Commenting on reports published by the Department of Health on the need to change how emergency care in England is provided, Dr Jonathan Fielden, Chairman of the BMA’s consultants’ committee said: “Doctors want to ensure that as medicine advances patients have access to high quality, safe care based on the best available evidence. Where the Government and NHS managers are also party to this patient centred agenda we will work with them.

A pioneering scheme to help older people in West Sussex stay in their own homes while giving key workers and other professionals a place to live is being launched. The project, called Homeshare, will put older people in touch with responsible professionals, after thorough checks. They get free accommodation in exchange for helping around the house with tasks such as gardening, cooking and cleaning.

Campaigns to save local A&E departments from closure could lead to more than 1,000 unnecessary deaths each year, a report has warned. The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) said specialist units were better placed than local hospitals to deal with high-risk patients.

{mosimage}The report comes as Tony Blair is due to urge managers to make the case for reorganising NHS services in England. Financial concerns must not drown out arguments for change, the PM will say.

Mr Blair will outline the government’s case for NHS reform in a speech to local health managers and doctors at the NHS Confederation on Tuesday. He will say service improvements in NHS hospitals are being implemented to ensure the very sick have speedy access to specialist care but also to treat people more conveniently closer to home.

“The best is yet to come with more lives saved, stopping more pain and distress,” he will say.

But critics of the reforms say they will put patient lives at risk and are being carried out to cut costs.

A new scheme known as ‘extra care’ is operating in Enfield and allows hundreds of elderly residents to enjoy independence while having access to care and support in a community-based atmosphere. Skinners Company, in association with Enfield council, has produced 48 purpose-built flats, complete with rails, walking aids and movement sensors and this week they have handed the keys over to senior members of the local community.

Foster carer Jim Bond has been elected as the new chair of the Fostering Network. Retired deputy head teacher Bond has many years’ experience of working with charities, especially in training, fundraising, campaigning and policy formation. He has also fostered for 12 years, and is chair of Essex Foster Carers’ Council.

New fears have been raised about the dangers of slashing mental health services in Cambridgeshire as a report reveals more than 400 people have been killed by psychiatric patients on hospital release. The report says psychiatric patients being cared for in the community have killed more than 400 people across England and Wales in the last eight years – an average of almost one a week.

The Information Centre is working towards producing a new information system for adult social care records, called the Adult Social Care Information Development Programme (ASCID). The aim of the programme is to make patient records of elderly patients more person-centred and flexible. The Information Centre is carrying out a major review of social care information that will deliver information to support future patterns of care.

Soaring obesity levels could result in up to 12,000 cases of weight-related cancer being diagnosed annually in the UK by 2010, say experts. The Department of Health predicts a 14% increase in obesity by 2010, which will mean 27.6 million people in the UK will be classified as obese. Cancer Research UK has calculated that this will lead to around 1,500 extra weight-related cancers a year.

In the face of a government letter to patients rejecting their request to opt out of inclusion in a national electronic database of health records, the British Medical Association (BMA) is seeking urgent assurances from the Department of Health over the way the National Care Records Service will operate. Dr Hamish Meldrum, chairman of the BMA’s GPs Committee, said:

The number of suspects charged with race-hate crime soared by more than a quarter in the past year, figures show. A total of 7,430 people has been charged with racially aggravated offences, up 28 per cent on 2004-05. Prosecutions for religiously aggravated crimes also rose by 26.5 per cent, although just 43 defendants faced charges. Cases ranged from serious assaults to racial abuse.