Connect with us

Published

on

A workforce the size of the population of Newcastle needs to be recruited urgently to ease the “gridlocked” health and care system and to prevent serious harm to patients, the country’s care regulator has warned.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) says it is getting “tougher and tougher” to access care because of a massive shortage in the workforce.

There are around 132,000 vacancies in the NHS and 165,000 across social care, about the same size as the population of the north east city.

And this shortfall in the care sector is having a huge impact on NHS waiting lists, hospital bed availability and accident and emergency response times.

The CQC described the entire health and care system as “gridlocked” and “unable to operate effectively”.

The CQC echoes the warnings raised by health leaders about the need to address the crisis in social care to ease the pressure on the rest of the health system.

Chief Executive Ian Trenholm said the recruitment challenge faced by health and care leaders “is going to translate into real difficulty” this winter and in the years ahead.

More on Nhs

Mr Trenholm said the impact of the gridlock is that people are struggling to see their GP or dentist, wait for longer to get to hospital, and once there can become stuck due to a lack of social care to help them once they are ready to leave.

He said: “And this is not just a care consequence. There’s an economic consequence to all of this as well.

“People who are ill can’t go back to work because they’re in a backlog, in some kind of queue waiting for care.”

Read more:
Heart attack and stroke patients waiting half an hour longer for ambulances than pre-pandemic
More than 1,000 people waiting longer than 12 hours in A&E every day, figures reveal

Amanda Pritchard, NHS England chief executive, said there are around 10,000 patients in hospitals who are medically fit to be discharged but must stay because there is no care provision for them in the community.

The CQC said only two in five people are able to leave hospital when they are ready, contributing to record-breaking waits in emergency departments following a decision to admit, and dangerous ambulance handover delays.

It found in some cases almost half a hospital is full of people who are medically fit to be discharged but are waiting for social care support, it said.

Beds are available but some care homes are closing their doors to new arrivals because they cannot provide safe staffing levels.

And some nursing homes are having to re-register as care homes because nursing staff are leaving and they are struggling to recruit replacements.

Read more:
Woman angrily confronts health secretary over ‘people dying’ due to lengthy ambulance waits

Figures from the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services show that more than half a million people (542,002) were estimated to be waiting for assessments, reviews or care to start as of 30 April this year.

Separate data from the workforce body Skills for Care show that the number of filled posts fell – by about 50,000 – between 2020-21 and 2021-22 for the first time on record.

The CQC’s annual report on the state of health and social care in England also warned that the rising cost of living could result in more care staff leaving for better-paid work.

The regulator also pointed to an unprecedented number of care workers in the South East resigning in May and June because of fuel costs.

The CQC said that, without action, more health and care staff will quit, services will be further stretched, and people will be at greater risk of harm.

This will be especially pronounced in more deprived areas, where access to care outside hospitals is under the most pressure.

Analysis: For too long the focus has been on acute care while the crisis in social care has been allowed to grow.

All health and care leaders are saying the same thing.

Health and social care must be seen as the same integrated system.

For too long the focus has been on acute care while the crisis in social care has been allowed to grow.

Years of chronic underfunding has left social care in the state it is now.

But the impact on hospitals and the rest of the health service is now being felt.

The pandemic has swelled the waiting lists and to make any headway on the numbers, patients need to go into hospital and get out as soon as it is safe for them to be discharged.

But patients are going into hospital and staying there because there is nobody left to care for them in the community.

The pandemic helped to change the way we look at social care.

We saw just how vulnerable many people were, and we saw just how undervalued and underpaid social care staff were feeling.

That is why so many have left the sector. Unless pay and rewards are addressed care staff will keep leaving and new recruits will not take their place.

The NHS recognises the importance of social care in preventing patients from coming to hospital in the first place.

Among other measures it is setting up rapid response units to attend to people who have suffered falls.

The vast majority of these patients will not need hospital admittance.

Every time an ambulance crew attends a fall it cannot attend to another emergency.

I spent a day with the London Ambulance Service last week.

Our third emergency that morning was to attend to a 78 year woman who had fallen from her bed.

Elizabeth was thoroughly examined and no serious injury was found.

Records showed that Elizabeth had more than 200 ambulance visits for falls the year before.

If she had a good care package in place then those ambulance visits would not all have been necessary and the paramedics could have been responding more quickly to another emergency.

Continue Reading

UK

Boy, 16, shot dead in south London

Published

on

By

Boy, 16, shot dead in south London

A teenage boy has been shot dead in south London.

The Metropolitan Police said the 16-year-old was killed on Paradise Road, near Stockwell Tube Station.

Officers were called to the scene around 3.20pm on Tuesday to reports of a shooting.

Despite the best efforts of paramedics from the London Ambulance Service and London’s Air Ambulance, the teenager was pronounced dead at the scene.

In a statement, the Met Police said that no arrests had been made and it had launched a murder investigation.

Officers were also working to identify the teenager and contact his next of kin.

‘Enormously shocking incident’

Superintendent Gabriel Cameron said: “This is an enormously shocking incident which I imagine will cause huge distress to the local community.

“Our thoughts are with the young boy’s family at this devastating time.

“Local officers are on the scene gathering CCTV and speaking to witnesses to piece together what has happened.

“They will be supported by specialist homicide investigators shortly.”

He added that police would work “around the clock” to find the perpetrators.

Continue Reading

UK

Bill Dare: Spitting Image producer dies after accident abroad

Published

on

By

Bill Dare: Spitting Image producer dies after accident abroad

Comedy writer Bill Dare, – who worked on shows including Spitting Image and Dead Ringers – has died after an accident overseas, his agent said.

Described as a “super producer” by his peers, Dare, 64, worked on eight series of hugely popular satire puppet show Spitting Image.

