St Helens care worker left patient to starve to death!!!!

Pic-Burrows did not get out of her car to check whether her patient was at home and then lied to her employer/wp

Health Crime reporter(wp/ebc):::

A care worker who left a severely disabled woman to starve to death at home has been convicted of gross negligence manslaughter.

Tracy Burrows, 56, of St Helens, lied about her patient being at home, leading to cancelled care visits.

After four days without food or water, Julie Cleworth, 43, who had had a stroke, was found dead at her Rainhill home on 9 February 2017.

Burrows was warned at Liverpool Crown Court she was likely to be jailed.

She will be sentenced on 21 August following a pre-sentence report.

Starvation toxins

Upon release from hospital on 5 February, Ms Cleworth - described by the prosecution as "helpless as a baby" - was put in bed by ambulance crews.

Later that evening, finding the house in darkness, Burrows did not even get out of her car to check on Ms Cleworth.

But Burrows, of Sherdley Park Drive, told her employers Unite Healthcare that she had looked in every room of the house for her, the court heard.

Because Unite was told Ms Cleworth was not at the property, subsequent care visits were cancelled.

A post-mortem examination revealed that Ms Cleworth had developed ketoacidosis, a condition in which toxins build up in the blood stream as a result of starvation.

After a nine-day trial, the jury unanimously found Burrows guilty of manslaughter through gross negligence.

After the verdict, Ms Cleworth's mother Hilary Kenny said: "I've got justice for her."

Stoke-on-Trent mum's cancer misdiagnosis down to 'human error'

Pic-Sarah Boyle was misdiagnosed with cancer after noticing problems breastfeeding her son Teddy

Sr,Health reporter(wp/bbc):::

A mother underwent a double mastectomy after doctors wrongly diagnosed her with an aggressive form of cancer.

Sarah Boyle, 28, was told she had triple negative breast cancer after she had difficulty breastfeeding her baby.

Mrs Boyle underwent chemotherapy and later needed reconstructive surgery before the mistake was noticed, leaving her "traumatised".

The hospital that treated her apologised, saying it was "human error" that led to her being misdiagnosed.

Mrs Boyle, from Stoke-on-Trent, said life had been "incredibly difficult" for her, as well as her husband Stephen, 31, and their two sons since she was told she needed treatment at the end of 2016.

"Being told I had cancer was awful, but then to go through all of the treatment and surgery to then be told it was unnecessary was traumatising," she said.

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She went to Royal Stoke Hospital when she noticed her six-month-old son Teddy becoming "very distressed" when she tried to feed him from her right breast.

After a biopsy and a scan, she was told she had breast cancer and was sent for treatment.

"Ultimately the misreporting of the biopsy was a human error," said a spokesperson for the University Hospital of North Midlands NHS Trust (UHNW), which runs the hospital.

Mrs Boyle said her treatment meant she was unable to breastfeed her second son, Louis, who is seven months old, and now she was concerned about future health complications, including "actually developing cancer".

The trust offered an "unreserved apology" to Mrs Boyle and said it "understands how devastating this has been".

It said all cancer diagnoses were reviewed by a second pathologist.

Mrs Boyle is now pursuing a legal claim against the trust, which has admitted liability.

woman, 61, found with fatal head injuries at south London

Crime reporter(wp/bbc):::

A murder probe has been launched after a woman was found dead at a property in Beckenham. 

Police were called to the residential address in Oakwood Avenue at 11.08pm on Thursday after concerns for a woman's welfare.

A woman was found with head injuries and pronounced dead at the scene.

Officers have named the victim as Diane Dyer, 61. Her next of kin have been informed. 

They also say they believe that Ms Dyer knew her attacker, but no arrests have been made. 

A post-mortem examination is set to take place on Friday afternoon. 

Homicide detectives from Specialist Crime are investigating and appealing for information.

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Cranwell, who is leading the investigation, said: "This is a tragic incident and we are supporting Diane's family at this difficult time.

"I would like to reassure the community that this is thought to be an isolated incident and we believe Diane knew her attacker.

"My officers are working around the clock to apprehend the person responsible, however we also need the public’s help."

Appealing for information, he added: "Did you see or hear anything suspicious on the evening of Thursday, 18 July in the Oakwood Avenue area? If so, we need to hear from you.

No arrests have been made and enquiries continue.

Met Police hacked with bizarre tweets and emails posted

Cyber Crime Reporter(wp/ebc):::
The Metropolitan Police's website has been hit by hackers who posted a series of bizarre messages.

A series of tweets were also sent from the force's verified account, which has more than a million followers, including one about rapper Digga D.

A stream of unusual emails were also sent from the force's press bureau at about 23:30 BST on Friday.

Scotland Yard confirmed that its website had "been subject to unauthorised access".

