MENTAL health patients have fled from a Manchester hospital ward four times in four weeks. The M.E.N has been contacted by the anxious relatives and friends of three patients on Oxford ward, at Manchester Royal Infirmary, concerned about poor security on the unit.

Many people are not getting the social care services that meet their needs fully according to a report from the Commission for Social Care Inspection. It also claims that in many areas services are not meeting the transformation vision that was set out by the Department of Health.

No quick fix exists for a shortage of social workers in West Sussex – said to be the main reason why the county’s child-protection services were labelled ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted inspectors.

Families and patients face a postcode lottery when it comes to selling their homes to pay for care home costs, new research has revealed.

A mental health nurse, Karen Reissmann, who lost her job after criticising her bosses for proposing a reform programme which she alleged would lead to job losses will appear before an employment tribunal in an attempt to clear her name.

Much has changed since ministers first thought it would be a good idea to keep sensitive details on millions of children in one place. That followed the death, in 2000, of little Victoria Climbié, who might have been saved had key professionals passed their concerns about abuse to one another.

Talks are continuing in a bid to resolve a long-running dispute over the fees paid to the owners of independent care homes for the elderly in Northumberland.

CHESHIRE County Council is undertaking a series of road shows so that people can find out more about ‘Personalisation’ – a new system of providing social care services.

The Sun’s agony aunt Deidre Sanders is among members of a government taskforce charged with finding ways to restore the battered public reputation of social work in the wake of the Baby P controversy, it was announced today.

A £5 million state-of-the-art resource centre for older people opened in Norwich this week.