Care of the elderly is a professional job. Assisting medication, feeding, changing, bathing, even using hoists demands a level of expertise we expect in the care of some of our most vulnerable people. But when Panorama went undercover in some of Britain’s biggest homecare suppliers we found carers with little more training than they needed for a job in a burger bar.

Carers Direct (www.nhs.uk/carersdirect) is a new service recently launched on NHS Choices as part of the government’s New Deal for Carers. The service is designed to improve support for the UK’s growing number of carers.

Staff at a closure-threatened Whitehaven care home have collected 5,000 signatures to try and save it.

POLICE chiefs have vowed to shut down a care home for young tearaways, despite a planning loophole which allows the home to stay open.

The Princess Royal Trust for Carers (PRTC) has launched the first dedicated website to help experts support unpaid family carers.

READING reports of an 11-year-old boy “fighting for his life after a vicious attack”, we cannot help wonder what sort of person would cause such injuries to one so young, and to his even younger friend.

CARE home owners are launching a legal challenge against Wirral Council’s plans to cut fees. After a huge outcry, Social services boss John Webb last week backtracked over proposals to reduce the money paid to homes by 5% – equivalent to between £18 and £22.

Most young people in secure children’s homes believe the institutions make them feel safe and keep them out of trouble, with many open to the idea of more CCTV cameras to monitor behaviour, according to a new study of secure care across England.

The head of Birmingham social services has urged the government to encourage an “honest debate” about the mounting financial crisis councils face in attempting to care for a rapidly growing elderly population.

The Care Quality Commission has defended the appointment of its chief executive Cynthia Bower after the Conservatives called for an independent inquiry into the Mid Staffordshire foundation trust scandal.