NHSGGC’s Director of Public Health has produced a helpful video for parents worried about when to get their children tested for Covid.
Dr Linda de Caestecker worked with Glasgow City Council on the video, after a dramatic rise in requests for tests for children after the schools returned in mid August.
Dr de Caestecker said: “The idea of the video is to explain in some detail the work that goes on in Public Health when a positive case is confirmed in a particular school.
“In each case a Public Health doctor will work with teachers, the headteacher of the school and the Education Department to carefully calculate who are close contacts of a case.
“There is also lots of information in the video about the symptoms to look out for and who does and does not need to be tested.
“I really do understand the anxiety that some parents may have but it’s vital we make sure the system is not overloaded. This means it’s really important to keep those testing slots for the people who really need them.
“I hope parents find the video reassuring in what are fairly uncertain times. The NHS inform website is another great source of information – www.nhsinform.scot.”
Scotland offers some fantastic local and sustainable food choices and this harvest season, Keep Scotland Beautiful is urging you to celebrate it by hosting a One Planet Picnic.
Open to everyone, from schools, businesses, communities and families the initiative, which is in its 8th year, aims to support people from all over Scotland to discover the great tastes of our seasonal food and local harvests.
This year, as we have faced unprecedented circumstances, many of us have discovered amazing local food on our doorsteps, from small egg producers, to local online food markets and milk delivery firms. Many of us have relied on local food systems and rediscovered our love of baking bread and taking time to plan our meals and cook from scratch again.
Whether you prefer sweet seasonal fruit or locally sourced fish, hosting a One Planet Picnic allows you to celebrate the local food and recipes you love with others – online or in person in small groups.
One Planet Picnic helps to raise awareness of the sustainable, local and seasonal food choices that everyone can make, as well as reducing food waste, food miles and food packaging. A One Planet Picnic is good for you, and good for the planet.
Eve Keepax, Education and Learning Officer, at Keep Scotland Beautiful, said, “Last year more than 17,000 people were registered to take part in a One Planet Picnic and as we emerge from lockdown restrictions we would love to invite people to get involved this year.
“Why not organise a picnic with a small group of friends and make the most of our stunning scenery or a local park, or host an online picnic with work colleagues or family. A picnic is a great way to come together, it’s environmentally friendly and there is even a prize draw to enter just by registering your picnic with us.”
Heart Research UK Healthy Heart Tip, written by Dr Helen Flaherty, Head of Health Promotion at Heart Research UK
Reducing your sugar intake
Around 63% of adults in the UK are either overweight or obese. Excess weight gain occurs when you consume more calories (energy) than you need. Maintaining a healthy weight can reduce your risk of heart disease. Sugar provides energy and consuming too much can lead to weight gain.
In this Healthy Tip, we provide some tips for lowering your intake of sugary foods and drinks to help you achieve and maintain a healthy weight.
Check food labels
When checking food labels be aware that added sugar can be listed in a variety of ways, such as sucrose, glucose, maltose, fructose, dextrose, honey, syrup, molasses, treacle or fruit juice concentrates. The food label may also provide information on how much sugar is contained.
High in sugar – Foods that are high in sugar contain 22.5g or more of total sugars per 100g
Low in sugar – Foods that are low in sugar contain 5g or less of total sugars per 100g
Save sugary foods and drinks for an occasional sweet treat
We all like to have a treat from time to time, but if we consume sugary foods and drinks too often, it can be a risk to our health. Sugar is added to many commonly consumed food and drink products, such as cakes, biscuits, puddings, sweets, chocolate, soft drinks and sweetened yoghurts. Try to limit the amount of these foods and drinks in your diet by eating them less often and in smaller portions.
Reduce sugar in your drinks
If you usually add sugar to hot drinks, why not cut back gradually on the amount of sugar you add, until you can cut it out altogether. Alternatively, you could opt for an artificial sweetener, however this will not help you to adjust your taste preference for less sugary drinks. Try swapping sugary soft drinks for water, sugar-free or reduced-sugar drinks. Unsweetened fruit juices and smoothies also contain sugar so try to limit your intake to no more than 150ml a day.
Reduce your sugar intake at breakfast time
Frosted, chocolate or honey-covered breakfast cereals tend to be high in sugar. Try replacing these with unsweetened wholegrain breakfast cereals. For added sweetness, you could top your breakfast cereal with fruit, such as sliced bananas or berries and this will also contribute to your 5 a day.
