The Royal College of Nursing has warned that people who want to return to nursing could be put off by being asked to pay for their own return to practice courses. Health secretary Frank Dobson has said courses should be free and has allocated £4m to cover costs, but the RCN says the reality is different.

The General Medical Council has published guidelines clarifying the ethical matters doctors should consider when seeking a patient's consent to treatment, screening or research. It covers a patient's right to refuse treatment, what to do when someone lacks the capacity to give consent and how to assess what is in the patient's 'best interests'.

Seeking Patients' Consent: the ethical considerations. GMC. 0171-580 7642. Free.

Consultants have met Maggie Boyle, chief executive of North Glasgow University Hospital trust, to try to persuade her to halt plans to concentrate Glasgow's acute orthopaedic and accident and emergency services at Glasgow Royal Infirmary. Consultants from two other hospitals fear patient care will be compromised by longer travelling times, overcrowding and longer waits.

Ceredigion, a predominantly rural and Welsh-speaking area, will be the first part of Wales to be covered by NHS Direct, the nurse-led telephone triage service. NHS Direct will be a bilingual service in Wales.

Shotley Bridge Hospital, near Consett, and Chester-le-Street Hospital will share a£17,500 Millennium Festival Fund grant for a year-long series of arts projects, concerts and exhibitions celebrating the past, present and future of the two hospitals.

NHS chief executive Sir Alan Langlands has opened the first dedicated inpatient unit in England for the treatment of eating disorders in children and young adolescents. The unit, at Springfield University Hospital, is run by Pathfinder Mental Health Services trust in south London.