An online tool has been launched to help local authorities and health services to improve life expectancy in deprived areas. The Health Inequalities Intervention Tool is an interactive website designed to be used as part of a wider strategy to deal with inequalities. 

Local authorities and the police are being urged to make greater use of Acceptable Behaviour Contracts as a way of nipping anti-social behaviour in the bud. The Home Office says the effective use of the contracts has brought respite to thousands of communities in England and Wales. 

By Fran Branfield and Peter Beresford with Eamon J. Andrews, Patricia Chambers, Patsy Staddon, Grace Wise and Bob Williams-Findlay. There is an increasing emphasis on user involvement in health and social care policy and practice. Users of services are experts in their own experience. But service providers and researchers have begun to ask what evidence there is that it improves services. The authors present the views of users and suggest ways in which user involvement could be more effective.