The amount the NHS has paid out in hospital superbug-related compensation claims is 10 times higher than previously thought, figures show. The NHS Litigation Authority has been saying recently there have only been seven cases in the past four years. But updated figures show there have been 68 cases, costing the NHS a total of more than £8m.

Three senior Cabinet ministers were accused of “hypocrisy” today after it emerged that they have campaigned against NHS cuts in their own constituencies.

{mosimage}Hazel Blears, the Labour chairman, John Reid, the Home Secretary, and Jacqui Smith, Labour’s chief whip, came under fire after critics said they were opposing cutbacks which were being driven by Government policies.

The row erupted after it emerged that Miss Blears had joined campaigners on a picket line outside Hope Hospital in Salford just before Christmas in a protest about plans to close a baby unit. She has also admitted that she had privately lobbied Patricia Hewitt, the Health Secretary, about the plans.

Mr Reid, meanwhile, had backed a campaign to halt the closure of the accident and emergency unit at Monklands Hospital in his constituency.

Ms Smith has opposed moves to cut maternity services in Redditch.

Geoff Martin, of the Health Emergency campaign group, said that leaked memos had revealed earlier this year that Miss Blears had been at a Whitehall meeting with Ms Hewitt at which NHS cuts were discussed.

“She was there when the cutbacks were being decided so it’s rank hypocrisy for her now to say ‘not in my backyard’. If the Government’s policy is wrong in Salford, it’s wrong everywhere else in the country,” he said.

The Government has repeated its plea to doctors to save the NHS millions in the coming year by prescribing cheaper drugs. Figures show that the NHS could save £85 million a year if GPs prescribed cheaper cholesterol-busting statins

Thursday is the worst day of the week to go into hospital, according to research. An analysis of figures by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) finds that patients admitted on a Thursday stay in hospital a day longer on average than those admitted on a Sunday.

A superbug could cause “huge problems” for the NHS, a Nottinghamshire coroner has warned. Nigel Chapman said the infection clostridium difficile (C Diff) had been a contributory factor in 12 deaths in Nottingham hospitals in the past month.

Campaigners have warned of an escalation in the number of NHS job losses in the new year as hospital trusts continue to cut costs. Pressure group Health Emergency estimated that more than 22,000 jobs had been axed in 2006 and 2,500 beds closed across the UK.

Forty areas of England and Wales are to be offered more money to tackle the problem of anti-social behaviour. The government’s “respect tsar”, Louise Casey, said councils in deprived areas were bidding to become “respect zones”.

{mosimage}In return for extra funding, the 40 areas – to be identified next month – would be expected to use their full powers to combat anti-social behaviour.

Deprivation, truancy and school exclusion rates are among the factors used by the government to decide the areas to target.

Meanwhile, Home Office minister Tony McNulty said the areas selected were “by no means….the worst places in the country to live”, but had “particular difficulties”.

Ms Casey said: “We approached these local authorities and asked if they wanted to become ‘respect’ areas, and now they have signed up for it. They have to convince us that they will do it.”

Britain spends more of its national wealth on law and order than any other industrialised country yet still has a higher crime rate than most, new figures show. The statistic was unearthed during a policy review ordered by Tony Blair which took a long-term look at public services and whether they had delivered value for money.

Smokers, people with alcohol problems and the obese could be denied priority treatment on the NHS if they do not try to change their lifestyle. The Cabinet is discussing the controversial idea as part of a drive by Tony Blair to secure his domestic political legacy by pushing through a final round of public service reforms before he departs next year.

{mosimage}Ministers will confront a panel of 100 ordinary people with some of the “tough choices” facing the Government under a consultation exercise giving the public a direct say in the new policies.

One question will be whether people whose lifestyle makes them ill should get the same priority as other patients. This would mean changing NHS guidelines saying that people should not be discriminated against “even if their illnesses are to some extent self-inflicted”.

A Cabinet review group on public services was shocked by the scale of the burden caused by people’s lifestyles. “Ministers were shocked by the fact that half of all years of healthy life are lost as a result of behavioural factors (e.g. smoking and diet),” a Government source said.

Ministers want a “cultural change” in public services so the state can support and encourage people to change their behaviour to improve their life chances and well-being.

A gene variation that helps people live to a ripe old age also appears to preserve memory and thinking power, US work suggests. The “longevity” gene alters the size of fatty cholesterol particles in the blood, making them bigger than normal.