Youth Group is back! Starting today – Thursday 4th February.
Please contact Fiona for the joining details: youthwork@ccchub.online
#Youthwork#youngpeople#highschool#youthclub#Corstorphine#CommunityCentre
Also started this week:
CCPS (Coalition of Care and Support Providers) has welcomed the publication of the Independent Review of Adult Social Care in Scotland and its call for a renewed purpose for social care with human rights at its heart.
CCPS are delighted by the commitment to a new narrative which replaces crisis with prevention and wellbeing, burden with investment, competition with collaboration and variation with fairness and equity.
We strongly endorse the call to put people front and centre of social care delivery – people who are supported by social care, their families and carers, and people who work in social care services.
We agree that Scotland already has strong foundations on which to build a National Care Service. We want to work with the Scottish Government, national and local stakeholders – including those who support people and people who are supported – to redesign the system to make the ambitions set out in the Review happen.
We wholeheartedly back the Review’s assertion of a duty to co-produce a new system with people who it is designed to support.
Over the coming weeks we will be working closely with our members to explore the Review’s recommendations in detail. As the membership body for third sector providers, we are especially interested in participating in the conversation about the Review’s recommendations on commissioning and procurement.
In 2020, we published our own contribution to that conversation, a series of Big Ideas about changing the way social care is planned, purchased, and paid for. We are grateful to the Review team for citing those ideas. In particular, we thank them for including as one of their recommendations, our suggestion to press pause on all current procurement in the context of a National Care Service, with a view to rapid, carefully planned implementation.
We agree with the Review team that implementation is the most significant challenge. Now is the moment for whole system change, hand in hand with the implementation of The Promise and the recommendations of the Social Renewal Advisory Board.
We would echo the Review Team’s own words – ‘If not now, when? If not this way, how? And if not us – who?’
Annie Gunner Logan, Chief Executive of CCPS said: “CCPS congratulates Derek Feeley and the Review team on completing a mammoth task in record time and their willingness to listen to many voices including those of providers and the people we support.
“Reform of social care in Scotland is long overdue. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed fault lines which require radical overhaul and long-term change. It has also revealed what can be achieved when obstacles are removed in a crisis.
“We are heartened by the direction of travel set out in the Review. The challenge now must be to turn aspiration into implementation. Change is needed urgently but how it is achieved matters too.
“The debate about a National Care Service must not become a bunfight at the expense of those who provide social care and the people they support.
“The upcoming election period provides an opportunity to discuss the Review’s recommendations openly and widely. But when the votes have been counted, and Scotland gets down to the series business of design and implementation, their voices must be in every room, every step of the way.”
Responding to the publication of the Independent Review of Adult Social Care in Scotland Report yesterday, GMB Scotland’s Women’s Campaign Unit Organiser Rhea Wolfson said: “Scotland has a once in a generation opportunity to transform social care, if the recommendations of this report are underpinned by proper value for the workers who will deliver it.
“We are pleased the report acknowledges our campaign for a £15 an hour minimum wage in social care and we would stress to the government and the industry this is very achievable with collaboration and political will.
“The report is clear that if government and the industry invest properly in the sector and its people, the economic multiplier effects of social care spending could have transformative effects not just for workers’ pay and the quality of care, but for the equalities agenda and the wider economy.
“The COVID-19 pandemic ruthlessly exposed the long-standing crises in social care which everyone well understood, and for a workforce of mainly low-paid and often exploited women this has meant a chronic struggle for proper value and respect.
“After the crises and tragedy of the last eleven months, and with tough times still ahead of us, there is hope in these recommendations.
“If we are serious about what we really value as a society, then we have a chance to finally get the social care agenda right.”
More than 10 million people in the UK have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, marking a significant milestone for the largest vaccination programme in British history.
Figures out yesterday show the NHS vaccinated a total of 10,021,471 million people between 8 December 2020 and 2 February 2021, including 9 in 10 people aged 75 and over in England.
This is equivalent to vaccinating the total capacity of 111 Wembley stadiums in just 8 weeks and is an important step towards hitting the Prime Minister’s target of offering vaccines to the top 4 priority groups by the middle of February.
These top 4 groups account for 88% of COVID deaths, which is why the vaccines will play such a crucial role in saving lives and reducing the demand on the NHS.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: “This terrific achievement is testament to the monumental effort of NHS workers, volunteers and the armed forces who have been working tirelessly in every corner of the UK to deliver the largest vaccination programme in our history. Every jab makes us all a bit safer – I want to thank everyone for playing their part.
“Vaccines are the way out of this pandemic. The unprecedented national effort we have seen right across the United Kingdom means the majority of our most vulnerable people are now inoculated against this awful disease.
“The UK government has worked rapidly to secure and deliver doses to all of the UK, demonstrating the strength of our union and what we can achieve together.”
Vaccines have been offered to all elderly care home residents and staff in England and Wales, with staff returning to homes where residents may have been unable to get a vaccine due to medical conditions, or because of a local outbreak.
A study published in the Lancet yesterday shows the Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccine provides a sustained protection of 76% during the 12-week interval between the first and second dose.
It is also the first study to show the vaccine may substantially reduce transmission, suggesting those who have already been immunised with this vaccine cannot infect others.
All vaccines being used in the UK have undergone robust clinical trials and have met the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s strict standards of safety, effectiveness and quality.
