The British Medical Association is warning of a recruitment crisis among medical academics, with 79 medical professorial posts,145 senior lecturer and 177 lecturer jobs vacant.Academics face 'irreconcilable demands'to treat patients, conduct research and teach, the organisation says, and the shortage of staff casts doubt on whether the expansion in doctor numbers can be achieved.

The National Co-ordinating Centre for NHS Service Delivery and Organisation has produced two documents on change management - one a booklet summarising key lessons and one a detailed review of tools, models and literature.

Making Informed Decisions on Change and Organisational Change.NCCSDO, 020-7612 7980.

Almost half of public sector finance staff want to change jobs in the next six months, according to a survey by Robert Half International.

But finance staff in the public sector are more likely to have benefits such as career breaks and sabbaticals than their private sector counterparts and to work less overtime - though most of it is unpaid.

The number of skin cancer cases in England and Wales is rising by more than 5,700 cases a year, according to the Institute of Cancer Research, with the rate of new malignant melanomas having trebled in men and doubled in women in the past 30 years.

Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth health authority has launched a new online 'service finder', allowing residents to locate local doctors, dentists and pharmacists and providing information about medical services available.

The strategy is one of several online initiatives the HA has launched to promote health locally.

www. mswha. nhs. uk