Health Professionals caring for cancer patients in Wales are being e-enabled with the launch of an advice service they can access at the touch of a button. The new Professional E Direct website has been officially launched to give them reputable and up to date information almost instantly.The Welsh Assembly’s Health and Social Services Minister, Jane Hutt, praised all those involved with the development of the website, which will allow health professionals from around Wales to e-mail requests for information about palliative care. They will then be sent an electronic reply referring them to a review text or to the palliative medicine guidelines.

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The authors of a new study are warning that regional government in England could end up regulating local councils as much as Whitehall does and they are urging councils to make sure they get the best deal for local people in areas where elected regional assemblies are given the go-ahead following referendums scheduled for the autumn.The report, commissioned by the Local Government Association and the County Councils Network has been published as the government prepares its draft bill on elected regional assemblies.

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The Government’s Strategy for Restorative Justice includes the setting up of a group of stakeholders to advise on the future of training and accreditation. This document sets out the findings of the group on the essential knowledge and skills that all restorative practitioners need to be able to demonstrate in order to be safe and fully competent in their work. It describes how practitioners can offer a range of restorative processes to participants and how to develop an agreed approach to the accreditation of restorative practitioners across all professions and sectors. It is expected that the definition of best practice formulated by the stakeholder group will inform the development of national occupational standards. The definition includes: managing and assessing risk in restorative processes, selecting a restorative process appropriate to the particular case, skills needed for indirect restorative processes and follow up after restorative contact.The guidance is published by the Home Office. http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/docs3/bestpracticeforrestorativepractitioners.pdf

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