There is no evidence to link the MMR vaccination to autism in children, according to a substantial new study published today.

{mosimage}In the biggest review conducted to date, scientists from Guy’s Hospital in London, Manchester University and the Health Protection Agency, analysed the blood from 250 children and concluded that the vaccine could not be responsible.

The study, which was funded by the Department of Health and is published in the journal Archives of Disease in Childhood, was initiated five years ago and comes a decade after a scare about the vaccination – which protects against mumps, measles and rubella – led to a big drop in the number of children given the jab.

Extra social workers are being drafted into North Somerset to cope with the spiralling number of children at risk of abuse.

Plans to close nurseries in eight children’s centres have been put on hold so alternative arrangements can be discussed with parents.

Dangerous drugs are being prescribed to sedate thousands of Alzheimer’s sufferers in care homes, campaigners claimed yesterday.

{mosimage}An official inquiry will be told today that the use of the so-called “chemical cosh” has serious side effects and can even lead to premature death.

The campaigners say that dementia patients with behavioural problems are being “killed” to make life easier for staff looking after them.

The antipsychotic drugs at the centre of the claims are not licensed for the treatment of Alzheimer’s and instead are prescribed to control agitation, delusions, sleep disturbance and aggression.

Growing concern about the misuse of antipsychotic drugs has led to the inquiry by the all-party parliamentary group on dementia.

Typical drugs used for dementia symptoms are Largactil, Serenace, Stelazine and Risperdal, which were originally designed to treat schizophrenia patients.

An estimated 45 per cent of the Alzheimer’s sufferers who live in care homes are given the drugs – around 100,000 in all.

A long-term study last year showed that patients treated with the medication die on average six months earlier than those who are not.

The government will be publicly castigated this week over its failure to help poor people – by the watchdog that ministers set up to monitor fuel poverty.

MORE than 6,500 vulnerable people who were at risk of losing thousands of pounds worth of council care have won a reprieve.

The Children’s Minister Kevin Brennan has denied claims that young children are being taken into care by local authorities to meet adoption targets.
 

A newborn baby was illegally snatched from its mother by social workers in the early hours of yesterday morning. Officials claimed the 18-year-old mother was unfit to care for the child because of mental health problems.

{mosimage}But hours later a High Court judge ordered the infant to be returned immediately, saying the social workers had acted beyond their powers.

Mr Justice Munby told the officials that they “should have known better”.

The troubling case follows complaints from parents that social workers have taken their children for adoption without good reason, and suggestions that families are being broken up to meet bureaucratic targets.

Last night campaigners welcomed the ruling and praised the mother’s lawyers for their prompt action to reunite the baby with its mother.

The child, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was born healthy at 2am yesterday.

Later Ian Wise, appearing for the mother, referred to as “G”, told the High Court in London that the child was taken from her at about 4am without her consent.

The child was removed after staff at the hospital were shown a “birth plan” prepared by local authority social services.

The plan said the mother, who had a troubled childhood and suffers from mental health problems, was to be separated from the child, and no contact allowed without supervision by social workers.

In his ruling, the judge ordered that the local social services authority and NHS trust “take the necessary steps to reunite mother and baby forthwith”.

People not receiving support from councils are struggling with a poor quality of life, says the third report on the State of Social Care in England published today by the social care watchdog, CSCI.
 
{mosimage}Commission Chair, Dame Denise Platt said: “Our report is in two parts. On the one hand we show that those who qualify for council support are having a better experience than before. On the other hand those people who fall outside the system, including self funders, have a poor quality experience that can leave them struggling to cope. People who only five years ago qualified for council-arranged help are today excluded by the system and left to fend for themselves. The poor experiences of people and their carers trying and failing to get sufficient help contrast starkly with those people who do qualify for council arranged care.”
 
Following concerns raised by the Commission last year, the third State of Social Care in England report for the first time explores the experiences of people not deemed eligible for state-supported social care. It shows that many younger disabled people and frail older people are being ‘signposted’ to voluntary services. Many are forced to rely on help from family and informal arrangements which can break down at short notice. People unable to rely on families or friends and unable to pay for care services themselves are simply left to cope with everyday life, while some become virtually trapped in their own home.
 
Local councils increasingly only help those with ‘substantial’ or ‘critical’ needs. Although councils use a national set of rules (called Fair Access to Care Services – FACS) to decide who is eligible for support, today’s report shows that who does or doesn’t get help varies not only between but also within the same council. In practice the criteria can be interpreted in different ways by local staff.

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has outlined a £2bn “care guarantee” plan for the elderly, as part of his proposals to reform the NHS.

{mosimage}He said the extra cash should fund a minimum level of care for all who need it, ending the “scandalous injustice” of having to spend life savings.

Mr Clegg also called for central NHS targets to be scrapped, saying the current system was “not good enough”.

Labour and the Tories have both recently announced NHS reform plans.

Lib Dem aides said changes to services for the elderly – to be put to the party’s spring conference in March – would reduce the need for people to sell their homes to pay for care.

Under the plans, elderly people could use their personal payments to fund “respite care to give a much needed break to their spouse”.

On a visit to Kingston-upon-Thames, south-west London, Mr Clegg said: “We are the first party with serious plans to end the punishing poverty which afflicts the many elderly people forced to pay for their personal care entirely out of their own pockets.