Unison slams Scottish children’s hearings reforms
Scottish government plans to reform the country’s children’s hearings system could damage its current child-centred approach and increase bureaucracy for practitioners and children alike, Unison has claimed.
The creation of the Scottish Children’s Hearings Tribunal (SCHT) to perform new duties and take over some from the current Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) would be likely to create a “dual administration” and increase confusion, the union said.
The SCHT would be responsible for recruiting, training and monitoring members of Scotland’s children’s panels, the independent lay tribunals that decide how to deal with the welfare and offending of vulnerable children.
But it would also arrange and provide papers for children’s hearings, and advise hearings on procedure, a role currently carried out by children’s reporters.
“Checks and balances”
There have been concerns that this role has conflicted with the reporters’ other main duty, to give legal advice to children, but Unison said there were already “checks and balances” in place – with more changes being introduced in September.
The union warned that children, families and professionals would have to deal with both the SCRA and the SCHT, losing a consistent point of contact to take them through the process.
The Scottish government reforms are revealed in the Draft Children’s Hearings (Scotland) Bill, published in late June, and follow a consultation,Strengthening for the Future.
Concerns over new court powers
The draft bill also includes provisions to allow courts to completely re-hear a case that has already gone before a children’s hearing, rather than just testing the merits of a hearing’s decision.
Unison said this could lead to the courts, rather than children’s hearings, becoming the “de facto locus” for many cases.
Too much focus on offending
The union also said the draft bill focused “disproportionately” on offences, considering two-thirds of referrals to children’s reporters, and 40,000 out of 50,000 hearings last year, related to welfare concerns rather than offending.
In addition, the bill would only permit children to be referred for voluntary assistance if they had already been subject to compulsory supervision, it said.
Kate Ramsden, a member of Unison’s Scottish social work issues group, said the reforms “concentrate on the civil rights of adults at the expense of the rights of children to be protected”.
Source: CommunityCare
Lack of Correct Training for Carers of Disabled Children
Disabled children in foster care are being let down by social workers who have “little training or understanding” in supporting their carers, according to research released today by the Fostering Network.
The findings, based on a consultation carried out earlier this year, revealed a number of shortcomings in the support foster carers looking after disabled children received from their local authority or fostering service.
The charity warned that disabled children were facing being left with unmet needs as there were “serious gaps in training and support for foster carers”.
57% have not received specialist training
A poll of foster carers revealed that 57% of respondents had not received any specialist training to help them care for children with particular needs. In addition, 47% said that pre-fostering assessments had not prepared them well for the placement.
One foster carer said in the report: “I feel the local authority has little understanding of the needs of sick and disabled children in care. I am continually coming up against barriers and inflexible policies which cannot be adapted to meet the needs of our sick and disabled foster child.”
The charity said that it was vital to carry out research on the specific needs of disabled children in foster care in order to recruit, assess and support a skilled foster care workforce.
‘Most doing good job despite lack of training’
Lucy Peake, Fostering Network director of external affairs and the report’s author, said: “Foster carers are child care experts, and most are doing a good job caring for children with disabilities despite the lack of support and training.
“However, to provide the best possible care to a a child they must have access to the best possible learning and development and support otherwise some of the most vulnerable children will lose out.”
Source: CommunityCare
Government backs GP earnings
The Government defended GP earnings after an investigation found some were taking home more than £300,000 a year.
The Daily Mail used the Freedom of Information Act to ask primary care trusts for the GP with the highest earnings in the area.
The overall highest paid family doctor, in the North East Essex PCT, which covers surgeries in the Colchester area, earned £380,394.
Since the introduction of the new GP contract in 2004, doctors can also earn as much as £204 an hour for evening and weekend work, the investigation found. The Department of Health said the new contract has led to improvements in the recruitment and retention of doctors as well as services for patients.
It also said most GPs have seen no increase in their pay over the last three years. Out of 152 PCTs, 22 replied to the freedom of information request, with many others claiming the information was confidential or held by a private company.
In some cases the figures also include money doctors have to pay for staff salaries and rents. A GP in Kirklees, which covers Huddersfield and Dewsbury, earned £321,794, while the highest earning GP in the south London boroughs of Sutton and Merton earned £319,000.
A Norfolk GP was taking home £310,000 – even after outgoings were subtracted.
A British Medical Association spokesman said: “These figures don’t tally with statistics based on GP tax returns. Primary care trusts have information based on the amount of income a practice receives – this is not what GPs earn as clearly there are many expenses to be paid such as staff pay and rent.
“There is huge variation in these figures and this is not reflected in previous statistics, which show very little difference between the highest and lowest earning areas of the country.”
A Department of Health spokeswoman said: “Before the new contract GP recruitment and retention was a real problem. Since then we have achieved dramatic improvements in GP services as well as getting better value for money out of the contract.”
Cap On Junior Doctor Hours Introduced
European rules preventing trainee doctors from working more than 48 hours a week have come into force.
Doctors’ organisations have criticised the European Working Time Directive, saying the reduced hours means there is too little time to provide training.
And there have been concerns it could hamper the NHS response to swine flu.
But the government says 97% of the NHS has already met the new requirements, with no effect on training, and plans are in place to cope with swine flu.
In the mid-1990s, some junior doctors had working weeks which typically topped 100 hours.
The directive took effect for many other workers in 1998, but the changes to reduce doctors’ working hours were incremental and began with consultants.
By 2004, junior doctors were included in a 58-hour working week target and by 2007 this was down to a 56-hour week.
As of 1 August, the target will be 48-hour-weeks for the UK’s 60,000 junior doctors.
Contracts asking trainee doctors to work outside the regulations will be illegal and all rotas must be based on the 48-hour model.
But individual doctors can opt out, although this has to be voluntary.
However doctors cannot opt out of taking 11 hours continuous rest out of 24, or out of ensuring they have 24 hours continuous rest out of each seven days.
A spokesman for the Department of Health said: “Where a service needs additional hours of cover individual doctors can voluntarily opt-out of the 48-hour limit to provide this.”
Only a few specialist areas will be exempt from the new rules.
‘Sophistry’
But the British Medical Association said evidence on the ground contradicted the claim that the NHS was ready for the change.
Dr Andy Thornley, chairman of the BMA’s junior doctors committee. said: “We are not reassured by government reports that the NHS is 97% compliant with the new working time regulation as we fear many junior doctors are being pressured to lie about their hours.
“And our members are worried about their training; many feel it has reduced in quality as working hours have been reduced.”
NHS organisations have told us consistently that they are ready
David Grantham, NHS Employers
He said it was possible to meet training demands and maintain patient services, but that managers would need to rely more on consultants than they do now.
But John Black, president of the Royal College of Surgeons, said the government had failed to listen to its concerns about needs within surgery.
“It is sophistry for the Department of Health to on the one hand deny an opt-out for surgeons that would enable us to organise safe patient care and good training but then hope doctors will opt-out individually to cover staff shortages to keep the service running.”
But David Grantham, of NHS Employers, said: “NHS organisations have told us consistently that they are ready for implementation of the directive for junior doctors.
He added: “It remains appropriate that outside of exceptional or emergency circumstances, such as a flu pandemic, doctors like other health professionals, and their patients, should be protected by the reasonable controls on working hours set out in the working time regulations.”
But shadow health minister Stephen O’Brien said: “Labour’s failure to negotiate an opt-out for junior doctors will compromise NHS services and could undermine patient care.
“As swine flu puts an increasing strain on our hospitals the need for the opt-out is even greater.”
Source: BBC
