Exclusive: A physician associate is under investigation after allegedly attempting seven lumbar punctures on an autistic woman and then falsifying records of the procedure.
PA is also alleged to have ignored instructions that the patient be given diazepam.
www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-n...
Another shocking story on Wales' broken NHS.
Barry James spent days waiting in a hospital corridor helplessly watching his feet turn black.
By the time he was given a bed he could not be saved.
www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-n...
More here on this and the case itself, in which the policeman is being kept anonymous for mental health reasons – a recurring theme in South Wales Police misconduct hearings. www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-n...
We asked police if she would face a misconduct panel over her own behaviour.
The force replied: "The information was not known until it was given as evidence at this week’s misconduct hearing. It will be reviewed once the hearing has concluded."
... before he had been interviewed about it.
When grilled at the hearing, the witness rather nonchalantly explained that she had "overstepped" as she was "tied up in the moment".
She claimed to have been a close friend of both colleagues.
There was a toe-curling moment yesterday in a South Wales Police misconduct case.
A witness (a female PC) admitted betraying a colleague (another female PC) who'd made a sexual harassment complaint.
She passed info about the complaint to the alleged harasser (a male officer)...
Currently “reviewing the report”. I’m not optimistic of meaningful action. NDCS has banked on regulatory weakness and continued to contract firms that don’t pay a minimum wage.
Here's my full writeup on today's announcement and why it feels like too little, too late. www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-n...
Haydn described NDCS as doing "the bare minimum to cover themselves" during that time.
He's not convinced that "robust advice" from regulators is enough.
"If you don't put it in stone, with some consequences, people are just going to break it," he said.
Haydn Thomas was 19 years old when he worked at Vantage (the same office where I went undercover)
After bosses lured him in with the prospect of earning £150,000 a year, he worked almost every waking hour, while making as little as £100 a week. He sold his car to make ends meet.
On the one hand, Credico distanced itself from the training videos that were leaked to us.
On the other, it tried to stop us publishing the footage by citing copyright.
You can watch it here. www.youtube.com/watch?v=q65L...
The firm has refused to tell us if it still works with "consultant" Justin Cobb, who has personally received commission from the earnings of UK offices in the network, and whose training methods include yelling at reps when they "complain and bitch" after working 70 hours a week.
We also caught Credico training reps on how to make it "hard to say no" to setting up direct debits on the doorstep
There's been nothing to suggest any remorse from Credico.
Not once has it apologised to the people manipulated by its network of subcontractor offices.
... vile abuse at reps.
He boasted about manipulating them into accepting commission-only jobs with no minimum wage. www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-n...
Although Credico distanced itself from the cult-like practices exposed in our report, we later revealed that pressure-selling tactics and training methods were being circulated by Credico itself.
One of its most senior "consultants", Justin Cobb, was filmed screaming...
NDCS claimed it was "upset and very concerned" by those revelations.
Yet, after suspending its work with Credico, it resumed the relationship.
That office demanded reps work frighteningly long hours while rarely getting minimum wage and facing humiliating forfeits if they lost sales challenges, like being slapped with a fish, pelted with eggs or doused with cream. www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-n...
Not only this, but the charity continues to use the services of Credico, a US-based firm linked to many door-to-door marketing offices in the UK.
Credico was closely connected to another Cardiff office that we shut down through our reporting.
... those conclusions led to recommendations, not rules
One of the recommendations was that reps be guaranteed the national living wage.
NDCS ignored that recommendation.
According to the regulator, my investigation was a "catalyst" to overhaul practices in the fundraising sector.
And it's true that the watchdog launched a sector-wide inquiry which reached some important conclusions back in 2024.
But...
The Fundraising Regulator has no enforcement powers.
It can only make recommendations, and its funding is from a voluntary levy on the very charities it investigates
Why has the investigation dragged on for so long?
The explanation from the regulator is that the case is "exceptionally complex".
Yet today's findings contain nothing significantly different from what we revealed in 2023.
It says it all about the weakness of the regulatory framework that one of the office bosses, Zaafir Jamal, moved to Liverpool after our exposé and became involved in another highly deceptive door-to-door scheme. www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-n...
We have no idea when it will announce its findings into the other charity we exposed, SOS, which was involved in even worse exploitation than NDCS.
And, just like with NDCS, that exploitation could hardly be more obvious from the evidence we gathered. www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SLR...
It concludes that the National Deaf Children's Society (NDCS) committed six breaches of the code of fundraising practice.
But having already taken years to confirm breaches that were obvious to anyone who watched our footage, the watchdog's investigation is still not complete.
Immediately after we revealed how it was operating, the office shut down and the Fundraising Regulator launched an investigation.
There was then, incredibly, a 32-month wait before yesterday's announcement of the watchdog's findings.
Reps in the office worked up to 15 hours a day, six or seven days a week, often for well under the minimum wage.
They were also taught how to "trick" people into signing up for direct debits to two charities — the National Deaf Children's Society and SOS Children's Villages.
Three years ago I went undercover as a door-to-door charity rep.
I got a job with a firm based in a tiny office above a Cardiff Poundland, and caught various forms of grim exploitation on a hidden camera.
Now a regulator has backed up my reporting...
Here's our full interview with the family, along with all we know about what went wrong at the hospital, and whistleblowers' concerns over the response to the failings.
www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-n...
Ieuan's family were appalled to hear this.
"To be threatened with their jobs for speaking out is disgraceful," said Karen.
"I'm very grateful to the whistleblowers."