Health bosses in the Norfolk have come under fire for prescribing too many drugs to children with ADHD. An international psychiatric watchdog said Norfolk Primary Care Trust is putting children in “chemical straitjackets” and not offering alternative ways of dealing with the problem.

The number of people applying for asylum in the UK fell by over 2,000 in 2006 to its lowest level since 1993, according to Home Office statistics. The figures show that 23,610 applications, were lodged last year, representing an 8% fall in applications on 2005.

Thousands of patients could die as a result of Labour’s policy to downgrade accident and emergency departments, research shows today.

{mosimage}A study has found that the further patients travel in an ambulance to reach hospital the more likely they are to die.

Its authors say the findings show Government policy-making “may be driven by anecdote or supposition” rather than based on evidence of what is best for patients.

The policy of providing community-based services and downgrading A&E departments, which was outlined in a White Paper in January 2006, has provoked protests.

Many fear it will mean they have to travel further for emergency care and say it is simply a cost-cutting measure.

Yesterday, David Cameron said the policy would lead to the closure of 29 hospitals.

He said people could not understand why A&E departments were closing when admissions were up and promised to fight to save units.

Hundreds of dangerous prisoners could be freed from jail because of “disastrous” failings by the Government when it introduced a new prison sentence, a High Court judge said yesterday.

Jack Straw, the justice secretary, yesterday backed plans to help inner city black youths avoid the temptations of crime by providing them with successful black mentors, including army officers.

The Royal College of Nursing is giving its members in England until mid-September to decide if they want to accept the government’s final pay deal. Some 95% of nurses had voted to go ahead with a ballot on industrial action over the original pay award.

An elderly man who sold his home to pay for a nursing home place is being evicted because his money has run out. Edwin Coglan, 78, of Weston-super-Mare, paid £40,000 in 2000 from the sale of his home to Summer Lane Care which charges £1,000 a month.

Too many people are being diagnosed with depression when all they are is unhappy, a leading psychiatrist says. Professor Gordon Parker claims the threshold for clinical depression is too low and risks treating normal emotional states as illness.

More proof is needed that electronic personal health records are safe and effective, some doctors have said. Ministers are pushing ahead with plans to put personal medical records on a national electronic database, which patients can themselves access online.

Trade union bosses have hit out at plans to privatise home care services in Rochdale as the council is looking to employ a private company to provide long-term help to the elderly and infirm. But Unison fears that could put some of the most vulnerable members of the community at risk.