Concern over nurses 'taught how to care'

QUESTIONS have been asked as to why nurses in Swansea and Neath Port Talbot hospitals need special schemes to teach them skills needed to care for patients.

A programme called Empowering Ward Sisters is taking place in hospitals to ensure staff have the leadership and skills to manage wards effectively, and to develop standards of care.

But concerns about this scheme, and another called Fundamentals of Care, have been raised on the Evening Post website — www.thisissouthwales.co.uk

One person commenting on the site said: "Fundamentals of Care initiative? Empowering sisters? When I worked in the NHS as a nurse and midwife, the above just happened.

"If you have to introduce 'care' as an initiative — what was happening before the initiative?"

The comments come in the wake of the case of 90-year-old Vera Davies, of Fforestfach Cross, whose family felt forced to take her out of Singleton Hospital to nurse her back to health because of concerns about her care.

She was cared for at her 69-year-old son Ken McMurray's home in Gendros Crescent, Gendros, who logged a catalogue of complaints in a diary about her care. She later died of a stroke on October 15, 2009.

An Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board spokeswoman said at the time it was unaware of the family's concerns but was happy to look into the matter.

She added that nurses were extremely caring and went above the call of duty to ensure patients received the best possible care.

But another reader, based in Llanelli, queried whether the new nursing degree was making any difference, and said: "Having worked in the trust for a number of years and listening to 'old school' nurses, I deeply believe that the 'new' degree has not helped the standards of care.

"It's time to look at the old ways and bring them back. Nursing comes from the heart, not how far you can get up the ladder."

The ABM spokeswoman said in response: "Our nurses nurse because they choose to and caring for patients is as much a part of their role today as it was years ago.

"In today's climate of complex healthcare, a degree provides our nurses with an understanding of evidence- based care, which is best practice and ensures our patients are looked after even better.

"The Empowering Ward Sisters programme not only ensures staff have the leadership and management skills to manage wards effectively, but further develop those skills to support the improvement of ward cleanliness, standards of care and patient nutrition.

"The 'Fundamentals of Care' audit is the inspection tool we use to examine how well we are providing the essential care patients need.

"These inspections help us to improve standards and remove bad practice."

elizabeth.perkins@swwmedia.co.uk

Source: http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/32715/f/503366/s/13adcefd/l/0L0Sthisissouthwales0O0Cnews0CConcern0Enurses0Etaught0Ecare0Carticle0E33783410Edetail0Carticle0Bhtml/story01.htm

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Forget tradition - hurling needs a second referee

John Fogarty

NEWS that Tommy Walsh went off injured against Waterford was met with derision and disbelief among the press corps in Parnell Park yesterday. “Tommy Walsh doesn’t do injuries,” said one. “Tommy Walsh doesn’t do substitutes,” said another.

There is solid ground for such statements. Since 2004, Walsh has only been replaced once in the championship – in the 2007 Leinster final against Wexford when James Ryall came on for him in the 45^th minute. His league appearances would read something similar.

Walsh was indeed forced to retire from the game against Waterford just before half-time after picking up a nasty injury to his right shoulder. Scans will reveal the extent of the damage to his A/C joint but the hope for all genuine hurling fans is his lay-off is as short as possible.

The chink in Walsh’s all but impervious armour is a perfect example of how even the toughest players are dropping like flies in hurling right now.

There will be those who argue it’s just coincidental so many hurlers have picked up injuries in recent weeks but the following list begs to be studied, not dismissed – Tipperary: Eoin Kelly (finger), Brendan Maher (ankle),Paddy Stapleton (ribs); Waterford: Maurice Shanahan (finger), Liam Lawlor (knee), Noel Connors (ankle); Galway: David Collins (ankle), Ger Mahon (ankle); Dublin: Stephen Hiney (knee), Conor McCormack (leg); Kilkenny: Walsh (shoulder), JJ Delaney (hamstring); Cork: Conor Lehane (knee); Offaly: Shane Dooley (ear), Daniel Currams (leg).

There are plenty more. And let’s not forget the long-term casualties. Hurling is a poorer game without names like Canning, Hayes, Callanan, Lawlor, Shefflin and Tennyson.

For Tipperary, it’s got to a point where they’re almost head-counting who they can pick. “The injuries are piling up,” said the county’s frustrated manager Declan Ryan yesterday about the dwindling amount of players he has at his disposal.

Maher’s injury was incurred away from the hurling field but the vast majority of the rest mentioned above have been picked up in games. Not training, not in the gym, but in action.