Airing on ITV during the 1980s and 1990s, the show delighted in lampooning public figures including politicians, celebrities and royalty, winning BAFTAs and Emmys. It was rebooted in 2020.

Dare also created Dead Ringers, a comedy impressions show broadcast on BBC Radio 4.

He also produced The Now Show, a satirical take on the news which ran on Radio 4 from 1998 to 2024.

Dare worked on a wide range of comedy shows during his career, including the radio production of The Mary Whitehouse Experience in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He had also written several novels.

In a statement released on Monday, his agent JFL Agency confirmed he died at the weekend.

A spokesperson said: “We are shocked and greatly saddened to have to announce the death of our brilliant client Bill Dare, who died at the weekend following an accident overseas.

“Our thoughts are with his wife Lucy, daughter Rebecca, and with all of Bill’s family and friends who will be devastated by his loss.

“Bill was a truly legendary producer and writer, and his comedy instincts were second to none.”

Pic: ITV/Shutterstock
Image:
Oasis depicted on Spitting Image in 1996. Pic: ITV/Shutterstock

Colleagues were quick to pay tribute and reflect on his talent.

Impressionist Jon Culshaw wrote on X: “It’s impossible to express the unreal sense of loss at the passing of the incredible Bill Dare. The wisest comedy alchemist and the dearest, dearest friend. Much love to Lucy and all Bill’s family and friends. We shall all miss him more than we can say.”

David Baddiel posted on the social media platform: “Just heard that the original producer of The Mary Whitehouse Experience on radio, Bill Dare, has died. Bill was an amazing creative force. I owe him much. RIP.”

Former EastEnders actress Tracy-Ann Oberman said she was “devastated” and that her “entire comedy career was down to Bill”.

She wrote: “When I was on the BBC Radio 4 rep company early on in career – I ran into Bill in the corridors – He asked if I was good at accents. I said yes.

“He cast me in a sketch show. I had to do about 15 different accents. We recorded in front of a live audience at Broadcasting House – afterwards Bill said ‘Why have I never met you – you’re going to have a big career’.

“He was incredibly loyal and supportive and really opened a path for me into the R4 comedy world and then TV having come out of the RSC and theatre it was all new. I will always be grateful. Fly high Bill.”

Comedian and writer Mark Steel wrote: “This is so grim. Bill was a compassionate hearty soul with the ability to be beautifully grumpy, a marvellously thoughtful comic mind.

“He’d argue but always listen and you’d always laugh, he made a million shows and wanted them all to matter and would have made a million more.”

Have I Got News for You writer Pete Sinclair said: “I am utterly devastated by Bill’s death. I still can’t believe it. He was a comedy genius. A hugely talented writer as well as a brilliant producer. A close friend and co-writer. I cannot begin to say how much I’ll miss him.”

Read more from Sky News:
Dolly Parton’s husband of nearly 60 years dies
With Love, Meghan: What we learnt from new Netflix series
The Crown actor ‘told to attend police interview’

Julia McKenzie, comedy commissioner for Radio 4, said: “I am so terribly sorry to hear this tragic news and my thoughts are with Bill’s wife, family and friends.

“Bill has been a huge part of Radio 4 comedy for decades, as a writer and producer, and listeners will have heard his legendary name at the end of many of their favourite shows.

“Bill was a comedy obsessive, and very instinctive about making the funniest choices when it came to writing, directing and editing.

“He cared so much about his work that in the production booth during Dead Ringers you’d see him crouched over the script, utterly focused on the show.

“He was funny and very dry in person, amusingly cynical when he needed to be and always pushed to keep the comedy he made, and particularly satire, spiky.

“I’ve known and worked with him for 18 years and like many I can’t believe he has gone, he will leave a big hole in the comedy world and in our hearts.”

Continue Reading

UK

‘Corrupt’ ex-prison officer who boasted about performing sex act on inmate jailed

Published

on

By

'Corrupt' ex-prison officer who boasted about performing sex act on inmate jailed

An ex-prison officer who boasted about performing a sex act on an inmate who “manipulated” her has been jailed. 

Mother-of-one Katie Evans, 26, burst into tears in court as the judge described how she was “corrupted” by an “experienced criminal” not long after she started work at Doncaster Prison when she was just 21.

As well as starting an intimate relationship with the prisoner, Daniel Brownley, Evans had more than 140 phone calls with him, moved money around bank accounts for him, and supplied him with information the prison held on him, the court heard.

Brownley had been jailed in 2016 for attempted robbery, burglary and handling stolen goods, the court heard.

“It appears you indulged in some form of sexual activity in the prison. It has been described that on one occasion you had oral sex with him,” Judge Jeremy Richardson KC told Evans at Sheffield Crown Court.

“It is truly a terrible situation for a judge to be passing sentence on a former prison officer who has been branded a corrupt prison officer.”

Judge Richardson told Evans “he corrupted you and not the reverse”, adding: “I’m entirely satisfied you were manipulated by an experienced criminal to assist him.”

He said Evans was “young and immature” at the time but added: “Your misconduct materially affected the good order and discipline of the prison.”

“You were inexperienced and immature but that is, however, no excuse for what you did.”

Read more from Sky News:
What we learnt from Meghan’s new Netflix show
Man given life sentence for murdering son’s girlfriend

Judge Richardson said the sentence of 21 months should have been longer but, “purely as an act of mercy”, he reduced it to take into account the effect it will have on Evans’ relationship with her young daughter and the difficulties she will have in prison as a former officer.

Evans, of Hatfield, Doncaster, admitted misconduct in a public office at a previous hearing.

Still crying, she waved at family members in the public gallery as she was led from the dock.

Continue Reading

Trending