in brief

Dr Chai Patel, a former member of the Department of Health's older people's task force and an informal advisor to Downing Street, has resigned from the board of charity Help the Aged, following allegations of abuse at Lynde House nursing home in Twickenham, Middlesex, which was owned by his former company, Westminster Health Care.

Welsh health minister Jane Hutt has launched three strategies to modernise primary care.They are a ten-year vision for pharmacy, a dental strategy which includes a feasibility study on increasing the number of dental undergraduates in training, and further action on optometry to deal with growing demand and an ageing population.The strategies examine future developments including recruitment, information technology and premises.

www. wales. gov. uk

The NHS has set up a telephone advice line for internationally recruited nurses worried that they have been exploited by unscrupulous recruitment agencies, or who are unable to enter a supervised practice programme.

08458-505 888

England's first suicide-prevention strategy which, it is hoped, will reduce the death rate from suicide by 20 per cent by 2010 was launched last week by health minister Jacqui Smith.The strategy, designed to evolve in the light of progress and emerging evidence, is being taken forward by the National Institute for Mental Health as one of its core programmes.

www. nimhe. org. uk Trusts experiencing recruitment delays because of the massive backlog of checks on teaching staff being carried out at the Criminal Records Bureau are being advised to check new Department of Health guidance.

www. doh. gov. uk/crb/index. htm