Community health councils should have contracts specifying their role in monitoring and delivering healthcare, according to South West Thames regional chair Baroness Cumberlege. 'The initiative for the shape the contracts take must come from the CHCs themselves, 'she said. Reaction has been mixed, with some CHCs feeling contracts could give them more influence, while others fearing they would limit their activities.

Health authorities should consider bringing in outside contractors to extend the range of hotel services patients can buy, the Department of Health says. Items might include charging for single rooms, private bathrooms, bedside phones, baskets of fresh fruit and a choice of wine. The DoH claims that such income generation schemes would extend choice and improve the hospital environment.

Managers leading a trust bid in North Devon have told staff they would abandon competitive tendering for hotel services if their bid was successful. Union leaders welcomed the move, but said it would not persuade staff to support the bid. The DoH stressed that health secretary Kenneth Clarke would still have the power to direct a trust to tender for services.

The London ambulance service has urged all districts and units to curb their use of non-emergency transport. LAS chief executive John Wilby's call comes in the wake of a series of petrol price rises since the Gulf crisis. He said it was not intended to deny clinicians the right to order transport for patients with a medical need.

GPs in West Sussex are angry that the family health services authority has advertised for a chauffeur for its general manager. Terry Knott, a former lieutenant colonel, says he spends eight to 12 hours a week driving, which could be devoted to paperwork if he had a driver.