The future of the computer system that is supposed to keep track of 300,000 offenders a year who are in prison or on probation is in doubt after ministers halted the programme this week. The moratorium follows an admission that the original £234m costing “proved to be optimistic”.

Michael Leadbetter and David Prince have been appointed as new members to the General Social Care Council (GSCC). Mr Michael Leadbetter is a former Director of Social Services, a consultant in Children’s and Adult Care Services and has been  Chair of the Children’s Workforce Development Council (CWDC) since April 2007.

Nearly 2,000 people with learning disabilities are to be moved into their own homes from the NHS institutions where they have lived for years. Some £175m is being made available to rehouse inhabitants – who have spent at least a decade on the so-called “campuses” – within the community.

{mosimage}The campuses, many of which are former hospitals, will be closed by 2010. The Department of Health has insisted no-one would be left on their own to fend for themselves. Each person will be individually assessed and given their own care plan. “Whatever they need help with – from dressing and shopping to 24 hour care, they’ll get it. No-one will be left alone,” a spokesperson said.

The proposal is seen as a significant challenge as so many have spent so long institutionalised. The last referrals to campuses were made in the mid-1990s, so those within them have spent at least ten years on the site.

Campaigners have long argued that the lives of campus inhabitants have been far too limited: for example, all of their needs beside food and accommodation must be funded by £20 of hospital pocket money each week, and they have not been able to take part in simple every day activities like cooking for themselves.

Local authorities and Primary Care Trusts are to bid for a tranche of the £175m being made available to provide the required housing and day care facilities. “The funding provides the incentive for Primary Care Trusts, in conjunction with local authorities, to get on with closure plans, so people with a learning disability can live their lives the way they want, within their community,” said Dame Jo Williams from Mencap. “People with a learning disability should have the opportunity to make choices about where and how they live.”

Coping well with stress can cut the risk of a stroke by almost a quarter, research shows. A University of Cambridge team based their conclusion on a seven-year study of more than 20,000 people.

More than 60 per cent of mental health nurses say they are under excessive work pressure, according to a survey. A Royal College of Nursing survey of 577 of its members found 61 per cent agreed or strongly agreed with the statement “I am under too much pressure at work”

A campaign has been launched to highlight the shocking problems faced by the ‘young olds’ – vulnerable, middle aged, former rough sleepers who have debilitating health problems more commonly associated with pensioners.

Skills for Care, the social care workforce development body in England for people working with adults, has responded to the statement made by the Education and Skills Committee earlier this week. The report put the spotlight on the Government’s Train to Gain programme.

New minister for patient empowerment, Ann Keen, has called on the NHS and local government to give more people a greater say over local health and social care services.

Sure Start children’s centres, early years education and childcare in England have been given a £4bn cash injection from the Government. The money, which will help the Government meet its

A hospital trust is to face scrutiny from an independent panel after vowing to scrap services for children and new mothers. The Horton General Hospital in Banbury plans to downgrade a 24hr children’s ward to a day centre, close a special care baby unit and use midwives rather than consultants to run its maternity unit.