Union leaders have won government backing for a campaign calling on firms to stamp out bullying in the workplace. Amicus said only 2% of employers currently had a policy of zero tolerance towards bullying at work. The union said bullying was costing industry up to £2bn a year in sick pay, staff turnover and lost productivity.

People suffering mental health problems are being failed by poor access to key community services, a watchdog says. The Healthcare Commission review of 174 mental health teams in England found gaps in out-of-hours care, talking therapies and access to information. The watchdog rated one in 10 as excellent, with nearly half just getting a fair grade. Campaigners said the findings were concerning, and NHS bosses said there was room for improvement.

Parents are considering legal action over the decision to close a respite home in Epsom without the guarantee of alternative places for its severely disabled residents. Wells House is run by Surrey Social Services to provide short breaks and residential care for young people with complex needs. Two weeks ago a letter was sent to parents of 25 affected children announcing the home would close on November 13 because of “operational reasons”.

{mosimage} Serious crimes such as assault and mugging will be punished by instant fines of up to £100 from as early as next year under proposals to keep offenders out of courts, it has been reported . The plans, drawn up by the Home Office, propose an extension of fixed-penalty notices from early 2007, The Times reported.

The penalties would be handed out for offences including assault, threatening behaviour, theft up to the value of £100, obstructing or assaulting a police officer, possession of cannabis and drunkenness, the newspaper said. A spokesman for the Home Office said he could not comment on leaked documents, adding that such proposals had “not gone anywhere near ministers”.

Cindy Barnett, chairman of the Magistrates’ Association, said the proposals made a mockery of the criminal justice system and downgraded the gravity of offences that should go before the courts.

An independent person will chair a strategic review to be carried out by the new Cornwall Primary Care Trust into all aspects of healthcare provision in Cornwall. Cornwall’s Health and Adult Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee have given the Primary Care Trust two months to carry out the review. If members are not satisfied with the results they could then request a separate independent inquiry to be carried out.

Arthritis Care welcomes new measures to tackle abuse of the Blue Badge Scheme designed to benefit disabled vehicle users  – and calls for the crackdown to be extended to private car parking. Police and civil enforcement officers, traffic wardens, local authority parking attendants are now authorised to inspect blue badges as part of their duties.  Failure to produce a badge when using an on-road space reserved for badge holders, or when parking on a yellow line, could result in a £1000 fine.

Mental health services across Milton Keynes will be cut by £1.4 million. The announcement was made at the board meeting of the Milton Keynes Primary Care Trust. The PCT board accepted the recommendations made in a review by national mental health charity the Sainsbury Centre. It includes cuts to drug and alcohol services, the memory screening clinic and the closure of the Fraser Day Hospital in Newport Pagnell.

Specialist nurses are being targeted to reduce mounting NHS debts, warns the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) and charity Bowel Cancer UK – a move the RCN calls “deeply worrying”. The RCN and Bowel Cancer UK surveyed nurses working in gastroenterology and stoma care across the UK. A total of 460 nurses responded to the survey, with 47% having experience of either their own post – or that of another specialist nurse in their area – being made redundant, downgraded or frozen while vacant.

The government has been defeated at the Labour conference over its NHS plans. Delegates voted in favour of a Unison motion calling for a slow down in the pace of reform and condemning the privatisation of the health service. It comes on the day health workers at NHS Logistics are on strike over plans to sell-off the supply agency to DHL. A NEC statement supporting reforms was also defeated on the back of the union “block vote” but Labour said 62% of ordinary members had supported it.

The leader of Buckinghamshire County Council has warned once more that services will be damaged because of vastly reduced levels of government funding. Speaking at a recent cabinet meeting, David Shakespeare said the only way services could be maintained at current levels would be to shunt an ever greater cost burden onto the council tax payer but stressed that because of Government capping, the county would face a reduction in services so that expenditure levels matched income levels.