Author Archives: Maureen
‘Be Safe’ campaign warns of unregistered health and care workers
‘Be Safe’ campaign warns of unregistered health and care workers
Date of article: 04-Nov-13
Article By: Richard Howard, News Editor
Carers, nursing staff and older people are the target of a new campaign by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), who want to highlight the importance of making sure that a health professional is registered.
The ‘Be Sure’ campaign advises families with loved ones needing care, as well as older people living alone or in care homes, to take the recommended checks to make sure that visiting professionals are registered with the Council.
A short film drama has been released with the campaign launch in order to make people more aware of the potential issues caused by unregistered professions.
HCPC Chair, Anna van der Gaag comments: “There are hundreds of thousands of health and care professionals working in care homes, hospitals or clinics, on the high street and in people’s own homes. The vast majority of these professionals are practising safely and legally.
Faulty diabetes pens in recall
Faulty diabetes pens in recall
Mark Gould
Tuesday, 29 October 2013
People with diabetes or their carers are being asked to check their insulin pens or pen cartridges after a manufacturing fault has resulted in a precautionary recall across Europe of 33 specific batches of insulin pens and cartridges.
The manufacturing problem concerns a fault in the filling of the cartridges, which resulted in some batches of pens and cartridges containing too much or too little insulin.
In a medicines alert, The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said the affected products are the NovoMix 30 Flexpen 100U/ml pre-filled pen and the NovoMix 30 Penfill 100U/ml cartridge.
The MHRA said that last year alone, just over one million (1,063,599) prescriptions in England were dispensed for these insulin pens and cartridges. Information from the manufacturer shows that only around 0.14 per cent of the 3.3 million cartridges that are sold across Europe are likely to be affected by the manufacturing problem. Therefore, the safety risk to people with diabetes in the UK is likely to be limited to a small number of people.
Widower forced to pay carer £3,500 compensation because his wife died
Widower forced to pay carer Jayne Wakefield £3,500 compensation because his wife died
A 77-year-old widower has been forced to pay £3,500 compensation to a carer who was ‘unfairly dismissed’ after his wife died.
A widower will have to pay out £3,500 in compensation after the carer he treated “like a daughter” brought a claim against him for unfair dismissal when his wife died.
Jayne Wakefield, 55, had been working 30 hours a week to care for 76-year-old Rose Lomas, who suffered from Parkinson’s disease, until her death in March this year.
But when George Lomas reduced the care worker’s hours following his wife’s death, Mrs Wakefield resigned, saying she had not been given enough notice of the change.
An earlier employment tribunal rejected Mrs Wakefield’s claim that he had breached their contract, but this was overturned on appeal.
“How was I supposed to give notice? You don’t have notice when your wife is going to die,” Mr Lomas said following the tribunal.
