here s our scotland editor, james cook, in glasgow. this is a minute of a meeting held by nhs chief executives in september and in it they appear to have discussed all sorts of ideas for the reform of the nhs, most controversially, of course, that suggestion there could be a two tier service where those who can afford to go private. but also plenty of other ideas apparently on the table, including cutting the funding of new drugs, perhaps restricting access to free prescriptions, which are state funded in scotland, and also discharging patients from hospital earlier is one possibility, even if that leads to increased risk. the most controversial has been immediately knocked down by the scottish government, the first minister, nicola sturgeon, telling us that the founding principles of the nhs are not up for discussion, and indeed the prime minister echoing those points in his speech
COVID-19 has brought unprecedented challenges to all of our health and social care services – forcing them to find new ways of working to meet demand. Here, we look at how the Intermediate Tier Service has adapted during the pandemic. THE team provides an invaluable link between medical treatment and social care – helping residents as they transition from hospital to home and working to avoid admissions in the first place. The service includes home support reablement, bed base units and community work. Like many other services, the team has experienced staff shortages with colleagues either off sick or at home self-isolating.