So if this spat of injuries isn’t just down to chance what are the reasons?

There are a couple.

Hurling is becoming more and more of a game that is impossible to officiate properly. As a result, there are some referees who adopt a casual approach to tackling and players are adapting accordingly.

Such laissez-faire refereeing may contribute to the flow of the game but it is sending out the wrong impression to players who will take liberties with the rules of the game if there’s an advantage to be had.

On Sunday, Diarmuid Kirwan gave Galway five frees in the entire 75 minutes of hurling in Parnell Park, handing them their one and only free of the second-half in the 63^rd minute.

Working at the game in Dublin and watching the highlights from the Cork-Tipperary and Kilkenny-Waterford games, it was striking to see how many players' helmets had become loosened after tussling with opponents.

Tampering with the straps of a marker's helmets is one of the dark arts in hurling and an ugly by-product of the mandatory wearing of them in the game. Aimed at disorientating a player, it might be sinister but is ultra-effective yet is rarely picked up by referees.

Give players an inch like that and they’ll snatch the proverbial mile.

But then this is also a game where throwing a hurley in the direction of an opponent is a yellow card. Such a desperate and cowardly act should be a red card offence.

As hurling advances further and further as a game, the adjudicating of its rules has remained static. With the ball being transferred as quickly as never before, referees are being asked to make precisely accurate decisions on tackles from sometimes 60 to 70 yards away. That is unfair on them and the players.

Whatever about football, there is most definitely an argument for the introduction of a second referee in hurling. Australian Rules has shown just how effective the two official policy can be. And theirs is a slower game.

The other explanation for the plethora of injuries is the lack of time managers have with their players to strengthen and condition them properly for the demands placed on them from the start of the league.

The month of January is not substantial enough to ensure they are right. Whether it is pre-season games like the Walsh Cup or the Waterford Crystal Trophy, there are always distractions and it wouldn’t be a stretch to say the strength and conditioning programmes are not only condensed but also rushed.

That’s no fault of the managers but the two-month inter-county training ban certainly impinges on getting their players right.

With the GAA’s medical, scientific and welfare committee and the GPA looking at recommending the introduction of a six to eight-week pre-season window before Christmas, players would be in a much safer position to take on the rigours of the season.

Of course, there will be those who say hurling’s the real man’s game. Injuries are collateral damage. Build a bridge, move on. But to suggest that would be doing the great game a disservice.

Hurling people have rightly criticised GAA experimental rule changes in the past which have lumped measures aimed at solving football’s ailments onto their game. The one-size-fits-all approach rarely works.

The more traditional of the two codes, hurling is also more cliquey and conservative and as a result its protagonists are adverse to change.

This writer isn’t suggesting anything should be done with the game per se. Hurling is an art-form that shouldn’t and doesn’t need to be sanitised.

A second referee wouldn’t damage the game. He would only do it justice.

 

Source: http://feeds.examiner.ie/~r/iesportsblog/~3/9zNp5U7ES9Q/post.aspx

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Anyone considered the possibility Ireland has found its natural level?

Under Discussion: Ireland's crucial Euro 2012 victory over Macedonia

Chatting are: Miguel Delaney, Ken Early, Tony Leen and Irish Examiner football correspondent Liam Mackey

Tony Leen, Irish Examiner sports editor: Maybe it's just me, but I was feeling rather upbeat after that Macedonia win on Saturday night. High tempo affair with its typical Irish flaws, but a good three points that puts us right back in the mix. I know that wasn't the mood of the wise men of Montrose afterwards, but...

Ken Early, Newstalk football corr: I think it was just you. Most of the players didn't seem that impressed. Glenn Whelan virtually issued an apology on behalf of the team

Miguel Delaney, football writer: While I don't want want to appear negative, the team hasn't progressed in three years. In fact, we've probably regressed since Paris. You could essentially take any Irish win from last three years, switch names and the narrative would be more or less identical to Saturday.

Tony Leen: On that Paris point, people have to stop using that night as a reference point as if it was the norm at the time. It was not, it was virtually an aberration.

Ken Early: Their goalkeeper was a gibbering wreck. He effectively threw in two goals. So we didn't put another shot on target. How hard can it be?

Miguel Delaney: To be gifted a two-goal lead, a poor calamity of a keeper and a Macedonian team that had all but given up and STILL be hanging on as early as half-time is an indictment.