Switch to low-sugar desserts
For a low-sugar dessert try adding fruit to a low-fat and low-sugar yoghurt. If using tinned fruit, choose tins in juice rather than syrup. If you cannot resist a sugary pudding, eating a smaller portion is a better option as it will contain less sugar than a regular-sized portion.
What about the sugars contained in fruit?
Fruit contains naturally occurring sugars as well as fibre, vitamins, minerals and water. In this combination fruit is generally regarded as being good for our health. Eating at least 5 portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables every day is recommended as part of a healthy balanced diet.
Are honey and brown sugar healthy options?
Although they are often marketed as healthier options, brown sugar and honey are not better for you than white sugar. These products are simply different forms of sugar and they are all high in calories. Brown sugar is the same as white sugar, with a small amount of molasses added in to give it a brown colour and a different flavour. Although honey is a natural product, it has a low nutritional value and it is also high in calories. Therefore, you should try to reduce your intake of honey and brown sugar as well as other types of sugar and syrups.
The Independent Cinema Recovery and Resilience Fund is a £3.5million fund from the Scottish Government. The aim of the Fund is to help secure the survival of Scotland’s independent cinemas, enabling them to re-establish and adjust their business models in response to Covid-19.
The fund addresses the critical financial need faced by Scotland’s independent cinemas to enable them to return to full-time operation, significantly reducing the risk of wide-spread redundancies and closure of vital community assets.
Guidelines for applying to the Fund have now been published ahead opening for applications on Monday 14 September.
Sambrooke Scott, Head of Audience Developmentat Screen Scotland said: “We very much welcome the First Minister’s recent announcement of £31.5m in emergency funding for culture in Scotland and are pleased, as part of that, to be able to quickly offer £3.5m of that funding to support Scotland’s independent cinemas.
“These cinemas not only present a broad range of high-quality creative programming to a varied audience, but they also serve as community hubs in geographically diverse parts of Scotland, including some of our more remote places.
“This fund will offer a vital lifeline to those independent cinemas which have been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, helping them to return to full-time operation and protect jobs.”
The Independent Cinema Recovery and Resilience Fund is the first of five new emergency funds to be delivered by Creative Scotland over the coming weeks as follows:
The £15m Culture Organisations and Venues Recovery Fund will support organisations that provide opportunities for cultural engagement and who have been unable to trade due to the impact of Covid-19. It includes both organisations who provide opportunities for audience engagement (such as galleries, performing arts spaces, commercial theatres, comedy clubs and nightclubs) as well as those that enable and deliver cultural activity (such as production facilities, music and dance companies). Eligibility criteria and guidelines for applying are currently in development and will be published on Thursday 10 September. The fund will open for applications on Thursday 17 September and awards will be made by the first week in November.
The £5m Creative Freelancer Hardship Fund will address the current financial hardship being felt by creative freelancers who normally work in the culture sector, but whose work has been impacted by Covid-19. We are currently working to appoint partners to ensure a wide spread of coverage of this fund and we anticipate opening for applications from early October.
The £5m Sustaining Creative Practice Fund will support artists to continue developing new creative work that will make a significant contribution to Scotland’s recovery from COVID-19. This includes £1.5 million for the Culture Collective programme, mentioned in the Scottish Government’s Programme for Government, supporting organisations employing freelance artists to work in and with communities across Scotland. The remaining £3.5m will be added to Creative Scotland’s existing open fund which is open for applications from individuals now.
The £3m Youth Arts Fund will ensure creative opportunities for children and young people continue to exist across Scotland despite the Covid-19 pandemic. The fund will include targeted and open funding to youth music and wider youth arts organisations, a scheme to devolve grants locally to artists who work with young people and small grants delivered directly to young people to support them fulfil their creative ambitions.
Details of all funds will be published on the Creative Scotland website and publicised through media and social media communications.
Lothian MSP, Miles Briggs, has said that the development of Edinburgh City Bypass must be a priority in the Scottish Government new national infrastructure investment plan, due to be published this month.
This week at the Scottish Parliament the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said that the Scottish Government would “set out the framework for £32 billion of infrastructure investment over the next five years.”