The force said it used an online provider called MyNewsDesk to issue news releases and said "unauthorised messages" appeared on its website, Twitter account and in emails sent to subscribers.

The tweets, which have subsequently been deleted, contained offensive language and mentioned the names of several people.

The posts also linked to press releases regarding the rapper and an apparent missing child.

BBC home affairs producer Daniel De Simone tweeted that the hack was a "serious issue" and added: "The press and public relies on comms from the Met during emergencies such as terror attacks."

A Met spokesman said the force was working to establish exactly what happened.

"We have begun making changes to our access arrangements to MyNewsDesk," he added.

"At this stage, we are confident the only security issue relates to access to our MyNewsDesk account."

Brexit campaigner wins appeal against over-spending fine

Political reporter(wp/reuters):::The founder of a youth-focused pro-Brexit campaign has won an appeal against a 20,000 pound fine imposed by the UK electoral regulator for breaching spending rules in the 2016 referendum.

Britain’s officially designated Brexit campaign group, Vote Leave, was fined in 2018 for breaching spending rules in the run-up to the vote, handing ammunition to opponents of Brexit who have repeatedly called for a re-run of the referendum.

Vote Leave was found to have exceeded the statutory spending limit by working with the youth-focused BeLeave, which spent 675,000 pounds with Aggregate IQ under a common plan with Vote Leave. Aggregate IQ used social media data to target voters.

The Electoral Commission said Vote Leave should have declared its joint spending. It also fined the BeLeave founder, Darren Grimes.

He appealed and said on Friday he was “delighted and relieved” that a court had cleared him.

The Electoral Commission could not immediately be reached for comment but the Guardian newspaper said it was disappointed with the ruling and would consider its next steps.

Rise in knives and blades found at London family courts

Crime reporter(wp/bbc):::

Thousands of knives and sharp objects are being confiscated annually at London family courts, with campaigners saying it showed how "desensitised" some people were to carrying weapons.

Eighty-six knives with blades longer than 3in (8cm) were seized in 2018-19, a big rise from just 18 a year earlier, Ministry of Justice data revealed.

Almost 4,000 shorter blades were found in 2018-19, the figures showed.

HM Courts and Tribunals Service said it treated security "extremely seriously".

Family courts mainly deal with private family disputes that involve parents and concern their children, and public work when local authorities take action to remove children from their parents' care.

'Defies logic'

The figures, revealed following a Freedom of Information Act request from the BBC, covered 15 of the courts based in the capital.

Mandatory bag searches, metal detectors and surveillance cameras are used to find blades and anything considered an offensive weapon is reported to police.

The number of longer-bladed weapons confiscated had fallen before increasing dramatically last year.

In the financial year 2015-16, 41 were taken by court staff but that dropped to 11 in 2016-17 and 18 the following year, before soaring back up to 86 in 2018-19.

The number of knives with shorter blades increased steadily from 1,814 to 3,893 over the same four-year period.

The figures for shorter blades include items of cutlery, razors, pen knives, key rings and scissors which have been confiscated, as well as weapons.

Patrick Green, chief executive officer of anti-knife charity The Ben Kinsella Trust, said the increase was likely to be partly down to improved security, but also showed how carrying a knife had become "normalised behaviour" for some people, even in places where they knew they would be searched.

"It defies logic to the majority of us but it shows their thinking and association with carrying knives," he said.

The president of the Family Division of the High Court has expressed a similar view.

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During a lecture in May, Sir Andrew McFarlane said the judiciary "do not believe that most, indeed any, of these knives were necessarily being brought in for use in the court building".

"It simply seems to be a facet of everyday life in 2019 for some members of the population."

The courts service said staff confiscated items to "keep our sites free of any article that could be used as a weapon".

"HMCTS has a robust security and safety system to protect all court users and the Judiciary," they said.

Cambridge Heart and Lung Research Institute receives major funding boost

Pic:::Cambridge University Campuses/wp
Chris Skidmore, Minister for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation, announced on 10 July 2019 a £30 million award to the University of Cambridge to support the new Cambridge Heart and Lung Research Institute (HLRI).

University Reporter,Cambridge,UC(wp/CU):::

The Institute will draw together the highest concentration of heart and lung researchers from academia, healthcare and industry in Europe. It has set an ambitious five-year target to demonstrate proof-of-concept for at least ten new drugs or diagnostic approaches in heart and lung diseases.

The HLRI will be situated next to Royal Papworth Hospital, which was officially opened by HM the Queen on 9 July, and forms part of the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, the centrepiece of the largest biotech cluster outside the United States of America. It will be home to over 380 scientists and state-of-the-art laboratories in genomics, population sciences, research into cellular mechanisms of disease and translational science. It will also include a special ten bed facility where the first-in-patient studies of new treatments can be conducted.

