Get your manuscripts ready for open submissions to Blackfriars Publishing

Publisher Blackfriars, part of the Little Brown Group, is holding a week of open submissions for literary novels from 1st-7th December.

Since it's launch last year Blackfriars has published both fiction and non-fiction books. Next month will see the group offering an open submissions week, aimed at helping people anywhere in the world who want their work published.

To enter, authors must be previously unpublished and should submit the first chapter of their book along with an author biography and a one-page synopsis of their novel.

Blackfriars are not the first to offer open submissions, other companies who have done this include, Penguin Random House and HarperCollins.

If you are a writer and would like help getting your manuscript ready to send to a publisher, check out our publisher packs for writers.

Image: Horia Varlan, Flickr

Helen Oyeyemi joins the judging panel for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize

Helen Oyeyemi won a Somerset Maugham award for her novel White is for Witching and was named one of Granta's Best Young British Novelists last year, joins a prestigious panel of judges for the £10,000 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2015. 

The Prize, which celebrates its 25^th anniversary in 2015, honours an exceptional work of fiction by a living author which has been translated into English from any other language and published in the United Kingdom in 2014. 

The Independent Foreign Fiction Prize is unique as it gives the winning author and translator equal status, they each receive £5,000, recognising the importance of the translator in their ability to maintain the integrity of the story between languages and cultures.

The judges for this year's Prize include:

•    Rosie Goldsmith - journalist specialising in arts and current affairs

•    Antonia Lloyd Jones - full-time translator of Polish literature

•    Dr Richard Mansell - Senior Lecturer in Translation at the University of Exeter

•    Helen Oyeyemi - author of five novels, including Boy, Snow, Bird

•    Boyd Tonkin - senior writer and columnist at The Independent

It should be an exciting competition, the shortlist will be announced in April 2015 and the award ceremony will be held in May 2015. 

Image: Horia Varlan, Flickr

If you have a manuscript but would like feedback on your work, visit Words Worth Reading Ltd to find out about our editorial service. 

You could win a hamper full of goodies from Harper Collins

Harper Collins are offering you the chance to win a hamper to celebrate the publication of Josephine Cox's 50th novel The Runaway Woman.

The luxury hamper, from Bothams of Whitby, is worth £129 and contains chocolates, gingerbread loaf, teabreads, fruitbreads, biscuits, jams, toffee, cheese, tea, beer and prosecco, as well as two mugs. With Christmas around the corner, these goodies would be great to share....or keep all to yourself!

The winner of the prize draw will also receive a signed copy of The Runaway Woman. It is Josephine Cox's latest novel and 50th book.

The closing date for the competition is 1 December 2014.

Source: Writers Online
Image: Wicker Paradise, Flickr (The image used is not the competition prize)

If you are an aspiring writer looking to get published, the Words Worth Reading Ltd team can help. Visit our website to find out about our publisher packs. 

NHS England's latest Information Governance Bulletin

The latest version of NHS England's Information Governance bulletin is now available to download from their website

The bulletin provides important information about:

- Information governance issues caused by the implication of the GMS contract

- Using applications to share data

- The offshoring of data

Words Worth Reading Ltd also provides routine updates on what's happening in the world of information governance on our website.

Guidelines for doctors and nurses call for more openess

A consultation is underway on how doctors, nurses and midwifes can be more open and honest when things go wrong.

Draft guidance for a 'duty of candour' has been produced by the General Medical Council and the Nursing and Midwifery Council – the regulators for individual health professionals. It will support doctors, nurses and midwives in fulfilling their professional duty to be open and honest about mistakes.

This follows on from work being carried out by the Care Quality Commission to help NHS trusts understand how they can meet the upcoming duty of candour and fit and proper persons regulations. This will help providers have robust systems in place to be open and honest when things go wrong and to hold directors to account when care fails people.

The legislation underpinning these is currently subject to Parliamentary approval.

Professor Sir Mike Richards, Chief Inspector of Hospitals, said: "The draft guidance for health professionals is a welcome move to make the NHS more open and honest when things go wrong, and to move away from a blame culture.

"This supports our wider work on helping organisations to meet the Government’s new regulations so that those who provide health services in the NHS are more accountable."

Chief inspector of hospitals wins lifetime achievement award

The Chief Inspector of Hospitals Professor Sir Mike Richards has been awarded a lifetime achievement award for services to cancer during a career spanning more than 30 years.

Sir Mike was presented with his award at the National Cancer Research Institute cancer conference in Liverpool this morning by Cancer Research UK.

In July 2013, Sir Mike joined the Care Quality Commission as Chief Inspector of Hospitals.

In 1999, he was appointed as the first National Cancer Director at the Department of Health. In this role he led the development of the NHS cancer plan (2000) – the first comprehensive strategy to tackle cancer in England and was then responsible for overseeing its implementation.

In 2001, he helped to establish the National Cancer Research Institute and was Chair of the Board between 2006 and 2008. He also helped to establish the National Cancer Intelligence Network (2008) and has also chaired the International Cancer Benchmarking Partnership.

Sir Mike was previously a consultant medical oncologist at Guy's Hospital specialising in breast cancer (1986 – 1995) and Sainsbury Professor of Palliative Medicine at St Thomas' Hospital (1995-1999).

Source: CQC website, news section

Publication of new fundamental standards

The government has today published the fundamental standards regulations. They include two regulations – the duty of candour and the fit and proper person requirement for directors – which will come into force on 27 November for NHS trusts, Foundation Trusts and some special health authorities that provide care and treatment to people that is regulated by CQC.

The remaining fundamental standards will come into force from April 2015. The duty of candour and the fit and proper requirement for directors will also be extended to all other providers from April via additional regulations, still subject to Parliament.

The duty of candour and the fit and proper requirement regulations will help to ensure that providers have robust systems in place to be open and honest when things go wrong and to hold directors to account when care fails people. 

The final debate to agree all of the fundamental standards regulations was held in the House of Lords last week. The published regulations replace the previous 16 essential standards.

The CQC will shortly be issuing guidance to NHS providers on how they can meet the duty of candour and the fit and proper person requirement regulations.

The fundamental standards are:

• care and treatment must be appropriate and reflect service users' needs and preferences.
• service users must be treated with dignity and respect.
• care and treatment must only be provided with consent.
• care and treatment must be provided in a safe way.
• service users must be protected from abuse and improper treatment.
• service users' nutritional and hydration needs must be met.
• all premises and equipment used must be clean, secure, suitable and used properly.
• complaints must be appropriately investigated and appropriate action taken in response.
• systems and processes must be established to ensure compliance with the fundamental standards.
• sufficient numbers of suitably qualified, competent, skilled and experienced staff must be deployed.
• persons employed must be of good character, have the necessary qualifications, skills and experience, and be able to perform the work for which they are employed (fit and proper persons requirement).
• registered persons must be open and transparent with service users about their care and treatment (the duty of candour).

For more information on ensure CQC compliance, please visit the Words Worth Reading Ltd website

Source, CQC website