While Laura Lee was working as an oncology nurse at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh, she met a patient who was to change her life. Maggie Keswick Jencks, who had been diagnosed with breast cancer, was to become the inspiration for a radical new way of supporting patients.

A Scottish jail is so awash with heroin that visitors use it like a “drugs supermarket” and turn up to buy their fix, a court was told yesterday. Expert witness William Percy said drug users living around Castle Huntly prison, near Dundee, often buy heroin from dealers within the jail.

{mosimage}In a report to Perth Sheriff Court yesterday, Mr Percy said: “Some institutions, such as Castle Huntly, have such an abundance of diamorphine [heroin] that local drug users are entering the grounds to purchase drugs from the inmates.”

Clive Fairweather, the former chief inspector of Scotland’s prisons, last night blamed the prison service for becoming “soft on drugs” – something they were warned about four years ago.

“The prison service started to allow inmates to use methadone, the heroin substitute. That was a bad idea. They turned their back on the zero-tolerance approach to drugs and this is the result.”

Hospital patients are being asked to become hygiene inspectors under plans announced by a health board. NHS Lothian is rolling out the new “patient environment monitoring teams” following successful pilots. The teams will be made up of staff, an infection control manager and a patient nominated from the hospital patient representative group.

Offenders given community service orders are being turned away because there are not enough supervisors, it was claimed last night. Staff shortages mean some offenders are escaping their due punishment while missing out on rehabilitation. One staff member who spoke to The Herald said the most serious violent and sexual offenders spent their time “colouring-in and drawing” because there were too few social work staff to oversee the programme, a claim disputed by officials.

Three staff members at a north-east nursery have been suspended amid allegations of abuse against children, it emerged last night. Police and the Care Commission are investigating the allegations at Wee Rascals Nursery, at Kintore, Aberdeenshire.

Young people representing more than 20 nations at an international diabetes conference hosted by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) called for government officials, industry executives and opinion leaders to take actions to immediately produce real and immediate differences in the way the world thinks about and treats diabetes.

Protesters opposed to dawn raids on asylum seekers have gathered outside a Home Office immigration centre. Positive Action in Housing claimed the demonstration at Brand Street, Govan, Glasgow, was to prevent vehicles used in the raids from leaving the compound. The 60-strong group arrived at the centre at about 0530 GMT on Sunday.

A pill that is both cheaper and safer than methadone has been found to be just as effective at treating heroin addicts, a new study has found. The research into the prescription painkiller dihydrocodeine was carried out on Edinburgh drug users.

Gay couples in Scotland will be able to adopt children for the first time under controversial new laws passed by the Scottish Parliament yesterday. The Adoption Bill, which will also allow unmarried couples to adopt, sparked furious debate in the Scottish Parliament and protests from religious organisations.

{mosimage}Concerns were slightly assuaged by the addition of “a stable family unit” as one of the considerations included before applicants can adopt.

However, attempts to block the legislation or at least ensure faith-based adoption agencies can opt out were voted down.

Roseanna Cunningham, MSP for Perth, tabled the amendment against gay couples adopting. “We have a pattern of family life which we have had for generation upon generation,” she said.

“All the research shows it is the best way to raise children and I do not think we should depart from that lightly. The Scottish Parliament vote cannot stand on its head what has come before and we cannot bemoan the consequences of family breakdown and at the same time do things that undermine the traditional family.”