Death pathway 'should be phased out'
By Anonymous on Jul 13, 2013 03:25 am 12 July 2013 Last updated at 21:04 ET 
The way the care pathway has been implemented has come under intense scrutiny
An independent review is expected to say the Liverpool Care Pathway (LCP), developed to support patients as they near death, should be phased out.
The system, widely used in the NHS, can involve the withdrawal of medication, food and fluids.
The review is set to say the LCP can give people a peaceful and dignified death but there have been problems with the way it has been implemented.
The review was set up last year and led by Baroness Julia Neuberger.
Hasten death The Liverpool Care Pathway was developed in the 1990s to provide a model of best practice in the care of dying patients, to try to ensure their final days and hours were dignified and peaceful.
It can mean an end to invasive tests or treatment or feeding through tubes, although this should be discussed with the patient, family or carer wherever possible.
The Department of Health in England set up an independent review amid fears the LCP was being used to hasten death, to clear beds and save money, and that patients or their families were not being consulted.
The review was asked to focus on the use of the LCP model rather than re-evaluating its basic merits.
But officials said the review team encountered numerous examples of poor implementation and worrying standards in care, and so were likely to conclude it needed to be replaced.
The findings are due to be published in detail on Monday.
A Department of Health spokesman said: "The independent review into end of life care system the Liverpool Care Pathway, commissioned last year by Care and Support Minister Norman Lamb and backed by Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, is likely to recommend that the LCP is phased out over the next six to 12 months.
"The review panel, set up by ministers following reports from families concerned about the care of their loved ones, is due to report back on Monday.
"It is expected to say that when used properly the LCP can give people a dignified and peaceful death, but that they found numerous examples of poor implementation and worrying standards in care which mean it needs to be replaced."
Unnecessary suffering The review was ordered by the government in November last year after the LCP came under intense media scrutiny.
At the time, Mr Lamb said he was concerned about the "unacceptable" cases that had come to light.
About 500,000 people die in the UK each year, with more than half passing away in hospital.
The LCP was developed at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital and the city's Marie Curie hospice to relieve suffering in dying patients, setting out principles for their treatment in their final days and hours.
It allows doctors to withdraw treatment or tests that would be deemed to cause unnecessary suffering at the end of life.
This can include anything from CPR to artificial feeding through tubes. The use of sedation to alleviate distress is often used.
The aim is to allow patients to die with as much dignity and as little distress as possible.
However, there were reports of some patients being put on the pathway and then being taken off.
Doctors at the recent British Medical Association conference also said dying patients may have stayed on the LCP for weeks without follow-up.
And relatives complained that their loved ones had been put on to the regime without their consent.
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Immigration backlog 'tops 500,000'
By Anonymous on Jul 13, 2013 02:57 am 12 July 2013 Last updated at 19:01 ET 
Scrapped: Four departments have replaced UKBA
The backlog of unresolved immigration cases has grown to more than 500,000, a group of influential MPs has said.
The Home Affairs Committee said that at present rates it could take 37 years to clear.
In its latest report into the system, the cross-party committee questioned whether splitting up the UK Border Agency would change anything.
Immigration minister Mark Harper said the Home Office was now in a better position to clear backlogs.
In its last report, the committee said there were 11 separate backlogs totalling 320,000 open or unresolved cases in the immigration system.
Now it says there is a 12th backlog of 190,000 files called the "Temporary and Permanent Migration Pool".
This brings the total to more than 500,000, which committee chairman Keith Vaz MP said was "staggering".
However, it is understood the Home Office disagrees with the figure because it is not new and has been over-counted by 40,000.
Continue reading the main story IMMIGRATION BACKLOGS
- Q2 2012: 325,156
- Q3 2012: 321,726
- Q4 2012: 502,467
- Source: Home Affairs Committee
The committee said the backlog had emerged during its first evidence session with Sarah Rapson, the head of the new service dealing with visa and immigration applications.
Home Secretary Theresa May scrapped the UK Border Agency in March and said that two divisions, the first headed by Ms Rapson and the other for enforcements, would answer directly to ministers.
But the committee warned the change might be no more than a "rebranding exercise".
Mr Vaz said: "The backlog of cases has now hit a staggering half a million people. This could fill Wembley Stadium to capacity six times over.
"Theresa May described the UK Border Agency as 'closed, secretive and defensive', however, despite abolition, nothing appears to have changed apart from the name.