In May 2018, Miles Briggs MSP held a Members debate in the Scottish Parliament where the then Transport secretary Humza Yousaf that the Edinburgh City Bypass was a priority for the Scottish Government (link).
In June 2018 the now Transport Secretary Michael Matheson declined to give a timetable for when Edinburgh City Bypass would be developed to address overcapacity issues.
Two years since the promise of a review into the strategic importance of the A720 Edinburgh City Bypass and there has still been no progress made.
Edinburgh City’s bypass over congestion is an issue that Miles has campaigned on since his election in 2016.
Lothian MSP, Miles Briggs, said:“Lothian residents and businesses are increasingly concerned that SNP Ministers are not demonstrating the urgency required to avoid the bypass becoming gridlocked in future as usage will continue to grow and grow.
“Overcapacity issues on the bypass must be a national transport priority for this government and they must bring forward detailed new plans to improve this key trunk road.
“SNP Ministers have been delaying the development of this much needed infrastructure for residents and commuters in Edinburgh and the Lothians.
“The development of Edinburgh City Bypass must be part of the new national infrastructure investment plan.”
Patients with chronic eye conditions will be now be able to be assessed by community optometrists as part of a new plan supported by £3 million in funding.
Due to changes in hospital services because of COVID-19 – including health, safety and physical distancing measures – there has been limited capacity to see all patients with chronic and sight-threatening conditions.
Under the new plan, the skills of community optometrists will be utilised to support hospital eye services, ensuring more patients can be seen for their appointments.
Community optometrists are qualified to undertake this care – and the new initiative will help patients as well as supporting the existing optometry workforce.
The Programme for Government contains a commitment to accelerate the reform of NHS eye care services.
This includes funding to support an additional 50 optometrists to train as independent prescribing optometrists, who can safely treat more patients within the community.
Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said: “As we steadily re-mobilise, we are implementing new ways of working to enable our highly skilled workforce across the whole NHS to deliver care in a safe and timely manner.
“I’m pleased that as we continue to see positive results in dealing with the virus, hospital patients with eye conditions will now be able to be reviewed by community optometrists.
“Community optometrists have worked very hard during the pandemic to embrace new ways of working, and these clinicians will now also play a key role in this initiative.
“This plan utilises the capacity within community optometry – their expertise, staffing and readily equipped practices can support the NHS both during the COVID-19 pandemic recovery, and beyond.”
Director of Royal National Institute of Blind Scotland James Adams said: “We welcome any move that ensures people receive timely eye-care examinations and treatment. It remains as crucial as ever that eye problems are diagnosed as quickly as possible so that people don’t lose sight unnecessarily.
“As with all our health sector staff, optometrists have worked incredibly hard to maintain their vital service in very challenging conditions. RNIB Scotland has worked closely with them to assure the public that it is safe, and important, to attend appointments.”
SNP MSP Gordon MacDonald has welcomed a new £60million Youth Guarantee announced in the Programme for Government, which guarantees everyone in Edinburgh aged 16-24, a job, a place in education or a place in training.
The new partnership between the Scottish Government and Scotland’s employers is backed by £60 million of government investment, which will be broken down as follows:
£30 million through local authorities to help local partnerships to deliver employability support for young people
£10 million to create additional opportunities in colleges
£10 million additional funding for Developing the Young Workforce, the Scottish Government’s internationally recognised Youth Employment Strategy
£10 million to support pathways to apprenticeships
This autumn, the Scottish Government will also launch the National Transition Training Fund, which is backed by initial funding of £25 million and will help up to 10,000 people of all ages retrain for jobs in growth sectors.
SNP MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands, Gordon MacDonald,said: “Governments have rightly taken unprecedented steps to protect workers and businesses through this pandemic, but it’s vital that young people are not left behind.
“This SNP government is absolutely determined that youth unemployment will not become the legacy of the Coronavirus pandemic.
“The new £60 million Youth Guarantee, announced in the First Minister’s Programme for Government, will guarantee every young person inEdinburgh aged 16-24 a job, a place in training, or a place in education.
“This is backed by additional funding for employers to recruit and retain apprentices, and the new Job Start Payment to help with the costs associated with starting a new job.
“I urge all employers who are able, to work with the Scottish Government to create more opportunities that recognise the valuable contribution our young people have to make in growing our economy.
