Latest news with #Higginson
Daily Record
20-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Record
Greggs to stop thieves by making huge change that will impact all customers
The popular bakery has placed a new safety measure in some of its stores to combat shoplifting. Greggs is taking measures to stamp out shoplifting, with a handful of stores selected to trial out the change. While well-known for the sausage rolls and other hot pastries, the high street bakery also offers a selection of convenient self-serve food and drinks, including baguettes and finger food. However, with a rise in shoplifting, the company has made the decision to trial holding their self-serve items behind the counter. The measure is being trialled out in a few selected stores that are said to be "exposed to higher levels of anti-social behaviour." While the initial stores to take on the policy are in England - one in Whitechapel and others in Peckham and Ilford - the company has said that it may also be rolled out to other stores across the country that experience high levels of theft. Greggs currently has 2,600 bakeries across the UK, and according to the Office of National Statistics, shoplifting offences recorded by the police in 2024 rose by 20 per cent to a whopping 516,971. However, the number of shoplifting incidents reported by retailers themselves was significantly higher. In the 12 months leading up to September last year, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said that shops saw a 3.7million rise in incidents to 20.4million. While shoppers of the selected stores will see more food behind the counter, Greggs have added: "The safety of our colleagues and customers remains our number one priority." Some retailers, including supermarkets, have reported being targeted by organised groups who wear bluetooth headsets to communicate with each other. These gangs have also been said to set off alarms to cause a distraction so their fellow thieves can escape. Andy Higginson, chair of JD Sports and the BRC, told the BBC that some people see shoplifting as a "way of life", as they are able to trade or sell the items they have stolen. He added: "There is an element of society that is starting to take stealing from stores as a way of life and that needs to be stopped." There has also been a significant rise in theft from retailers after the Covid pandemic, which coincides with the rise in household bills and the price of food. However, Mr Higginson has dismissed the idea that the increase in shoplifting is due to people struggling with cost of living pressures. He said: "People are not stealing the food to eat they're stealing very high value items that can be traded and sold." By contrast, a boss from a firm that provides shops and supermarkets with security has said that his staff has reported a change in the types of thieves they are dealing with - with some now being pensioners who are struggling to keep up with the rising living costs. John Nussbaum, director of service for retail at Kingdom Security, said: "We've seen a massive increase in pensioners shoplifting, putting a jar of coffee in their bag and one in the trolley, that sort of thing. "For us over the last 12 months, we've got this different level of crime now. We're now experiencing something different - pensioners, people who don't normally shoplift." He added: "We've had instances of mothers caught shoplifting when they're with their kids." Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'.
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Greggs shifts food behind counters to stop thieves
Greggs will move its self-serve food and drinks to behind the counter to stamp out shoplifting at the High Street bakery. The company is trialling the measure at a handful of stores which, it said, are "exposed to higher levels of anti-social behaviour". These include Whitechapel in east London which is one of five shops that will try out the new policy - the others are in Peckham and Ilford. It is not expected that the change will be implemented across all Greggs' 2,600 bakeries in the UK, but it may be rolled out to sites where there are high levels of theft. In 2024, shoplifting offences recorded by the police rose by 20% to 516,971, according the Office for National Statistics. But the number of thefts recorded by retailers was far higher - for the year to last September shops saw a 3.7 million rise to 20.4 million, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said. Greggs said customers can expect to see its full range behind its counters but added: "The safety of our colleagues and customers remains our number one priority." Some retailers, including supermarkets, have reported being targeted by organised gangs who wear bluetooth headsets to communicate with each other and set off alarms in stores to create a distraction allowing their fellow shoplifters to escape. Andy Higginson, chair of sportswear and trainer retailer JD Sports and the BRC, recently told the BBC that some see shoplifting as a "way of life", allowing them to trade or sell what they have stolen. "There is an element of society that is starting to take stealing from stores as a way of life and that needs to be stopped," he said. Shoplifters 'out of control' and becoming more brazen, say retailers Inside the £70k 'mafia-style' champagne shoplifting gang Tesco trials giant trolley scales in Gateshead Shoplifting incidents have risen in recent years, with a sharp spike in the number of retail crimes reported after the Covid pandemic, some of which has been attributed to higher household bills and the price of food. Mr Higginson dismissed the idea that it might be due to people struggling with cost of living pressures. "People are not stealing the food to eat they're stealing very high value items that can be traded and sold," he said. However, the boss of a firm that provides security for shops and supermarkets said that the type of shoplifter his staff is seeing is changing and now includes pensioners who are struggling with living costs. John Nussbaum, director of service for retail at Kingdom Security, said: "We've seen a massive increase in pensioners shoplifting, putting a jar of coffee in their bag and one in the trolley, that sort of thing. "For us over the last 12 months, we've got this different level of crime now. We're now experiencing something different - pensioners, people who don't normally shoplift." He added: "We've had instances of mothers caught shoplifting when they're with their kids."
