The social work service which provides help for Derbyshire people in family court proceedings is inadequate, according to Government inspectors.

A CARE home dubbed ‘poor’ by government inspectors is an innocent victim of red tape and rocketing regulations, declared its director.

A dishonest home care assistant who stole from trusting and vulnerable pensioners has been jailed for eight months.

DISGRUNTLED residents have unanimously voted in favour of saving Thornaby’s last council-run care home – after staging an unofficial poll in front of council officials.

The details of a multi-million-pound shake-up of home care services across the Bath area are revealed today.

Questions have continued to be asked over the care given to a city man who died after stepping in front of a train.

ENVIRONMENTAL health officers have been called in to investigate a Lostock care home after concerned relatives raised the alarm.

Nottingham will spend an extra £10m to bring its foster children back to the city. Youngsters are staying with foster families as far away as Wales because of a shortage of carers here.

A baby girl who was murdered by her father had been seen by 30 health care workers, yet none of them realised she was at risk, a report has found.

Jessica Randall, who died when she was 54 days old, might still be alive if signs of abuse had been properly identified, according to the findings of an inquiry by Northamptonshire’s Local SafeGuarding Children Board.

From the day she was taken home from hospital, Jessica suffered injuries inflicted by her father, including broken ribs, a fractured skull and sexual abuse. When she showed signs that something was wrong, including “strange crying and twitching”, the doctor who saw her failed to record suspicions of abuse in his notes.

She died on November 21 2005. Her father, Andrew, 33, was jailed for life for her murder in March last year and an inquiry was launched. The findings, published yesterday, found that no individual doctor or health worker was to blame for failing to register Jessica as a child at risk of abuse. It was the process through which children were reported at being at risk which had failed.

“At no stage was Jessica Randall recognised as a child at risk,” the report concluded. “The outcome may have been different had these signs been acted on, as this would have created opportunities for assessment and involvement of other agencies by activating protective procedures.”

A nurse formerly in charge of a Birmingham nursing home where 27 elderly residents died in a year will face a disciplinary hearing next week.