Private care homes - When carers fail

Southern Cross, Britain’s biggest private care-home operator, has been faltering since 2008. What now happens to Southern Cross will be widely watched.  Southern Cross is not the first care firm that is in financial trouble.  A health-care consultancy says that most of the 750 homes of Southern Cross are likely to keep operating. Since 2006 the occupancy levels of the homes have fallen because of the quality of the homes, it was below average. Because of this customers went elsewhere. Southern Cross is a business failure not a policy one.

I think that the elderly need better care. They have worked all of their lives, so if they need to go to a care home it has to be a good care home that provides everything for the elderly. The government should give money so this can be achieved. Southern Cross has to make sure that the quality of their homes is average or above average, but now they are below average, so they have to do something about this. They are in a financial crisis, thus the government should give them money.

Source: http://www.economist.com/node/18774648

NHS waiting time increases may cost lives, doctors warn

Patients have to wait too long for test results. This could mean that illnesses could reach stage where surgery cannot treat them anymore, thus patients could die because of this. David Cameron has offered personal guarantees that patients  will not have to wait long to be treated. The NHS data showed that an extra 2,400 people a month are not being treated within 18 weeks. If people have to wait so long then their treatment options are being limited and they are waiting with pain longer than they should be. The Department of Health denied that waiting times were becoming a problem. A spokeswoman said: "Waiting times are low and have been broadly stable since 2008. The latest figures show that 90.5% of admitted patients and 97.5% of non-admitted patients started treatment in under 18 weeks".

I understand that The Department of Health is very busy all the time, but that doesn’t mean that people have to wait so long for their results. If you have cancer you want a treatment as soon as possible because if you have to wait there is a huge chance that treatment doesn’t help anymore. I think everyone deserves a chance of getting better, thus the Department of Health should do something about the waiting times instead of denying it because the NHS data shows that waiting times are too long.

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/jul/10/nhs-waiting-time-increases-may-cost-lives

Milly Dowler family call on Rebekah Brooks to quit

The family of the in 2002 murdered girl Milly Dowler wants Rebekah Brooks to quit. Rebekah was editor of the News of the World in the year that Milly was taken and she hacked Milly’s phone. The family lawyer says she should take responsibility and leave. The Surrey police knew almost a decade before they told Milly’s family that Rebekah Brooks hacked Milly’s phone. The family lawyer thinks that the police should have told the Dowler family sooner that Milly’s phone was been hacked. Rebekah Brooks wants to speak to the police over the wider phone hacking scandal. She is one of several who wants to offer help to Scotland Yard.

(Milly Dowler)

I think that it is for the better if Rebekah Brooks would quit. This isn’t the only family where she hacked a phone. She did it with a couple more other cases too. She doesn’t show any respect to the families and they all lost someone.  The police made a huge mistake too. If they have new information about a case they have to pass it through to the relatives of the person that is murdered. The police knew that Rebekah hacked Milly’s phone, thus they had to tell this immediately to the family. There is a lot of news around Rebekah Brooks, so I think she has to quit her job and stay out of the media.

Source: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2011/07/11/milly-dowler-family-call-on-rebekah-brooks-to-quit-115875-23263679/

Prince William and Kate Middleton to keep low profile for rest of year

Prince William and his wife Kate are keeping a low profile for the rest of the year and are going to live in their cottage home in North Wales. The reasons for this are that they want to spend quality time together, William wants to concentrate on his work as an RAF Search and Rescue pilot and Kate will plan which causes she wants to become involved in. There is another reason, which is that the Queen has her Diamond Jubilee next year. They want her to have all the spotlights. The Royal Couple wants quiet time before William is posted to the Falklands for two months for the RAF. When William is gone Kate will determine what her interests are and where she can make a difference. The spokesman of the Royal Family thinks that 2012 is going to be a very important year for the Royals.

