Society daily 18.11.10

Shoppers walk past the John Lewis department store in the Victoria Centre, Nottingham — Are you being served? Ministers want public sector workers to set up John Lewis-style co-operatives. Photograph: David Sillitoe

Today's top Society Guardian stories

The John Lewis state starts here

Cancer care varies widely, finds report

Spending cuts trap poorest in ghost towns

Theresa May scraps legal requirement to reduce inequality

Leading midwife says staff shortages risk safety of mothers and babies

Ratna Dutt: Long waits for adoption have nothing to do with ethnic matching

All today's Society Guardian stories

Other news

• The Scottish government's budget for the sector will fall by 24% next year, says Third Sector.

• Public sector unions have warned of co-ordinated strikes to protect jobs, according to the Independent.

• Patients still choose their local hospital rather than travelling further to a hospital with higher ratings of clinical quality, reports the Telegraph.

• Also in the Telegraph, a story claiming that ministers have told John Ransford, chief executive of the Local Government Association, to cut his £302,000 pay package.

• Annual screening for women in their 40s with a family history of breast cancer may save lives, according to the BBC.

On my radar ...

• This moving blogpost from Lymphoma Association fundraiser Ian Leech, in which he talks about the hospital care received by his 20-year-old daughter, Mel, after she was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and how he has been helping to train hospital staff in end of life care (thanks @Saba_Salman).

"No news meant bad news. If a scan or test had worked, we seemed to be told immediately, whereas we always had to wait for bad news. This meant unnecessary worry. A simple phone call to explain that something hadn't gone to plan but they were working on other options, would have alleviated the stress of not knowing.
On the whole though, Mel's treatment and level of care in hospital was very good and this was helped by the wonderful rapport she built with her consultants at Nottingham and Burton. They knew Mel was a football fan and they used that as a common interest to build a patient/doctor confidence. It made Melissa feel special and that she was being treated as a person, not just a patient with a disease."

• This timely piece of analysis from Craig Dearden-Phillips on the challenges facing mutuals and social enterprises.

• This powerful blogpost on welfare and social care reforms by Diary of a Goldfish, which warns against the "charity model of disability". (thanks @MarkOneinFour)

"When benefits or any help disabled people get is seen as charity, our progress towards equality flaunders. Disabled people lose choices, and find themselves having to meet the emotional needs of others. As charity cases, we must be deserving, humble and grateful for whatever we get. Others must sympathise. And nobody who feels sorry for you for being who you are will ever see you as an equal."

• This presentation on social networking tips for small charities put together by Jonathan Waddingham (@jon_bedford) of @JustGiving.

• Pudsey Bear. It's Children in Need day tomorrow and here, the BBC's technology correspondent Rory Cellan Jones explains how social networking has changed fundraising. And to test out the theories, Cellan Jones (@BBCRoryCJ) has set himself the challenge of raising £10,000 for Children in Need via his followers on Twitter.

• Professor Gerry Stimson, the retiring executive director of the International Harm Reduction Association, who gave the Alison Chesney and Eddie Killoran Memorial Lecture last at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Read his blogpost for us, in which he argues that a harm reduction approach to drug use is still relevant.

Guardian and Observer Christmas Charity Appeal 2010

Nominations are now closed for our Christmas appeal 2010, which will support 10 charities working with vulnerable teenagers and young adults. Many thanks to everyone who applied.

The appeal will launch towards the end of November and run until mid-January.

Events

Transforming Blue Light Services Innovating ICT for the emergency services, 24 November, London - Free places available. Discover how the innovative use of technology will improve performance and response in difficult financial times. Speakers include Dr Timothy Brain, former chief constable of Gloucestershire; Andy Marles, chief fire officer from South Wales fire and rescue; Jason Killens, London ambulance service's deputy director of operations; Steve Whatson, director of ICT for the Olympics at the Metropolitan police service and Olympic security directorate.

"Big Society" and its role in local government 7 December, London. This is an essential seminar for managers and leaders looking for a practical definition of big society and how it will work within local government. As well as a keynote speech from the government's adviser on big society, Lord Wei, delegates will also hear first hand accounts of how other local government managers are implementing big society in their councils and the best practice they have developed.

Transforming Social Care through IT Finding your way in a changing service environment 8 December, London.

This conference brings together best practice examples, policy leaders and industry experts to discuss the challenges facing social care providers and IT support teams. Our line-up of expert speakers includes Terry Dafter, service director adult social care, Stockport metropolitan borough council; Jennifer Bernard, consulting director, SCIE; Nick Johnson, chief executive, Social Care Association; and Sian Walker, service director, Adult Care Operations, Wiltshire council.