An enclosed play area for a teenage pupil with learning difficulties and autism, which was described as a "cage" by his MSP, has been removed. The 18-year-old's parents raised funds for a safe play area at the Nicolson Institute in Stornoway, on Lewis.
The use of anti-psychotic drugs for dementia patients must be cut by two-thirds by November 2011, the minister responsible has warned doctors. Care Services Minister Paul Burstow told Panorama (shown on BBC1 at 8.30 pm on Monday 1st November 2010) that GPs must "take responsibility" and drastically reduce the amount of drugs being prescribed.
The medicines watchdog, NICE, is to lose its power to turn down new medicines for use on the NHS. It will give advice on which drugs are effective, but will not decide whether patients should be given treatments their doctor recommends, the Department of Health has confirmed.
Residents of Newcastle have told an independent national survey that they are increasingly satisfied with the condition of roads and pavements in the city. The city has come 4th out of 95 Councils surveyed, and 2nd out of 19 Metropolitan areas, moving up several places from the 2009 survey.
The local party's motion's motion to Regional Conference in Oxford (Oxford Brookes University, Saturday, October 30) on the 'Speaker's Seat' issue was carried overwhelmingly with only one vote against. The motion was proposed by Bette Melling, with Llew Monger providing the summing up.
Lib Dem County Councillor Tim Prater has slammed suggestions on the BBC website that cross-Channel swims from the UK to France should be banned as "barmy". A BBC report at http://tinyurl.com/2undlgs says that the French coastguard is calling for swimmers to be banned from crossing the Channel from Dover to Calais.
