The Tories have pledged to hand day-to-day control of the NHS in England to an independent board, part of efforts to make it more autonomous. Members would be chosen by the health secretary and would be accountable to ministers, the party says.

Dementia sufferers across North Yorkshire are predicted to soar in numbers by 50 per cent over the next 14 years, according to new figures. Research by the Alzheimer’s Society has suggested that by 2021, there will be 12,699 people across the county with this kind of illness – a huge rise from the 8,456 in estimated sufferers today.

Community treatment orders (CTOs) do little to reduce arrests, hospital readmission rates or bed days in patients with mental illness, research has shown.

The Disability Rights Commission (DRC) is calling for an urgent closing of a legal loophole which fails to offer adequate human rights protection to disabled or older people if their local authority places them in a privately owned care home.

The English Community Care Association (ECCA), the leading representative body for independent care homes, has responded to the House of Lords ruling on human rights for older people. Martin Green, Chief Executive of ECCA, says:

Campaigners are challenging the nation to “dare to care” for millions of children living in poverty in the UK as part of a major volunteer recruitment drive. A coalition of more than 70 organisations, headed by the Campaign to End Child Poverty and volunteering charity CSV, aims to sign up 35,000 people to work with vulnerable youngsters from deprived backgrounds.

The Children’s Workforce Development Council (CWDC) has welcomed the publication of the DfES’ Care Matters White Paper which focuses on improving the lives of children in care. Michael Leadbetter, Chair of the CWDC, comments:

Foster carers who smoke will be banned from looking after children under the age of five, a charity has proposed. The UK’s leading fostering group is advising local authorities to introduce the policy on the day the English smoking ban comes into force on 1 July.

Children in care could receive help from a “virtual head teacher” under plans to boost their opportunities. A White Paper published today is expected to say the heads could oversee

More than a million children have mental health problems, a doubling of the number in a generation, devastating research reveals today.

{mosimage}An epidemic of disorders ranging from depression, anxiety and anorexia to violent delinquency has struck one in ten youngsters.

Last night experts blamed a damaging mix of family breakdown, junk food diets, marketing, binge-drinking, increasing availability of drugs, sexy images projected by magazines and mounting exam pressure for the trend.

They warned that modern lifestyles were forcing youngsters to grow up more quickly than previous generations, robbing them of their childhoods.

The children’s charity, NCH, called for urgent action to prevent mental health problems wrecking the prospects of a generation.

It issued the warning as separate figures showed that the number of children admitted to hospital suffering from eating disorders has shot up more than a third in the last ten years.

The increase was immediately linked to the pressure on young people to look like a supermodel or celebrity.

Today, as it launches a campaign to improve children’s well-being, the NCH highlights two major studies which suggest that British children are afflicted by severe and worsening emotional problems.

The first, from the Office of National Statistics, says that one in ten youngsters between the ages of five and 16 has a “clinically recognisable” mental disorder.