Child medical visits to be logged
ALL children who visit hospital accident and emergency departments or have out-of-hours GP consultations will be logged in a national database, health minister Dan Poulter said.
The system is designed to help doctors and nurses spot children who are suffering from abuse or neglect and avoid cases like that of Baby P, Dr Poulter said.
Medical staff will be able to see if the children they treat are subject to a child protection plan or are being looked after, meaning they are already identified as being at risk.
Clegg warns Tories over EU stance
DEPUTY Prime Minister Nick Clegg has issued a warning to the Tories to concentrate on fighting the “firestorm” in the eurozone rather than trying to renegotiate Britain’s membership of the European Union.
As David Cameron prepares to deliver a keynote speech in the new year setting out his vision of Britain’s future in the EU, the Liberal Democrat leader said the UK should have the confidence to take the lead in Europe.
The Prime Minister is widely expected to demand a repatriation of powers from Brussels as the price of agreeing financial reform of the eurozone, with the promise of a referendum of the 2015 general election.
Rainy weekend to cap year of floods
A WET and stormy weekend could mark the end of one of the wettest years in history in Britain, with no respite expected for the saturated South West.
Heavy downpours will continue today and tomorrow as fresh bands of rain sweep east, followed by a storm this weekend.
Sleet and snow will fall across the north of England and southern Scotland today, with Perth receiving a few centimetres this morning already.
Police name death crash brothers
TWO young brothers killed in a motorway crash on Christmas Day have been named by police.
Adnan Habib, 10, and Mohammed Arsalaan Habib, four, died after the car they were travelling in crashed and overturned on the M6 near Stoke-on-Trent at about 11.25am on Tuesday.
A 32-year-old woman passenger in the car also died. She was named by Staffordshire Police as Bushra Tazarib. Police did not reveal what her relationship to the boys was.
Cancer patients in fuel poverty
AROUND 27,000 cancer patients in the UK are thought to be behind with their energy bills, owing as much as £2.8 million, a charity warned today.
Macmillan Cancer Support made the collective estimate after finding that one in 20 people diagnosed with cancer in the last two years is in debt to their heating provider.
Three in 10 cancer patients said they have been forced to turn off the heating in the last three months when they needed it on to keep fuel bills down, while a third have put on coats or other outdoor clothing in the house to try to keep warm.