"If people at the top are not replaced this will only be an exercise in rebranding as has happened in previous reincarnations.
Continue reading the main story NEW IMMIGRATION DEPARTMENTS
- UK Visas and Immigration Service
- Immigration Enforcement Directorate
- UK Border Force
- Operational Systems Transformation
"There should be no more bonuses paid to any senior management at the Home Office until the backlogs are cleared."
Mr Harper said: "The UK Border Agency was a troubled organisation for many years, which is why the home secretary took the decision to split the agency in March this year.
"The new UK Visa and Immigration Service has a clear focus to improve visa performance and customer service, while the Immigration Enforcement command concentrates on those who break our immigration laws.
"It will take a long time to clear the backlogs we inherited - but through the changes we have made we are in a much stronger position to do so."
Rob Whiteman, who headed the now scrapped agency, is leaving the Home Office for another job. The Home Office said he was leaving voluntarily and there was no severance package.
Separately, the committee said it wanted to know why the former agency had spent more than £500,000 on outside consultants in the final quarter of 2012.
Read in browser » French rescuers search for survivors
By Anonymous on Jul 13, 2013 03:41 am 13 July 2013 Last updated at 00:01 ET 
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The BBC's Hugh Schofield says the train derailed at high speed
Rescue efforts are continuing to find the passengers of a train that crashed at Bretigny-sur-Orge, south of Paris, on Friday afternoon.
At least six people have been killed and 30 injured, French officials say.
The intercity train had just left Paris and was heading towards Limoges when it derailed, crashing into a station platform.
Investigations are getting underway into the cause of the accident, which happened at 17:14 (15:14 GMT).
Rescuers have been searching throughout the night for anyone who might be trapped in the wreckage.
French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, speaking from the crash site late on Friday, said: "The toll is currently six dead, 30 injured, of whom eight are in a serious condition."
The wounded were all being treated in local hospitals, he added.
BBC Paris correspondent Hugh Schofield said there was a strong possibility that the number of fatalities could rise again because some of the victims were very badly hurt.
Rescue efforts have continued through the night at the scene of the crash
Guillaume Pepy, president of the SNCF rail service, said six carriages had derailed during the accident. The train's third and fourth carriages derailed first and the others followed.
He expressed "solidarity" with the victims and their families, adding "rail catastrophes are something that upset the whole public".
Investigations will be undertaken by the SNCF, judicial authorities and France's BEA safety agency.
Local media said a group of people had attempted to steal from the victims shortly after the crash, by pretending to be taking part in the rescue efforts. They reportedly threw stones at emergency workers as they tried to reach passengers.
Crowded French transport routes were particularly busy at the time of the crash due to the run-up to a holiday weekend marking Sunday's Bastille Day.
French President Francois Hollande visited the scene earlier on Friday and expressed his shock at the accident.
He said that the station would be closed for three days whileinvestigations were carried out.
"We should avoid unnecessary speculation. What happened will eventually be known and the proper conclusions will be drawn," he said.
The rail company SNCF said 385 passengers were on board when the train crashed. The station platforms were crowded at the start of a holiday weekend.
British student Marvin Khareem Wone was on a train on another platform when the carriages of the intercity ploughed into the station.
"The train went off the railway; it just went on the platform and kind of flew in the air for a second and went upside down," he told BBC Radio.
"The first and the second coach were completely destroyed. I really thought no-one could survive that because it was completely mashed up. Everyone was crying and running everywhere. A woman was crying for her daughter who was still on the train."
'Images of war' Because of the damage to the station, he said ambulances could not reach the platform and the lift was not working.
Other media reports spoke of passengers being electrocuted and crushed.
"I saw many wounded women children trapped inside," Vianey Kalisa, who was waiting for his train from Bretigny to Paris, told AFP.
"People were screaming. A man had blood on his face. These are images of war," he said.
The train had left Paris-Austerlitz station at 16 :53 local time and was due to arrive at Limoges-Benedictins at 20:05, SNCF said in a statement.
The BBC's Hugh Schofield says that in May, the company warned passengers that points work was being carried out in the area, where intercity and commuter lines dovetail.
It is not clear if the earlier points problems are connected with Friday's crash, he says.
