Andrew Barras’s family faced an impossible race against the clock when told his care package was ending.
They were informed on a Friday that in three days, the nurses who had looked after him 24/7 at home would no longer be available.
ScotNursing’s timing of the announcement – at the start of the weekend – effectively gave them one day to find an alternative.
His family are correct to be angry at how a nursing agency which receives taxpayers’ cash can leave them in the lurch so suddenly.
Now, Andrew faces an uncertain future after ScotNursing staff took him to Paisley’s Royal Alexandra Hospital, where he remains.
Questions need to be asked about how a firm funded by the local authority can so easily withdraw its services from a family who have been dependent on their help for 10 years.
West Dunbartonshire Health and Social Care Partnership – which has paid for Andrew’s care – must surely be concerned at how the situation has been handled.
Meanwhile, the RAH has told Andrew’s family that it is prepared to continue caring for him for another two weeks before he may be transferred to a care home.
During that time, it is important that those charged with looking after Andrew’s best interests find new service providers who can give him the professional help he needs at home and avoid further upset.
Abortion rights
Women accessing abortion services understand the decision they are making.
Many will be conflicted about their choices and will feel emotionally vulnerable.
It is unacceptable that they should be faced with protesters hectoring them as they go into a clinic.
Protesting is a democratic right.
And people who disagree with the laws of the land must be able to voice their concerns.
But those heckling pregnant women as they enter clinics like the one at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital have overstepped the mark.
These protests, which have increased in size and frequency over the course of the last year, will cause great distress to the women.
The law should be changed to introduce buffer zones outside of the clinics.
The main political parties should make sure legislation receives cross-party support and that those who disagree with abortion should find a more civilised way of making their argument.
