EVOC reminder: Meeting to discuss integrated services tomorrow

Dear All,

We’d like to cordially invite you to the latest event looking at adult Health and Social Care integration here in Edinburgh, with the next stage of development just starting.

A shadow Strategic Planning Group has now met, bringing together people from across the NHS, Health & Social Care, the Third Sector, Independent Sector and carers/service users. We want to feedback to everyone in the Third Sector interested in shaping the future of health and social care services on how the Strategic Plan is being developed.

This upcoming meeting will focus on Edinburgh’s draft

Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA)

which is a key element of the process of preparing a strategic plan.

Monday 27 April, 9.30am – 12.00noon

City of Edinburgh Methodist Church, 25 Nicolson Square, Edinburgh EH8 9BX

Please book here so we can arrange teas and coffees:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/feedback-engage-and-create-tickets-16532637564

JSNA Background

The JSNA aims to provide an assessment and forecast of needs to enable investment to be linked to all agreed desired outcomes, considering options, planning the nature, range and quality of future services and working in partnership to put these in place.

The purpose of the JSNA is to agree a comprehensive local picture of health and wellbeing needs, using intelligence and analysis to determine:

o Current and future needs

o What’s working, what’s not, and what could work better?

o What are the major health inequalities and what can be done about them?

o Unmet needs, including those of seldom-heard populations and vulnerable groups

This will be used to:

o Negotiate and agree overarching priorities on health and wellbeing;

o Influence commissioning and decision making

Really hope you can make this meeting.

Ian Brooke, Deputy Director, EVOC

The Centipede’s back!

There IS such a thing as a free lunch!

MUIRHOUSE CENTIPEDE PROJECT

Open Lunch Meeting
Tuesday 28 April, 12 noon
North Edinburgh Arts

An informal (free!) lunch to chat about your ideas about how we can make use of the brownfield sites until the houses are built on them. We would love to see you there! Open to all.

Do you remember the wishing tree in 2014?

We asked local residents to tell us what they want to see happen in the area. Now with the endorsement of the City of Edinburgh Council, we are helping to make some of the wishes come true!

This is the start of a wide range of community activity across the brown field sites in Muirhouse. In partnership with the council, we are looking for ideas for temporary activities that brighten up the community until the houses get built.

Community Gardens are a great way to:

Improve health and wellbeing
Grow your own food
Meet new people
Socialise with friends
Learn new skills
Have fun and relax

And now you have the chance to create your own community garden with Centipede Project, then as part of the development of the empty sites by the City of Edinburgh Council. This includes the land near Pennywell Gardens and Muirhouse Avenue until the new houses get built.

How can you be involved?

Attend our free open lunch to share your ideas!

Tuesday 28 April
North Edinburgh Arts
12noon

Get in touch if you’re interested in being involved:

Email: centipedeproject@outlook.com
Telephone: 0131 315 2151 (ask for Joanne)
In Person: We are based in North Edinburgh Arts

Download our leaflets with all upcoming events here and here.

It’s Gavin at the double!

One of The Roxburghe Hotel’s most esteemed team members was recognised at the 12th annual Scottish Hotel Awards last week. Concierge Gavin Stirling picked up the coveted Concierge of the Year crown for the second year running.

The glittering ceremony, held on Sunday 19 April at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Glasgow, was a night of celebrations for staff at the four-star capital hotel, as they congratulated the hospitality star on retaining his much-deserved title.

37-year-old Gavin, who has worked at the Roxburghe for six years and in hospitality for 14 years, has been credited as an ambassador for the hotel and the wider hospitality industry in Scotland. Heading up a dedicated concierge team, Gavin’s welcoming nature and unrivalled desire to go above and beyond for guests has secured his place at the top of the title race for a consecutive year.

The hotel, located on the corner of Edinburgh’s Charlotte Square, was also named regional winner of Business Hotel of the Year for Edinburgh and the Lothians in recognition of its vibrant restaurant, luxurious bedrooms and state-of-the-art resources for modern business travellers.

Marcello Ventisei, general manager of The Roxburghe Hotel, said: “Gavin has done The Roxburghe proud yet again at this year’s Scottish Hotel Awards. His unwavering dedication to our clients and the hotel as a whole is fantastic and I’m delighted to see it duly recognised among the industry yet again.

“We’re lucky to have a fantastic team on board, all of whom work exceptionally hard to ensure the highest standards at the hotel – our regional award for Business Hotel of the Year is testament to that.”

Taxi! Keir calls for tighter legislation

‘Public safety is everything’ – SNP MSP Colin Keir

SNP MSP for Edinburgh Western Colin Keir has called for tighter legislation of taxis and private hire cars during a Holyrood debate on the Air Rifles and Licensing Bill.

Mr Keir is supporting moves to introduce a test for Private Hire Car drivers as well as tightening the legislation on booking offices. He also called on vehicles which are currently exempt from the licensing system to be included on the grounds of public safety.

Mr Keir said: “The legislation which deals with taxis and private hire cars was drawn up as a part of the 1982 Civic Government Scotland Act and needs to be amended. The use of mobile phones and apps were not known years ago and the law and the trade have to adapt to modern circumstances.”

