Patients are continuing to benefit from improved NHS waiting times but substantial improvements are still needed on cancer waits, Health Minister Andy Kerr has said. The latest quarterly figures (to end September 2006) for inpatient and day cases, and for outpatient consultations, show that the current six month maximum wait guarantee has again been met with further progress made towards the 18 week target effective from the end of 2007.

The BMA in Scotland has welcomed the publication of an Audit Scotland report into catering for patients in hospital which found that progress had been made on recommendations made in an initial review in 2003. The report however identified a need for routine screening for under-nutrition of patients on admission to hospital and for all NHS Boards to have systems for ensuring the nutritional balance of patient meals.

Councils could be forced to scrap waiting lists for free personal care for the elderly after a landmark ruling by the public services watchdog. Professor Alice Brown yesterday criticised Argyll & Bute Council for refusing to pay the care home costs of a 90-year-old man for four months earlier this year.

Care Commission chiefs are being asked to investigate the unexplained death of a 39-year-old woman at a north-east nursing home. Fraserburgh mother Helen Robertson was found dead in a room at the Broch’s Glencairn Lodge seven years ago.

A local authority has been ordered to reimburse the cost of a 90-year-old’s free personal care, following an inquiry by a public services watchdog. Argyll and Bute Council said a lack of funds meant it was not able to fund the man’s care between February and June.

CHILDREN 1ST has announced the appointment of Anne Houston, Director of ChildLine, as its new Chief Executive. Anne has been Director of ChildLine in Scotland for the past twelve years and has been responsible for the ChildLine service across the UK since February of this year. She will take over from Margaret McKay, who retires in December.

It is 8am and the director, Andrew Anderson, arrives to open the Edinburgh Maggie’s Centre. At 8:30 he has an appointment with a patient in haematology who is not allowed out of his hospital room. Before coming to Maggie’s six years ago, he worked as a nurse in oncology.

A genetic breakthrough will allow dyslexia to be diagnosed in unborn babies, it was revealed yesterday. Scientists from Edinburgh University have helped unravel the gene sequence that determines a person’s ability to work with letters and numbers.

A former Lochaber care worker broke down while giving evidence at an employment tribunal in Inverness yesterday. Sandra Bolton, 58, of 40 Banff Crescent, Fort William is claiming constructive dismissal alleging her employers, Crossroads (Lochaber) Care Attendants Scheme, treated her in an oppressive way.

A campaign aimed at tackling violence and aggression towards staff in GP practices will be launched today by Health Minister Andy Kerr. The poster and leaflet campaign pack is being sent to more than 1000 GP practices across Scotland as they gear up for the busy winter period – usually one of the worst times for incidents of physical and verbal abuse in surgeries.