These are my links for April 30th through May 2nd:

• https://views.scraperwiki.com/run/whatdotheyknow_-_local_gov_foi_requests_with_sprea/?typ=university –
• Doctors back denial of treatment for smokers and the obese | Society | The Observer – Some 54% of doctors who took part said the NHS should have the right to withhold non-emergency treatment from patients who do not lose weight or stop smoking. Some medics believe unhealthy behaviour can make procedures less likely to work, and that the service is not obliged to devote scarce resources to them.

  However, senior doctors and patient groups have voiced alarm at what they call "blackmailing" of the sick, and denial of their human rights.

  Doctors.net.uk, a professional networking site, found that 593 (54%) of the 1,096 doctors who took part in the self-selecting survey answered yes when asked: "Should the NHS be allowed to refuse non-emergency treatments to patients unless they lose weight or stop smoking?"

• Strengthening The Commitment: The Report of the UK Modernising Learning Disabilities Nursing Review – Strengthening The Commitment: The Report of the UK Modernising Learning Disabilities Nursing Review
• info4local – Information for local government – Department of Health: Choice of GP practice – Guidance for a – This guidance is for all primary care trusts on the broader aspects of the policy on widening patient choice of GP practices. It sets out the new provisions in legislation relating to practice boundaries and the revised list closure procedure.
• NHS reforms to cost West Midlands primary care trusts £363m – Health News – News – Birmingham Post – The potential cost of the reforms is revealed in documents which show primary care trusts have been ordered to hold back two per cent of their budgets for two years in a row.

  A draft copy of the business case for the health reforms – which has not been published officially, but has been obtained by Labour – states that the changes will cut administrative costs in the NHS by a third, allowing an extra £1.5 billion a year to be spent on front line services by 2014-15.

  In the meantime, local authorities are being asked to hold back £1.6 billion to pay for the reforms – for two years running.

• Birmingham City Council sued for £1,750 after toilet seat collapsed – West Midlands News – News – Birmingham Post – The council said it couldn’t give any further details about the payouts, but its figures – released under the Freedom of Information Act – did reveal the average payout for April to December was around £3,753.

  A Birmingham City Council spokesman defended the pay-outs and said their legal department dealt with an average of 100 employer liability personal injury claims every year.

  “Over the period concerned the council employed up to 48,000 individuals,” he added.

  “The claims brought against the council represent around 0.4 per cent of the council’s workforce.