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Powys County Times
3 days ago
- Health
- Powys County Times
Over 130 full-time nursing positions in Powys unfilled
Over 100 full-time nursing positions in Powys remain unfilled according to recent statistics. According to information released by Powys Teaching Heath Board, a combined 133 full-time nursing positions were unfilled as of the end of June. The data shows that there is particularly difficulty with entry level nurses with over 75 band-five nursing roles left unfilled. There are also struggles to fill senior staff nursing roles with a further 34 band-six level positions unfilled. Around 17 band-seven roles – which are usually required advanced clinical expertise and managerial responsibilities – also remain unfilled. Powys Teaching Health Board confirmed that the lack of nurses was part of a nationwide trend with NHS Wales having 4,300 unfilled roles as of 2023. A spokesperson for Powys Teaching Health Board said: 'Sadly, these challenges are not unique to Powys. Across the NHS, we are working together to develop sustainable, deliverable workforce plans for the future. Help support trusted local news Sign up for a digital subscription now: As a digital subscriber you will get Unlimited access to the County Times website Advert-light access Reader rewards Full access to our app 'Here in Powys, we already have successful programmes in place. We've been proud to welcome new nurses from overseas and are grateful to our communities for helping them feel at home in our beautiful county. 'We're also about to launch the next round of our 'earn while you learn' programme, which supports healthcare support workers and apprentices to train as registered nurses. 'But we must also look ahead. Our population is ageing, with more people living longer and managing multiple health conditions, while the working-age population is shrinking. 'That's why we've launched our Better Together programme – a long-term conversation with the people of Powys about how we shape safe, high-quality health services for the future. 'We encourage everyone to get involved. Our current survey is open until 27 July 2025 at
Global News
14-07-2025
- Politics
- Global News
Alberta Next panel hearings on public concerns with Ottawa begin this week
Premier Danielle Smith's hand-picked panel hearing how to fix relations with the federal government is set to get down to work this week with back-to-back town halls. On Tuesday, Smith and the 15 other members of the Alberta Next panel will be in Red Deer in the first stop on their tour to hear from residents on concerns with the federal government. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy On Wednesday, they will hear feedback in from the Edmonton region at a town hall in Sherwood Park. Tickets for both events sold out fast. Smith has said she believes in a sovereign Alberta within a united Canada, and that the Alberta Next panel is simply a vehicle to get Ottawa to address Albertans' grievances. But Opposition NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi has dismissed the panel as a way for Smith to curry favour with extreme elements of her United Conservative Party to keep them from splintering off. Story continues below advertisement Nenshi says his caucus members will be knocking on doors and hosting town halls in a tour he calls Better Together to explore ways Albertans can help build a strong future for all Canadians within a united country. — More to come…
Winnipeg Free Press
14-07-2025
- Politics
- Winnipeg Free Press
Alberta Next panel set to begin hearings on public concerns with federal government
EDMONTON – Premier Danielle Smith's hand-picked panel hearing how to fix relations with the federal government is set to get down to work this week with back-to-back town halls. On Tuesday, Smith and the 15 other members of the Alberta Next panel will be in Red Deer in the first stop on their tour to hear from residents on concerns with the federal government. On Wednesday, they will hear feedback in Edmonton. Smith has said she believes in a sovereign Alberta within a united Canada, and that the Alberta Next panel is simply a vehicle to get Ottawa to address Albertans' grievances. But Opposition NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi has dismissed the panel as a way for Smith to curry favour with extreme elements of her United Conservative Party to keep them from splintering off. Nenshi says his caucus members will be knocking on doors and hosting town halls in a tour he calls Better Together to explore ways Albertans can help build a strong future for all Canadians within a united country. This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 14, 2025.
