A mental health service commended for its quality care is now deteriorating, says a senior member of medical staff at The West Cumberland Hospital. And the stress on nursing staff is so apparent that it could lead to many leaving the service, she warns. The senior staff member echoes concerns highlighted in The Whitehaven News, recently, by Distington GP Dr Jeff Rudman. He said that staff working for the mental health service are too frightened to speak out, but that the service was in danger of collapse. This has resulted in other local people speaking out.

More than 200 members of Suffolk’s social care staff will have to find work in the private sector when the county council contracts out services in its old people’s homes. Up to 156 staff, the equivalent of 83 full time posts, will be lost when the county follows the lead of other authorities and stops providing respite and day care services in its 14 homes. Another 63 members of staff, equivalent to 30 full time posts, will be lost if Cherryfields respite residential home in Bramford – which the council leases – is closed.

A police investigation has been launched after a second mystery blaze at a Norfolk nursing home in less than two weeks. The blaze in Cedar House in Church Road, Yelverton, near Poringland, led to 24 pensioners and all the staff being evacuated from the building and have now been sent to a range of other nursing homes across the county. The fire, believed to have been started deliberately, broke out in the cellar of the nursing home. When crews arrived on the scene smoke was billowing from the 22-room, three-storey building. The fire was put out within two hours but crews stayed to ventilate the uilding and the cellar was left with serious smoke damage.

More than £4million is to be spent upgrading facilities at two homeless assessment centres in Liverpool. The government has awarded Liverpool City Council one of the highest grants outside London (£3.7m) after the Department for Communities and Local Government classed Liverpool’s plans as “a model of best practice that will offer inspiration to the rest of the country.” The money will be used to totally transform the two centres in north Liverpool where people claiming to be homeless are assessed.

{mosimage}At least three of the contestants on Big Brother should have been barred from taking part on the grounds of emotional vulnerability, a leading academic has claimed. After a series that was punctuated by emotional outbursts and contestants leaving the show, Cynthia McVey, a senior lecturer on psychology at Glasgow Caledonian University, called on Channel 4 to tighten up its selection procedures. The programme’s finale attracted 8.2 million viewers but some were shocked by the frenzied reaction of Pete Bennett, who suffers from Tourette’s syndrome, when told that he had won. The 24-year-old leapt about uncontrollably and threw furniture around. Concerns were also expressed about the pressure put on Nikki Grahame, a contestant who has a history of mental illness.

An appeal to stop the closure of a 24-hour mental health clinic has gone to the Secretary of State for Health. South London and Maudsley NHS Trust (SLaM) proposed to shut the centre at the Maudsley Hospital as part of cost-cutting measures. For two years campaigners have tried to save the clinic in Denmark Hill – believed to be the only one of its kind in the country. But in a final effort to stop the closure, the 10 councillors making up Lambeth and Southwark’s health scrutiny committee have agreed unanimously to hand the decision to Patricia Hewitt.

A plush £6m nursing home which would provide around 40 new jobs in Coldstream should not be built because it would attract elderly English people wanting free personal care, it has been claimed. ‘Care migrants’ would be a huge problem for the NHS and social work services if the home was built, a Scottish Borders Council meeting was told. However the statement caused outrage at the development and building control committee. “These are ridiculous views,” blasted Coldstream councillor Jock Law. “They are saying it is going to cause an influx of people to Scotland wanting free care and they are making out that they would not be able to cope. At the same time new houses are being built all over the Borders and it is houses that attract people, not old folks’ homes.”

The Independent Complaints Reviewer for the Charity Commission today publishes her report into the complaints against the Commission she reviewed in 2005 -06. Charity Commission Chief Executive Andrew Hind said: “As ever, the Independent Complaints Reviewer’s observations and recommendations give us important feedback on the Commission’s effectiveness. Offering a free, independent review of complaints is an important way for the Commission to show that we are accountable to our customers, and to the public.

‘Early Years: Safe and Sound’ reveals that the vast majority of registered childcare providers are keeping children safe and healthy.  Inspectors found that 97% of the 25,000 childcare providers inspected between April 2005 and March 2006 were satisfactory or better at ensuring children are safe and protected from harm.  In the same period 98% of providers were satisfactory or better at helping children to be healthy. In April 2005 changes were made to the early years inspection system, which for the first time, allowed nurseries, childminders and other day care providers to achieve the outstanding grade. One in 50 providers inspected this year were judged to be outstanding overall.

Lancashire County Council have come under fire for running care homes “on the cheap”. New statistics show the authority pays just £395 per person a week for adults in care homes – making it the third worst payer in the North West and close to the bottom of the national payment league. County hall officials have questioned the figures but said they were examining ways to improve funding. The GMB trade union today accused the authority of underfunding care for elderly people in council-run home and private homes, which partly paid for by the council. Nationally, Lancashire comes 153rd in a league of 173 authorities with the highest-paying shelling out £743 and the lowest paying just £311. The national average for England is £488.