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OUR VALLEY | ||||||||||
| News Headlines | ||||||||||
| MP
battles to safeguard jobs CYNON Valley MP Ann Clwyd...... | ||||||||||
| 'Critics
lost the plot' say gardeners GARDENERS at Penywaun........ | ||||||||||
| Burning
issue for the economy Black Gold, which was once..... | ||||||||||
| Carnival
is saved by cash injection from council ABERDARE Carnival is back on track..... | ||||||||||
| Other News | ||||||||||
See
H's new scary side! PEOPLE under community service orders will spend time cleaning up forestry land and creating fire-breaks as part of a new drive towards Restorative Justice. This scheme forms part of Operation Pitman III, launched by South Wales Police and community safety partners to tackle grass fires, scrambler bike nuisance and countryside crime this summer. Last year Rhondda Cynon Taff had the highest number of deliberately started fires in Wales, causing thousands of pounds worth of damage to property and the environment. This is a new element to our long-term partnership approach to reducing the risk of fires and criminal damage, said Sergeant Richard Gardiner, head of Operation Pitman. By using people on community service to clear up problem areas they are less easily targeted by fire setters and arsonists and the devastating effects these fires have on the countryside and its wildlife can be reduced, he said. We also reduce the risk to peoples lives and property and the thousands of pounds spent on tackling these blazes. The scheme forms part of the new drive towards restorative justice. Operation Pitman will see dozens of uniformed and plain clothes officers and staff from other agencies - some with off-road vehicles, mountain bikes and some mounted officers - take to anti-social behaviour and biking hotspots in the hillsides and forestry around Cynon Valley and Merthyr Tydfil in the next few weeks. They
will tackle issues such as off-road bikes, abandoned vehicles, criminal damage
to property, fly-tipping and arson that destroy the peace and natural environment
of these areas. THIS aint no ordinary dummy it is Europes first human patient simulator and its helping to train Taff Ely medics. The University of Glamorgan is home to theiStan, which is helping trainee medical professionals gain as close to real-life experience of treating a patient as possible without working on the real thing. Based at the Faculty of Health, Sport and Science at the University, iStan is a revolutionary development. Designed from the inside out, iStan has a human-like skeletal structure that provides true-to-life articulated motion. Spine, neck, arms and hips all move with life-like accuracy. Modelled from a unique cast of a real person, the skin acts, looks and feels like real human skin. Students at Glamorgan will be the first in the UK to have access to this form of training, which will prepare them in a unique way for their careers in the medical profession. iStan is located in the Glamorgan Clinical Simulation Centre. In 2005 the centre became the first in Wales to acquire the highly-sophisticated Human Patient Simulator or HPS from US based Medical Education Technologies Inc (METI). The HPS is one of the worlds most advanced tools for teaching and hands on training for health professionals. The iStan is the latest version of this impressive technology. Professor
Donna Mead, Dean of Faculty of Health, Sport and Science, said: iStan will
be a key resource for our centre and will take simulation training for health
professionals to a new and exciting level of realism. MAXIMISING the disposable income of older people has been listed as one of the priorities for Rhondda Cynon Taf council. Council leader Russell Roberts said this can be the key to unlocking a range of options and opportunities for people to enjoy a better quality of life. He added that the councils strategy for older people outlines these aims. Coun Roberts said: In 2004 an older persons welfare rights project was established which offers a free Welfare Benefit advisory service to anyone in Rhondda Cynon Taff over the age of 50. Since its start this project has generated £4.5m of additional income to older people in the borough. The service operates home visits to ensure equal access for people who are housebound and has also been targeted at people such as blue badge holders, community first groups, and those known to community care and carers. In
addition to this project the community care division of the council funds an age
concern scheme that operates a similar welfare benefit advice scheme for people
over the age of 60 and this scheme has also been successful in generating significant
additional income for older people. TAXPAYERS in the South Wales Valleys fork out more than £250 each a year covering the cost of crime, new figures reveal. A single incident of violence against a person - which includes crimes like murder and serious assault - costs the public £166 per person. The alarming new statistics have been produced by The Taxpayers Alliance, an organisation that campaigns for lower taxes. It calculated the cost by dividing South Wales Polices total expenditure on crime with the number of people living in the forces area. Total cost per person per year for people living in the South Wales Police force area in 2007 was £267. This breaks down as: violence against a person £166, common assault £4.12, sexual offences £27.69, robbery and mugging £4.84, burglary from a home £5.24, theft £15.23, criminal damage £21.59, burglary not from a home £20.98, theft from a shop 72p and till snatches 60p. Average cost per person per year throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland was £275, totalling more than £15bn. The cost of crime for the neighbouring Gwent constabulary was even higher at £329.63 for 2007, with each violence against the person costing £210.44. Matthew Sinclair, policy analyst at the TaxPayers Alliance, said: Every one of us pays a steep price for high crime rates particularly those living in urban areas. Whether we have been victims of crime, are afraid to go out at night or are just paying ever more to protect and insure ourselves and our property, crime has significant economic, emotional and social costs for us all, he said. Jon Trew, national
officer for Victim Support Wales, said: While these statistics make for
interesting reading, it is very difficult to put the cost of crime down into figures.
The physical and emotional damage is not the sort of thing you can work out. PLANS for a new hospital in Mountain Ash have been approved as the Welsh Assembly Government said it will foot the £66m bill. Welsh health minister Edwina Hart said building work on the site can finally go ahead. The plans for the new hospital will include a £10m 16-chair dental unit, which will provide NHS dentistry for around 10,000 people in the area. The new Cynon Valley hospital will be built with single en-suite patient rooms. It is understood that half of the 128 beds will be in single rooms, with the remainder in single-sex wards. The hospital will also include a new midwife-led birth centre and a nurse-practitioner-led minor injuries unit, which will be located next to the GPs out-of-hours service. There will also be access to mental health and palliative care services and to X-ray and ultrasound to help speed up diagnosis for patients, as well as keeping healthcare as local as possible. The new Mountain Ash hospital will improve access to healthcare services locally for patients, said Mrs Hart. It will have access to diagnostic tests, maternity services and minor injuries unit, reducing the need for people to travel for treatment. The money for the
new hospital, announced on the 60th anniversary of the NHS, is part of a £100m-plus
investment in new equipment and buildings in North and South Wales. IF YOU can help inspire wayward young people at a vulnerable time, the foster services would like to hear from you. An urgent appeal is being made for carers to provide safe short-term placements for 10- to 17-year-olds who have committed an offence and are waiting to be dealt with by the courts. It sounds daunting, but the role of Remand Foster Caring comes with full training and support, and gives you the chance to transform a young life. Youth Offending Service chief Andrew Gwynn said: The offer of a bed to a young person who is in trouble and, for a variety of reasons, cannot return to their own home, can be a turning point in a young persons life. Being a remand foster carer is a way of making a real difference, providing a safe, positive family environment - often for the first time in a young persons life. Councillor Annette Davies said: Often, these young people have never known the foundation of family life that many of us take for granted, and find themselves at a crisis point when they commit and offence. It is at that point the foster carers can step in and change their future course. Remand Foster Care placements are short-term, and volunteers are paid a fortnightly allowance. To find out more about remand fostering and other specialist care schemes, call 01443 827300. | ||||||||||
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