Metro
07-07-2025
- Business
- Metro
Boots launches epic 48-hour sale to rival Amazon Prime Day
Metro journalists select and curate the products that feature on our site. If you make a purchase via links on this page we will earn commission – learn more Summer sale season is fast approaching, and we are ready for a shopping haul. Amazon Prime Day is set to run from 8th to 11th July in what will be the longest sale extravaganza from the online retailer. But Boots is set to give Amazon Prime Day a run for its money as it will launch a 48-hour sale with up to half price on leading beauty brands. Boots' sale will see prices slashed by half price on L'Oreal Groupe products as part of its Better Together campaign, which includes L'Oreal Paris, Garnier, NYX Cosmetics, and many more. The half price sale has one small request – shoppers must spend £30 or more to see the price of their basket drop. However, what you spend your £30 minimum on is entirely up to you. What's more your shopping basket can be a medley of bestselling beauty products across haircare, skincare, bodycare and make-up cosmetics, and you can mix and match items. More Trending Whether you are restocking your favourite beauty essentials, trialling the viral sensations everyone has been raving about, or banking items to give as a present for a special someone in the coming weeks or months, is entirely up to you. The Boots sale will run from 8th to 9th July, which coincides with Amazon's Prime Day sale. So, if the items on your wishlist have sold out online at Boots you can always check Amazon as a back-up plan – or vice versa. With a plethora of products to shop for less it can be overwhelming knowing what is worth purchasing in the Boots sale, so we have done the hard work for you. Garnier's Vitamin C Daily UV Fluid SPF50+ is one of my favourite multifunctional products. It is a lightweight formula that works to brighten, protect, and hydrate the skin. Infused with Vitamin C, peptides, hyaluronic acid, as well as SPF50, this simple skincare solution helps to prevent dark spots, smooth the skin tone and texture, as well as leave your skin glowing without any white cast. BUY NOW FOR £8.66 (WAS £12.99) The ultimate primer that promises to be longlasting as it claims to hold your make-up in place for up to 24 hours. This serum-to-primer formula has been infused with 2% niacinamide that hydrates, smooths, and holds your look all day. It is easy to blend into the skin, and enables make-up to sit perfectly on top. Buy Now for £10.99 This cream-to-powder blush is buttery soft and went viral when it first launched. It delivers a strong pigment for a bold look, and a little goes a long way. This lightweight texture melts seamlessly into skin, but is buildable for a bolder look. The compact also features a mirror to make applying on the go a breeze. Buy Now for £8.99 This product is a skincare and make-up hybrid as it functions as a moisturiser, tinted moisturiser, highlighter, bronzer and SPF in one. The formula contains shea butter, mango butter, and niacinamide to nourish the skin, while SPF30 protects the skin from harmful UV rays. It promises 12-hour wear for a longlasting make-up look. Buy Now for £13.99 This toner is soothing, hydrating but also exfoliating. The alcohol-free toner has been made with aloe vera, witch hazel, and rose petal, which heals any breakouts and inflammation. It also functions to refine pores and hydrate the skin for an even skin tone. BUY NOW FOR £9.99 (was £14.99) The ultimate haircare bundle, as it includes L'Oréal Elvive Growth Booster Serum, L'Oréal Elvive Growth Booster Conditioner and matching shampoo for a full set. The products have been infused with hair and scalp-loving ingredients that strengthen the hair, treat dry and damaged locks, while also encouraging healthy hair growth. BUY NOW FOR £43 Sun protection is essential, and Garnier's Ambre Solaire Hydra 24H Protect SPF50 Suncream Spray has garnered high praise from shoppers. The water-resistant spray has been formulated with vitamin E to nourish the skin, while it also offers SPF 50 for optimum protection against UV rays. It is cruelty free and non-greasy. Buy Now for £6.50 This Maybelline mascara is not only a bestseller but it went viral on social media because of its lash lengthening powers. The flex tower brush and fibre formula lift and define lashes from root to tip for full volume and extension in just one sweep. Buy Now for £12.99 One thing's for sure, our bank balance and debit card are going to hate us when this sale is over! Follow Metro across our social channels, on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram Share your views in the comments below MORE: I'm a shopping writer and here's what I'm buying this week – from Berghaus to Skin Rocks MORE: Boots launch Big Summer Sale with up to 50% off select beauty buys including CeraVe, Dyson, and Philips MORE: This skincare product completely transformed my skin – I get everyone to use it! Your free newsletter guide to the best London has on offer, from drinks deals to restaurant reviews.