Yahoo
06-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
'Ridiculously long waits' at A&E causing patients to miss medicine doses
Patients in A&E are at risk of becoming more unwell due to missed doses of prescription medicines, a new report warns. The Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) found that time critical medicines, such as insulin for people with diabetes, Parkinson's drugs, epilepsy medicines and blood clot medication, are not being delivered consistently across emergency departments. If these drugs are delayed or missed, the patient can deteriorate and is at greater risk of complications or death. While patients are advised to remember to bring their medications to A&E and to take them, there is also a responsibility on NHS staff to make sure this happens. This problem has "risen to prominence" because of "the increasing number of our patients who are having to endure ridiculously long waits in our emergency departments", said RCEM president-elect, Dr Ian Higginson. With many patients forced to wait "12, 24, 48 hours and even longer", Dr Higginson said it is "vital" that ensuring patients receive time critical medicine is "an issue associated with these waits". 'Missing doses of medication for illnesses such as Parkinson's or diabetes is not just inconvenient, it is dangerous; and missing multiple doses can have serious consequences," he added. The new study focused on oral levodopa for Parkinson's and insulin for diabetes, as these are common in patients in A&E and must be given on time. Finding from 136 emergency departments, who submitted date for more than 13,000 people in A&E on the two medications, found more than half were not identified as being on the medication within 30 minutes of their arrival. In addition, 68% of doses were not administered within 30 minutes of the expected time. The research is part of the college's clinical Quality Improvement Programme (QIP) which aims to improve the care of A&E patients. Dr Higginson said that the first-year report does show improvements are being made across the country, this work must be "replicated in every emergency department" so that "no one fears not being able to access their medication while in our care". Dr Jonny Acheson, an emergency medicine consultant with Parkinson's, who led the study, said there has been improvements but more needs to be done. 'The findings contained in this report should serve as a call to action for both emergency medicine staff, as well as patients reliant on time critical medications, to ensure no dose is ever missed in A&E,' he said. 'Everyone has a role to play – paramedics and emergency medicine staff need to ask patients what medications they take, and likewise, people with Parkinson's and insulin treated diabetes need to tell staff they take a TCM and take their meds with them if they have to visit an A&E. 'We are pleased that focusing on identifying these patients has led to improvement. 'However, the NHS must think about how they identify people taking these types of medication and how they are able to ensure they receive their doses on time, every time while they are in the emergency department. 'These medicines are critical to the quality of these patients lives and we have a duty of care to ensure that they receive them when they should.' Recommendations made in the report included patients on time critical medication being identified early when attending A&E, and for systems to be in place to ensure timely administration of this medication, including self administration. The report also says there should be a clear line of responsibility for staff. The QIP team made recommendations, including that patients on TCM need to be identified early when they attend A&E to start the process of getting all doses. Systems also need to be in place to ensure timely administration of TCM, including self-administration, and there should be a clear line of responsibility for staff. An NHS spokesperson said: 'We welcome this report and will look closely at the findings, to ensure any patient in need of time critical medicine does not lose out when in A&E and receives the medication they need or support to self-administer as they would at home. 'As the report makes clear, it is welcome to see improvements thanks to the hard work of frontline staff but more generally we know A&E waiting times are far too long and our upcoming urgent and emergency care plan will set out how we aim to bring these down ahead of next winter.' The Specialist Pharmacy Service (SPS), a team of pharmacy professionals commissioned by NHS England to provide guidance has issued advice on delayed or missed medication. It says that "taking a medicine at the wrong time may reduce its efficacy", while taking subsequent doses too close together "may also increase the risk of side effects". In the event that patients do accidentally miss a dose, the SPS advises they check the patient information leaflet supplied with their medicine for further guidance. Alternitavely, you can find a copy on the electronic medicines compendium, the manufacturer's website, or the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) website. The NHS website also contains a selection of medicine guides. Each medication will have its own guidance, so it is important to check the instructions for the drugs perscribed to you, but the SPS has issued some more general advice: Never take a double dose to make up for a forgotten dose, unless advised by a prescriber. For most medicines, it is acceptable to take a dose up to two hours late. You can usually ignore warnings about taking the medicine with or without meals, unless there's a significant risk of serious side-effects. For patients who take their medicine once or twice a day who have missed a dose, they should take that missed dose as soon as remembered, as long as the next dose is not due within a few hours. After that they should continue taking the medicine as usual. For patients who take more than two doses per day who have missed a dose, they should skip the missed dose and wait until the next dose is due. Then continue taking the medicine at the usual times. Some medicines including antiseizure medications, insulin, oral contraceptives and Parkinson's disease medication carry a higher risk, meaning patients should follow specific guidance issued for these drugs. You can find this guidance here on the SPS's website. Read more What are silverfish and are they harmful? Details of insects found in UK hospitals (BirminghamLive) Give us more GP appointments, public tells Starmer (The Telegraph) Almost one in five has received or witnessed 'corridor care', poll finds (PA Media)
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Dr. Andrew Best still leaving his legacy on medical care across Eastern N.C.
