Leaving EU linked to writing blank cheques with no survey, assessments of risk or foundations says one of Britain’s leading Care Home providers.   Warnings have been written to staff of 14 000 by a personal felt duty from Chai Patel, the executive chairman of HC-One, regarding voting to leave the EU. Suggesting the leave would provoke risks to the “care we deliver, the livelihoods of our colleagues and the company’s future.” Patel contributed the previous as advice and the company is by no means telling their staff exactly how to vote. HC-One runs hundreds of homes for the elderly, they evaluated the shortage in the UK’s nursing system and the urge for carers, housekeepers and catering staff in recent times. “HC-One has relied on the work of colleagues from around the world, including Europe, to provide the kind of professional services we are proud of,” Patel said “Britain leaving the EU could have profound effect on our national economy and in turn on public spending. The care sector would struggle to absorb another cut in spending.” Labour warned that a Brexit vote could lead to “deeper cuts to social care” and leave thousands of liable people without fundamental care and support. Labour ventilated a new analysis regarding their recent finding that the funding for councils could be executed by more than £500m by the end of the decade in the event of a vote to leave the EU. Heidi Alexander, the shadow in health care secretary, said “In the worst case scenario, the government would have to cut council budgets by more than half a billion pounds if it were to stick to its pledge of balancing the books by the end of the decade.” She regarded today’s vote being “more than about our membership to the EU. It’s about protecting the people who rely on our public services from even deeper cuts under this Tory government.” Labour have also disclosed that leaving the EU would harm funding for Britain’s young people as about £350m a year of cash from Brussels goes towards helping them into work. Nick Thomas-Symonds, a shadow employment minister, said at a time when 865 000 16 – 24 year olds are not in education, employment or training and the government are slashing support for the long-term unemployed, Britain cannot afford to lost the billions of pounds of European money that fund schemes. Gisela Stuart, Kate Hoey, John Mann and Graham Stringer said in a joint statement: “Two-thirds of George Osborne and David Cameron’s austerity cuts could have been avoided if we had been able to keep the money we give to the EU and spend it at home instead.” In conclusion, it is clear that the Social Care sector have a strict opinion on staying in the European Union in order to protect what they believe is right for the people in their industry. Something as a Nation we have to respect in this historic time in our life, is the opinion of others, which everyone is entitled to – as we know.

A football stadium powered by chip fat? For the UEFA Champions League 2016? Chip fat?   Us Brit’s love a good ‘Chippy tea’ on a Friday evening so an abundance of chip fragrance glazing the St. Etienne’s Stade Geoffroy-Guichard stadium seems somewhat fantastic. Yes… you heard correctly. Local authorities have made the decision to trial biofuel made from recycled cooking oils to power the games. The Euro’s 2016 matches will be held at St. Etienne’s Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, France, starting from Friday 10th June – Sunday 10th July. The biofuel the local authorities aspire to use is made from recycled cooking oil which has been collected by a registered, licenced waste carrier company. The biofuel scheme is the most recent in a number of environmental initiatives at the ground, it is claimed that a glamourous 50% of energy consumed in the 42 000 seat stadium, which is known in France as ‘The Cauldron’ or the ‘Green Hell’, comes from green sources. The local authority St. Etienne Metropole (SEM) hopes to extend the biofuel scheme over and above the stadium. This could be the future for all football stadiums, something that we can’t complain about! Several nearby communes have committed to using biofuel for heating municipal buildings. 4 matches will be held at the stadium including: Iceland vs Portugal, Czech Republic vs Croatia, Slovakia vs England, as well as one of the four quarter finals matches. In 2007, solar panels were installed into the stadium resulting in the energy of which was collected has been sold to EDF Energy – rainwater is also collected and used where possible. When the matches are taking place, all materials used will be recyclable meaning the fans will be drinking from recycled plastic cups yet to be recycled again allowing any waste that is collected after the matches to be classified to be recycled. We wish every team the best of luck and let the games commence! For more information regarding the UEFA Champions League 2016 click here. For any other general enquiries in relation to biofuel/gas/electricity please be sure to give us a call on 0800 781 7626.

The majority of people who regularly visit a friend or a loved one in a care home believe that their stay has improved their quality of life, new data has revealed. In a survey by personal injury specialist Ramsdens Solicitors, 62% of respondents said they believed the standard of care had helped to increase the occupant’s wellbeing. Furthermore, the majority of respondents believed standards to be of a “good” quality at the home they visited most frequently, while 60% thought staffing was adequate and 58% were satisfied with the cleanliness in the care home. “Our survey findings have contradicted growing media speculation pointing to serious shortfalls in the standard of care offered to individuals in care homes,” Anne Scott, a solicitor at the Yorkshire-based firm, said.  “There have been several high profile instances of mistreatment in in recent months, which could put some people off.  However, it is refreshing to see that the majority of people who have placed a family member in care had positive things to say about their experiences.” According to the data, a higher percentage of people who visit someone in a care home believed the staff show empathy towards residents (45%) than those who do not (35%).  People who do not frequently visit care homes were also more likely to film a staff member who they believed to be providing inadequate care, with 58% claiming they would, compared to just 40% of those who do visit saying the same. Interestingly, those individuals who regularly visit care homes were also more likely to be happy with the idea of sending a relative there, compared to more than half (60%) of non-visitors said they would not.

Almost two thirds of travellers in Asia, Europe, North America and South America would be comfortable with robots being used in the travel industry, a new study has found. Travelzoo conducted the research as part of its Future of Travel project, a study of consumer acceptance of robots in the travel and tourism sector.  It found that nearly 80% of the 6,000+ travellers surveyed expect robots to play a big part in their lives by 2020. The main advantages respondents saw in robots were related to general efficiency, data retention and recall.  More than three-quarters thought robots would be better than humans at handling data (81%) and dealing with different languages (79%), and 76% believed robots would have better memories.  81% of respondents selected their untiring energy as an advantage. “Right now is a very exciting moment in the history of the travel industry – groundbreaking technology is revolutionising what is possible from the perspective of customer service, entertainment and personalisation,” Richard Singer, Travelzoo’s European President, said. “Robots and artificial intelligence are making their debut on the tourism stage, and our research into global acceptance of robots working in the travel industry is largely positive.” However, he added:  “While the advent of technology such as robot butlers and bartenders is hugely exciting, it’s also very clear from our research that consumers see the combination of robots and humans working in tandem in customer-facing roles as the ideal solution. “Consumers still want humans in the picture, as otherwise there is a genuine fear that cultural nuances, humour and irony will be missed and the holiday experience could become too impersonal.  If we don’t respect the desire for the human touch, we risk ‘robophobia’ setting in, when in fact technology can significantly improve the holiday experience when used appropriately.”