Society daily 18.04.11

An NHS surgeon and their team at work at the Queen Elizabeth hospital in Birmingham. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

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Today's top SocietyGuardian stories

• Patients denied key treatments due to NHS cost-cutting, surgeons warn

• "Big society" has no teeth, says Catholic archbishop

• The Metropolitan police commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson, faces major challenges to force's reputation over phone hacking and failures in public order and serious crime

• Civil servants challenge "unacceptable" pensions change

• South Cambridgeshire tops quality of life survey

• Minister says few children taken into care at five or older are placed with a family, due to 'informal age limit' by local authorities

• Star Trek actor says euthanasia should be everyone's human right

• Ofsted should be split in two, say MPs

SocietyGuardian weekend highlights

• Lucy Mangan: There's not much of the NHS left to cut

• Teenage girls are the group most at risk of domestic violence, and many may be falling through the support net

All today's SocietyGuardian stories

Other news

• Even though Health and Safety Executive (HSE) figures show a decrease in reported deaths due to carbon monoxide poisoning, new research suggests many cases are missed or misdiagnosed due to lack of testing by medical staff. Chief medical officer professor Dame Sally Davies urges "increased vigilance".

• Labour councils are hoarding cash instead of using it to keep services open, claims a Conservative party analysis. Grant Shapps, the Conservative local government minister, accuses Labour councils of making "political cuts" while sitting on vast cash reserves.

On the Guardian Professional Networks

• Charities need to think about how they use social media, says the director of CharityComms. On the Guardian Professional site Vicky Browning discusses why and how charities should draw up a strategy for using tools such as Twitter, blogging and Facebook.

• Live Q&A, 12-3pm - Building new homes: What grants are available? How councils and housing associations can get new home building right.

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