North Edinburgh News – Page 181 – The NEN

RCEM issues urgent budget call to Scottish government ahead of ‘gruelling’ winter

The Royal College of Emergency Medicine has joined calls for the Scottish government to address ‘delayed hospital discharges’ in the upcoming budget announcement.

Delayed discharges are when people are considered medically fit enough to leave hospital but are unable to, often because the required social care support is not available.

The latest A&E performance figures from Public Health Scotland released today Tuesday 3 December 2024 revealed during the month of October more than 2,000 beds every day were occupied by people who were well enough to go home – the highest figure since 2016.

This issue means that the whole system for admitting people grinds to a halt and people can end up stranded in A&Es often waiting hours and even days for a ward bed to become available.

The latest data release comes as the Auditor General of Scotland published a damning report into the state of the Scottish health system which concluded that the Scottish Government has no clear plan to reform the country’s NHS, or to address pressures on the service.

Auditors found:

commitments to reducing waiting lists and times have not been met
the number of people remaining in hospital because their discharge has been delayed is the highest on record
and NHS initiatives to improve productivity and patient outcomes have yet to have an impact and lack clear progress reporting.

The issue of delayed discharges has also been highlighted by the Royal College of Physicians Edinburgh (RCPE) which has written an open letter to the First Minister calling on him to address this ‘urgent issue’ in his Government’s budget which will be unveiled tomorrow (4 December 2024).

Dr Fiona Hunter, The Royal College of Emergency Medicine’s Vice Chair for Scotland said yesterday: “Delayed discharges are a key reason that patients get stuck in Emergency Departments, often on trolleys in corridors – often experiencing extreme waits which are dangerous.

“So we join, and fully support, the calls from RCPE, and the Auditor General to address this issue. It must be prioritised as a matter of urgency.

“Today’s data is another timely reminder of scale of the issue. Just think about what it shows. More than 2,000 people every single day stranded in in hospital when they are well enough to go home.

“People – through no fault of their own, lying in beds which could be used for other patients who need to be admitted – who themselves are probably on a trolley in the Emergency Department, waiting for that bed to become available.

“We have to be able to move patients through our hospitals and out again when they are well enough. To do that takes a functioning and resourced social care system working alongside a functioning and resourced health system. They are inextricable.

Dr. Hunter concluded:“Tomorrow’s budget is an opportunity for the Government to #ResuscitateEmergencyCare, ahead of the depths of winter which is shaping up to be a gruelling several months ahead, for both patients and staff alike. They must take it.”

In an RCEM survey in November, 100% of Scottish A&E leaders that responded said they feel patients are coming to harm because of conditions.

Health secretary Neil Gray responded to the Audit Scotland report:

Scotland’s national poet appointed

Poet and author Dr Peter Mackay has been appointed as Scotland’s next Makar

First Minister John Swinney has announced Scotland’s next Makar will be Dr Peter Mackay.

The role of Makar involves taking a leadership role in promoting poetry nationally, as well as producing work relating to significant national events.

Dr Mackay was appointed by the First Minister on the recommendation of an expert panel representing Scotland’s literary sector. He has chosen to serve for a three-year term.

He is the fifth person to hold the role since it was established by the Scottish Parliament in 2004, following in the footsteps of Kathleen Jamie, Jackie Kay, Liz Lochhead, and Edwin Morgan.

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First Minister John Swinney said: “I am very pleased that Scotland’s new Makar is Gaelic-speaking poet, Peter Mackay.

“Peter published his first collection Gu Leor/Galore in 2015. Since then, he has attracted a wide audience, and many accolades, through his originality, playfulness and willingness to take risks with language.

“With his keen understanding of how different languages interact with one another, Peter is well equipped to help forge strong connections between different linguistic communities across both Scotland and the rest of the world.

“I have no doubt that his passion and dynamism will allow him to excel at helping to promote both poetry and our wider cultural heritage.”

Dr Peter Mackay said: “It is an honour and a pleasure to be appointed as Scotland’s new Makar. I’m very grateful to the panel for their faith in me, and to the First Minister for his support, and especially his enthusiasm about a Gaelic poet taking on the role.

“I have grown up reading the work of and learning from the previous holders of this post and it is a privilege to follow in their footsteps. I hope to do justice to their example: their warmth and support for other writers, their gifts for laughter and the right phrase, their advocacy for poetry as being central to Scottish life, as a medium that can tell truths slant, be a shape-shifter, and help us see and come to terms with the world anew.

“I love that Scotland has a ‘Makar’, not a poet laureate: the act of ‘making’ is central to the role, and that the title is in Scots adds a particular distinctive grounding.

“Part of my task, as I see it, is to encourage people to make things in all the different languages of Scotland, the dozens of languages spoken in this country: to see what kinds of conversations, games, debates can be sparked between them. I can’t wait.”