Scotsman
04-07-2025
- Politics
- Scotsman
Readers Letters: If UK Government will support English refinery, why not Grangemouth?
A tale of two refineries puzzles reader Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... On 30 June BBC News reported that the UK Labour Government is funding the Official Receiver to ensure the safe operation of the Prax Lindsey oil refinery which is located in North East Lincolnshire. Speaking on the matter in the House of Commons, Energy Minister Michael Shanks stated: 'The government will ensure supplies are maintained, protect our energy security and do everything we can to support workers.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad While any action on the part of the government to save jobs is commendable, I know that Michael Shanks and his fellow Scottish Labour MPs are aware of the recent closure of the Grangemouth oil refinery, which was every bit as important to Scotland's energy security as the Prax Lindsey refinery is to the people of the East of England. It is not an unfair question to ask Mr Shanks and the UK Labour Government why they were prepared only a few months ago to sit back and watch the Grangemouth refinery and its workers being thrown onto the scrapheap, yet now when a refinery based in the East of England comes under threat of closure, immediate measures are being put in place to save it? Prior to last year's general election Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar went on record to state that if Labour was elected it would prevent the closure of Grangemouth. The people of Scotland now know Labour did nothing to save Grangemouth. The Labour Party, and particularly, Messrs Shanks and Sarwar, need to explain why keeping open the oil refinery in Lincolnshire is more important than the same action for Grangemouth. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad During the 2014 independence referendum the Labour Party in Scotland was in the vanguard of the Better Together campaign. Some workers who've lost their jobs at Grangemouth might be asking themselves, 'Better for whom'? Jim Finlayson, Banchory, Aberdeenshire Disaster masters Kenny MacAskill of Alba attributes the rundown of the North Sea to Ed Miliband. Mr Miliband has indeed come over as an eco-zealot in his time in office, obsessed by impossible timescales and unimaginably expensive dreams of net zero, oblivious to the human misery and energy deprivation involved in what he proposes. However, in the greater scheme of things the SNP are by far the greatest single cause of the disaster of ending North Sea oil and gas decades prematurely. Compared to the nationalists and their Green allies' constant denigration of the industry over many years, including Grangemouth, Ed Miliband has been a recent and minor figure and has only held office for a year. The nationalists have their own super and not-so-smart eco-zealots. What other countries, not having the UK's natural wealth in energy, must think with these innocents in charge of our resources is mindboggling. Alexander McKay, Edinburgh End dependency Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad A 40 per cent increase in small boat crossings and a year of U-turns has Labour struggling to maintain the trust of its voters, as well as its own MPs. With 11 million people of working age not working something radical needs to be done. Of 3.7m claiming Personal Independence Payments, 2.4m are new claimants, mainly for mental health reasons. The Scottish Government spends over £33 billion a year on welfare, more than Health. Like the UK Government, which spends proportionately less at £275bn,it cannot stand by and avoid making savings or, as Labour are doing, make a hash of what will be just a 1 per cent welfare saving. Around a quarter of working age people are not working and when pensioners are included, as many adults are in work as not working. This is unsustainable and it seems Labour will need to freeze tax thresholds. If pensions, defence and health are going to be protected something else has to give. Going 'further and faster' on growth also demands getting a grip on the burgeoning welfare bill. If escalating borrowing for future generations is to be avoided the dependency culture in Scotland and the rest of the UK must end without impacting the most vulnerable. Neil Anderson, Edinburgh Not a poor show Recent analysis shows that levels of relative poverty in Scotland have been lower than in the UK as a whole for the last two decades. This is surely a vindication of the policies pursued and adopted by successive Scottish governments over that time and strongly suggests that Holyrood administrations have been far more effective in looking after the needs of the people they represent than those in Westminster and the Senedd. To give some examples, in 2024 the level of relative poverty in the UK was 21 per cent while Scotland stood at 20 per cent (England and Wales were slightly above the UK figure). In terms of child poverty Scotland's percentage fell from 25 per cent in 2021 to 23 per cent last year. In both England and Wales rates in 2024 were 31 per cent, exactly the same as in 2021. (Steve Witherden, Labour MP for Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr has indicated he would be in favour of the Welsh government introducing something similar to the Scottish Child Payment.) The relative poverty rate for people of pension age in Scotland was 15 per cent in 2024 compared with 16 per cent for the UK as a whole. