Dementia costs Scotland £1.4bn a year but not enough is being done to tackle the problem, according to a leading charity. Alzheimer Scotland said that 58,000 people in Scotland are currently diagnosed with dementia, but that number will almost double to 102,000 by 2031.

Patients were removed from official waiting list figures because of staff shortages at a Scottish hospital, prompting claims last night that the statistics were being manipulated. People waiting for hip and knee replacements in one part of Glasgow were excluded from the Scottish Executive’s much-vaunted waiting times promise.

A childminder has been struck off after it was discovered she was looking after as many as 15 youngsters – five times her legal entitlement – strapping some toddlers into car safety seats in the cramped living room of her home. Inspectors acting on a tip-off found nine children crammed into a cold room with only limited space to move around.

When Donald Gibson enters the renal unit at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary he is flanked by two security guards who watch his every move. It should be a typical hospital scene of patients preparing for a gruelling three-hour dialysis session.

All of Scotland’s major hospitals have passed a crucial cleanliness test for the first time. A recent quarterly cleanliness audit has found that all hospitals and 14 health boards covered achieved a minimum 90% compliance rating.

As many as one in seven adults has turned to debt consolidation in the past three years to try to get their borrowing under control. Millions have taken out unsecured loans or remortgaged their homes in an attempt to put their debts in one place. In Scotland, the average loan taken out to cover previous debts was £14,439 – among the highest in the UK.

The Catholic Church in Scotland is threatening to take legal action to block new anti-discrimination laws it claims will force faith-based adoption agencies to close down.

Scotland’s prosecutors are considering taking strike action, a move which would bring the courts to a standstill. Procurators fiscal say they are furious the Crown Office has refused to make their pay gradings equal to that of Scottish Executive lawyers.

Prosecutors launched an appeal yesterday against a High Court judge’s decision to dismiss criminal charges against the owners of a care home where 14 elderly residents died in a fire.

Householders in Moray who have a spare room and a caring disposition are being urged to help teenagers start out on their new lives after they leave care.