A leading pharmacologist today condemns science degree courses in alternative and complementary medicine as pseudo scientific or even “anti-scientific”. Prof David Colquhoun of University College London says the rapid growth in “science degrees without the science” shows a sharp contrast with the closure of physics and chemistry courses at universities.

The Children’s Workforce Development Council (CWDC) has announced that as part of the ‘New Types of Worker’ programme, it is funding a range of innovative projects that will help encourage a strategic approach to workforce development.

Research into Ageing, which is the highly successful biomedical programme of Help the Aged, has been awarded for its excellence in writing clear and accessible publications that increase public support for vital biomedical research.

A foster mother who subjected children in her care to horrific acts of cruelty was allowed to continue her reign of terror for 20 years because of a catalogue of blunders by social services, it emerged. Eunice Spry, 62, beat the children with metal bars, made them drink bleach and forced them to eat their own vomit.

A judge has warned about the rising threat of dangerous elderly drivers after an 89-year-old motorist with dementia was blamed for a crash in which a motorcyclist died. Retired farmer Albert Bradley had ignored pleas from his family to stop driving amid concerns of his poor health, Hull Crown Court was told.

New gay equality laws which are opposed by the Roman Catholic Church are a “major step forward”, the Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly has said. Peers voted against an amendment to throw out the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations, brought by Tory peer Baroness O’Cathain.

Sir Elton John has marked his 60th birthday by urging the public to speak out against homophobia, in a strongly worded article that highlights the violence faced by gay people all over the world. In a piece published in the Guardian and New Statesman today, the singer asks people to “shout down” homophobia whether it happens “in the local pub or a thousand miles away”.

There has been a “disastrous failure” of NHS workforce planning creating a “boom and bust” approach, MPs say. The Health Committee said little thought was given to long-term planning as managers strived to hit “demanding” government targets.

{mosimage}MPs said vast rises in staff numbers had been followed by redundancies, cuts to training and recruitment freezes. They added regional health bosses had to make planning more of a priority and ministers stop “micromanaging”.
The findings come after leaked Department of Health planning documents at the start of the year showed there would be a shortage of GPs and nurses and too many hospital consultants in four years time. It said there had been a “yo-yo attitude to planning”. 

Shadow Health Minister Stephen O’Brien said: “Last year Patricia Hewitt blamed the cash-crisis in the NHS on it employing too many staff. But we know that it’s her department who forced this desperate situation.”

MPs said workforce planning was a “vitally important process” as 70% of NHS funding is spent on staffing costs, but it had been a “disastrous failure”. They said the NHS has ended up employing too many staff, relying heavily on overseas recruitment, in a bid to meet “demanding” government targets.

Between 1999 and 2004, nursing numbers increased by more than 67,000 – 340% in excess of original targets. During the same time, GP numbers swelled by more than 4,000 – double the initial target. MPs said this had been at the expense of long-term sensible planning and created a “boom” and “bust” situation in the last eight years where the increases in staff numbers were being followed by redundancies, training cuts and newly trained staff not getting jobs.

Elderly people in nursing homes are being left in “shocking pain” says a survey today, with two in five saying they are in constant agony, and others admitting to having suicidal thoughts.

{mosimage}The research, conducted confidentially among residents whose average age was 82, reveals the extent to which the frail and vulnerable are made to suffer unnecessarily. It was carried out by the Patients Association, the independent lobby group led by Claire Rayner, a former nurse and midwife and well known agony aunt.

The findings are a “disgrace”, said the association’s spokesman Katherine Murphy, who called for a more proactive approach to help a generation who tended not to make a fuss. Eight per cent of those interviewed described their pain as “excruciating”. One 95-year-old woman said: “I will cry every night nearly, the pain is so bad.”

Street workers are to be given bespoke counselling and help to find alternative lifestyles as part of a tough anti-prostitution strategy that is being piloted by the Home Office.