Despite a new report by the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) showing that standards of care are improving and more services are now meeting the minimum standards, more and more older and disabled people are either having to find and pay for their own private care or rely on family members or friends.

British scientists are preparing to launch trials of a radical new way to fight cancer, which kills tumours by infecting them with viruses like the common cold. If successful, virus therapy could eventually form a third pillar alongside radiotherapy and chemotherapy in the standard arsenal against cancer, while avoiding some of the debilitating side-effects.

The government was defeated in the House of Lords last night over legislation to strengthen powers of compulsion in the treatment of mentally ill patients in England and Wales. A rebel alliance of peers won by a majority of 106 on the first of a series of amendments to the mental health bill.

The Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) has responded to yesterday’s CSCI report – State of Social Care in England 2005/06 – by reiterating the need for local authorities to ensure that all services are based on reliable and relevant good practice evidence.

As the NHS prepares for its last year of significant injections of extra money, the Chairman of the British Medical Association Mr James Johnson has called on the government to get its act together and reinstate proper workforce planning or risk wasting £millions of public money.

A Cornwall hospital criticised in a report for “widespread institutional abuse” of patients closes this week. Government inspectors found evidence of 64 incidents of abuse over five years at Budock Hospital, near Falmouth.

Thousands of Norfolk pensioners relying on meals on wheels face an inflation-busting price hike of nearly 30 per cent. Norfolk County Council is proposing to increase the cost of a two-course meal by 65p from £2.35 to £3 in a bid to generate £268,000 a year for the cash-strapped service.

Families face a growing burden of care for elderly and disabled relatives and most people will have to pay for their own support services in old age as the state’s role shrinks, the government’s care watchdog will warn today.

North Yorkshire’s health care bosses have approved cost-cutting measures to clear a £45m debt. The North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust is the most overspent organisation in the NHS. At a meeting in Harrogate on Tuesday managers decided on plans to cut debts within the next three months.

A children’s charity has called for an overhaul of the sex offender management system and the introduction of a contact point for worried parents to report their concerns.