County notifies of bus service changes

Denbighshire is informing bus users of a number of changes to bus services from April 7 and passengers are strongly advised to check timetables carefully.

All Denbighshire timetables are currently available online at www.denbighshire.gov.uk/travel and we expect the new printed timetables will be available from March 30.

Denbighshire's Director of Community and Economic Ambition, Rebecca Maxwell, said: "Earlier this year, Denbighshire set the final budget for the next financial year which included the need to make savings of around £10m across Council services. As a result, some bus routes will see fewer or altered journeys.

"We have worked with bus operators to ensure we continue to provide as comprehensive a service as possible for passengers."

* Should passengers have specific questions, they can either telephone their operator or the County Council on 01824 706964

New measures help GPs to work in Wales

A new package of measures being announced today will make it easier for GPs to work in Wales, Health and Social Services Minister, Mark Drakeford has said.

 

These arrangements will make it easier for GPs who have previously worked in Wales to return to practice following a career break or a period of working outside the UK.

 

It will also support doctors who have qualified outside the UK and choose to work in Wales.

 

The package of measures includes a more targeted assessment of an individual’s skills, to identify those who can safely enter the workforce with minimum support or who require greater assistance.

Arrangements will also be put in place for overseas applicants to undertake their initial interview and assessment before they arrive in Wales, enabling tailored support for their return to practice to be agreed in advance.

It is also intended that the Medical Performers Lists in Wales be amended to provide GPs who wish to work outside the UK the opportunity to remain on the list for a maximum of five years.

This would remove the current obligation for all GPs who previously practiced within the Welsh health system to undertake the induction and refresher scheme on their return.

This approach will be underpinned by a requirement for the doctor to provide evidence of continuous professional development, clinical work and reflective practice.

Prospective returners to the GP workforce will continue to receive financial support for up to six months, depending on the clinical support required.

The Welsh Government will work with key stakeholders in Wales to take forward these changes.

Mark Drakeford said: “The changes I’m announcing today will make it easier to recruit new doctors to work in Wales and for GPs who want to return to work in Wales to do so. It also has the potential to reduce costs for those seeking to return.

“GPs, like many others, may decide to take career breaks for a number of reasons. Making it as easy as possible for them to return to work in Wales, while ensuring there are safeguards in place to ensure patient safety, is one of the ways we can increase the numbers of GPs required to provide care for patients in Wales.

“I recognise there are challenges in GP recruitment and retention in some parts of Wales, as there are elsewhere. We continue to work closely with NHS organisations to attract the best medical talent but we are operating in an extremely tough global market where many countries across Europe are experiencing shortages.

“The reforms we are making to Wales’ primary care service will help ensure that young GPs coming into practice have a wider range of options available to them, including opportunities to become involved in research and teaching in Wales.”

Crime tsar defends online surveillance to net cyber criminals.

 

* Police and Crime Commissioner for North Wales,

Winston Roddick and his deputy Julian Sandham at a Cyber

Crime training day. They are pictured with student,

Detective Sgt Lisa Jones and Detective

Sgt Peter Jarvis of the Cyber Crime team.

 

A crime tsar has defended the use of internet surveillance to catch cyber criminals.

According to North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Winston Roddick CB QC, there was always a balance to be struck between personal freedom and public safety.

Mr Roddick was speaking after attending a training session for police officers at the police station in Penygroes, in Gwynedd, as part of a new campaign to combat an increase in cyber crime by serious and organised crime groups targeting North Wales.

North Wales Police launched their St Asaph-based Cyber Crime Team to coincide with National Cyber Crime Awareness Week.

The force has pledged to train more than 100 officers to combat the growing threat of online crime.

The campaign is being watched closely by forces in other parts of the UK.

The team have also agreed to hold training sessions for groups of vulnerable people so they can learn to stay safe online.

North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Winston Roddick CB QC says people rightly want assurances that the police are one step ahead of the criminal elements that use the internet to commit crime.

