ALARM bells should have been ringing as soon as Bucksburn Nursing Home told Emma Wyness they had a place for her frail grandfather, she said.

Ministers vowed yesterday to remove the hold-ups in the planning system that are fuelling a housing crisis across Scotland.

Inspirational Scots Olivia Giles and Jamie Andrew have joined forces to create a new charity. Giles and Andrew – both quadruple amputees – have teamed up to launch 500 Miles, an organisation dedicated to providing prosthetic limbs to people in developing nations.

The number of abuse complaints upheld against old people’s care homes in Scotland rose by two-thirds last year, it emerged last night.

The number of persistent young offenders in Edinburgh has jumped by 12 per cent in a year. New figures show a hardcore of 103 repeat offenders were referred to the children’s panel for 1043 offences in 2006-07.

The Princess Royal’s Fife Carers Centre, which recently moved into larger premises in the town, will be able to employ a new carer support worker, a part time information officer, and a part time administration assistant.

Residential care beds for the elderly, controversially axed from a Sutherland community care centre by the former Highland Council, could yet be restored under the new political administration in Inverness, it is hoped.

Deprivation is driving a rise in suicides in the poorest parts of Scotland, research released yesterday suggests. A new study focused on the biggest clusters of suicides in the past 20 years, finding that east Glasgow was persistently the worst-affected area.

Measures designed to give a more rounded and reliable picture of young people’s behaviour will be brought in by the Executive to replace the previous administration’s indicator of persistent young offenders.

Almost one in ten patients in Scottish hospitals is suffering from an infection such as MRSA, a survey suggested yesterday.