“These steps to support for those most adversely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic are most welcome, and the SNP will continue to work to ensure every young person in our capital is given the opportunity to succeed”
The North Edinburgh and East Edinburgh Save Our Services campaigns are calling an online meeting on Thursday 10th September at 6.30pm. The meeting will discuss how to mobilise opposition to the latest round of cuts in jobs and services.
It is time to end the cycle of cuts to vital local services in our city. Austerity, outsourcing and privatisation has been pushed down from Westminster via Holyrood and implemented by the City Council for too long. But we need a powerful campaign if we are to be successful.
Since 2012/13, Edinburgh City Council budget cuts have amounted to £320 million. Prior to Covid19 the estimate was that there would be further cuts of £87.3 million by 2023.
These cuts have had a terrible effect on essential services. The most vulnerable, who have also been hit by cuts in social security benefits, have suffered most. Edinburgh has the lowest expenditure per capita on local services in Scotland.
The City Council’s press releases fail to reflect the reality of life for many of Edinburgh’s citizens. Wrapped in the language of ‘savings’, ‘inclusion’, ‘progress’, ‘just recovery’ and ‘sustainability’, they accept that there is no alternative to an ideology that supports a relentless increase in inequality.
Covid19 has added to an already bleak picture with increases in unemployment, child poverty and mental distress. The pandemic has shone a harsh light on the gaps in local services and underlined the importance of key workers and health, social care, housing and education.
Edinburgh Council argues that falling revenues and increased costs as a result of Covid19 now mean that further cuts are required. The Edinburgh Integration Joint Board, through which the Council and the NHS administer integrated health and social care, has already agreed cuts of £8 million.
We understand that proposals for cuts will go the Finance Committee on 24th September and be considered at the full Council meeting on 15th October.
These cuts affect individuals, groups and organisations across the city. They will further erode essential services and add to the numbers of unemployed.
The annual cuts in jobs and services that have taken place over the last decade have not gone unopposed. On occasion we’ve been able to deflect specific measures. But each year the screw has tightened.
It is not true that there is no money to fund these services. The Westminster government is choosing to direct it to the big corporations. For example, eleven billion pounds have gone to the private sector for a track and trace system in England that doesn’t work. £600m was handed to Tesco in rate relief (that went straight to their shareholders) while the company is enjoying a sales bonanza.
This meeting can be a first step in building a mass campaign for social justice, push back the cuts and fight for public services.
If our elected politicians wish to truly represent us, then they should join the campaign. If not, they should step aside. Let’s save and rebuild services, save jobs and fight for social justice and an environmentally sustainable future.
Production of some of Britain’s favourite biscuits will be halted over the next month as workers at Burton’s Biscuits Co in Edinburgh launch strike action over a “derisory” pay offer.
GMB members at the Sighthill manufacturing plant, voted by an overwhelming majority of 91 per cent for industrial action after management refused to increase a 1.6 per cent offer for the next year.
An indefinite work to rule and overtime ban will start on Tuesday 8 September from 14.00 hours before a series of twenty-four hour strikes throughout September. Action will take place on the following dates:
06.00 hours on Wednesday 9 September to 05.59 hours on Thursday 10 September.
06.00 hours on Wednesday 16 September to 05.59 hours on Thursday 17 September.
06.00 hours on Wednesday 23 September to 05.59 hours on Thursday 24 September.
The biscuit manufacturer, which produces staple household brands like Jammie Dodgers and Wagon Wheels, is owned by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan which hold net assets worth a staggering $204.7 billion.
GMB Scotland Organiser Benny Rankin said: “Burton’s stubborn stance on this year’s pay offer is an insult to staff that have worked throughout the lockdown at management’s insistence.
“In March staff were told they were part of the key worker response and despite serious health and safety concerns over working practices, our members did what needed to be done for this business.
“Burton’s derisory pay offer hold’s a mirror up to this management – they clearly do not value the contribution of their staff and have no interest in recognising and rewarding them properly.
“And after previous concerns over management’s ability to adhere to the COVID guidelines on workplace safety, Burton’s are taking the biscuit again over their workers’ pay and conditions.
“Their refusal to meaningfully engage with a workforce that deserve so much better means we have been left with little choice but to strike for a decent pay offer.”
