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Medicine shortages – a Scottish solution

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By Professor John Robertson From the Guardian today, not Anglocentric, for once: Drug shortages in England are now at such critical levels that patients are at risk of immediate harm and even death, pharmacists have warned. The situation is so serious that pharmacists increasingly have to issue “owings” to patients – telling someone that only part of their prescription can be dispensed and asking them to come back for the rest of it later, once the pharmacist has sourced the remainder. https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/may/09/medicine-shortages-in-england-beyond-critical-pharmacists-warn The above makes no mention of Scotland. Searching for reports of shortages in Scotland gets the same story of shortages … Continue reading Medicine shortages – a Scottish solution

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Community by-out projects increase by nearly 800% after SNP boost but are stalled in Tory England

johnrobertson834

In the Guardian today: Local communities, often in deprived neighbourhoods, are buying up derelict and unused property for village shops, play parks, community centres and, in one case, a film set for war movies, using buyout powers introduced by the Scottish parliament since its foundation in 1999. The land reform debate is often overshadowed by the buyouts of islands or totemic Highland estates. Yet those sales have ground to halt, partly due to competition from private buyers pursuing speculative investments using woodland and peat restoration as carbon sinks, which has sharply driven up land prices. Scottish government data shows that by … Continue reading Community by-out projects increase by nearly 800% after SNP boost but are stalled in Tory England