AN employee of Abacus Care (Cheshire) which collapsed last week has said she was shocked to hear the borough council was aware of the company’s perilous state.

A suitable home is vital for maintaining independence, so housing must be part of the debate around integrating health and social care

THE number of calls made to a Gloucestershire helpline over concerns vulnerable adults were being abused has shot up by 17 per cent.

Busy Bees has strengthened its dominance in the nursery sector after acquiring the UK’s third largest early years group.

Councils in England could save £312m annually on adult social care if they carried out client assessments more effectively, the Audit Commission says.

BASW has countered a report by public spending watchdog The Audit Commission, which suggests the adult social care funding gap could be plugged by using unqualified staff to complete assessments, with a reminder that cheaper doesn’t always mean better.

Cornwall has been chosen to pilot a new £400,000 scheme to help keep mentally ill people who have been arrested out of the criminal justice system.

ELDERLY and disabled people in Knutsford were handed a shock this morning, Friday, after a company that helps to care for them went bust.

A MERSEYSIDE man has battled for 10 years to try to reclaim the cost of his mum’s care. After having several strokes which eventually left her paralysed down one side, Phil Newton’s mum Evelyn was taken into a nursing home where she was cared for until she died in June 2005 aged 83.

Trade union Unison has lambasted the Audit Commission for ‘peddling a dangerous myth’ in suggesting councils could easily make £300m savings from care assessment efficiencies.