Monthly Archives: September 2012

Trial for ‘Big Brother’ care system

September 5, 2012   Carers, Older care

A benign “Big Brother” house that watches over its old, disabled or vulnerable residents is undergoing trials in the UK.

About a dozen homes in Scotland have been fitted with an array of sensors, motion detectors, microphones and digital cameras linked to intelligent software.

If the system spots anything unusual that may indicate a problem, it sends an alarm signal to a network of on-call carers.

It not only spots dramatic events, such as a fall, but also subtle changes in behaviour over time – for instance, going to bed unusually early or skipping meals. Video footage is password protected and can only be viewed by authorised individuals.

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Nurses are being forced to clean toilets and mop hospital floors on top of their patient care duties

September 4, 2012   Carers, hospital
  • More than half of NHS nurses say cleaning services for their ward are inadequate
  • One in five say their trust has cut back on cleaning in the last year

By Rob Preece

PUBLISHED: 01:38, 4 September 2012 | UPDATED: 08:52, 4 September 2012

 

Burden: A ward is deep-cleaned at the Royal Free Hospital in London. A survey suggests that NHS nurses across the country are having to carry out more and more cleaning tasks themselvesNurses looking after patients in hospitals have also been forced to disinfect toilets and mop floors as hard-up NHS trusts cut spending on cleaning.

More than half of NHS nurses told researchers that they believed cleaning services for their ward were inadequate, with about a fifth saying their hospital trust had made cuts in the last year.

The survey of 1,000 nurses and health assistants revealed a third had cleaned toilets or mopped floors in the last 12 months.

Burden: A ward is deep-cleaned at the Royal Free Hospital in London. A survey suggests that NHS nurses across the country are having to carry out more and more cleaning tasks themselves

Some also reported having to clean corridors, computers, nursing stations and offices.

Two in five respondents said they had cleaned a bed area or single room vacated by a patient who was infectious.

Four in five said they had performed the same task following the discharge of a non-infectious patient.

Worryingly, almost three quarters of respondents said they had not been trained for such cleaning practices.

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Paralympians express fears over disability living allowance plans

September 3, 2012   Carers, disability, ukcuts

Athletes say that coalition proposals to replace benefit could threaten their independence and undermine key Games legacy

 

Lady Tanni Grey-Thompson warned in May about DLA cuts, and other Paralympians have now spoken out.

A group of British Paralympians have expressed their fears over government plans to cut disability living allowance (DLA), warning that the benefit is vital to enable them to live independently.

Under coalition welfare reforms, hundreds of thousands of disabled people will lose the allowance when the government replaces DLA with more restrictive personal independence payments (PIP) in 2013.

The Paralympians fear that the potential loss of the benefit, worth between £20 and £131.50 a week, which helps with the extra costs of transport, equipment, care and other specialist needs that disabled people have, could undermine the key legacy issue of the Games – to open up access to sport for disabled people.

The government plans to replace the allowance, which goes to about 3.2 million people at an annual cost of £12.6bn, with personal independence payments (PIP) from 2013. It estimates that up to 500,000 people will lose entitlement to DLA over the next four years as eligibility criteria are tightened and claims reassessed.

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