Doctors dilemma as fit note replaces sick note

By Roland Gribben Published: 10:07AM GMT twenty-five February 2010

The fit note replaces the quarrelsome "sickie" or ill note and gives GPs an additional preference in determining either an particular can lapse to work.

Union leaders are additionally sounding warnings about a little of the implications.

The fit note replaces the quarrelsome "sickie" or ill note and gives GPs an additional preference in determining either an particular can lapse to work.

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At benefaction the ill note criticism is singular to "unfit for work" but from Apr 6 doctors will have a choice. The particular might be "unfit for work" or "may be fit for work".

Providing an additional preference equates to doctors will be means to suggest employers that the worker would be means to lapse to work if proxy arrangements such as marked down hours, changes to duties and responsibilities or relocating bureau can be supposing to take comment of the actuality that the particular is not entirely fit to resume a normal operative life.

The Government has consulted employers and the healing contention in attempting to tweak the manners to yield some-more flexibility.

The ill note has been a prolonged using headache for all parties. GPs have been indicted of being an "easy touch" in on condition that notes. Employers protest about problems combined by employees with prolonged spells of sickness-related absenteeism. Employees contend GPs are mostly unpleasant to highlight associated and alternative illnesses. The cost to the economy is huge. Absenteeism by illness is estimated to cost the economy �100bn a year and there is a little warn that the foresee of assets from the changes is so modest.

"The changes are not about perplexing to get people behind to work prior to they are ready but about stealing the hurdles to them returning," says superintendence records constructed for employers by the Work and Pensions department.

Doctors, by the British Medical Association, have since competent support. Their regard is that a miss of believe on the piece of the GP about an individual"s work sourroundings will have it formidable to take a perspective on either the worker "may be fit for work" and the BMA wants a little submit from occupational advisers concerned in the process.

The TUC has released superintendence to unions, indicating out that since most employers do not have sufficient occupational health recommendation to exercise recommendations from GPs, kinship member in the workplace will have a "key purpose in ancillary people where the alloy recomends an early lapse to work might be possible".

In cases where employees remonstrate with their GP, the TUC advises them to find a second perspective or speak to their kinship representative. If employers destroy to have changes to house a phased lapse to work the TUC says the worker should stay at home.

The TUC additionally suggests employees should find kinship recommendation if they find themselves in a incident where they determine with their GP about a lapse to work but do not think their employer has left far sufficient to cope with their limitations.

Attempts by employers to compare marked down duties with marked down compensate should be resisted, says the TUC. Employees should be in use underneath the same conditions they enjoyed prior to going on the ill list with modifications to assistance the passing from one to another behind to work.,

The TUC says that if employers see the changes as a "green light to force workers behind to work prior to they are well sufficient to return, in the prolonged run it will usually lead to increasing illness deficiency and nonessential conflict".

Soup from high street food chains contains more salt than an adults daily allowance

Published: 7:30AM GMT twenty-five February 2010

Popular domicile brands are mostly no healthier, with manufacturers still a prolonged approach from assembly salt rebate targets, Consensus Action on Salt and Health (Cash) said.

The investigate found 99% of the soups contained some-more salt per apportionment than a parcel of crisps, a entertain unsuccessful to encounter the 2010 Food Standards Agency normal intentional targets and usually 6% could be marked down immature formed on the trade light labelling system.

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Cash surveyed 575 ready-to-eat soups from high travel bondage Eat, Caffe Nero and Pret a Manger as well as branded and own-label varieties from all the vital supermarkets.

Some Eat soups contained ""astoundingly high"" amounts of salt, with 10 products carrying some-more than the stream every day limit letter of reference of 6g.

Eat"s largest Bold Thai Green Chicken Curry contained 8.070g of salt per 32oz/907g portion, the same volume as scarcely 3 Big Macs with fries.

The same soup in the smallest distance contained 2.815g per 12oz/340g portion, scarcely half of the every day letter of reference and still some-more than a Big Mac and fries.

Caffe Nero"s customary distance organic carrot and coriander soup contained 3.6g of salt, some-more than three-and-a-half times that of the lowest takeaway soup - a Malaysian duck soup from Pret A Manger at 1.0g per portion.

New Covent Garden Scotch Broth contained the top volume of salt between the supermarket brands at 2.4g per 300g portion, the homogeneous of scarcely five packets of crisps. Tideford Organics Moroccan Vegetable contained the lowest volume at 0.44g per 300g portion.

The investigate found a 17% rebate in salt in ready-to-eat soup ranges given the last consult in 2007.

However vital brands were stability to loiter behind, with a sum of twenty-three supermarket products containing 2g or some-more salt per portion, eighteen of these from heading brands together with Heinz, New Covent Garden and Batchelors.

