Labour’s multi-billion- pound project to create the NHS’s first ever national computer system “isn’t working and isn’t going to work”, a senior insider has warned. The damning verdict on the ambitious £20 billion plans to store patients’ records, and allow people to book hospital appointments, on a central computer network has been delivered by a top executive at one of the system’s main suppliers.

The jails watchdog has called for a new strategy to improve the way prisons handle young adult offenders. Chief Inspector of Prisons Anne Owers raised concerns about facilities and treatment of inmates aged 18 to 21.

Older people were put at risk in two substandard nursing homes, according to the regulator for homes in England. A whistleblower who worked at Laurel Bank Home in Halifax, has told Panorama of the “mental torture” and “abuse” of residents she witnessed.

{mosimage}The Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) says Laurel Bank is now “significantly improved”. But it wants to shut a second home in Halifax, The Haven, which remains open as its owners appeal against closure. A former care worker at Laurel Bank, who was employed between 2002 and 2003, told Panorama that staff humiliated some residents.

She said relatives were unaware of what was happening: “They only saw what they were supposed to see. People were fed when relatives were there and not when they weren’t. They were left to do it on their own.”

The forerunner of the CSCI, the National Care Standards Commission, has admitted that it took too long to deal with the problems at Laurel Bank. They made 21 visits in one year to intensively monitor standards at the home. Panorama questioned how effective the visits had been in bringing about improvements.

Thousands of elderly and disabled people in Northumberland face rises in charges they pay for care to help the county council tackle a potential £2m budget shortfall. The maximum weekly charge for home care – paid by 675 people – is set to go up from £45 to £60 in April.

A Lincolnshire school has banned physical playground games because pupils were copying violent computer games, making playtime too rough. The ban has been introduced at St John’s Primary at Bracebridge Heath near Lincoln.

In a recent live webchat, health secretary Patricia Hewitt spoke of her concerns and beliefs about the government’s future plans when it comes to the UK’s ageing population and elderly care.

Government cutbacks on NHS staff have been felt heavily by qualified nurses looking to obtain positions within the health service. However, new independent research carried out with the elderly may hold out a ray of hope for frustrated and skilled nurses who are currently out of the employment loop.

Downing Street is backing plans for an overhaul of the welfare state which would force single parents back into work much earlier than at present and make English lessons compulsory for people who cannot get jobs because they struggle with the language.

Labour sought to inflict maximum damage on David Cameron and his inner circle last night after revelations that the Tory leader smoked cannabis as a schoolboy.

Simon Jenkins is suing the Home Office for up to £500,000 in compensation over his nine year battle to prove he did not kill his foster daughter. The 49-year-old former deputy headmaster was cleared last year of murdering 13-year-old Billie Jo when an Old Bailey jury couldn’t decide on his guilt.