Over the past decade in England and Wales, over two thousand people have died in care homes or hospitals while dehydrated or malnourished. Charities and politicians have expressed outrage. Some of these deaths are due to neglect, which should end – but unjustly blaming staff or managers when patients die for other reasons should also be avoided.
A report on why Mid Staffordshire hospital failings went unchecked for so long makes important points. Robert Francis QC, who led the inquiry, avoided the temptation to blame all that went wrong on a few people who could then be punished, or call for yet another round of reorganisation. Instead he revealed disturbing flaws in the culture of the NHS and other agencies linked with health and social care.
Government plans for regional pay in the public sector are unfair and would be bad for NHS patients and pupils in poorer areas, according to polling published by the TUC.
Chaplaincy teams in the National Health Service are good value and bring added benefits and resources to clinical treatment, say health specialists responding to a call to stop their official funding.
The National Secular Society wants to end taxpayer funding for chaplaincy in the NHS. Matt Wardman subjects the figures to scrutiny, and is left with a lot of questions.
It can be hard to quantify the benefit of having chaplains, says Mark Vernon. Their work is not amenable to a cost-benefit analysis. But that does not mean it has no value or effect, just that it has to be assessed in human rather than statistical terms.
Churches and religious organisations should fund chaplaincy and spiritual care in the National Health Service instead of the taxpayer, says the National Secular Society.
Following an Israeli-Hamas ceasefire in Gaza, Palestinians are only beginning to realise the scope of their losses from a three-week Israeli onslaught, says the director of the Anglican Al Ahli Arab Hospital.
Doopsgezind WereldWerk, the Dutch Mennonite Organization for Solidarity and Peace has been sending shipments of medical supplies and hospital equipment on to hospitals in Shirati and Mugumu in Tanzania, pioneering health care institutions.