AN EIGHTH serious case review has been launched in Doncaster after the death of a baby who was known to the council’s beleaguered children’s services department.

MORE frontline staff are to be recruited by Sheffield’s social services as a result of a review ordered in the wake of the Baby P case. All 272 cases on the council’s have been closely examined, with only two found to be needing further action, even though no child was in danger.

Councils with care services rated as ‘excellent’ still fail to provide care to vulnerable residents who are incapable of getting out of bed, washing, or using the toilet by themselves, a charity has claimed.

The imminent social care green paper will include insurance-based options as well as a minimum level of care support in its proposals, the King’s Fund has predicted.

Dozens of parents are waiting to discover whether their children were among those allegedly assaulted by a nursery worker charged with sexual abuse of those in her care.

The debates, dithering and disruption about who is in the cabinet have been quite a spectacle. But it is a spectacle with a cost. Alongside changes in people and personalities, there is the linked likelihood of policy changes and changes in political priorities.

The health service faces an “unprecedented” £15bn shortfall which is likely to trigger job losses and service reorganisation as it is forced to get to grips with the “most severe contraction in finances it is ever likely to face”, NHS leaders will warn tomorrow.