GREENVILLE, N.C. (WNCT) — In continuing to celebrate Black History Month, WNCT is highlighting a man who was a doctor and military hero. Dr. Andrew Best helped impact the lives of African-Americans in the 1960s and is still doing the same in Eastern North Carolina to this day. 'Those nasty glances and racial slurs, I tuned them out because I was focused on what I call a job done,' Dr. Best said, in an archived interview. That bold stance Best took in the 1950s led to some lasting changes in Eastern N.C. 'The segregation era is one of those things that you look at and you can't imagine nowadays but was real then,' Executive Dean at the ECU Brody School of Medicine Dr. Jason Higginson said. 'I can't imagine what it took to be willing to endure all the conversations and challenges that go along with breaking the mold of history,' ECU Health Chief Operating Officer Brian Floyd said. 'It takes a really strong person to move into that environment. That's, you know, the genius of Dr. Best,' Higginson said. At his core, Dr. Best served people. After growing up in Lenoir County, Dr. Best went on to school at North Carolina A&T. He also was in A&T's ROTC program. Dr. Best served in World War II and spent time in Italy before returning home once the war ended. He earned a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star. He went on to get his Doctor of Medicine at Meharry Medical College in Tennessee. He came to Greenville in 1954. 'From day one in my office, I didn't come to practice minority or negro, black medicine. I came to practice medicine period,' Dr. Best said. After opening his own practice as one of the only black doctors in the area, he then started providing care in a segregated Pitt County Memorial Hospital. 'All of the black folks were admitted on one wing. I don't care if you had newborn baby or if you had pneumonia, you were all there junked up together,' Dr. Best said. 'I was very happy we got them to agree to admit people on the basis on their disease, not on the color of their skin. My involvement in community affairs were just as important as my involvement in medicine.' He served on many boards, one being the UNC Board of Governors where he lobbied to start a medical school at ECU. 'He and the coalition got together, lobbied the state and said, we need a medical school out here. We need to produce physicians,' Higginson said. Dr. Best's legacy still lives on at the Brody School of Medicine as each year. They host an Andrew Best Banquet for graduating medical students. 'That dinner is symbolic and we continue to meet people who are inspired by that legacy who want to come to Brody and want to stay here, want to practice here and make a big difference,' Higginson said. His legacy all lives on at the local hospital. 'Today, we have one of the nation's largest academic medical centers and all of that is a testament to people just like Dr. Best,' Floyd said. Dr. Best died in 2005, but his impact is still being felt decades later. 'I do think that we are way healthier because of people like Dr. Best,' Floyd said. 'He has put in place not only hospital care, but physicians through his advocacy of getting a medical school here and physicians who stay in rural eastern North Carolina. That has had a tremendous impact.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
12-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Details emerge in death of child in Texas foster care; court upholds judge's removal
Four months after a three-judge panel on the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals removed federal Judge Janis Jack from a major, yearslong case against Texas' foster care system and vacated her latest contempt order against the state, a divided 5th Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday declined to reconsider the decision. In a seven-page dissenting opinion joined by four other judges, Judge Stephen Higginson wrote that he believes the decision by a majority of his colleagues puts 'abuse and neglect … out of sight of the law once more.' 'It is fundamental in our historic liberties that the state may not set aside due process of law in the care of its wards,' Higginson wrote. 'But today, we turn away the children protected by those guarantees and shut the doors of this court.' The order, decided by a 9-5 vote, came down just hours after court monitors assigned by Jack filed a new report suggesting the state may still be failing to sufficiently investigate group foster homes for reports of abuse. In one of several deaths highlighted in the report, investigators found that an 11-year-old boy died during a group movie theater outing in November after foster care staff members ignored signs of extreme medical distress, including the boy 'screaming and crying in pain' hours earlier, having difficulty walking and soiling himself while in his seat. The home had a history of violating state regulations. National child welfare advocacy group Children's Rights filed the case in 2011 against then-Gov. Rick Perry, arguing Texas was violating foster children's constitutional right to be free from an unreasonable risk of harm. Both Jack and the 5th Circuit affirmed that finding, Higginson noted. A Better Childhood later joined as a second plaintiff. Tuesday's decision denies the plaintiffs' appeal of the three-judge panel's unanimous ruling granting Gov. Greg Abbott's request for the case to be reassigned to a new judge. The panel also struck down Jack's April order that would have fined the state hundreds of thousands of dollars for not sufficiently complying with her orders. Abbott, alongside the heads of two state agencies that manage the foster care system, is a defendant in the case. In his dissent, Higginson took particular issue with the removal of Jack, who for 13 years presided over the lawsuit that put Texas' foster care system under a microscope, appointing and overseeing court monitors to keep tabs on the state's compliance and imposing strict standards for state agencies. He said Jack's removal was an extraordinary step that struck him as 'having rested on miscalculations.' 