The health secretary is to try to allay fears over the future of major hospitals in a speech. Patricia Hewitt will say the district general hospital model, providing a wide range of care under one roof, may not be right for the 21st Century. But she will say the redesigned NHS – with emergency care centralised in fewer hospitals – will still retain the values of the old health service.

Government proposals to extend next year’s smoking ban to mental healthcare settings are likely to face stiff opposition from NHS staff. A survey in the UK has asked 2574 NHS clinicians about their attitudes to health care settings as smoke-free environments. The results showed clear differences between general healthcare staff in comparison to staff in mental health settings.

Hundreds of NHS workers are to stage a second nationwide strike to coincide with a debate on the health service at next week’s Labour party conference in a bitter row over privatisation. Workers at NHS Logistics, who deliver goods ranging from bedpans to food to hospitals and GP surgeries across England, will walk out at 10pm on September 26 for 24 hours.

Sex offender treatment courses are being cut back and preparations are being made to reopen a disused army barracks near Dover in Kent to cope with the growing cash and overcrowding crisis in the prison and probation services, the Guardian has learned. The reduction in programmes treating sex offenders and tackling domestic violence has been ordered as a result of a financial squeeze in the probation service.

Leading fostering charity, the Fostering Network has launched a new report in which foster carers state the importance of an essential adviceline. Fosterline, funded by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) and run by the Fostering Network is the only confidential adviceline for foster carers in England providing an independent source of expert advice and information on all five days of the week. The report published to evaluate the successfulness of Fosterline’s first year in operation, shows that Fosterline supplied accurate, impartial and timely advice to over 3,500 callers in 2005-06. The top three types of enquiry received by the adviceline related to changes in the law, allegations and financial support.

Pensioners with mental health problems are being consulted on changes to a care service. The Bolton, Salford and Trafford Mental Health Trust is planning to invest £800,000 in care for older people with mental illness. Bosses hope to expand community day care places and modernise day hospital services in Bolton. Two wards at the Royal Bolton Hospital are being refurbished and will provide 20 beds. Patients on one of the wards will have access to a garden.

A mental health charity fears dozens of people in Bournemouth could lose vital community support if it cannot find funding to keep three of its local services going. Mind has warned it will have to issue redundancy notices this week and close three services for people with mental health problems at the end of the month unless Bournemouth Council comes up with the money. Those affected are Women in Mind, a group for women with mental health problems including depression, Panacea, a group for people affected by anxiety, stress or phobias, and a recreation service at the Pokesdown Club.

{mosimage} Children are missing out on crucial time reading, playing and eating with their parents, according to a study published today that reveals nine out of 10 families suffer from unsocial working hours. Eight out of 10 working fathers and more than half of all working mothers are forced to work outside the hours of 8am-7pm, Monday to Friday, says a report from the National Centre for Social Research.

Family life is being irrevocably damaged because few parents ever make up the time lost, the study of 11,000 people found. Mothers working unsocial hours are losing eight hours a week with their children, while a third of working fathers are losing more than 15.

{mosimage}Family separations and commercial pressures are causing a crisis in modern childhood, the Archbishop of Canterbury has warned. Dr Rowan Williams says a new generation of young parents fail to offer the right example to their children who, in turn, are becoming “infant adults”. His comments come as an inquiry is launched into the state of childhood by the Children’s Society. But fertility expert Lord Winston said lack of data made comparisons hard. The Children’s Society is concerned about rising levels of child depression in the UK. The independent inquiry is looking at all aspects of childhood amid growing concern over the health and quality of children’s’ lives. Bob Reitmeier, the chief executive of the charity, said a period of reflection was needed to review the changed status of childhood, which had altered dramatically in terms of new technologies and a more diverse population.

A former prisoner who is dying from a brain tumour has been recalled to jail for swearing at staff at a care home, it emerged yesterday. A prison watchdog has criticised the decision to recall Christopher Tierney, who is paralysed down one side, losing his sight and displaying behaviour that medical opinion says he cannot control.