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Detailed replica of King Richard III's skull goes on display
A new 3D printed replica of King Richard III's skull has been loaned by Loughborough University to an exhibition in Leicester charting the discovery of his remains in the city.
Experts from the university made the model using scan data, this was then entered into a computer and 'printed' using a 3D printer, a technique that uses a high power laser to fuse small particles of materials into a mass that has a three-dimensional shape. Click here to see a 3D printer in action.
This is the second replica to be made and put on display at the Leicester City Council's exhibition Richard III: Leicester’s Search for a King’ at The Guildhall. This model though is said to be significantly more detailed, allowing visitors to clearly see the fatal injuries the king sustained.
Professor Russell Harris, is leading Loughborough’s involvement in the project. He said: “We are absolutely delighted with the new skull. It is incredibly more detailed than the previous version, and will be invaluable for future studies.”
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Newcastle United Statement on resignation of Derek Llambias
– Newcastle United FCThe Club can announce that Managing Director, Derek Llambias, has resigned from his position with immediate effect.
Derek said "I have had an incredible journey during my five years at the club, including some challenging times. I will reflect with great fondness on my time in the North East and, in me, Newcastle United have a lifelong supporter.
"I want to thank the staff for their hard work, our fans for their support of the club, and wish them all well for the future."
Derek Llambias resigns from Newcastle United
Newcastle United's Managing Director Derek Llambias has resigned. More details to follow.
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Maximum temperature 21 °C
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Statement from Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys health trust on patient restraint
Data revealed today as part of a Freedom of Information request by the charity Mind has found that the North East is among the highest areas for physical restraint being used on mental health patients.
A statement from the Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys reads as follows:
"The number of incidents may seem high.
"However, we are one of the largest mental health and learning disability trusts in the country, with over 1,000 beds and a high proportion of specialist units caring for people with extremely challenging behaviour.
"Our staff are fully trained in using a range of techniques to manage people with challenging behaviour and they adopt an individualised approach for each patient.
"Physical restraint, using nationally accredited techniques, is only used as a last resort.
"Many of the incidents reported involved only minimal restraint but it is our policy to record all incidents, regardless of level of restraint, so that we can monitor, review and learn from them."
Northumberland, Tyne and Wear health trust responds to patient data
A statement from Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Trust said:
"Reasons for restraint can include a patient being violent or aggressive to either themselves or others with a small percentage of patients requiring high levels of restraint due to the complex nature of their illness.
"Analysis of our figures has shown that a small group of less than 50 patients, who demonstrate very complex and high-risk behaviours, account for over two thirds of the recorded incidents of restraint.
"Our staff are given extensive training in recognition, prevention and de-escalation skills as well as methods of physical restraint and the risks associated with the use of physical restraint to ensure that they can manage episodes of violence and aggression in a safe, supportive, dignified and professional manner in line with national guidance.
"As one of the largest mental health and disability trusts in the country, covering two large cities in the North East, we recognise we are one of the highest reporters among those organisations who responded to Mind's Freedom of Information request.
– Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Trust"Our recorded statistics are comparable to other mental health trusts of similar size and who also provide a similar range of regional and national specialist services.
"Due to the specialist nature of a number of our services such as our forensic services, the trust cares for some of the most complex and challenging patients from all over the country, which means that the figures may be higher when comparing to areas without such specialist services."
North East patient restraint data revealed
Nearly 40,000 incidents of physical restraint on mental health patients in England were recorded in one year - with more than 3,000 in the "dangerous" face-down position - according to figures released by a charity.
Mind said data obtained under the FoI Act showed 39,883 reported incidents of physical restraint in mental health trusts during 2011/12, with at least 949 people with mental health problems being injured.
The Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust reported 3346 incidents in one year.
Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust also recorded 923 incidents of face-down restraint according to the charity's figures.
A separate survey by Mind of 375 frontline healthcare staff involved in physically restraining people with mental health problems, showed:
- 22% had not had face-to-face training on physical restraint techniques in the last 12 months
- 42% said that, with hindsight, they felt that restraint had sometimes been used "inappropriately"
– Paul Farmer, Mind chief executive"Physical restraint can be humiliating, dangerous and even life-threatening and the huge variation in its use indicates that some trusts are using it too quickly.
"Face-down restraint, when a person is pinned face-down on the floor, is particularly dangerous, as well as extremely frightening to the person being restrained. It has no place in modern healthcare and its use must be ended."
Full Report: Thousands of Army jobs axed
It has been another tough day for our armed forces as nearly 4500 redundancy notices were handed out in the latest round of government cuts.
It is the third wave of redundancies under plans to cut the regular Army's strength by 20 percent and double the number of reservists by 2018.
The Government says the job losses are unavoidable owing to the size of the defence debt it inherited.
You can watch the full report from Claire Montgomery below.