Tony Leen: So we're back straight away into the style v substance debate. And before anyone goes off and says, why can't we have both...yes, but that will take time - a campaign or two - and a different manager because Trapattoni was, is, and will never be what we require in that regard. I'm thinking we need to get to to a major finals – quickly - to bring about that re-connect between the players and the Irish public. Cliche or no, the goal just before the break changed the whole dynamic. This is an Irish side relatively low on confidence, remember. Squeezing this one out will do a lot of good.

Ken Early: What is worrying is that it's always the same story. We score early, lose the plot, concede. Has management not analysed why this keeps happening?

Liam Mackey, Irish Examiner football correspondent: Agreed that this is an old problem. Give us the higher ground and we'll do our best to fall off. But there was one big difference Saturday compared to, say, when we went two up against Israel under Brian Kerr - Trapattoni's team actually got over the line with the three points intact. And while it was nerve-wracking for a spell, you couldn't exactly say we were hanging on at the end.

Ken Early: We were better after Fahey came on. Why? Because we weren't giving the ball away every three passes. He played centre midfield against Norway and was very good. He was then DROPPED from the next squad, and only got in as an afterthought. Logic? Also with Trap, he got annoyed on Friday when someone asked whether he might, just for once, ask the full-backs to push on a bit. He said he had never told his full-backs to play cautiously, cited Cabrini and Brehme as examples of attacking full-backs he's had.

Liam Mackey: Has anyone considered the possibility Ireland has found its natural level? That we're just about as good as the players at our disposal, regardless of tactics. In other words, a mid-ranking European team, not the potential world-beaters that, in common with the familiar hubris of English football, we seem to think we are?

Ken Early: Yes, but, the frustration comes from the fact we feel the team could play better and that some of the players who might help us do that can't get in the team. We know Kilbane can't play quick passing football. Maybe Ciaran Clark could. But Kilbane's place in the team is as constant as the northern star.

Miguel Delaney: I think this is the fundamental problem. Trapattoni - obviously one of the all-time greats - still has enough qualities to make us hard to beat and durable. But I think he's too out of touch to give us that bit extra. Russia's three-man midfield, for example, is likely to expose again in the game that really matters.

Tony Leen: So in the creative areas of the pitch, ie the forward six players, who should start a home game, and would it be different for an away game? If Fahey starts, you're presumably saying Gibson doesn't. Does Whelan retain the holding role? And what is the preferred back four, all being fit and not suspended?

Ken Early: We haven't got a really outstanding holding midfielder. Whelan seems to be the only one with the humility to actually do a disciplined job there, even if he's not technically brilliant. When Fahey was talking about his midfield performance in the Norway game, he said "holding isn't really my game". Trap seems to see McCarthy almost as a second striker. So I guess Whelan does stay.

Miguel Delaney: If our options in midfield are so poor then why does Trapattoni only play two there? It sums up his refusal to evolve, as well as his caution.

Ken Early: Clark will play against Uruguay Tuesday so we'll see what he can do. Maybe he's not Cabrini or Brehme. But we know as long as we are using Kilbane, we won't get much flowing football down that side, and we know as long as we use Robbie we will give it away in midfield. They're the choices Trap makes.

Miguel Delaney: A three-man midfield would give Trap the protection he offers as well as providing extra angles going forward

Ken Early: Robbie is the only player who scores, so dropping him seems unthinkable. But maybe he's the only player who scores because using him means the team can't retain possession to the point where other players get chances.

Miguel Delaney: You see it with so many teams where the balance starts to tilt. The big player carries them, but also because everything has to be built around him. At Real Madrid, they have that debate now over whether team actually plays better without Cristiano Ronaldo.

Ken Early: Which is a pity, because it would be great to have Keane in reserve if things weren't working. I think his attitude is a bit selfish. Then again, he's turned up and played more than a 100 games for Ireland. Maybe it's too much to ask him to accept a sub role.

Liam Mackey: Ah come off it. You can't drop Keane. For a guy who has had so little football recently, his reaction for the goal was vital. The problem for Ireland in terms of retaining possession is that that there's little or no guile in central midfield, the very part of the pitch which tends to dictate the shape of a game. I'd play McCarthy in there but I can't see that fitting with Trap's holding obsession.