Read in browser » Police and MP hurt in Belfast riots
By Anonymous on Jul 13, 2013 02:47 am 12 July 2013 Last updated at 15:08 ET 
Riot police on patrol in the Ardoyne area of north Belfast on Friday
Water cannon have been used in north Belfast after bricks and bottles were thrown in a sustained attack on police Land Rovers in the Woodvale area.
The attack came as police enforced a Parades Commission ruling. At least two police officers have been injured.
The ruling stops Orange Order lodges from walking on a stretch of road in north Belfast that separates loyalist and nationalist communities.
Trouble has also broken out on the Newtownards Road in east Belfast.
Orange Order lodges in north Belfast, marched past the Ardoyne shops, on Friday morning.
However, the Parades Commission, which rules on contentious parades, banned them from returning by the same route in the evening.
The ruling was that on their return, lodges would be stopped at the junction of Woodvale Road and Woodvale Parade.
They have been prohibited from walking between that point and the junction of the Crumlin Road and Hesketh Road.
The Parades Commission ruled that marchers would not be allowed to return along the part of the Crumlin Road, at Ardoyne shops, that separates nationalist and loyalist communities.
In recent years, there has been serious rioting in the nationalist Ardoyne area following the return leg of the parade.
The morning parade was blocked temporarily by police just before it reached the Ardoyne shops.
This was because there were many more supporters accompanying the bands than had been allowed by the Parades Commission ruling, that limited followers of the lodges and band to 100.
After hundreds of supporters withdrew, police allowed the marchers to proceed and the parade passed the Ardoyne shops without incident, shortly after 09:00 BST.
Nationalist residents from the Greater Ardoyne Residents' Collective (GARC) held a small protest in the area, amid a heavy police presence.
GARC was one of two residents' groups from Ardoyne that had planned larger protests against the parade, which is described as a 'feeder' march for the Ligoniel lodges taking part in the main Belfast demonstration.
Earlier on Friday, nationalist protesters gathered at Ardoyne, amid a heavy police presence
However, after the Parades Commission ruling on Wednesday evening, both GARC and Crumlin and Ardoyne Residents' Association (CARA) called off their larger demonstrations.
The marching season is a period of events from April to August, with the highpoint on 12 July when Orangemen march to commemorate William of Orange's victory over the Catholic King James II at the Battle of the Boyne in Ireland in 1690.
William III is revered by the order as a champion of his faith. The Orange Order commemorate his victory in their annual parades.
Many Catholics see the marches as triumphalist and sectarian with some traditional Orange routes passing through or past areas occupied mainly by Catholics and nationalists.
The Parades Commission ruling on the north Belfast parade was welcomed by nationalist politicians but angered unionists.
Read in browser » US castigates Russia on Snowden case
By Anonymous on Jul 13, 2013 03:31 am 13 July 2013 Last updated at 03:31 ET The US has accused Russia of giving fugitive US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden a "propaganda platform".
President Barack Obama called Vladimir Putin after Mr Snowden met human rights groups at a Moscow airport - his first appearance since fleeing there from Hong Kong three weeks ago.
Mr Snowden has been charged with leaking classified US information.
He says he is seeking asylum in Russia to be able to travel to Latin America where he has been offered refuge.
The former CIA contractor has been stuck in the transit area of Sheremetyevo airport - reportedly staying at the airport's Capsule Hotel - since arriving from Hong Kong on 23 June.
'Stop harming partners' Details of the phone conversation between the two presidents were not immediately available, but the White House confirmed the Snowden case would be discussed.
Continue reading the main story Snowden leaks timeline
- 5 June: First leak published in the Guardian saying the National Security Agency (NSA) is collecting the telephone records of millions of people in the US
- 6 June: Details of the US Prism internet surveillance programme published by the Guardian and Washington Post
- 9 June: Guardian identifies Edward Snowden as the source of the leaks, at his own request, and says he has been in Hong Kong since 20 May
- 14 June: US files criminal charges against Mr Snowden
- 23 June: Mr Snowden leaves Hong Kong for Moscow, Ecuador confirms he has applied for political asylum
- 2 July: Bolivian leader Evo Morales' plane is diverted to Vienna and apparently searched for Mr Snowden
- 6 July: Bolivia, Venezuela and Nicaragua say they would offer Mr Snowden asylum
"Providing a propaganda platform for Mr Snowden runs counter to the Russian government's previous declarations of Russia's neutrality," said White House spokesman Jay Carney ahead of the call.