He said: “There will always be tension between freedom and liberty and surveillance. But the security of people is essential if they are to be free to enjoy their liberty. Surveillance is necessary to protect those freedoms.

“We need to be able to use all legal means to catch and arrest criminals who use the internet to commit crime and without effective internet surveillance that is not always possible.

“The police are savvy and are adapting to change, that is evident from what I have seen today. The police have to use every resource at their disposal if they are to prevent and detect crime. And that has to include electronic and internet surveillance.

“North Wales Police is ahead of the game and setting an advanced standard that many other forces are now looking up to. Policing priorities are fluid and constantly shift and change.

“We have addressed the threat of cyber crime in our Police Crime Plan. The simple fact is that whereas cyber crime is a relatively new phenomenon the police, and particularly North Wales Police, are on top of it and adapting strategies to deal with it.

“The public need to know that their police are technically enabled and are able to use all means at their disposal to combat crime in all its forms."

Deputy North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Julian Sandham added: “The Cyber Crime Team, who have all received enhanced training, have assisted with a number of high profile investigations as well as forging links with businesses and the National Crime Agency to ensure key messages to identify and reduce opportunities of falling foul of this ever increasing problem.

“I’m delighted North Wales Police is leading the way when it comes to tackling this ever increasing issue. The Cyber Crime Team is able to provide advice and guidance on both a technical and tactical level as well as having the enhanced capability to deal with complex cyber crime investigations.”

Detective Sergeant Pete Jarvis of the North Wales Cyber Crime Team promised they would pursue cyber criminals both across North Wales and internationally.

He said: “We will be working proactively to target criminal vulnerabilities and seek to prevent criminal opportunities whenever we can. We will also support partners in industry and law enforcement to better protect themselves against the threat of cyber crime.

“And by providing a highly visible investigative response to incidents of cyber crime we will assist other police forces and wider law enforcement agencies to prevent cyber-enabled crime and pursue those who utilise the internet for criminal means.”

There was, he said, a great deal people could do to keep themselves safe.

He added: ““Research indicates that up to 80% of cyber related offences could be avoided if simple computer and network hygiene guidance is followed.

“We would recommend using up-to-date anti-virus software, install all computer security updates as soon as they are released, use complex passwords for all accounts and never use the same password for multiple accounts.

“And never click on links in e-mails which suggest you have won a competition you did not enter and never clink on links in e-mails that you do not recognise as these might install malicious software on your computer or take you to bogus websites.”

If you think you may have been the victim of cyber crime, require further information or have any information about suspected offenders contact the police on 101 or anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Alternatively you can report suspected online crime to Action Fraud at www.actionfraud.police.uk

For further information about staying safe online visit www.getsafeonline.org/protecting-yourself/

AM welcomes health plans deferment

North Wales’ Liberal Democrat Assembly Member, Aled Roberts, has welcomed the decision to defer the plan to downgrade maternity services at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd and remove breast cancer surgery from the Wrexham Maelor and Gwynedd hospitals.

 

He is now demanding that the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board undertake a proper consultation on the provision of services at all three sites.

 

“Common sense has prevailed over the botched decisions on maternity and breast cancer surgery,” commented Mr Roberts.

 

"They were taken under the urgency procedure but, as the Community Health Council pointed out to the Health Minister, problems within the maternity services had been in evidence months before.

 

“Senior officials within the Health Board have raised the idea of concentrating different health services on one site so that the three hospitals in North Wales operate as one. But there has been no proper discussion of this proposal. Such a radical rethink of our health services needs to be the subject of widespread consultation.

 

“My own view is that the concept of one hospital on three sites will not work in North Wales given the geography and long distances that make travelling across our region very difficult.

 

"Many patients would be left isolated from their families unless specialist medical teams become more mobile or there is major investment in public transport.”

Landmarks aim to beef up catering operations

* Pontcysyllte Aqueduct.

Canal & River Trust has invited expressions of interest for the provision of a mobile catering service for Trevor Basin and the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct.

Trevor Basin and the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct are parts of an 11-mile World Heritage site along the Llangollen Canal.

