mean many claimants will lose help with transport from April. Under the new rules, claimants qualify if they cannot move 20m - rather than the previous distance of 50m. Ministers say the benefit will be targeted at those who need it most. About 3.2 million people receive Disability Living Allowance (DLA), a payment of between £20.55 and £131.50 a week to assist them in leading independent lives. The Department of Work and Pensions maintains it is making an out-dated benefit much clearer. And that broadly the same number of people will be entitled to extra mobility help.The government hopes to save £2bn as a result.......[B]More of this story here: [URL="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21006365"]Disability benefit changes [/URL][/B]

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Re: Debt with Disability News Articles

[CENTER][B][B]Libor link in Guardian Care Homes legal case against Barclays could open floodgates for claims[/B][/B]
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The two scandals of interest rate swap mis-selling and Libor-rigging have been brought together in what may prove a landmark legal case brought by Graiseley Properties, owner of Guardian Care Homes, against Barclays. The trial has been set for......[B][URL="http://forums.all-about-debt.co.uk/blog.php?b=1837"][B]Read more here[/B][/URL]
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[QUOTE=pompeyfaith;265802][B]MPs block Human Rights Act repeal bid[/B]

MPs have defeated a bid by a Tory MP to scrap the Human Rights Act.
Richard Bacon said the act had been used by the European Court of Human Rights to influence British law, which was "fundamentally undemocratic".
But Labour's Thomas Docherty said Mr Bacon had misunderstood the legal impact of the act and praised it as one of Labour's most important reforms during government.

More here: [URL="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-20598122"]BBC News - MPs block Human Rights Act repeal bid[/URL][/QUOTE]

Not Disability related, but saw this article today on the ground of Human Rights Act:

[CENTER][B]Charles uses Human Rights Act to guard Duchy's tax secrets[/B]
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Prince Charles has used the Human Rights Act and the Official Secrets Act to block revelations about his tax affairs – even though Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs has said the disclosure would be in the public interest. The move follows a bid to uncover the secret arrangements which allow the Prince of Wales to avoid paying tax on the Duchy of Cornwall, his vast estates which generated £18 million profit last year. The test case centres on a request by an academic who has asked to see correspondence between the Duchy of Cornwall and HMRC.....[URL="http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/article-2268938/Charles-uses-Human-Rights-Act-guard-Duchys-tax-secrets-HMRC-said-disclosure-public-interest.html"][B]Read More Here[/B][/URL]


[CENTER][B]'Personally I think its SICK[/B]'
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