'I worry that we have concluded, from Judge Jack's assiduous effort in the face of structural friction and intense factual complexity, from remarks based in at best a desire to expeditiously give effect to the Constitution and at worst human error of a nature with regard to which we have perhaps not always set the best example, that Judge Jack is not suited to preside over this case for precisely the reasons that she is suited to preside over this case,' Higginson wrote. In the October ruling at issue in this appeal, Judge Edith Jones wrote that Jack had to be removed because her "intemperate conduct on the bench" could reasonably make an observer question her impartiality, alleging that Jack had become "too personally involved in the proceedings" and exhibited a "highly antagonistic demeanor" toward the defendants. The state argued that Jack's standards for compliance with a litany of remedial orders, including directives that the foster care system fully investigate reports of abuse and keep children without placement under adult supervision, were unrealistically high. Jones and the panel agreed, writing that the state has made good-faith efforts to comply in the decade since Jack's first remedial order and that Jack "clearly indicated an intent to continue oversight well into the future. ... This contempt order seems a harbinger of even more drastic district court micromanagement." Houston-based attorney Paul Yetter, who is representing the plaintiffs pro bono, said he "regret(s)" the appeals court's decision to uphold the October ruling while praising the dissent. "We are gratified and encouraged ... by the powerful words of the several appellate judges in support of Judge Jack and the contempt order," Yetter said in a statement. "And we will continue to fight to keep Texas foster children safe.' Abbott's office did not immediately return the American-Statesman's request for comment. More: Federal court removes Judge Janis Jack, who oversaw Texas foster care system for 13 years Four and a half hours before the 5th Circuit order came down Tuesday, court monitors appointed by Jack filed a new report detailing how the state may have ignored neglect and abuse in several foster homes. The monitors, who are charged with tracking Texas' compliance with past court orders, highlighted the Nov. 27 death of an 11-year-old boy identified as O.R. Two weeks after O.R. was placed at Thompson's Residential Treatment Center in Greenville, he woke up 'screaming and crying in pain,' investigators wrote. After involuntarily soiling himself in the bathroom, he received Tylenol for constipation. Later that day, staff members ignored the boy's request to stay home from a movie theater outing and, as per surveillance footage, dragged him through the hallways of the theater because he could not stand, the monitors wrote. At one point, the boy collapsed. O.R. was left unattended for the duration of the movie and was found at its conclusion to be 'cold, unresponsive and bleeding from his nose.' He had passed away during the film from unknown causes. A criminal investigation is ongoing. The report found that Thompson's Treatment Center had a 'history of regulatory problems' related to corporal punishment and caregiver responsibility. One child was hospitalized after a restraint 'resulted in a laceration to his liver,' the court monitors noted. State Sen. Angela Paxton, R-McKinney, suggested O.R.'s death was connected to a need for additional investigative staff during a legislative hearing Feb. 3, as the Texas Tribune reported. The McKinney Republican was commenting on a budget proposal to increase investigative staff at the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. 'Tragically, in my district, there was an 11-year-old boy who passed away this past November while he was under the care of a licensed residential treatment center which has since had its license revoked and children placed in other centers,' Paxton said. The state's need for additional regulatory staff 'is something very tangible and concrete in my district," she added. Yetter, the attorney representing the plaintiffs, said the death indicates the system still needs significant reform. "Yet again, the state is shutting down a dangerous facility after another tragedy," the attorney said in a statement. "Innocent children are still dying in state care. This is not a safe system.'The court report also noted that a 17-year-old girl named D.M. died from fentanyl poisoning after her foster parent 'failed to take an action that a reasonable person in her profession with 13 years of experience and trainings should (have) taken to ensure (the girl) was safe and out of harm.' The state closed the investigation and determined neglect was not a cause of the girl's death. In another case listed in the status update, a 17-year-old girl, H.H., died in a car crash four weeks after running away from her foster home. The Department of Family and Protective Services 'did not pursue an abuse, neglect or exploitation investigation into H.H.'s death or elopement, though the DFPS Child Plan in effect at the time required her to be under heightened supervision due to a history of running away,' the monitors wrote. This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Details emerge in death of 11-year-old child in Texas foster care