“This is an incredibly exciting project bringing together world-renowned expertise in cardiovascular and respiratory science at Cambridge University and clinical excellence at Royal Papworth Hospital,” says Professor Nick Morrell from the University of Cambridge, Interim Director of the institute and a non-Executive Director of Royal Papworth Hospital.

“Heart and lung diseases affect many millions of people of people worldwide and the numbers are growing. Institutes such as ours, focussed on these big health challenges, are urgently needed. The discoveries made by our researchers will deliver major benefits to the public through improvements in public health, new approaches to diagnosing and treating disease, and new medicines.”

Professor John Wallwork, Chairman of Royal Papworth Hospital, said: “The Heart and Lung Research Institute will mean new treatments will be created, tested and delivered to tackle the biggest causes of premature death in the world all on one site. This will be a huge step forward and demonstrates one of the reasons Royal Papworth Hospital moved to the Cambridge Biomedical Campus – to collaborate with the best researchers in the world to help to save lives. The importance of this building cannot be underestimated and I can’t wait to see how it will transform healthcare in the years to come.”

The award is one of 11 announced from flagship capital investment scheme the UK Research Partnership Investment Fund, totalling over £670m of new investment into UK research and innovation. It complements £10 million of funding committed to the institute by the British Heart Foundation (BHF). Further funding will be provided by the University and Royal Papworth Hospital, and the Wolfson Foundation.

The BHF award, which contributes to the capital cost of the building, is one of the charity’s largest ever strategic award. The charity has also committed an additional £6m in funding for the BHF Cambridge Centre for Cardiovascular Research Excellence, which will be housed in the institute.

Professor Sir Nilesh Samani, Medical Director at the British Heart Foundation, said: “Through this funding we will help create a fantastic centre that will have a key role in driving forward our ambitious programme of heart and circulatory research. By bringing together world-leading scientists it will enable exciting opportunities for collaboration between researchers from different disciplines. And it will also accelerate the transformation of discoveries in the laboratory to treatments available at patients’ bedside.

“This grant is one of the largest the BHF has ever made and we have only been able to make this investment because of the incredible generosity of the public.”

The Cystic Fibrosis Trust has also committed to raise up to £5 million to fund the Cystic Fibrosis Innovation Hub, which launched last year and will transfer to the new building once it has been completed. Both AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline will also embed integrated research hubs in the Institute to maximise translational impact.

Work on the HLRI will begin almost immediately, with ground-breaking taking place in November 2019 and construction starting in early 2020.

Without further medical advances, an estimated one in four people in the UK will die from heart or circulatory disease, while one in five will die from lung disease. Combined, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases cost over £840 billion worldwide every year.

Crossrail bosses accused by MPs over 'letting down taxpayers' in two-year delay

Special report(wp/es):::

Crossrail bosses showed a “staggering” degree of over-optimism in believing they could open the crisis-hit train line on time, MPs said today.

The Public Accounts Committee said taxpayers had been let down by a two-year delay in opening the scheme, which has soared in cost by £2.8 billion to £17.6 billion.

It said the final cost “remains unknown” and that although the central section is due to open between October 2020 and March 2021, the full railway linking Reading and Heathrow to Shenfield and Abbey Wood “may not open until as late as 2022”.

The MPs said it was “staggering” that Crossrail chiefs continued to believe until last July that it could open in December 2018, despite masses of unfinished work. They said: “This over-optimism which was prevalent throughout has proved hugely damaging to the programme.”

The MPs also criticised the payment of £641,000 in bonuses to former chief executive Andrew Wolstenholme “even as the programme was going off track”.Their report revealed that Mayor Sadiq Khan, who oversaw the project with theDepartment for Transport, offered to “throw more money” at contractors to encourage them to hit the December opening date.

Committee chairwoman Meg Hillier said: “Unfortunately, delay and being over-budget now appear to be par for the course for major rail projects.” 

Crossrail’s new management team admit that numerous risks remain due to the reliance on a multitude of sub-contractors, problems integrating the trains and signalling software and the difficulty of finishing the stations while testing the trains.

There have been “three or four” safety incidents in the first three months of 2019, Crossrail chief executive Mark Wild said this week. Full testing of trains in central tunnels is not due to start until next year but the first Crossrail train between Paddington and Hayes & Harlington is expected to run tomorrow.

The Crossrail board is due to be told on August 15 whether the project is likely to blow its new £17.6 billion budget and require a further public bail-out.

In response to the report, a DfT spokesman said: “The department consistently challenged the leadership of Crossrail on the delivery of the project. When problems became clear, the department acted swiftly.”

A Crossrail spokesman said: “We are fully focused on completing the line and ensuring a safe and reliable passenger service as quickly as possible.”