In my opinion the Royal Couple is doing well. After their wedding they have done a lot. They can not enjoy that they are newlyweds. It’s great that they are going to spent time together and keep a low profile. It’s also very nice that they want the Queen to have all the spotlights and that William is going to concentrate in his work as an RAF Search and Rescue pilot. I think that nobody would mind if they heard less about the Royal Couple, almost everybody would understand it.

Source: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2011/07/12/prince-william-and-kate-middleton-to-keep-low-profile-for-rest-of-year-115875-23265553/

Family admit neglecting drowned toddler

A two year old boy named Daniel Rees-Smith drowned in a garden pond on June 4^th because his father, mother and grandmother neglected him. When the police arrived to Rees’s home the child was still in the garden pond. He was pronounced death in the hospital. The father, mother and grandmother originally faced manslaughter charges and charges for neglecting a child, but they pleaded guilty of neglecting the child. The prosecution accepted this and they would not pursue the manslaughter charges. The charge which is given to all three: neglected, abandoned, or exposed Daniel Rees-Smith in a manner of unnecessary suffering or injury to health. Sentencing will take place on July 21^st.

I think the prosecution should have pursued the manslaughter charges because that is what the father, mother and grandmother of Daniel have done. Now they are only getting charged with neglecting the child. They knew what they were doing, so they have to pay for what they did. I think that it’s awful that this has happened and I can’t understand why you can do such a thing to your own child. If you neglect your child since the day that he’s born, why did you want a child then?

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/jul/11/family-admit-neglecting-drowned-toddler

Phone hacking: Gordon and Sarah Brown 'shocked and sad' at claims they were targeted

Gordon Brown and his wife has been shocked and sad because of the way that personal details of their family have been obtained by criminality and unethical means. But the Sun and the Sunday Times had access to his legal file. This case is now in the hands of the police. Rebekah Brooks of the newspaper the Sun, gained information about the medical condition of Fraser, a child of Gordon Brown. This was just after Jennifer died. Jennifer was the first child of Gordon and Sarah Brown. The information about Fraser was obtained by illegal methods. News International did everything legitimate.

I think that it is normal for journalists to obtain information about the personal lives of others. But I think that it is ridiculous that someone deliberately spreads the news of the medical condition of a child. The Brown family has been through enough because of the death of their first child. Rebekah Brooks should have left them alone instead of obtaining information about their personal life. It is normal that she wants information about Gordon Brown, but she has to leave the children and the rest of the family out of it.

Source: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/2011/07/11/phone-hacking-gordon-and-sarah-brown-shocked-and-sad-at-claims-they-were-targeted-115875-23264726/

Luxury camping in Britain: Harptree Court, Somerset

Joanne O’Connor stayed in one of England’s most expensive tents to find out if camping can ever be classy. The tent is filled with Persian rugs, antiques and you’ll have landscaped grounds. It’s also well situated. It feels like you are in one of Jane Austen’s novels. In the tent there is a central living, two smaller yurts housing, a suite with flushing loo and roll-top bath and a bedroom. Joanne says that the tent is the size of her flat. You have lots of privacy, peace and space. One night in this tent costs 105 pounds. For this amount of money you could stay 20 nights in a standard farm campsite, but you can’t compare those two because this tent means luxury.

(This is the inside of the luxury tent)

I think that you can’t say that the campsite, which is mentioned in this article, really is a campsite. It’s full of luxury and you even have your one dishwasher and several rooms. If you’re going camping you have to wash your dish by hand and you don’t have a bedroom with a king-sized bed. People who are going camping will certainly not pay 105 pounds for a tent. I think that this tent doesn’t give you the feeling that you’re on a camping. When you’re on a ‘normal’ camping you’re always talking with other people who are in a tent next to you, in this luxury tent you are all alone and you have lots of privacy. Most people want to talk to others when they are camping. So I think that this is more like a house then a tent.

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/campingholidays/8622670/Luxury-camping-in-Britain-Harptree-Court-Somerset.html