Ken Early: Trapattoni often compares Keane to Totti. But he's not really like him at all. Totti combines really well with team-mates coming from midfield. There was a moment Saturday when McGeady took a pass down on the left touchline. He tried to pass it forward to Keane. But Keane was running away from him, ahead of the ball. On RTE, McGeady got slated for playing a poor pass. But Keane's movement left him isolated. If he was the kind of player who dropped into midfield and helped to link play, then our system might work. Trap's "Totti" comparison suggests this is what he has in mind. But that's not what Keane is and it's not what he does. He's an old-fashioned kind of goalscorer who finishes moves off.

Tony Leen: Donal Lenihan is a great one for telling me that hacks never have to pick a team, so call it now. Midfield, four or five, as I asked.

Ken Early: Duff and McGeady for sure, then I'd like to see Whelan, Fahey, McCarthy

Tony Leen: With Keane or Doyle up top on his own? Or are you playing three at the back?

Miguel Delaney: On a related issue, what a pity David Meyler has had such trouble because he looks a real midfielder. I'd love to see 4-2-3-1, Whelan and a passer - so Fahey, with McCarthy ahead. And Doyle up front because these days he offers more than Robbie.

Tony Leen: And the back three or four?

Miguel Delaney: Coleman at right-back, but that's a pipe dream at present.

Ken Early: I'd go Clark, O'Shea, Dunne, Coleman

Liam Mackey: For Macedonia? Foley, O'Shea, St Ledger, Clark but Trap will stick with Kilbane - and, away from home, he has a case.

Ken Early: I don't get it. What is Kilbane doing that Clark can't? With Foley/Coleman, I can see the case for using Foley - I just want to get Coleman in the team, but I wouldn't pick him ahead of McGeady or Duff yet.

Tony Leen: Clark, O'Shea, Dunne, Coleman? Maybe for the 2014 campaign! We're elevating Ciaran Clark and he's still a rookie, with 24 first team games for Villa. Away from home, asking for trouble.

Ken Early: We haven't been shy of using young players in the past when they've been good enough. Steve Staunton was our first choice left-back at what, 19? Robbie Keane was first choice at 18. Ashley Cole, he was playing for England at 20 wasn't he? So why not Clark, when the player he'd be replacing is 34 and not even playing left back for his club?

Tony Leen: Stop, please. Don't put Cole and Clark in the same sentence. Ye're going Ciaran Clark more on the basis of Kilbane than the youngster's readiness? Anyway, how is the group shaping up now? Makes the June trip to Skopje really interesting now. Three points there and....

Miguel Delaney: Funny, that's where Trap deserves credit; he's good at negotiating results on tricky trips. However I'l think we'll gt undone in Moscow.

Ken Early: I think we will only draw in Macedonia when we really need to win. As for Moscow, I think Russia have lost only three home qualifiers since the Second World War. However two of those were in the last two years, to Germany and Slovakia.

Miguel Delaney: And the manner the Russians undid us in October worries me. What about Slovakia at Lansdowne?

Ken Early: We should beat them. If we don't, maybe it's best that we don't go to the Euros. I have seen Slovakia play a number of times between this group and the World Cup. They are no better than us. At home we have to beat them.

 

 

 

 

 

Source: http://feeds.examiner.ie/~r/iesportsblog/~3/SAv5cFAjGTk/post.aspx

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Arsonist who risked lives of three people sent to prison

An arsonist who endangered the lives of three people when a fire he started spread to a house has been jailed for six years.

Luke Simon Herald started another blaze outside a village pub on the same night.

The 23-year-old went on the arson spree after drinking and taking drugs following a row with his ex-girlfriend.

He pleaded guilty to arson, recklessly endangering lives, at a house in Devitt Way, Broughton Astley, where a kitchen was fire-damaged and the upstairs smoke-damaged.

He used a bottle of petrol to set fire to a van, which spread to a car parked next to the affected property.

Three occupants of the house escaped unhurt after a neighbour spotted the fire and alerted them.

Herald also admitted arson, recklessly endangering lives, at the Dunton Bassett Arms, in the village, on October 31 last year.

Herald, formerly of Bushnell Close, Broughton Astley, further admitted taking an MG ZS car without consent and driving it when disqualified, in Devitt Way, on the same night. He was banned from driving for five years.

Sentencing at Leicester Crown Court, Recorder Lynn Tayton QC said: "You had an argument with your ex-girlfriend and became upset in the early hours of the morning.

"You went to the home of a friend, with whom you were staying, and you took drink and drugs and brooded and became very angry.

"You then decided to take revenge on two men who you thought were interfering with your relationship.

"You took the keys of a car of someone staying at the house, without their consent.

"You then took two pop bottles to a petrol station and filled them up.

