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The purpose of this paper is to consider the criminal offence of wilful neglect in the context of hospital health care in England.

Summarise the evidence of neglectful care in hospitals and analyse the ingredients and application of the offence of wilful neglect.

Neglect is ongoing and systemic in the hospitals and the offence of wilful neglect seems to be ineffective as either a punitive or deterrent measure.

There is a mismatch between the extent of systemic, reckless neglect in the hospitals and the application of the criminal offence of wilful neglect. The answer, if any, might be: widening of the offence to anybody who is wilfully neglected (not just those mentally disordered or mentally incapacitated people), a new offence of corporate neglect, the holding of reckless leaders to account, and a reinvigorated Care Quality Commission and Health and Safety Executive.

The author is unaware that such a review of this area of law, applied to health care, has been undertaken.

The Disabled Living Foundation (DLF) is a national charity providing information on daily living equipment for disabled people. In 1984 a computerisation project began. One problem addressed has been the subject retrieval of information. This has involved the assessment of classification and thesaurus schemes. The DLF has developed a thesaurus to satisfy local needs and language, while remaining aware of existing classifications and thesauri in the same or proximate subject fields. Such schemes include for example, the Nordic Classification of Technical Aids for Disabled People, BSI ROOT Thesaurus, DHSS DATA thesaurus. The DLF thesaurus has been developed under considerable pressure but has attempted to respond to theory in the field as well as practical requirements. It is the result of both librarianship skills and the detailed occupational therapy and physiotherapy subject knowledge of the DLF information officers. This article sets the DLF thesaurus in context.

The safeguarding and protection components of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 offers the culmination of four years consultation in England and Wales by the Law Commission and many years of evolving policy and practice with a view to protecting adults from harm. The purpose of this paper is to offer both scrutiny and challenge for Wales’ policy makers and practitioners alike.

The paper is a critical analysis of both current responses and forthcoming changes.

The paper proposes that Wales has failed to implement previous recommendations in relation to institutional abuse. Currently in Wales, there are individuals employed in safeguarding lead roles who have no social care qualification. This apparent “loophole” has not to date been highlighted to date by either of the regulatory bodies within Wales (CSSIW/CCfW).

The paper offers a viewpoint but leaves some questions unanswered.

The Williams Review in April 2014 is set to change the local authority landscape in Wales. There is scope for developing the function of adult safeguarding.

Wales’ failure to recognize institutionalized abuse as a distinct category may have had impacted on its ability to respond to abuse in nursing and care as well hospital settings.

The failure to recognize institutional abuse is not the only safeguarding anomaly within Wales’ arrangements for protecting those are risk of abuse. This paper describes gaps in the NHS and of professional accountability.

Human rights has emerged in the past several years as an important issue of our times and the personal freedoms of citizens of many countries has become a concern of the American government. Since the Helsinki agreement in 1975 (the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe), the compliance of the Soviet government with the Helsinki accords—with respect to guarantees of individual freedoms of its citizens— has been watched anxiously by human rights groups all over the world.

Communications regarding this column should be addressed to Mrs. Cheney, Peabody Library School, Nashville, Tenn. 37203. Mrs. Cheney does not sell the books listed here. They are available through normal trade sources. Mrs. Cheney, being a member of the editorial board of Pierian Press, will not review Pierian Press reference books in this column. Descriptions of Pierian Press reference books will be included elsewhere in this publication.