The stunning Telford-designed Pontcysyllte Aqueduct is world famous.

The site has a small visitor centre with many attractions nearby for those who come.

There are boat trips across the aqueduct, boats for day or longer hire, opportunities to explore the tunnels and towpaths or to visit the nearby National Trust properties or country parks.

As a World Heritage site, visitor numbers have increased from 2009 to 2014, and now are in excess of 200,000 each year.

Canal & River Trust says it has ambitious plans for Trevor Basin and the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, focusing strongly on the visitor experience.

It is seeking a skilled and experienced catering service provider to open a mobile catering operation at Trevor Basin.

A contract period of 6 to 18 months will be offered to start with, with the possibility of working with Canal & River Trust for a longer term as they develop the site.

The trust says the successful contractor must provide a high quality daily catering service for the Trevor Basin and the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct.

It adds: "To be considered, contractors will need to demonstrate clearly that they have the necessary acumen, technical skills and experience of managing every aspect of a successful catering operation."

Organisations wishing to express an interest should contact Mr Radford Chancellor FCSI (Catering Consultant) on 0844 500 8350 or email radford@radfordchancellor.co.uk to request an application questionnaire.

Closing date for expressions of interest and return of the completed application questionnaire is 1pm on April 13 2015.

Appeal over boy missing from Wrexham

North Wales Police are appealing for help in tracing a 15 year old boy missing from the Wrexham area. 

Larry Berry (pictured below) has not been seen since Friday February 6. 

All enquiries to locate him have proved fruitless.

He is described as having short brown straight hair, slim build and approximately 5’6”tall.

T/Sergeant Gavin Gilmore who is managing the search said: “I am appealing for anyone who has sighted Larry, or knows of his whereabouts, to contact the police.  

"His family have had no contact with him for some 3 weeks or so and we are concerned for his welfare.  Larry has family in the Ellesmere Port, Rochdale and Wrexham areas and part of our enquiries are focused in this area.

“I’d also appeal to Larry himself to contact police to let them know that he is safe and well.”



* Anyone with any information should contact North Wales police on 101 or alternatively Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 and quote S032118.

St John's facelift explained at open events

* St John's Church in Abbey Road.

A NUMBER of Llangollen people have been invited to one of three open events at which they can learn more about the £50,000 project to facelift the town’s St John’s Church.

Those connected with clubs or societies in the area and residents of Abbey Road, where St John’s is located, can go along to the church on either Thursday April 9 at 7pm, Wednesday April 15 at 7pm or Saturday April 18 at 1pm to be briefed by the vicar, the Rev Andrew Sully.  

He said: “We are holding the sessions because the major funder for this £50,000 project, WREN , a non-profit-making business  that helps benefit the lives of people who live close to landfill sites by awarding grants for community  projects, needs evidence that other town groups would benefit from the proposed improvements and potentially use our facilities themselves once the changes  are made.

“These facilities are basically a disabled toilet and improved kitchen area.

“At the moment St John’s offers a flexible, carpeted space for meetings but without a toilet and refreshment-making facilities we’re rather hamstrung. 

“We have therefore found the building a difficult venue to ‘market’ to potential user groups and its use by non-church groups has been limited.

“Yet it does have real potential and we know from the  number of people who approach us for meeting-space in St Collen’s Community Hall that these improvements will make St John’s a place that might be in use a couple of times in the week as well as on a Sunday.”

In his invitation to the open events, Mr Sully says: “You might not have the time to come to one of these open events. If this is the case but you’d like to support us nonetheless, could I ask you to write me an email or note of recommendation to our funders saying simply how your group might benefit from our venue and facilities if they were improved, or else saying more generally that you support our proposals and think they are a good idea and that we are moving in the right direction.”

Wine and nibbles will also be served at each open event.

* Mr Sully can be contacted at: The Vicarage Abbey Road Llangollen  LL20 8SN, by phone on 01978  860231 and 07779 418036, or by email at:

andamary@sullystallard.fsnet.co.uk