Obese patients in Kent are being paid up to£425 to lose weight by the NHS in a trial to test whether financial incentives can be used to change unhealthy behaviour. In Essex, pregnant women who smoke are being offered up to£60 in food vouchers on the NHS if they give up. Payments are made after one week, one month and one year.

The air women breathe during pregnancy may damage the lifelong health of their babies, researchers have found.

The chief executive of Stafford Hospital, which was condemned yesterday for "appalling" emergency care that may have cost hundreds of lives, took a pay rise of up to£45,000 while the hospital was being investigated.

Urgent action must be taken to tackle the growing problem of troops with mental trauma, said the Shadow Defence Secretary as the Conservative Party joined the coalition campaigning for better care for the armed forces.

Routine screening for prostate cancer should be reconsidered after a scientific study showed that the process can save lives, a charity said yesterday. The Prostate Cancer Charity said the UK's policy of not making prostate cancer screening readily available on the NHS should be re-examined after a major European study found it could reduce death rates from the disease by about 20 per cent.

Warning signs of poor practice in hospitals across the country are to be urgently reviewed after an investigation uncovered "appalling" standards of care at one hospital which may have led to hundreds of deaths.

Appalling standards of care at a hospital trust put patients at risk and led to some dying, according to a damning report out today.

An NHS Trust had a"shocking" and"appalling" system for looking after patients admitted to A&E, a damning report said today.