Day: April 19, 2013

New complaints procedure for Bield residents

Bield. a leading provider of housing, care and community services for older people, has introduced a new complaints procedure. Designed to be more easily understandable and more accessible to the public, Bield reformed its complaints procedure as it strives to continue improving customer satisfaction.

Reflecting the model Complaints Handling Procedure (CHP) developed by the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman the procedure also gives the option for customers to make a complaint to other bodies such as the Care Inspectorate.

Under the changes the complaints handling procedure has been reduced to two stages instead of the previous three, but will continue to follow specific time-scales for responding to complaints.

Bield currently has 16 housing developments in Edinburgh  – including properties in Stockbridge and Craighall Road. This range encompasses sheltered housing, very sheltered housing, amenity housing, and private retirement whilst day care services are also provided.

Brian Logan headshot

Brian Logan, Chief Executive at Bield, (pictured above) said: “While we have introduced a new procedure, our commitment to providing a first class service still remains firmly in place. The procedure reflects our commitment to valuing complaints. We know that on occasion we get things wrong and when this happens we want to put it right. We want to learn from our mistakes so we can do things better.

“Issues that arise can be about something we’ve done, or not done, or it could be about the standard of service provided by us, or on our behalf. Complaints give us valuable information that we can use to improve customer satisfaction. They provide a first-hand account of our customer’s views and experience, and can highlight problems we may otherwise miss.

“The new procedure will help us do our job better, improve relationships with our customers. It will help us keep the customer at the heart of the process, while enabling us to better understand how to improve our services by learning from complaints.”

As well as the new procedures, Bield has introduced a new recording system for staff which promotes a more efficient method of monitoring complaints and will provide better reports that will help identify the cause of any raised incidents.

Brian added: “For staff, complaints provide a first-hand account of our customer’s views and experience, and can highlight problems we may otherwise miss. All of these changes have been designed solely with our customers in mind and implemented to improve the services they receive. We are continuously evolving and exploring ways we can meet and go beyond their expectations. We hope that this procedure will enable us to address a customer’s dissatisfaction and try ‘get it right first time’ and even help to prevent the same problems that led to the complaint from happening again.”

All Registered Social Landlords will use the same procedure making it clearer and easier for everyone to understand.

With more than 40 years experience, Bield, a registered charity, offers quality housing and services for older people. From humble beginnings in Bo’ness it now provides a wide range of housing and services for around 15,000 people across 22 local authority areas.

BIELD

Counting down the steps to the John Muir Trail

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This Sunday (21 April 2013) marks a year from the launch of the John Muir Trail – and a huge amount of work has already been completed. The new long distance route, which passes through Edinburgh, will open on John Muir’s birthday on 21 April 2014 and forms part of the celebrations to mark the centenary of the Scots born naturalist’s death.

The John Muir Trail will link Muir’s birthplace in Dunbar to Helensburgh via Scotland’s first National Park – Loch Lomond and the Trossachs – and will take in Edinburgh along the way. The trail will celebrate John Muir’s life, promoting his ideas and providing a memorable walking experience for both local people and overseas visitors.

The 105 mile (169km) trail will follow some existing routes such as the John Muir Way in East Lothian. In other sections, new paths are being created. The route will enable walkers, cyclists and horse riders to easily visit some of the most beautiful coastal scenery, sweeping landscapes, wildlife sites and historic visitor attractions across Scotland’s heartland.
Although the full route is not yet open, there have been many local path improvements, giving walkers and cyclists a boost already.

In Edinburgh, the Brunstane Burn path will be a key section of the John Muir Trail linking Holyrood Park and east Edinburgh with Musselburgh. At the moment, this path is muddy and overgrown but it is being improved for cyclists and walkers by the City of Edinburgh Council and the Scottish Natural Heritage John Muir Trail project.

The route will be waymarked with The John Muir Trail signs, and a website, book, leaflets and map will give people all the information they need to complete part or all of the trail.

Conservationist John Muir was born in Dunbar in 1838, before emigrating to the United States in 1849. Amongst his achievements, he helped save the Yosemite Valley in California, was a Co-founder of The Sierra Club – one of the most influential grassroots environmental organisations in the USA – and successfully campaigned for National Parks in America.

The launch of the new route is an integral part of the Year of Homecoming 2014 and its opening will be one of a number of events to “Bring John Muir Home”. Muir’s life, work and legacy will be a focus of national and international attention with John Muir 2014 providing one of the signature themes for the year.

Creating a new John Muir Trail is a flagship project for the Central Scotland Green Network (CSGN). Keith Geddes, Chair of the CSGN Partnership Board, which developed the concept of the route, said: “John Muir is considered one of the patron saints of 20th century American environmental activity. He is noted for being a conservationist, naturalist, geologist, inventor and explorer. However, despite the magnificent efforts of East Lothian Council, the John Muir Trust and the John Muir Museum in Dunbar, Americans still tend to know more about him than Scots.

