Tony Blair has admitted his NHS reforms have been “really tough” for staff but said waiting list cuts, new hospitals and more staff were a sign of success.

Too few seriously ill children are receiving palliative care in their final weeks, a study suggests. A team from Great Ormond Street Hospital found the number dying in intensive care has increased over the last decade.

{mosimage}The Journal of Medical Ethics study suggests guidance on managing symptoms, rather than being given invasive care, is not being followed enough. But experts said intensive care could be the right kind of assistance.

In 1997, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health published guidance on when it might be recommended that active treatment or life support could be withdrawn, meaning children could be cared for on a general ward or at home

The researchers wanted to see how often this was put into practice. They analysed data on deaths in the hospital of children aged up to 18 from 1997 to 2004. During the seven years, 1,127 children died, over half of whom (58%) were younger than 12 months.

Local councils are to carry out their own census-style checks on immigrant numbers because of glaring underestimates in official figures. The councils, particularly in the South East, say that they do not get enough central government help with local services because the Office for National Statistics (ONS) is incapable of providing correct numbers.

A war veteran who faces losing his sight because the NHS will not pay for treatment to save it said today the decision would leave his disabled wife “stranded and helpless”.

Fears were raised today that the standard of care for Norfolk’s elderly and disabled will suffer after it was decided to privatise home care. Councillors at Norfolk County Council unanimously agreed to hand the majority of home care support to the private sector over the next seven years.

Former prisoners are to be appointed to every probation service in England and Wales in a bid to cut the number of young offenders who return to crime after a spell in prison. The scheme, which builds on an initiative by the Prince of Wales, aims to break the cycle of reoffending by young people.

A team at London’s Moorfields Eye Hospital has made the world’s first attempt to treat a sight disorder using gene therapy. They operated on Robert Johnson, a UK man born with a sight disorder which deteriorates with age.

Paedophiles who abuse children of 12 or under may receive shorter jail terms if their victims ‘consent’ to sex, according to sentencing rules published this week. The law currently considers such youngsters incapable of giving consent – so sexual intercourse is automatically classed as rape.

Lord Ashley of Stoke’s Disabled Persons (Independent Living) bill has received approval from the House of Lords and with early day motions of 150 MPs also supporting the bill, looks set to be on its way to becoming law soon.

Children who catch a heavy cold at key moments during their first year of life are at greater risk of developing asthma, researchers have found.