Weight loss drugs and surgery should be used to help some people lose weight, government advisors have said. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has issued guidelines on treating obesity and preventing people becoming overweight. NICE says the NHS in England and Wales needs support from local authorities, schools and employers.

Mismanagement at all levels of the NHS in England has led to the current multimillion pound deficit, a committee of MPs has found. The Commons health select committee said existing deficits were made worse by the cost of new staff pay deals and the expense of meeting NHS targets. But it added local financial mismanagement was also a factor. Last year’s NHS deficit was £547m.

Cancer is costing patients their homes, a survey suggests. A Macmillan Cancer Support survey of 1,751 patients found 6% lost their home following their diagnosis. The figure rose to 11% among the self-employed. Another 18% had difficulties keeping up rent or mortgage payments, the survey found. Not only can a cancer diagnosis make it hard to work, but it can also mean extra fuel, food, drug and hospital parking bills.

A Zimbabwean man has won the right to stay in the UK – bringing to an end 84 days on remand in prison. Thomas Mvemve, a former paramedic, had been arrested after using a fake letter from the Home Office to obtain paid work which he was barred from doing. Luton Crown Court heard that while his asylum application was being considered the 49-year-old got work with a care agency and earned £15,000, on which he paid tax and national insurance.

Adult care services in the Hertfordshire have retained their two-star rating. Inspectors found the Hertfordshire County Council department is “serving most people well with promising prospects for improvement”. The council’s strategic direction, partnership working, and pro-active approach to working with minority ethnic communities were among the aspects singled out for praise.

There is a strong scientific case for the continued use of monkeys in medical experiments, according to a high-level investigation by some of Britain’s leading scientists. The report on the use of primates in scientific research was immediately condemned yesterday by anti-vivisectionists, who labelled the independent inquiry short-sighted, misguided and a whitewash.

Every year there are potentially more than 500 sudden unexplained deaths in England, reveals a nationwide study published ahead of print in the journal Heart. This figure is around eight times higher than previously thought, the data suggest.

A convicted paedophile has been moved from his Somerset home by police after a crowd of angry residents protested outside his home. Robert Oliver, 52, was a member of a gang involved in the killing of 14-year-old Jason Swift in 1985.

{mosimage}Women were yesterday warned not to walk alone after dark as the hunt for a Ripper-style serial killer took another sinister turn. Three prostitutes have been found murdered in recent days and yesterday it emerged that two more women in the same area have been reported missing.

All five were touting for business in Ipswich, where police are increasingly certain a crazed killer is preying on prostitutes.

And with the Christmas party season in full swing, police warned that any woman walking the streets at night could be in danger.

Jacqui Cheer, Assistant Chief Constable of Suffolk, said: “My message to you is simple – stay off the streets. If you are out alone at night you are putting yourself in danger.”

The naked bodies of Tania Nicol, 19, Gemma Adams{mosimage}, 25, and an unnamed 24-year-old woman have all been found in ‘strikingly similar’ circumstances on the outskirts of Ipswich in the last nine days.

Another prostitute, 29-year-old Annette Nicholls, was reported missing yesterday by relatives who have had no contact from her since December 3. She is understood to have been working the streets of Ipswich when she was last seen alive.

Hospitals, schools, local authorities and even the police face legal action if they fail to comply with sweeping new laws requiring that all public bodies improve services for the disabled. The Disability Rights Commission (DRC) has told The Times that it is prepared to sue any public body that fails to produce and implement proposals on raising standards of care for the disabled and eliminate all remaining discrimination.