The vaccination programme continues to expand, with thousands of vaccination centres open – ranging from GP and pharmacy-led services to hospitals and large-scale vaccination centres – to provide easy access to those eligible, regardless of where they live.
Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi said: “The UK’s vaccination programme is in full swing and almost 1 in 6 people across the UK are already protected from serious illness.
“The NHS is doing everything it can to protect the most vulnerable and will continue to expand the vaccination programme ever further in the coming weeks to save as many lives as possible.”
The public has a vital part to play in the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines and the government has called on people to:
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “There are many people and groups responsible for the UK’s vaccination programme, and we owe our thanks to our brilliant scientists, to Kate Bingham and the Vaccine Task Force which has procured over 400 million doses of seven different types of vaccine, to the manufacturers and the delivery drivers, the pharmacists, the military medics, countless volunteers.
“But to get this life-saving medicine into the arms of the nation at the kind of speed that we’re seeing, we are relying on the doctors, nurses and all the staff of our NHS.
“It is thanks to their effort – the most colossal in the history of our National Health Service – that we have today passed the milestone of 10 million vaccinations in the United Kingdom, including almost 90% of those aged 75 and over in England and every eligible person in a care home.”
A total number of 10,021,471 have received the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine in the UK. 498,962 people have received their second jab.
A retired legal secretary was among the first in line when the vaccination centre at the Royal Highland Centre opened its doors for the first time yesterday.
Elizabeth Anne Kirk, 68, from Linlithgow, was given the vaccine at the first of the vaccination centres on the site.
She said: “I’m very excited. I haven’t been going out much recently so I feel more relaxed having had the vaccine, although I’ll still be very careful. The whole process has been easy and well organised and the staff are very friendly, which is important. There really is nothing to worry about.”
The newest mass vaccination centre, the third in Lothian, is in the Members’ Pavilion which has nine vaccination stations available. It will be capable of vaccinating more than 1,000 people every day, seven days a week.
It will initially be staffed by vaccinators from NHS Lothian, before the British Armed Forces staff the centre for around two weeks.
It will revert to the NHS vaccinators after more training and inductions are carried out to boost the ranks.
David Small, Director of Primary Care Transformation and executive lead for the vaccination programme, NHS Lothian, said: “It is very exciting to see a new mass vaccination centre open, especially one that is being supported by our colleagues from the British Armed Forces.
“The swift opening of this venue will allow us to increase our capacity across the Lothians and allow us to start vaccinating 65-69-year-olds sooner than we expected.
“I’m incredibly proud of all of the work and effort done by our teams to get this venue up and running. It has taken a lot of work, but we are now seeing the delivery of this lifesaving vaccine to thousands of people across Lothian.”
Teams have been working hard to transform the events venue into a centre capable of vaccinating hundreds and thousands of people each day.
This is the first of two vaccination centres planned for the Royal Highland Centre. A second larger centre is expected to become operational in March.
Alan Laidlaw, Chief Executive of the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, said: “We can think of no greater use for our facilities at the Royal Highland Centre than to support the national vaccine programme.
“As an event venue attracting upwards of one million people each year and home to Scotland’s largest outdoor event, the Royal Highland Show, we are hopeful that the mass roll out of the vaccination will see the safe return of events in 2021.”
People aged between 75-79 and those most clinically vulnerable will continue to be given appointments to be vaccinated by their GP, while those aged between 70-74 and 65 to 69 are being invited into these mass vaccination sites and smaller community venues for their injections.
Smaller community clinics will deliver vaccinations in the local area for people with complex needs or who, for other reasons, absolutely cannot and would not be expected to travel to a mass centre.
Mr Small added: “We have already vaccinated the vast majority of the first groups to be prioritised, including frontline health and social care staff; care home staff and residents and people over the age of 80.
“More than 90,000 people have already had their first dose of the vaccine.
“Our message is clear – for this programme to be successful we need to vaccinate as many people as we possibly can. This will help save lives, provide protection and allow us to get back to normal.
“When you receive an appointment, I really would urge you to keep it, even if it is at a centre which is not closest to your home. Attending your appointment is the most important thing you will do this year.”
Lothian MSP, Miles Briggs said: “NHS Lothian now have everything in place to really ramp up vaccination efforts.
“I welcome the use of our armed forces to speed up vaccinations and help overcome Covid-19. It is clear that everyone is on board for getting people vaccinated as fast as possible and this bodes very well.”
Advice for attending vaccination centres
Patients are asked to stay safe by following the Scottish Government guidance currently in place, by wearing a mask and maintaining physical distancing as they travel to and from vaccination centres across Lothian.
Parking will be available around some venues and public transport operators are all following Scottish Government transport guidance for safe travel.
Please arrive on time for the allocated time on your appointment letter. Arriving too early can cause unnecessary queues.
When you arrive, make sure to wear a mask and bring your appointment letter with you to avoid any unnecessary delays.
The vaccination programme is one of three critical ways we are all working together to beat this virus, along with the testing programme which helps prevent its spread and the rules in place that we all know to follow. These three planks form our route out of this pandemic.
More details and information about the venues can be found on NHS Lothian’s website https://www.nhslothian.scot/Coronavirus/Vaccine/Pages/default.aspx
Or for more information about the vaccine and appointments on NHS Inform.scot
