A £250,000 grant from NHS Northwest will help ensure that a full range of health and emotional wellbeing services are available in children’s centres and other community settings in West Cumbria.

A top London hospital has reopened after closing its accident and emergency department when staff were sent home ill after noticing an “unusual smell”. Eight members of staff received medical treatment and parts of the lower floors of the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead, north London, were evacuated.

A Worcestershire history teacher has been sacked after he showed pupils a home recorded natural history programme which featured pornography at the end. Michael Collins had recorded the programme onto a personal video tape before transferring it onto a DVD.

Scientists and lawmakers urged the government on Thursday to scrap a proposed ban on creating hybrid animal-human embryos for research into illnesses such as Parkinson’s, stroke and Alzheimer’s.

A dentist who took on a list of 1,500 NHS patients killed herself after succumbing to the pressures of work, an inquest heard. Ingrid Gill, 46, who resigned after falling ill, took an overdose of anti-depressants and whisky.

Hobby clubs have become victims of “heavy-handed” child protection rules, according to a report that has found that many are now closing their doors to young people.

Parents in the UK spend less time with their children than those in any other European country, teachers’ leaders warned yesterday. Economic pressureswere forcing both parents in more and more homes to go out to work and were leading to a “greater institutionalisation” of children, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers’ conference in Bournemouth was told.

One in three people are expected not to cooperate with identity card checks, Home Office papers from 2004 suggest. Papers revealed under information laws show officials have worked on the basis 60% of people would carry a card if and when it becomes compulsory to own one.

The cost to patients of making telephone calls from their hospital bed is to increase by 160% from Wednesday. Patientline, which charges people to make phone calls and watch television in hospital, is to increase its call charge from 10p a minute to 26p.

Depression during pregnancy may increase the risk of giving birth early, a UK study suggests. Mothers who were severely depressed gave birth earlier than those without depression, a small study shows.