Garages and petrol station forecourt shops across Scotland may be forced to stop selling alcohol within two years under new laws.

The Scottish smoking ban has led to a significant advance in public health, the most detailed scientific study of the measure so far has suggested.

Palliative care should become a core part of training for all health professionals, a report by Help the Hospices has recommended. The national hospices charity has made a number of suggestions to help shape the DoH’s end of life care strategy for adults in England.

Edinburgh City Council, is the first customer of OLM Group’s new online care booking system. Called Care Booking, the e-booking system allows staff to track, monitor, commission and report on the usage of block contracted care beds in the locality, helping authorities to optimise occupancy.

Public Health Minister Shona Robison has rebuked NHS Grampian for its failure to meet targets for drug-treatment waiting times in light of a report showing Aberdeen has one of the highest rates of addiction in the country.

The children of failed asylum seekers are being held alongside hardened criminals as Scotland’s Dungavel detention centre is increasingly used as a repository for dangerous foreign prisoners.

One violent crime is committed every 37 minutes in Scotland as the country fails to tackle the “blades menace”. The latest statistics show a slight increase in the number of crimes and offences overall last year to more than a million.

The appointment of five members to work with Lord Sutherland on his Independent Review of Free Personal Care have been confirmed. Anne Jarvie, Mary Marshall, Professor David Bell, Jim Dickie and Rory Mair have accepted an invitation from Nicola Sturgeon to sit on the independent review group.

The Scottish Minister for Children and Early Years Adam Ingram has announced the appointment of a new Convener and five new Members to the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC).

A council is seeking to employ extra staff to help check how many pensioners were wrongly charged for their care. The Dumfries and Galloway authority has set aside £1.5m to reimburse people who paid for food preparation which they were entitled to receive for free.