Category Archives: health
Half of hospitals still treating patients in mixed wards
Half of hospitals still treating patients in mixed wards
Half of hospitals are still treating patients in mixed-sex wards as managers struggle to eradicate the practice before they start receiving fines.
By Martin Beckford, Health Correspondent 6:30AM GMT 18 Feb 2011
Official data show that 72 out of 144 acute trusts that provided figures treated men and women in the same wards in January, up from 70 out of 147 the previous month.
In total there were 8,160 incidences of patients of different sexes sharing wards last month.
Although this represents a fall on December’s figure of 11,362, it means managers are still battling to end the practice before a tough new regime is introduced.
From April, hospitals in England will face fines of £250 for each breach of the rules, which will be recorded on wards by computers and sent through the NHS management system.
Katherine Murphy, Chief Executive of the Patients Association, said: “It is incredibly alarming that 50 per cent of hospitals are still providing mixed sex accommodation despite the Government’s commitment for this practice to stop by April.
Radical Welfare Reform Plans Are Unveiled
11:50am UK, Thursday February 17, 2011
Joey Jones, deputy political editor
The Government is outlining the full details of its flagship changes to the benefits system later.
Iain Duncan Smith’s Welfare Reform Bill involves a radical overhaul, aimed at simplifying the system and tackling the culture that he believes encourages people to choose a life on benefits.
The proposals include replacing work-related benefits with a single, universal credit, designed to ensure people are always better off when they are employed.
The Government intends to close the loophole which enables some couples to receive more living apart.
But there is also a significant climbdown, with ministers shelving a controversial plan to cut people’s housing benefit by 10% if they were in receipt of Jobseeker’s Allowance for more than a year.
The benefits system… doesn’t just allow people to act irresponsibly, but often actively encourages them to do so
Prime Minister David Cameron
In a speech to mark the publication of the bill, the Prime Minister is expected to say that the “collective culture of responsibility” that used to be the bedrock of the welfare system has been lost.
He will argue that there are some individuals who, “with no regret or remorse, intentionally rip off the system,” but that more broadly, the system itself is at fault.
chenrezig 
annie 
JaneJ 