The supermarkets met 2010 targets in 93% of cases, whilst the branded products trailed with 66% assembly targets.

Cash mouthpiece Katharine Jenner said: ""People lend towards to think salt is usually in crisps, snacks and ready meals. But this consult shows outrageous amounts of salt can be dark in clearly full of health choices such as soup.

""While there are still soups being made with unequivocally high levels of dark salt it is tough for us to cut down the salt money coming in to less than 6g of salt a day from the stream normal of 8.6g a day.

""We urge manufacturers to revoke their salt calm immediately.""

Professor Graham MacGregor, of the Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry and authority of Cash, said: ""The infancy of the food industry is solemnly receiving out the salt from food, together with these soups. We praise the swell so far, however they haven"t left far sufficient if we are to save the limit series of lives.

""This consult shows that a little companies are not co-operating. The open should protest these products so we don"t have to review to legislation.""

Unions deny split over BA crew payments

By Alistair Osborne Published: 6:15AM GMT twenty-five February 2010

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British Airways

The conduit has told Unite, the kinship representing 12,000 cabin crew, that it wants to reinstate the stream complement with a prosaic monthly payment.

Such a shift would give all organisation the same total stealing the stream hierarchy of allowances where "plum" trips capture higher one-off payments.

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The offer has exacerbated tensions in in in in in between organisation members, whose allegiances to opposite wings of Unite were remarkable last week in a High Court judgment, that referred to a "heated argument" in in in in in between the dual camps.

Under the stream stipend system, organisation embrace opposite payments in further to their simple income depending on the generation of the trip. Crew drifting the four-day round-trip from Heathrow to Tokyo get allowances of �935, whilst a six-day lapse to Shanghai pays �866 and five days to Hong Kong �798. By contrast, 3 days to Mumbai, Delhi and Cairo pays �100.

While all road house losses are paid for by BA, alternative costs together with dishes are lonesome by allowances. Main organisation drifting long-haul from Heathrow embrace an normal �16,287 allowances on tip of their �18,693 simple pay. Senior cabin services directors get �18,319 allowances on tip of their �38,006 pay.

Under BA"s due change, the monthly remuneration would not be track specific, though organisation would get a comparatively small apart dishes allowance.

The offer is well known to have irritated comparison crew, who fly some-more of the majority sought-after trips. They are additionally endangered at BA"s plans to occupy new organisation when the aviation marketplace improves on worse terms, desiring they will progressively get some-more of the work.

Tensions in in in in in between organisation members were remarkable last Friday by Sir Christopher Holland in his statute that BA did not mangle organisation contracts last Nov when it cut the series of moody attendants on long-haul trips from fifteen to 14.

The decider highlighted groups in in in in in between the British Airways Stewards and Stewardesses Association (Bassa), that was prior to piece of the Transport & General Workers Union (TGWU), and a breakaway organisation Cabin Crew 89, formerly piece of Amicus.

The TGWU and Amicus amalgamated to form Unite. "Ostensibly illustration is by this singular union," the decider said, prior to cautioning that "the old allegiances have hold sway, creation from time to time, mutual rivalry, feeling and mistrust".

He remarkable that, on Jun 15, whilst holding negotiations with BA, "Bassa had a exhilarated justification with Amicus and refused to co-operate".

The decider additionally forked to justification that in the autumn, when conciliation group Acas was brought in to support negotiations in in in in in between Unite and BA, "the Bassa and Amicus factions were alone represented and sat in apart rooms. Despite the efforts of Acas they could not be swayed to stick on forces for a assembly with BA".

A Unite orator denied there was a split, indicating to the clever charge for a set upon and the assembly currently at Kempton Park racecourse that will be attended by organisation from both wings of the union. "It"s not true," she said. "The assembly will show that. This is a corner dispute."

She combined that the stipend issue was "not the main stumbling block", observant Unite"s arch conflict was that a prosaic remuneration would "not be uprated in line with the cost of living".

Inter Milan v Chelsea: Champions League ref got penalty call wrong, says Salomon Kalou

Published: 7:53AM GMT twenty-five February 2010

Felled: Salomon Kalou was brought down by Walter Samuel Photo: ACTION IMAGES

Chelsea outplayed Inter via but still lost the last-16 first-leg tie 2-1 in a pulsating compare at the San Siro.

Inter had taken a third-minute lead by Diego Milito usually for Kalou to turn in the 51st minute.

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However, Esteban Cambiasso easy Inter"s lead 4 mins after to give Jose Mourinho"s side a slight corner going in to the lapse leg at Stamford Bridge on Mar 16.

