Every year there are potentially more than 500 sudden unexplained deaths in England, reveals a nationwide study published ahead of print in the journal Heart. This figure is around eight times higher than previously thought, the data suggest.

One in three drivers suspected of driving while ‘over the limit,’ but subsequently found to be below maximum permissible levels of alcohol, nevertheless tested positive for a range of drugs, reveals research in Injury Prevention. The findings prompt the authors to call for routine drugs testing in all drivers who are suspected of being over the limit for alcohol.

A new system of star ratings for all social care providers in England took another step towards becoming reality today.

{mosimage}Work to begin implementing the new system will begin in January 2007.  People who use services, social care providers and local councils will be invited to work with CSCI staff in making sure the new system is robust and receives proper scrutiny from all key stakeholders throughout the implementation phase. 

Commissioners for the Commission for Social Care Inspection, led by Dame Denise Platt DBE, agreed to proceed with implementing the new system following a public consultation that received nearly 3,000 responses. 

The majority of respondents supported using ‘stars’ to describe the ratings.

It’s too late for Gemma Adams, Tania Nicol and a third, as yet unnamed, woman, the three Ipswich street sex workers found brutally murdered in Suffolk. But to prevent the death toll rising, urgent action needs to be taken to protect other women who are working on the streets of Britain.

Government plans to scrap the Child Support Agency in its current form are to be set out in a White Paper. Although the measures are being presented by Work and Pensions Secretary John Hutton as a reform of the CSA, the agency which emerges from the process is thought unlikely to bear much resemblance to the much-criticised body created 13 years ago.
{mosimage}Reports suggest that ministers are preparing to write off as much as £1.2 billion of the £3.5 billion in unpaid child maintenance payments which the CSA has failed to recover from absent parents.

The Queen’s Speech in November confirmed that the Government was planning a bill during the current parliamentary session to “improve the system of child support”. The paper – to be unveiled in a statement to the House of Commons by Mr Hutton – will set out the proposed outlines of legislation, which is expected to bring down the curtain on the CSA.

In its place will come a new, smaller body intended to provide a simpler and more effective way of collecting child maintenance. The White Paper is expected to detail plans to end the requirement that all lone parents with care responsibilities who claim state benefits – mostly mothers – must also submit a claim to receive child maintenance.

Weight loss drugs and surgery should be used to help some people lose weight, government advisors have said. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has issued guidelines on treating obesity and preventing people becoming overweight. NICE says the NHS in England and Wales needs support from local authorities, schools and employers.

Mismanagement at all levels of the NHS in England has led to the current multimillion pound deficit, a committee of MPs has found. The Commons health select committee said existing deficits were made worse by the cost of new staff pay deals and the expense of meeting NHS targets. But it added local financial mismanagement was also a factor. Last year’s NHS deficit was £547m.

Forty-three maternity units across the UK are under threat, the Conservatives have warned. They say 21 midwife-led units and 22 run by consultants have either closed or may do so. Most are in England, and two-thirds are in Conservative, Liberal Democrat or Independent seats, the analysis of the possible closures finds.

A convicted paedophile has been moved from his Somerset home by police after a crowd of angry residents protested outside his home. Robert Oliver, 52, was a member of a gang involved in the killing of 14-year-old Jason Swift in 1985.

{mosimage}Women were yesterday warned not to walk alone after dark as the hunt for a Ripper-style serial killer took another sinister turn. Three prostitutes have been found murdered in recent days and yesterday it emerged that two more women in the same area have been reported missing.

All five were touting for business in Ipswich, where police are increasingly certain a crazed killer is preying on prostitutes.

And with the Christmas party season in full swing, police warned that any woman walking the streets at night could be in danger.

Jacqui Cheer, Assistant Chief Constable of Suffolk, said: “My message to you is simple – stay off the streets. If you are out alone at night you are putting yourself in danger.”

The naked bodies of Tania Nicol, 19, Gemma Adams{mosimage}, 25, and an unnamed 24-year-old woman have all been found in ‘strikingly similar’ circumstances on the outskirts of Ipswich in the last nine days.

Another prostitute, 29-year-old Annette Nicholls, was reported missing yesterday by relatives who have had no contact from her since December 3. She is understood to have been working the streets of Ipswich when she was last seen alive.