“This is why the new route is a fitting way to celebrate a man who through his life, writings and legacy, could inspire a new generation of Scots to recognise the value of nature and the outdoors. It will take walkers and cyclists from Muir’s birthplace through Scotland’s first national park, through Edinburgh to Helensburgh. It’s a great way to highlight the fact that he was born in Scotland and that one of his great achievements was to play a central part in establishing national parks in the United States.”

The hard work involved in developing the route is being carried out by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH). Ron McCraw of SNH, explained: “We’ve made a lot of progress in the last year. We now have 80% of the route in place and it’s sure to be a spectacular walk across the country that many people will enjoy. Some places in the Central Belt are already enjoying the benefits of work on the route with improved local paths. It will certainly be an exciting day in 2014 when people can enjoy the entire route – but it’ll also be a terrific way for families to have a day out for shorter sections of the route near them.”

Not only will the new route celebrate Muir’s life and achievements, but it will also create significant and lasting economic benefit. A study commissioned by SNH estimates that some 700 jobs could be created over the first five years of the route’s existence and contribute £25 million to the local economy.

For further information about the John Muir Trail please contact johnmuirtrail@snh.gov.uk

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Juicy business opportunity for city schools!

Five Edinburgh schools are going head to head tomorrow (Saturday 20 April) in an ‘Apprentice’ style challenge to make and sell their own lemonade and orange juice. The friendly battle, dubbed ‘Citrus Saturday’, will see pupils from Gracemount High School, Leith Academy, Woodlands, Gorgie Mills and Forrester High test their business skills in the citrus sell-off.

They will compete to see which team sells the most homemade drinks at five central locations – the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh Zoo, Edinburgh Castle, Cameron Toll Shopping Centre and the Gyle Shopping Centre.

The event, run by the City of Edinburgh Council, gives pupils a taste of working on a business project and helps develop their budgeting, negotiating, selling and marketing skills. Each team has had volunteer student business mentors from Edinburgh University and The Prince’s Trust to help them with their projects.

The teams will be using over 1,000 lemons, 450 oranges, 32 limes, 56kg of sugar and more than 100 litres of fizzy water to make their thirst-quenching drinks – the majority provided by Sainsbury’s at Cameron Toll.

Councillor Frank Ross, Economy Convener for the City of Edinburgh Council, said: “Citrus Saturday is a great way for young people to learn about the realities of creating a business in a fun way. They’ll be able to put into practice all the skills they have been developing over the past months with the business students from Edinburgh University. There will be elements of developing a product from scratch, devising the marketing and budgeting and of course the sales pitches on the day itself. I’d like to wish everyone the best of luck and encourage as many people as possible to support them tomorrow.”

Citrus Saturday is part of a European Union funded project through the Interreg IVB programme to promote Open Innovation with business, academia and the wider community.

Promises to be a fun competition, but sadly some schools are sure to be pipped at the post (sorry!)!

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Council seeks support to spruce up city

The city council is calling on local green groups to back Edinburgh’s 2013 Britain in Bloom bid by helping to spruce up their local neighbourhood.

It’s Your Neighbourhood, run by Keep Scotland Beautiful, is a scheme that aims to bring members of the community together to make a positive change to the place they live, work or spend their leisure time. It is open to groups of all sizes who are interested in cleaning up and greening up their local area.

The initiative forms part of the Royal Horticultural Society’s Britain in Bloom competition, in which Edinburgh is competing against Bristol and the London Borough of Hillingdon in the City category.

Local community groups or businesses who enter the It’s Your Neighbourhood scheme will be mentored by assessors in an effort to improve and progress local green projects. This could be help with identifying funding sources, gardening and maintenance advice or providing access to tools.

Successful participants are presented with a certificate of achievement of either Establishing, Improving, Developing, Thriving, or Outstanding.

Lesley Hinds Ward 5 Inverleith Ward

Councillor Lesley Hinds, the city’s Environment Convener, (pictured above) said: “Edinburgh will be representing Scotland later this year in the prestigious Britain in Bloom competition and so we’re calling in all green-fingered city residents to back our bid and do their bit to spruce up their local neighbourhood.”

Derek Robertson, Chief Executive of Keep Scotland Beautiful – the independent charity which campaigns, acts and educates on a range of local, national and global environmental issues which affect people’s quality of life, said: “We would welcome any community group who is working to clean up and green up their local area in Edinburgh to register for this years’ It’s Your Neighbourhood campaign. It’s Your Neighbourhood is about giving community groups who work tirelessly year round, national recognition and support for their efforts, and currently we have over 70 groups registered from across Scotland.”

Registration for It’s Your Neighbourhood closes at the end of April. Further information can be found on the Beautiful Scotland website.

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