Swansea's Singleton Hospital closes kitchen after cockroach infestation
The health board added no patient meals have been impacted.The dining room and coffee shop on site remain open, it said, with food produced off site or purchased from alternative suppliers.
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BBC News
18 minutes ago
- BBC News
Baby loss certificate: 'This will mean so much to the parents of Northern Ireland'
Women who lost pregnancies before 24 weeks have said a baby loss certificate will be a "powerful symbol of validation for the grief that parents are going through". Currently in Northern Ireland, the death of a baby after 24 weeks is officially recorded as a stillbirth but there is no formal recognition of loss before 24 weeks, as there is in finance minister has said it is his intention to introduce a similar scheme in Northern Ireland before the end of the year and a public consultation seeking views from bereaved parents has received more than 540 responses. He is keen to hear from as many people as possible, before it closes in September. This article contains themes and images of baby loss, which some people may find distressing. BBC News NI has spoken to three bereaved women about their experiences. Selina Casey, from Kilrea in County Londonderry, was prompted to set up the White Butterfly Foundation to help other parents when she found support was lacking after her own story starts in February 2021, when she was pregnant with her third arrived to an appointment at 18 weeks, "just assuming everything would be grand", but was told her baby had no heartbeat."I was told: 'You're going to have to take medication and come in and deliver your son'," she days later, she delivered her son after a 12-hour labour at the Causeway Hospital."I left the hospital the next day with him and a leaflet," she added. 'We want to talk about our baby and call them by their name' Her charity was set up "for bereaved parents, by bereaved parents"."I remember leaving the hospital and feeling like I had nothing to remember my child," she said. She said her child has a grave but she has "no certificate for him and nothing else to say that he was here". "These certificates are going to mean so much to the parents of Northern Ireland," she added. "Not that we ever want to have a hierarchy of grief, but there are different feelings that come at different stages of pregnancy loss. At the earlier stages, prior to 24 weeks, there can be feelings of invalidation, feelings of: 'I don't have a right to grieve here'."Parents can feel silenced."She always tells families: "Please don't stop talking. We always want to talk about our baby and call them by their name if they have been named." Since the foundation opened, there have been referrals every day from health trusts and those she wishes the certificates had been brought in sooner, it's a "massively positive step forward" and, hopefully, a "stepping stone" to more support rolled out in all trust areas. 'The lack of recognition impacts your grief' Leah O'Hara "100% welcomes the certificates" but agrees that they are just one step in getting more support and legal nurse, from Bangor in County Down, lives with her husband James and daughter, eight-year-old three early pregnancy losses, last year she and James lost baby Jacob at 22 weeks. "He was born, I gave birth to him and there was nothing to recognise that he existed - he was a baby - but he was born two weeks before the cut off," she told BBC News NI. The family was able to bring him home for five days. "The lack of recognition impacts your grief. I had so much anger that our baby was not recognised. You just want their name and story told."The only certificate we have for Jacob is a cremation certificate."Leah hopes the certificate will be a step towards the issue being more openly spoken about."Sometimes such losses are overlooked because people haven't met the baby or know the baby - but you know the baby."It's a much longed for, loved baby already."Chatting to other mums in a group set up by Lurgan-based charity Little Forget Me Nots Trust has helped."Speaking to people who resonate with me and just know exactly how you feel has been amazing," she has benefitted from their programme for siblings."She was struggling with the fact that everyone in school had brothers and sisters and she didn't know how to mention her brother." Louise Taylor, from Portadown in County Armagh, founded the charity and said the certificate scheme is "so needed". She said goodbye to her son, Ruben, 10 years ago, and while there was support, it was not the support she felt she needed."Everything was so dark and so gloomy," she said."I really needed to help to figure out a way to find the light again. "I had another little girl at home and I struggled to parent her. I was back at work, completely oblivious that the grief was consuming me."Now she's "using this darkness" to help other families. Five years ago, when her father asked her to take over the family funeral directing business, she wanted to incorporate charity support."I couldn't process saying goodbye to a child and helping a parent say goodbye to the child, then letting them off into the community," she said."When somebody comes in through the door, after we've helped them say goodbye, in a few months through the darkness we pass on the baton to the charity so that the family is not left in the wilderness with nowhere to go."The programmes are "parent-led, trauma-informed and support these mummies and daddies in the darkness".One such group is for mums, using crafts, which keep hands busy while "blending it in with an element of understanding how our brain is processing this"."The most important thing is to let them know that it's OK if they feel like this and other people around this table feel like this."Her team hopes to roll out a similar group for fathers. Louise said 10 years ago she would have loved a certificate."This is about validating the grief of these mummies and daddies - putting it in stone that this wee person existed," she said."I don't think people realise what a woman goes through to say goodbye to her baby." What about leave from work? In England, there are plans for parents who experience a miscarriage before 24 weeks of pregnancy to be entitled to bereavement women said they would like to see similar coming into Northern Ireland."I spoke recently to a woman who has had multiple miscarriages and she was asked to provide medical evidence of that," Selina has been off work since the heartbreak of losing baby Jacob."If Jacob had been born two weeks later I would have been entitled to maternity leave," she would also like help for self-employed parents, like her husband. Should it be applied retrospectively? The women would also support the certificate scheme being applied said she would get four certificates."We didn't name our other babies – as they were before 12 weeks but a loss is a loss."I think back dating it would help a lot of families." Who is the scheme open to? The scheme will be open to parents who have experienced the loss of a baby in the first 24 weeks of consultation runs until 12 September. If any these issues have affected you, details of help and advice are available on the BBC Action Line website.
