Digital portal showing care home vacancies launched
Council proposes introducing more smoke-free spaces
London councils agree to 4,000 extra places on HIV trial
Nearly two thirds of councils cut mental health services for children
Supporting people with dementia
Paul Smith and Francis Philippa explain how four different pilot projects have helped improve the quality of life for people living with dementia.
Council chiefs call for ‘greater proportion’ of soft drinks levy
08/04/2019 Local authority leaders have called for a greater share of the soft drinks levy to go towards the public health budgets of councils. |
E-learning tools launched to ‘boost’ public health knowledge
08/04/2019 The Government has launched a series of e-learning tools to help boost health and care professionals’ knowledge of the biggest issues in public health. |
LGA urges chiefs to challenge children's services directors
03/04/2019 Chief executives should confront directors to ensure children’s services are well delivered, fresh guidance published by the Local Government Association (LGA) has suggested. |
Protections for people who lack mental capacity must be 'robust', MPs say
02/04/2019 A new definition of what constitutes 'liberty' will be included in the Mental Capacity Act to help protect vulnerable people, the Government has announced. |
NHS commits nearly £5m to digital adult social care projects
02/04/2019 Local government leaders have urged councils to bid for money to improve the use of technology for adult social care services. |
Council criticised for not carrying out ‘proper assessments’ in deprivation of liberty cases
01/04/2019 Council argues legislation dealing with when it is legitimate to deprive someone of liberty is not 'fit for purpose’ after being criticised by ombudsman. |
Quarter of care leavers experience 'low life satisfaction’, charity finds
01/04/2019 Young people leaving care are seven times more likely to be unhappy with their lives than their peers, according to new research. |
Charity calls for free personal care for elderly
27/03/2019 Campaigners have called on councillors to back a call for free personal care for the over-65s. |
Commissioner appointed to oversee Blackpool's children's services
26/03/2019 Essex CC has been appointed to take over Blackpool Council’s children’s services after an Ofsted report last year found it was ‘inadequate’. |
Inactivity linked to 70,000 deaths a year
26/03/2019 Spending too much time sitting around is linked to about 70,000 deaths a year in the UK, according to public health experts. |
Health experts have revealed a big rise in the use of crack cocaine
26/03/2019 Public Health England says the number of adults starting treatment for crack addiction in the last three years has gone up by 19%. |
Children’s home system ‘catastrophically failing children’, MPs warn
26/03/2019 MPs today launched a Parliamentary inquiry into the record number of children who are ‘farmed out’ to live in children’s homes miles away from family and friends. |
Tuberculosis at ‘lowest levels’ since records began
22/03/2019 New cases of TB in England have fallen to the lowest levels since records began in 1960, new data reveals. |
Health body announces £6m for alcohol treatments
22/03/2019 The Government today announced that £6m of capital funding will be made available to help councils increase access to alcohol treatments. |
Children’s social care ‘not financially sustainable’, MPs warn
22/03/2019 MPs have criticised the Department for Education for what they describe as ‘slow progress’ in improving children’s social care. |
Council refers hospital ‘shake up’ plans to health secretary
21/03/2019 Telford & Wrekin Council have referred plans to shake-up local health services to the Government over concerns the scheme ‘would not meet the growing and changing needs’ of the local population. |
Council chiefs call for ‘urgent investment’ in children's health visitors
21/03/2019 The health visiting service is ‘stretched to its limits’ due to underinvestment and a shrinking workforce, local authority leaders have warned. |
Children ‘not being protected’ by Stoke-on-Trent Council
19/03/2019 Children’s social care services are ‘inadequate’ at Stoke-on-Trent City Council, according to the findings of a new Ofsted inspection. |
Around 15,000 patients with neurological conditions ‘let down’ by care system
18/03/2019 Councils are not routinely recording whether someone they are providing services for has a neurological condition, making these patients ‘invisible’. |
Ombudsman publishes guide for handling social care complaints
15/03/2019 Directors of adult social services have welcomed the publication of a good practice guide for helping adult social care providers improve complaints handling. |
Councils forced to slash stop smoking services
15/03/2019 Government cuts mean only half of local authorities now offer smokers the best support to quit, according to campaigners. |
Charity warns people at risk of suffering poverty, ill-health and hardship in later life
13/03/2019 Action must be taken to create communities that enable older people to stay active, campaigners have urged. |
Women ‘bear the brunt’ of social care crisis, charity warns
08/03/2019 Women are paying the highest price for the Government’s continued inaction on social care, an elderly persons charity has warned. |
Public satisfaction with the NHS falls to lowest level in a decade, survey reveals
07/03/2019 A poll of nearly 3,000 people found that 53% of the those surveyed in England, Scotland and Wales were satisfied with services last year. |
Care home quality ‘worsens’ in a third of council areas
06/03/2019 The quality of care homes has worsened in more than a third of local authority areas over the last year, according to an elderly persons charity. |