Mr Keir added: “Everyone who uses a taxi or private hire car must know that it is safe to get into a vehicle and must have confidence that there’s a fit and proper person behind the wheel – public safety is everything.”

Community Shares roadshow to hit the capital

Event to highlight new ways to generate funding

The Community Shares Scotland (CSS) team are holding the next roadshow in their pan-Scotland series at the Melting Pot in Rose Street this Friday (1 May).

The aim of the event is to show local communities how they can utilise an alternative funding method to develop their own projects and invest in their own futures.

It also offers groups a chance to meet and mingle with other community groups who are interested in setting up a share offer or learn from those who have had success already.

CSS programme manager, Kelly McIntyre, said: “We launched our roadshow programme last year with the aim of growing the community enterprise market through practical application and help people progress their own community projects.

“We are now beginning to see a network of like-minded enterprises grow across Scotland using community shares to generate income for their communities – from Fort William to Dunbar, Aberdeen to Harris and throughout Scotland.

“People have asked us for case studies and examples of other enterprises whom have been successful in getting their projects, big and small off the ground.

“For example, the Sunart renewable energy hydro scheme in Lochaber is real example of community spirit and effort to make an ambitious project a reality.

“And right on our door-step we have local greengrocer, Dig-In Bruntsfield Community Greengrocers Ltd, who will be giving a talk on the day about their experience of setting up a community greengrocer business through their community share offer.

Dig-In’s Catherine Francis said: “We are a community-owned and supported, not-for-profit greengrocer in Edinburgh who supply locally-sourced produce and foster community spirit.

“Thanks to our incredible volunteers, community shareholders and committee membership, we are now a thriving enterprise.

“We function along the lines of a community enterprise model, offering community shares which keeps us rooted in the community. We’re looking forward to participating in the Community Shares Roadshow on 1 May– coincidentally, also the first anniversary of our shop opening!”

Kelly McIntyre added: “Fair Trade is another area where community share schemes have been used to provide a different model for developing a live project.

“For example, Glasgow-based Bala Sport are a new co-operatively-led venture that plans to take Fairtrade Sports balls to the same level of awareness and sales as other popular Fairtrade products, such as bananas, coffee, tea, sugar and chocolate.”

Angus Coull, marketing and communications director of Bala Sport, explained: “As a start-up community benefit society, selling high-quality Fairtrade-certified sports balls, the help and support we received from Kelly at Community Shares Scotland was invaluable.

“With no previous experience and little knowledge of how community share offers work, so it was like having our own account manager with personal one-to-one advice and a lot of social media back-up.

“I was surprised at the amount of input from CSS – you can tell they really do want your business to succeed and they naturally know their stuff.”

He added: “As a tiny co-op competing with big brand sports balls companies, we need to raise £150,000 to help us buy in sufficient levels of stock in our early stages and we wanted to make a big impact at our launch event.

“We booked Hampden Stadium and, with the financial support from Community Shares Scotland, we were able to produce high impact promotional materials to reinforce the message and help convince the potential investors at the event.

“When Kelly thinks we’re easing off on the awareness raising, she’ll let us know – and the CSS tweets will start coming thick and fast – very welcome motivation and a pleasure to deal with.”

Bala Sports balls come from Fairtrade accredited factories in Sialkot, Pakistan, where both workers and the wider community benefit from the Fairtrade premium that is paid.

The current share offer closes on 31 May 2015 and people are encouraged to invest as little as £50 to meet the target of £150,000.

Check out the offer at http://www.microgenius.org.uk/project/fair-trade-sports-balls-limited-30

Free roadshow event but booking essential:

Friday, 1 May 10:0am to 3:0pm

The Melting Pot, 5 Rose Street, EH2 2PR

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/community-shares-scotland-edinburgh-roadshow-tickets-16015653250

Any questions? Give us a call on 0131 220 3777

CSS is made up of a consortium of partners, DTAS, Co-operatives UK, Locality, Plunkett Foundation and Rocket Science.

Powerful Partnership: Circle Scotland and George Heriots short-listed for national award

Local initiative up for Powerful Partnership Award

An innovative collaboration between West Pilton-based family charity Circle Scotland and senior pupils from George Heriot’s School has been shortlisted in the 2015 Scottish Charity Awards.

Nominated in the Perfect Partnership category, Circle’s Inter School Social Education Project (ISSEP) sees George Heriot’s S6 pupils volunteering every week for a year, providing one-to-one mentoring for a primary aged child in the North Edinburgh community.

The children benefit from the consistency and commitment of a caring and enthusiastic role model; the mentors gain increased social awareness and responsibility.

Circle’s ISSEP is one of 31 terrific finalists spread across six categories – Celebrating Communities, Charity Champion, Charity of the Year, Cracking Campaign, Digital Dynamos and Perfect Partnerships – and faces stiff competition in the People’s Choice public vote.

You can take part in the People’s Choice public vote:

go to www.scvo.org.uk/vote

Voting closes on 8 May.

Winners will be announced at a gala event in Edinburgh’s Assembly Rooms on 4 June.