The Guardian
18 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Ministers urged to guarantee NHS jobs for new midwives amid understaffing
A student midwife who fears she will be unable to get a job after completing 2,300 hours of unpaid placement work in the NHS is calling for guaranteed posts for newly qualified midwives who otherwise will be forced to abandon the profession before their careers begin. Aimee Peach, 43, is due to complete her training next summer, but says the promise of a job at the end of her three-year degree course has 'collapsed', despite severe shortages of midwives across the country. 'It is a waste of talent, training and public money, and the consequences will be felt by families across the country,' she said. 'There are so many of us that just want to work as midwives after three years of gruelling training, but we're having to face the fact that, after all this, there may be only a handful of jobs available.' Last month, a survey by the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) found that eight out of 10 student midwives due to qualify this year were not confident of finding a job after graduating despite understaffing in maternity care. Some services have had to close temporarily due to unsafe levels of staffing. According to the RCM, funding cuts and recruitment freezes have tied the hands of midwifery managers who are desperate to hire staff. Fiona Gibb, the RCM's director of midwifery, said: 'Report after report cites understaffing as a factor in the delivery of safe care, and midwives consistently share with us that there are too few of them to deliver the best care they know they can. 'Despite this, midwifery graduates face uncertainty, with too few vacancies for them to begin work upon qualification … The new midwives who are now ready are finding that the jobs simply aren't there.' Peach, from Bridgwater, Somerset, has combined academic study with on-the-job training and caring for her three children since beginning her midwifery degree. Student midwives must complete 2,300 hours of work placements and deliver 40 babies to qualify. She had hoped the qualification would lead to a higher household income and good career prospects as well as pursuing her commitment to improving women's experience of pregnancy and birth. 'It's been a pretty hard couple of years, both physically and mentally, but I had a goal in sight. No one chooses midwifery to have a comfortable job – you have to have a passion for it,' she said. That passion helped her through unpaid 12-hour shifts, sometimes at night. On occasion she has slept in the back of her car on her placement more than 80 miles from her home. 'After all this, we now face the scary prospect that we might not get jobs.' Earlier this month, Peach wrote to her MP, Ashley Fox, to draw his attention to the problem. 'A recent national search for band 5 [newly qualified] midwifery roles revealed just four vacancies across England despite an estimated national shortage of over 2,500 midwives,' she wrote. 'I have witnessed first-hand the consequences of understaffing and burnout in maternity services, yet thousands of qualified professionals are unable to secure employment. There is no shortage of qualified midwives, only a shortage of funded positions.' Peach asked Fox to back a call for guaranteed NHS jobs for newly qualified midwives, increased funding for maternity services and for student debt to be cancelled for healthcare workers who complete five years of continuous NHS service. Fox replied saying he would seek an opportunity to raise the matter in parliament. Gibb said: 'Having enough midwives, in the right places, with the right skills and training is fundamental to the safety improvements that are desperately needed across maternity services. 'We are calling on all four national UK governments to review their midwifery workforce planning approach and call a halt to the recruitment freezes that are preventing women and their families from receiving the care they need and deserve.' A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said: 'Student nurses and midwives like Aimee are our future workforce and it is unacceptable that they are unable to find roles. 'NHS England has set up a dedicated programme of work with employers, educators and trade unions to address this. 'We will revise the workforce plan later this year, to ensure the NHS has the right people in the right place, with the right skills to deliver the care patients need.'
Sky News
2 hours ago
- Sky News
Mother of baby with spinal muscular atrophy wants all newborns to be tested for it
The mother of baby boy, who had 22 medical appointments with nine different doctors before being diagnosed with a rare genetic condition, wants all newborns to be tested for it. Chester was eight months old when his parents were finally told the condition that meant he couldn't swallow or move his legs and left him constantly distressed was spinal muscular atrophy, or SMA. But it's a delay that will have a lifelong impact. "He still can't hold his head up," said his mum, Kasey Mumford. "If he'd been diagnosed by the heel prick test at like three or five days old, he could have started medication straight away, because there's a treatment for it, there are three different types of treatment, but there's no cure. He will never not have this." Chester is nearly one now, but needs a ventilator at night to breathe. But SMA isn't one of the 10 rare illnesses that newborn babies are currently tested for in the UK, unlike in the US and much of Europe. Dr Vasantha Gowda, a consultant paediatric neurologist at London's St Thomas' Hospital, says clinicians from other countries are "all shocked that we don't have newborn screening for SMA". "If we treat these children early, there is a possibility that… they would walk, run, climb, play. They would not need any support for breathing. They would need no support for feeding," she said. "We know there's a potential to deliver this if the condition is picked up at the earliest possible stage." SMA causes irreversible loss of motor neurons, which affects muscle function. Nine out of 10 will either die before they're two or rely on a ventilator for life. And when 2,000 parents were surveyed recently, 90% said they'd want to know as soon as possible if their child had SMA. Four in every five wanted screening implemented immediately, and the same proportion considered the £5 cost per test good value. The lack of testing for the condition is, according to the chief executive of the charity SMA UK, "unethical". "The new 10-year NHS plan has highlighted that prevention is a key pillar," said Giles Lomax. "Newborn screening for SMA is essentially a very quick and easy win to align to that pillar. "We've got the treatments there, we've got pathways, we have the expertise, we could make prevention for SMA a thing right now." New therapies have been developed since SMA was last considered for inclusion, and in 2023, the UK National Screening Committee agreed to review the decision. A large-scale study is now under way and the different governments across the UK have said they'll be guidedby the advisory body's recommendations. But Chester's mum is clear that it must be included as "every single second counts" when it comes to receiving treatment. Instead, for Kasey and her partner, Dylan, there will always be that uncertainty about what might have been had their boy been diagnosed sooner.