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad If the Scottish Government can outperform the UK and Welsh administrations in such a key measure of quality of life with one hand tied behind its back, as at present, we can only imagine how far ahead an independent Scotland would be. Our country simply cannot afford to be held back any longer! Alan Woodcock, Dundee Britain needs PR The Labour Welfare Reform Bill, after multiple concessions, stumbled over the line, despite 49 backbenchers rebelling. How many arms were twisted en route to this pyrrhic victory, which leaves the Party mortally wounded and the Government perhaps terminally unpopular? The only victor in all of this is the increasingly likely figure of Nigel Farage. A recent poll makes him more popular than Keir Starmer. Both Labour and the hapless Tories, under the even more unpopular Kemi Badenoch, are sleepwalking into a Farage premiership at the next general election. Our crazy first-past-the-post voting system could see that result with Reform UK winning with just 28 per cent of the vote. Labour, a year ago, polled just 34 per cent of a low turnout to win a stonking majority. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Please, let's bring in a proportional representation form of polling before it's too late. Ian Petrie, Edinburgh New approach It is reported that the SNP has a 'massive £5 billion budget black hole' which can only result in cuts to services or tax rises. Let us not forget that it is the same folks behind this fiasco who back the campaign for 'Scottish independence'. Then we learn of the SNP's opposition to defence spending, particularly, of course, towards nuclear weapons. Just what sort of fairyland do the SNP live in if they fail to recognise the dangers of conflict in today's unsettled world? Do they suppose that violent dictators respect the wishes of uninformed pacifists? Just when will the good people of Scotland realise that they are governed at Holyrood by what amounts to a minority administration with, until recently, unelected Green Party support? Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad What Scotland needs urgently is a fresh approach to the regional government at Holyrood, or closure of this unsuccessful institution. Robert I G Scott, Northfield, Ceres, Fife Tapestry tragedy It was interesting to read about Martin Roche's visit to the Borders, particularly his take on The Great Tapestry of Scotland based in Galashiels ('Why troubled Borders region is pinning its hopes on 'game-changer' Center Parcs', 1 July). He must be one of the very few visitors to the attraction which he ranks in the top ten. I hope his piece encourages readers to flock to it. Residents have a very different perspective. When considering taking on the tapestry – which no other area wanted – Scottish Borders Council engaged expensive consultants who told them 50,000 people would visit the Tapestry each year, that is 1,000 per week. It doesn't happen – barely a fraction of that number visit. The only well-supported part of the venue is the coffee shop. To subsidise the Tapestry the council is shutting essential, enjoyed and valued community services. Most of the fellow Border residents I speak to would prefer to have community centres and swimming pools than the Tapestry. I do hope the proposed Centre Parcs development near Hawick lives up to expectations. Mary Douglas, Glendearg, Galashiels Truth out there? Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad I have an odd phenomenon to report. Perhaps a reader can help me out on this? It was on the night of 2-3 July and my wife and I had stayed up watch some pre-recorded nonsense on TV. It was rather late – or, perhaps, early – being at 12.50am. To our surprise, a sudden, bright light appeared to our south, so over the Morningside Drive area. The light was like a ball of flame and just as bright. It appeared to be no more than a couple of hundred feet up. It lasted no more than two seconds and was gone. We have double-glazing, so I don't know if there was any sound, but I opened the window and stuck my head out and there was silence. What could it have been? A meteor would surely not have just been a sudden flash? Peter Hopkins, Edinburgh Write to The Scotsman
