15 August 2008
More than 600 members of the Public and Commercial Services union at the conciliation service Acas are balloting for industrial action in a dispute over pay. The vote, which runs until August 27, follows delays in negotiating a deal, which the union believes will result in pay cuts. Dave Cliff, PCS's national officer for Acas, said: 'After the ten-month delay to last year's pay rise we had an agreement that this year's pay settlement would be paid on time. However, Acas management have dragged their feet and not even started negotiating yet. The prospect of a repeat of last year's delay, combined with the likelihood of a below-inflation pay award, has left staff feeling angry and betrayed.'
Vale of Leven Hospital in Dunbartonshire has been criticised over hygiene and infection control by an independent inquiry, after nine patients died in Scotland's worst outbreak of the Clostridium difficile infection. The report, published on August 8, said: 'The facilities at the Vale of Leven Hospital were inadequate for effective patient isolation and infection control, and there were frequent patient transfers between wards and other hospitals.' Scotland's Health Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, said the recommendations would be implemented. 'The picture painted by the independent report is appalling and unacceptable,' she said.
Cabinet Office minister Tom Watson has been appointed to oversee improvements in sustainable operations and procurement across Whitehall departments. He published a detailed plan on August 7, compiled by the new Centre of Expertise in Sustainable Procurement, which is based in the Office of Government Commerce. Watson said: 'A lower carbon economy is probably the single biggest issue facing us all today, and government has a crucial leadership role in limiting the effects of climate change.'
A group of experts is to advise the Department of Health on how to involve people effectively in the consultation process for the NHS Constitution, health minister Ivan Lewis has announced. The Constitutional Advisory Forum will include representatives from the NHS, local government and the third sector. The draft constitution, developed as part of Lord Darzi's review of the NHS, was published on June 30 and aims to enshrine the principles and values of the NHS for the future. Lewis said: 'The NHS constitution is about safeguarding the core principles and values. We've created the CAF to ensure that the final constitution strengthens the foundations of the NHS still further.'
A survey by a patients' group has discovered a postcode lottery in cancer care. The Rarer Cancers Forum found that hundreds of patients were denied drugs by local NHS commissioners. 'More than 1,300 cancer patients have been left to die in the past 20 months because they were not deemed exceptional enough to receive cancer treatment on the NHS,' the charity said in its report on August 11. The areas where most appeals were rejected included Nottingham, Derby and Camden.
The Local Government Association has accused a private firm running bail accommodation in residential areas of a 'shocking lack of consultation' with local authorities. The firm, Clearsprings, has opened around 160 accommodation units this year. These house offenders released before the end of their sentences and people on bail awaiting trial. The LGA is seeking a meeting to ensure that local people's needs are taken into account. Hazel Harding, chair of the LGA's safer communities board, said: 'There has been a shocking lack of consultation… It's pure folly to dump this kind of accommodation into the middle of a residential street without properly asking for the council's views.'
PFaug2008
