A new document has been published by Leicestershire County Council outlining childcare provision in this county. Copies can be obtained by telephoning the Education Dept. of county hall (0116) 265 6545. I have converted it into a .pdf black&white copy. Is is a bit blurry but keeps the file size small for downloading. Click here

An article about this issue was posted on the stop page in November 2003. Click on the headline for more information.

The message is slowly but surely getting through that antibiotics won't help cure colds and coughs but plenty of research is coming through that antibiotics are unnecessary for treating ear infections. Although 40% of children suffer with ear infections, 8 out of 10 of these settle down with pain killers only within 3 days. So when you next go to the surgery with your child screaming with earache, the doctor will usually recommend strong pain killers rather than antibiotics unless the child is very ill.

For general advice about treatment of earache click on the link to the What should I do? website.

You don't have to be a member of the Green party to realise that Society is in real trouble with the amount of dirt and waste it produces. About 3 billion nappies are thrown away in the UK every year ( about 4 % of total household waste) and most of these end up in land fill sites.There simply aren't enough deep holes in the ground to put it all into. If you want to know about alternatives to disposable nappies click here