"At the Dunton Bassett Arms, you put a rag in one of the bottles and set a fire under one of the windows in front of the pub, which was occupied.

"You drove to a private address, in Devitt Way, where another man lived and where three people were staying in the house that night.

"Two vehicles were parked outside very close to the side of the house.

"Using the other pop bottle, you lit it and put it under the van which spread to a car and the house.

"The fire quickly took hold.

"These were two planned arson attacks, carried out in revenge, aimed at individuals."

Herald, who regretted his offending, voluntarily gave himself up to the police and confessed.

James House, in mitigation, said at the age of 11, Herald suffered a devastating loss when several members of his family, including his younger brother, all died in an accident.

He said the defendant was suffering from depression at the time and said: "The fact he was in drink and under the influence of drugs doesn't help him at all.

"He recognises these are very grave matters."

Source: http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/32715/f/503348/s/13a42f6a/l/0L0Sthisisleicestershire0O0Cnews0CArsonist0Erisked0Elives0Epeople0Esent0Eprison0Carticle0E33770A0A90Edetail0Carticle0Bhtml/story01.htm

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Down and Tyrone epic could cost them title

FORMER Tyrone footballer turned pundit Noel McGinn fears the county’s U21 teams as well as Down’s could miss out on reaching the Ulster final after two epic quarter-final draws.

The sides face into a third game next week after they couldn’t be separated after extra-time in the first replay Wednesday night in Omagh.

All in all, it will take at least 180 minutes of football to decide the affair, with the second replay now set to take place in Armagh, and McGinn is concerned the pugilism may affect their provincial chances.

“It could affect them, there’s no doubt about that,” said the ex-Red Hand centre-back. “These are two of the most physical U21 teams I have seen in a long time.

“Tyrone were on the ropes, came off them then went back on them. The players on both teams were out on their feet by the end of it, like two old sluggers and ultimately it came down to each avoiding mistakes that would cost them the game.

“Each side were using, for want of a better expression, cynical tactics, playing right on the edge. But it could take so much out of them.

“On the other hand, Monaghan are awaiting the winners in the semi-final but it’s difficult not knowing your opponents.

“As we saw with Tyrone’s seniors in 2005, nothing compares you for football like more football. But this is a different level.”

McGinn wasn’t surprised things would be tight. Several on each side were familiar with one another at minor level.

“A lot of these guys were on the minor teams of 2008 when Tyrone came back to win late in the game. They are so closely matched it’s difficult to call who will win the next day.

“The likes of Kyle Coney and Peter Harte have been great for Tyrone but Down have some super footballers like Conor Poland and Anton McArdle. The midfielder McArdle mightn’t be the most skilful player but he has such a great attitude.

“I would give anything for him to be a team of mine. There was a time near the end of the last game when he ran 50 yards back to track Peter Harte and Harte is no slouch.

“This tie has had it all. The Tyrone goalkeeper out injured then the sub keeper getting hurt then the injured full-forward being put in goal. Unbelievable stuff.

“My son was talking about the Champions League the other day but soccer has nothing on what these young boys have given over the last couple of weeks.”

McGinn believes the games has caught the imagination of people in both counties.

“The games have had people talking and they’ve created a buzz. You could feel the tension towards the end when there was four minutes of injury-time in normal time and Tyrone were down by a point. It took an incredibly confident strike by Kyle Coney to level things up but thank God he did it.”

The game certainly grabbed the attention of Tyrone GAA surfers. The county’s supporters website, www.teamtalkmag.com which McGinn contributes to, reported 6,000 page impressions on Wednesday night.

Source: http://feeds.examiner.ie/~r/iesportsblog/~3/ONzW4ZEy5jY/post.aspx

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NTA rejects Buhari?s campaign advert

The Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) yesterday rejected the campaign jingle of the presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) General Muhammadu Buhari on grounds that it contained messages that were offensive to the government.

Source: http://dailytrust.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=14848:nta-rejects-buharis-campaign-advert&catid=2:lead-stories&Itemid=8

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Tua adds beef for King

by Duncan Johnstone

David Tua has bulked up for what could be a punishing night against big American Demetrice King in their heavyweight boxing clash in Manukau tomorrow night.

Tua has been about 102kg for his past three fights. There is talk he could be more than 110kg when he hits the scales at the official weigh-in at the fight venue tomorrow afternoon.

Source: http://www.samoaobserver.ws/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=32050:tua-adds&catid=34:sports&Itemid=54

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