Only one in five trusts believe they will meet government 'zero tolerance'targets of reducing violence against staff by 20 per cent before April, while reports of violence against NHS employees have gone up by 22 per cent, according to a Health Service Report. Most trusts use CCTV and security guards as well as providing staff training on dealing with violence.

'Getting To Grips With Workplace Violence', Health Service Report, issue 29.

The combined MMR vaccine should continue to be used to immunise children, rather than single vaccines, because use of single vaccines exposes children to the risk of infection with preventable disease, according to the World Health Organisation. WHO says there is no new scientific evidence that suggests impaired safety of MMR.

The most extensive survey on the health of ethnic minority groups in England, by the Department of Health, has found higher rates of angina and heart disease among South Asian men and higher rates of stroke in black Caribbean and Indian men. Chinese people were the least likely to report visiting a hospital, and children in all groups were less likely to have ever visited a dentist than white children.

Conventional medicine should not ignore the benefits of complementary medicine, according to NHS Alliance chair Dr Michael Dixon. He told a Federation for Integrated Medicine conference that evidence-based medicine increasingly ignored alternative therapies, but proper regulation of therapies to be offered on the NHS was needed.

Primary care trusts have been approved covering Basildon, Thurrock and Billericay in South Essex health authority, but the application for a PCT covering Rochford and Castle Point areas has been turned down. South Essex HA chair Mike Brookes said the negative result of a local GP ballot meant ministers felt they could not approve the Rochford application.