It could have been so different, though, if Chelsea had been awarded a chastisement mins prior to the break.

Kalou appeared to be felled by Inter defender Walter Samuel but Spanish arbitrate Manuel Gonzalez refused Chelsea"s appeals for a spot-kick.

The central was surrounded by Chelsea players at the half-time alarm and Kalou is austere it was a transparent penalty.

"It was a chastisement but the arbitrate motionless it wasn"t so there is not a lot you can do about it," he said.

"I felt him hold my right leg but the arbitrate told me that I did not have carry out of the round any some-more when he overwhelmed me.

"But I was about to fire and if he overwhelmed me on the behind of the leg it should be a chastisement or he should have requisitioned me for diving."

Chelsea will still be wondering how they lost a compare in that they were far higher in all departments.

The English bar were increased after the diversion when it was detected that goalkeeper Petr Cech, stretchered off with what looked similar to a knee damage in the second-half, had in actuality shop-worn his calf.

And Kalou believes his afar idea could infer critical in the lapse leg in west London.

"It is a great feeling to have the afar goal," pronounced Kalou. "Now we have to work on that and try to measure at the Bridge and not concede.

"Jose knew we were going to conflict and keep the ball. But they scored at the right moments and that done the difference. We knew could carry out the diversion but we knew they could be dangerous on the mangle and that is what happened."

Former Chelsea physical education instructor Mourinho believes his side will transport to his former stomping belligerent full of confidence, but admits it will be an romantic return.

"We can go there with a bona fide aspiration to go through," pronounced Mourinho.

"At Stamford Bridge, I don"t design anything alternative than people to be blissful to have me behind as we worked so well together.

"This time I will go behind to a opposite sauce room, a opposite cave but I know routinely Mourinho is propitious at Stamford Bridge."

Ministers admit £280m strategy to halve shameful teenage pregnancy rates has failed

By Heidi Blake Published: 7:30AM GMT twenty-five February 2010

The North East had the top under-18 source rate at 49 per 1,000 girls elderly fifteen to seventeen Photo: PA

Tony Blair spoken in 1999 that the series of under-18s descending profound would be halved by this year, but total expelled yesterday show Britain still has the top teenage conceiving physically rate in Europe.

Around 40,000 underage girls became profound in 2008 a medium decrease from the 1998 figure of 46,000, that Mr Blair called shameful.

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Ministers were yesterday confronting questions over how the multi-million bruise ten-year plan had unsuccessful to broach critical results. Ed Balls, the schools secretary, certified that he was "worried" by the situation.

"It was a unequivocally desirous aim it was 50 per cent fall. I think it was right to set an desirous aim and it is going to be unequivocally tough to have that volume of fall," he said.

He claimed that measures to plunge into teenager pregnancies had been to a little extent successful, but added: "It is not enough. I"m still disturbed about it and there is a lot some-more to do."

The North East of England had the top teenage conceiving physically rate, with 49 conceptions for each 1,000 girls elderly fifteen to 17. The East had the lowest rate, with only 31.4 pregnancies per 1000.

The total describe to 2008, with this years report not due to be expelled until 2012.

Ministers yesterday launched a new "action plan" to plunge into the steadfastly high rates of teenage conceiving physically in the UK, that includes one-to-one passionate health and contraception consultations for 16-year-olds.

But critics pronounced the new measures were repeating the mistakes of the past. Norman Wells, senior manager of the Family Education Trust, that researches the means of family breakdown, said: "The government"s teenage conceiving physically plan has been a mess for immature people. With all the importance on sex preparation and handing out contraceptives to schoolchildren underneath the age of consent, it is giving them the immature light to examination sexually.

"The enlargement of trusted preventive services for immature people underneath the age of sixteen is creation it some-more formidable for girls to conflict the advances of their boyfriends and heading a little to turn intimately active when they competence not differently have finished so."

The Conservatives have additionally criticised the strategy, but became bogged down in a row over their total progressing this month when they claimed that 54 per cent of teenage girls fell profound prior to their 18th birthday in a little deprived areas. The scold series was 5.4 per cent.

Ed Balls was additionally indicted yesterday of permitting legislation written to force conviction schools to learn sex preparation to be watered down.

An legislative addition to the Children, Schools and Families Bill, upheld last night, will meant that eremite educators will be authorised to learn personal, social, health and mercantile lessons "in a approach that reflects the school"s eremite character".

Keith Porteous Wood, senior manager executive of the National Secular Society, said: "The Government have once some-more bent to vigour from the Catholic Church, betraying the young kids in conviction schools who have a right to design and offset sex education. This timidity will corrupt most lives."