Category Archives: Latest News

The UK has left the EU – Brexit: Transition period.

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Brexit: Transition period.

The UK has now left the EU. The transition period is in place while the EU and UK negotiate new arrangements for a trade deal. It will end on 31 December 2020.

Your responsibility to protect the health and safety of people   affected by your work activities remain the same during the  transition period.

The guidance health and safety made simple: the basics for your organisation will help you to comply with the law.

You should continue to manage risk in your organisation in a proportionate way. Guidance

 

Revised leaflet for employers deals with upper limb disorders

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Managing upper limb disorders in the workplace
A brief guide
This revised leaflet for employers deals with upper limb  disorders (ULDs) which affect the shoulders, arms, wrists, hands and fingers, as well as the neck.

It explains:

  • what upper limb disorders;
  • their symptoms and causes;
  • how to manage the risks around them;

what employers can do to help their workers.

It now includes a simple filter to help identify low-risk tasks which do not need further assessment.

The main messages about the actions employers and     workers should take to prevent risks have altered very little since the previous 2013 version.
There is no change in policy or regulation.
INDG171(rev 3) published Jan 2020.

 

New Scottish legislation to improve housing rights for disabled people.

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New regulation proposals have been launched by the      Scottish government aiming to improve accessibility for those living with a disability in the communal areas around their home.

Under the newly announced proposals, people living with disabilities would be given the right to remove barriers to  access by creating ramps, widening paths and installing handrails in common areas.

These changes are hoped to improve equality for those living with disabilities, though all potential works would only be sanctioned provided they have support of a majority of  neighbours. More

 

Pharmacy fined £275.000 after “careless” storage of patient data.

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The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has fined a London-based pharmacy £275,000 for failing to ensure the security of special category data Doorstep Dispensaree Ltd, which supplies medicines to customers and care homes,   left approximately 500,000 documents in unlocked containers at the back of its premises in Edgware.
The documents included names, addresses, dates of birth, NHS numbers, medical information and prescriptions belonging to an unknown number of people  More

 

Nursing home fined £12,000 for safety breach

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Nursing home fined £12,000 for safety breach which led to resident’s death.

A Co Down Northern Ireland, Slieve Dhu Nursing Home  nursing home that admitted a health and safety breach, which led to an 82-year-old   resident’s death, has been fined £12,000.

On 22 June, however, the resident was at the toilet but she had been left alone when staff “heard a thump” and found that “she had hit her head very badly and had a head wound”, said the lawyer. Taken to hospital, the resident passed away four weeks after the fall after suffering a bleed to her brain. She was also suffering from  pneumonia.  More

 

RMBI failing to provide safe care at nursing home.

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The RMBI has been ordered to pay £50,000 plus legal costs, following an incident at a care home in which a person sustained serious injuries.

The care provider – which runs Cornwallis Court, Bury St Edmunds – was fined at Sevenoaks Magistrates’ Court (10January 2020), having pleaded guilty to failing to provide safe care and treatment, resulting in avoidable harm to a resident of the home.
Cornwallis Court is a nursing home accommodating older people, including people living with dementia.

The prosecution was brought by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).  More

 

Additional Guidance for Fire Safety in Residential Care Homes.

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Additional Guidance for Fire Safety in Residential Care Homes

Review Statement Oct 2019. Please Note.

“In agreement with the NFCC (previously CFOA) it has been agreed that the additional guidance on residential care   premises will still stand and not be reviewed until the outcome of the Hackitt report is finalised and we have          scrutinised the implications in conjunction with the NFCC representative.”  — NASHiCS.
Members have been asking when?


No time scales at present but there will be a meeting in London with interested parties on the 31st January to discus.

CLG Guide Additional Guidance Document REV2016 DRAFT Final July 16 on CFOA site