"It's also incompatible with Russian assurances that they do not want Mr Snowden to further damage US interests."
The Kremlin's position is that the fugitive can stay in Russia as long as he stops leaking secrets about US surveillance schemes.
"Mr Snowden could hypothetically stay in Russia if he first, completely stops the activities harming our American partners and US-Russian relations and, second, if he asks for this himself," said President Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
The American has sent requests for political asylum to at least 21 countries, most of which have turned down his request. However, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Venezuela have indicated they could take him in.
But he is unable to leave the transit zone without asylum documents, a valid passport or a Russian visa - he reportedly has none of these documents.
And some European countries are likely to close their airspace to any plane suspected of carrying the fugitive.
'Outside the law' On Friday, Mr Snowden said in a statement he formally accepted all offers of support or asylum he had already received "and all others that may be offered in the future".
But he added that the US and some European countries had "demonstrated a willingness to act outside the law".
The status of asylum as well as criticism of alleged US spying on Latin American governments were on the agenda as members of the South American trade bloc, Mercosur, gathered in Uruguay.
The plane of Bolivian President Evo Morales, returning to Bolivia from Moscow, was last week forced to land in Austria after France, Portugal, Italy and Spain barred it from their airspace - apparently because of suspicions that Mr Snowden was on board.
Mr Snowden's leaking of thousands of classified US intelligence documents have led to revelations that the National Security Agency is systematically seizing vast amounts of phone and web data.
They have also indicated that both the UK and French intelligence agencies allegedly run similarly vast data collection operations, and the US has been eavesdropping on official EU communications.
Read in browser » GCSE science grade 'drop' expected
By Anonymous on Jul 12, 2013 07:52 pm 12 July 2013 Last updated at 19:52 ET By Angela Harrison Education correspondent, BBC News 
The exams regulator has already warned results could vary more than usual in the next few years
The exams watchdog Ofqual says it expects a "small drop" in grades in some of this year's GCSE science results.
The warning comes in a letter sent to schools in England, setting out plans for changes to GCSEs and A-levels.
The exams have also been taken by students in Wales and Northern Ireland.
It is the first year a new version of GCSEs in biology, chemistry, physics, additional science and additional applied science will be awarded.
The watchdog says the syllabuses and exams for the subjects were changed because they were not tough enough.
"These GCSEs are designed to be more challenging, because the previous syllabuses did not adequately test the subject content and were not sufficiently demanding," the letter says.
"Although we cannot be sure until results come in, we are expecting a small drop in achievements overall rather than anything more substantial.
"The picture may be different school by school."
Brian Lightman, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), which represents most secondary heads, said it was going to be a "very tough year" for students, especially if grades dropped.
"Students are working harder than ever before and their teachers are working harder than ever to do their best for them," he said.
"It's very demoralising for students to be told that the examinations they took were too easy."
Changes to these science exams were set in motion several years ago, before the election of the coalition government, which has since announced and made widescale changes to the exams system for England.
Education Secretary Michael Gove believed the existing system was not challenging enough and that it encouraged exam boards to "race to the bottom" in terms of standards.
The watchdog's letter to schools sets out the planned changes and those which are still being consulted on. Ofqual has also set out a timeline to show when the changes are due to come in.
Pupils in Wales and Northern Ireland also take GCSEs and for now, education ministers there have said they do not intend to move away from the existing GCSE and A-levels, but the growth of divisions in the system could bring confusion.
'Enormous uncertainty' Other changes for England include the move to linear exams for GCSEs and A-levels, meaning that exams will be taken after two years of study rather than in stages or modules.
Next year will be the first time results are given for the new linear GCSEs, but the move to linear A-levels is planned to begin in September 2015, when teaching for those qualifications will begin.
The letter also details the limiting of re-sits and move away from coursework.
Mr Lightman said Ofqual's letter was helpful to schools, but highlighted the "vast range of reforms that are going on and the enormous uncertainty across the system".
"Teachers, students and parents are completely confused by all of these changes that are going on," he said.
Ofqual's chief regulator Glenys Stacey has already said she expects exam results will "vary more than normal" for several years as the new exams become established.
The watchdog won a legal challenge from schools, heads and pupils over the grading of last year's English GCSE results, after exam boards were told to move grade boundaries.
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