A CARE worker has been found guilty of the assault of a vulnerable adult at a home in Wheathampstead. Mark Hooper, 46, from Stopsley, Luton, was given an 18-month conditional discharge and fined £200 after being found guilty of assault and sentenced at St Albans Magistrates Court.

Services need to be more joined-up and patient-centred, the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) first annual report on the state of health and social care services in England claims.

A MAN jailed for the kidnap of Shannon Matthews is said to be on starvation watch. Jail chiefs fear Michael Donovan is trying to starve himself to death, according to his family.

Andrew Lansley pulled off the rare feat yesterday of uniting his own Tory front benches and the Labour front benches in anger against him, amid new recriminations over Gordon Brown’s social care plans.

Increases in the cost of inspections for residential children’s homes providers could impact on the quality of care, the National Care Association has warned.

A MAN who had sex with vulnerable women will never work again as a social worker. Leslie Healey – who worked for Kirklees Council for several years – was last night banned from working in the care industry.

Social services were today accused of failing a single mother and her “severely autistic” son after she allegedly poisoned him with bleach.

A Carlisle day centre for children with mental health problems is to close, health bosses have announced. But they stress that it is part of a wider change that will transform the way care is provided across the county.

A new crisis worker service is now available to victims of rape or sexual assault in West Yorkshire even if they do not wish to speak with the police.

A FORMER Calderdale Council social services chief has denied indecently assaulting boys in the 1960s and 1970s. Rod Ryall, 67, is accused of 10 offences, each involving one of three boys, all under 16.