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#GPnews: Ambulance trust hires European paramedics

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Seventh practice in under two years set to close in English city

Government admits it has no idea how many GP patients attend A&E

16:20 A branch of Tesco in the Scottish Highlands has introduced a ‘relaxed’ checkout for people with mental health needs.

The store, in Forres, hopes that the lane could be helpful for the elderly, those with mental health needs or social anxiety, people with Alzheimers and people with autism or who have problems with their motor skills, reports the Daily Record.

It carries the sign: ‘Feel free to take as long as you need to go through this checkout today.’

Tesco community champion Kerry Speed said: ‘Our new relaxed checkout is open to all. Whether a customer has a medical condition which requires them to take things a little easier, or they value an extra couple of minutes to chat to their checkout advisor, we want them to be confident they can shop at their own pace.’

11:10 Patients with cancer, diabetes and asthma may have to ‘queue for treatment’ from April, when the Government starts to ration drugs under a cost-cutting drive, reports the Times.

According to the article, a fifth of new drugs will be rationed, with patients set to have to wait to get access to them. It says this will apply even to drugs that have been recommended by NICE.

But campaigners warned Britain could come to lag behind in offering ‘cutting-edge therapies’ as a result of the new financial policy and even claimed people ‘would die’ as a result.

9:25 An ambulance trust has become the latest health body to look towards Europe to fill shifts, the Daily Mail has reported.

It reports that more than 70 paramedics from Poland and Finland have been drafted in to the North West Ambulance Service.

The staffing shortage is so severe that one branch had as many as one in six posts empty, the Mail says.

It comes as Pulse has reported that practices in Lincolnshire and Hull have begun hiring GPs from across Europe in a bid to alleviate the workforce crisis.

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