The government has been accused of failing to meet a promise to scrap mixed-sex wards in NHS hospitals. The Department of Health said its targets had been achieved, and 99% of trusts are providing single sex accommodation. But patients groups said they were getting an increasing number of calls from people who think they have been in mixed-sex wards. There appears to be confusion about the definition of the term.

A doctor accused of misdiagnosing hundreds of children with epilepsy has lost a legal challenge after his work was labelled “seriously deficient”. Dr Andrew Holton gave wrong diagnoses of epilepsy to 618 children in Leicestershire between 1990 and 2001. The General Medical Council (GMC) ruled his professional performance was deficient and imposed conditions on his registration earlier this year. The High Court has ruled that some of the conditions should be changed.

An agency supplying care for elderly clients employed a man, found to be a convicted thief, as a home help who went on to steal cash from two elderly ladies. Eden Care Services of Cross Street, Macclesfield – who are contracted principally by Cheshire County Council’s Social Services – last night explained their decision to employ Paul Ashcroft when he had a criminal record. Two years ago he was convicted of stealing from his father.

Authorities are failing to provide homeless women with the help they need, a report by charity Crisis suggests. A survey of 160 single homeless women in England found less than a third of those who applied for housing met the criteria for priority need status. This was despite having traumatic backgrounds and an urgent need for accommodation, the charity said. It is calling for major improvements to council homelessness assessments and general services for women. The report found that more than 20% of the homeless women surveyed were escaping domestic violence. It added many homeless women had entered into unwanted sexual relationships in an effort to secure accommodation.

{mosimage} Crisis said the “male-dominated environment” of some services, such as mixed accommodation, was perceived as threatening and unsafe among those who had experienced sexual abuse or violence. It found that around 60% of homeless women had slept rough and of these, many had been physically attacked or sexually assaulted.

The majority of women Crisis spoke to said they had been turned away or deterred from making a housing application by local authorities, who had said they were not vulnerable enough.

The relentless rise of HIV and other sexual infections in the UK is continuing, with evidence that some groups in the population are ignoring warnings and still engaging in risky sexual behaviour, according to figures published yesterday. There are now 63,500 adults living with HIV infection in the UK, of whom 7,450 were diagnosed during 2005, according to the Health Protection Agency. It is 25 years since Aids was identified and surveillance began. The UK is ahead of most countries in its efforts to prevent infection and treat it, and yet the spread in this country has not been checked, the HPA acknowledged yesterday.

Hundreds of teachers living in England as refugees are not employed because the system fails them, a report says. Their skills are being wasted and an opportunity for a diverse workforce is being lost, a taskforce of teachers and educational organisations suggests. Its co-chairman, Stephen Jones, said the system for helping refugee teachers find work was “about as unfriendly as it is possible to be”. He wants clearer guidance and a national database of refugee teachers.

Reservists will qualify for enhanced support for mental health problems under a new programme announced by the Under Secretary of State Derek Twigg.

Motorists who get stopped by the police could have their fingerprints taken at the roadside, under a new plan to help officers check people’s identities. A hand-held device being tested by 10 forces in England and Wales is linked to a database of 6.5m prints. Police say they will save time because people will no longer have to go to the station to prove their identity. Officers promise prints will not be kept on file but concerns have been raised about civil liberties.

Motorists who get stopped by the police could have their fingerprints taken at the roadside, under a new plan to help officers check people’s identities. A hand-held device being tested by 10 forces in England and Wales is linked to a database of 6.5m prints. Police say they will save time because people will no longer have to go to the station to prove their identity. Officers promise prints will not be kept on file but concerns have been raised about civil liberties.

Heroin should be prescribed to drug addicts to curb crime, the deputy chief constable of Nottinghamshire has said at a drugs conference. Howard Roberts told an Association of Chief Police Officers’ conference in Manchester the idea should be assessed. He said the treatment would cost £12,000 a year per addict but added that drug users steal property valued at an average of £45,000 a year. The idea is being piloted in London, the South East and North of England.