A hospital has cut its death rate dramatically by posting notices in wards reminding staff of basic safety measures. The rate at Luton and Dunstable Hospital in Bedfordshire plummeted 16 per cent in two years, after doctors and nurses were warned to wash their hands between patients, check drugs before dispensing them and mark patients correctly for surgery.

The results of the second survey of continence care for older people carried out by the Royal College of Physicians show little improvement since this time last year. There have been minor improvements in some areas, but integrated services are still a dream rather than a reality.

The probation union, NAPO, says Home Secretary John Reid has used “flawed” data to justify privatising the Probation Service. NAPO said only 53% of people on probation re-offended within two years – not 60% as the Home Office said.

{mosimage}The government plans to privatise the Probation Service in a bid to improve its much-criticised performance.

The Home Office said it wanted the best provider – whether public, private or voluntary – to help stop reoffending.

The National Association of Probation Officers said the government’s own “unadjusted” figures showed re-offending was less than Mr Reid said.

Assistant general secretary Harry Fletcher said reoffending by those on community sentences was at least 13% lower than those released from jail.

“The government is claiming that the Probation Service should be broken up because performance is bad and re-offending rates are too high. This does not appear to be the case.”

He added: “It would appear that there are flaws in the argument and there is an urgent need for informed debate.”

Mr Reid believes privatising the more routine tasks will improve the Probation Service. He has also said he wanted to see up to £250m of the service’s annual budget contracted out under new legislation after April 2008.

A couple who have played mum and dad to 42 foster children have been recognised by the Queen in the New Year’s Honours. Superparents Joe and Rita Lansdell have been fostering for 37 years but are still not tired of tending to babies even though they are in their 60s.

A government anti-smoking ad will start in the New Year in a bid to cut the number of smokers in the build up to the forthcoming smoking ban. The ad shows smokers being violently seized by a fish-hook and dragged to their traditional smoking spots.

Health minister Ivan Lewis has defended Cabinet member Hazel Blears over her protest at the closure of a maternity unit in her constituency. Mr Lewis, who has himself protested against NHS cuts in his constituency, said every MP has the right to make a case to the secretary of state.

{mosimage}The Labour Party chairwoman has been criticised for protesting at a local level while agreeing to central policy. Mr Lewis has protested about Fairfield Hospital in Bury, Greater Manchester.

Other senior government members to protest include chief whip Jacqui Smith, who has protested at the Alexandra hospital in Redditch, and Home Secretary John Reid, who protested in his Airdrie and Shotts constituency.

Their actions and his own were defended by Mr Lewis, who told BBC 4’s Today programme: “We are elected to fulfil our responsibilities to our constituents first and foremost.”

In terms of his Bury South constituency, he said the decision process had taken two years. None of the recommendations had been made by ministers or civil servants in central government, but by “NHS professionals”, he said.

Soaring demand for care for adults with learning difficulties is leaving York with a cash crisis, a top councillor has warned. The number of patients cared for by City of York Council increased from 326 to 417 between March and October this year and is expected to continue rising over the next decade.

News of the looming closure of a respite home has been greeted with despair by worried relatives. The Tamarine respite care unit in Denmead, near Waterlooville, has been earmarked for closure in the summer, sparking fears over the effect on the vulnerable people who use it.

The Government has intervened in the Essex County Council elderly care home crisis, which threatens the closure of Saffron Walden’s Stanley Wilson Lodge. Social Services Minister Ivan Lewis has now pledged to call the authority and the Commission for Social Care Inspection to a meeting in the new year.

A unique mental health project will link Liverpool and Stavanger during Capital of Culture year. Everyone from people given therapy at home to patients in Ashworth hospital will have the chance to get involved. Artwork created in the two cities, which are each capitals of culture in 2008, could form an exhibition in both Liverpool and Norway.