Council tax rises will not fix ‘chronically underfunded’ care system
06/03/2019 Increases in council tax will fail to fix the ‘chronically underfunded’ social care system, local authority leaders have warned. |
Council chiefs call for funds to tackle tooth decay
06/03/2019 Cuts in public health funding must be reversed to tackle tooth decay in children, local government leaders have demanded. |
Councils have delivered on public health despite cuts, report reveals
04/03/2019 Local authority delivery of public health is ‘effective, accountable, efficient’ despite losing millions in central Government cuts, data reveals. |
Benefits system causing ‘serious psychological distress’
04/03/2019 The benefits system is causing people with mental health problems ‘serious psychological distress’, a charity has revealed. |
Expansion of PrEP Impact Trial given the go-ahead
01/03/2019 Trials of the anti-HIV treatment PrEP are set to expand after local authorities agreed to commission extra places. |
Planners ‘must do more’ to protect people from pollution
28/02/2019 The Government's health advisers say planning authorities must make sure new building projects protect people from air pollution. |
Exclusive: Government must 'step up' on adult social care
28/02/2019 The council ranked the best at delivering most for the money it spends on adult social care has called on the Government to ‘step up’. |
Very few young people regularly vape, report finds
27/02/2019 Only a small proportion of young people are regularly using e-cigarettes, according to the findings of a new report. |
Nine men convicted of child sexual exploitation
27/02/2019 Bradford council has insisted that safeguarding young people is its ‘top priority’ after nine men were convicted of child sexual exploitation. |
MPs call for an ‘early years revolution’ in child care
26/02/2019 Members of Parliament have called on local authorities to develop plans to help improve support for children during the first 1,000 days of life. |
Primary schools to teach about mental wellbeing
26/02/2019 The Department for Education has announced that primary school children are to be taught how to look after their mental wellbeing and how to recognise when classmates may be struggling. |
Counties urge Whitehall to ‘look again’ at social care funding formula
22/02/2019 County councils have voiced concerns over the Government’s proposed formula for funding adult social care saying they fear it fails to recognise the demand for services in shire areas. |
One in 13 young people suffer from PTSD
22/02/2019 One in 13 young people have had post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) before reaching age 18, new research has revealed. |
Whitehall to expand access to personal health budgets by 200,000
21/02/2019 Hundreds of thousands more people will be able to access personal health budgets, the Government has announced. |
UK youth ‘let down’ on long-term health issues
20/02/2019 Youth in the UK are being ‘let down’ when it comes to treating long-term illnesses such as asthma, according to an independent health think tank. |
Whitehall’s ‘hostile environment’ puts children in danger, charity says
19/02/2019 The Government’s commitment to creating a ‘hostile environment’ for migrants outweighs their commitment to children’s rights, a charity has warned. |
Watchdog warns people regret not raising concerns about their care
19/02/2019 Nearly seven million people who have accessed health and social care services in the past five years have had concerns about their care but never raised them, according to new research. |
Double the number of providers handing back care contracts to councils
12/02/2019 The number of social care providers handing back contracts to councils has more than doubled in 2018, new research has revealed. |
Whitehall launches social care recruitment drive
12/02/2019 The Government has launched a new national recruitment campaign to help fill the 110,000 vacancies in the adult social care sector. |
Councils should prioritise strength training to prevent falls
12/02/2019 Local authorities are not prioritising programmes which can help people at risk of falling strengthen their muscles and improve their balance, new research has revealed. |
Treatment cut despite ‘soaring’ alcohol-related A&E admissions
11/02/2019 Councils are reducing spending on alcohol and drug treatment services despite ‘soaring’ numbers of hospital admissions due to alcohol misuse, FOI data reveals. |
Health experts warn about impact of toxic air on children
06/02/2019 Nearly nine out of ten child health experts are warning air pollution is already having a negative impact on children's health in their region. |
More than 50,000 older people have died while waiting for social care
06/02/2019 More than 50,000 older people have died waiting for care since the Government first announced it would publish a Social Care Green Paper, a charity has warned. |
Fire safety failures revealed in care homes
05/02/2019 Serious fire safety failures have been found in nearly 100 care homes across London, the capital’s fire brigade have said. |
Scottish health and social care must ‘happen faster’, report says
05/02/2019 The integration of health and social care is progressing well but needs to ‘happen faster’, a ministerial group for health and community care has concluded. |
The March issue of Local Government News explores alternative funding channels that are available to councils beyond the Public Works Loan Board, what hurdles merging councils face in coming together, and how local government is handling GDPR.
This issue also has a special highways and street lighting section exploring how councils can use lighting to embark on their smart city journey and using IoT technology to weather the storm.