Police appeal after teenager injured in Slateford assault

POLICE are appealing for information following the serious assault of a teenager in Edinburgh last night .

Around 8pm on Monday, 2 December, 2024, a 14-year-old boy sustained serious injuries when he was assaulted by a group of youths at Slateford Green.

The group of youths involved seven males and three females, aged in their mid to late teens.

The boy was taken to the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People, where he remains in a stable condition.

Detective Sergeant Kimberly Tennant said: “This incident saw a teenager sustain serious injuries in an unprovoked attack and it is vital we trace all the individuals responsible.

“Extensive enquiries are ongoing and I am appealing for anyone with any information which may assist us to get in touch.

“We believe one of the suspects involved in the attack has also been injured, and has made his way to Westfield Road, Edinburgh, following the incident. We are appealing to anyone who may have seen this injured male in the Westfield Road area to get in touch with us.

“I would also ask anyone who was in the area at the time and may have dashcam or private CCTV footage to contact us.”

Anyone with any information is asked to contact Police Scotland via 101 quoting incident 2315 of 2 December, 2024.

Edinburgh Charity launches Christmas appeal to help tackle loneliness

The Eric Liddell Community launches ‘Belonging at Christmas’ Appeal to help support its dementia care and community hub, with The Big Give doubling all donations (up to £4000) made in the first week.

The Eric Liddell Community, an Edinburgh-based care charity, has today launched its Christmas Appeal for 2024, ‘Belonging at Christmas’. This year’s appeal will help support the charity’s year-round dementia care services and community hub, providing a lifeline to many who rely on its support to combat loneliness and isolation.

The festive period can be particularly difficult for those experiencing loneliness. The Eric Liddell Community provides a safe and welcoming space where individuals can find connections and companionship. The charity is calling on the public’s generosity to help its continued efforts to create meaningful connections and essential support for those in need.

From Tuesday, December 3^rd, to Tuesday December 10th, donations to the ‘Belonging at Christmas’ appeal through BigGive.org will be matched by The Big Give (up to £4000). This partnership offers an incredible opportunity to make a real difference for the many individuals who depend on The Eric Liddell Community’s support.

Anna Beauchamp, Fundraising Relationships Officer at The Eric Liddell Community, highlighted the importance of the Christmas Appeal: “As we seek the support of the local community during the festive period, we feel it is important to highlight the people whose lives we have positively impacted throughout 2024.

“The Eric Liddell Community has welcomed over 6,000 people through its doors monthly, providing over 2,500 hours of companionship and 300 support classes for those suffering from isolation.

“With your support, we look to grow these numbers even further in 2025 and beyond, providing a warm, safe community for those that need it most.”

Over the next 25 years the number of people in Edinburgh living with dementia is set to double, touching more lives with loneliness and isolation. It can take up to 12 months to receive a diagnosis from the NHS leaving a staggering number of people waiting to receive specialised support.

This not only affects those on their dementia journey, but their family and loved ones too. The Eric Liddell Community seeks to end this critical gap and provides vital care and support to those affected by this wait time.

John MacMillan, CEO of The Eric Liddell Community, added: “Eric Liddell lived his life prioritising and caring for others. As a charity, The Eric Liddell Community works hard to live up to his legacy, putting the local community first in everything that we do.

“The festive season is often the loneliest time of the year for many, and as we continue supporting our service users throughout the holidays, we appeal to your generosity to help sustain these vital services for Edinburgh’s community.”

To donate to The Eric Liddell Community’s ‘Belonging at Christmas’ Appeal please visit Belonging at Christmas between the 3^rd to 10^th of December.

After the 10th of December, to contribute directly to the appeal, please visit The Eric Liddell Community website at ericliddell.org.

National charity confirms 17 job losses after losing Scottish Government funding

Young Enterprise Scotland will continue to deliver enterprise and financial education with significantly reduced team

Young Enterprise Scotland, the national charity that has delivered enterprise education to schools and colleges for over 30 years, has confirmed it has made 17 members of staff redundant after failing to secure Scottish Government funding in October.

The national charity will now operate on a significantly reduced staff team of no more than a dozen people after being denied funding from the Scottish Government’s new Entrepreneurial Education Fund.

YE Scotland’s funding has historically come from a combination of a core continuity grant from the Scottish Government, an ongoing pipeline of support from Trusts and Foundations and, to a lesser extent, support from the private sector.

In July this year, YE Scotland was advised the grant process would now cease with immediate effect, replaced with a competitive process which subsequently opened in August. The new fund awarded seven organisations with a share of £829,346, with YE Scotland being unsuccessful in this round of funding.

The charity was granted emergency funding of £285,000 which covered its existing costs for this financial year, allowing YE Scotland to avoid closure.

Young Enterprise Scotland CEO Emma Soanes said: “It is a huge relief that we have been able to avoid a complete closure of Young Enterprise Scotland and we are grateful to the Scottish Government for providing us with emergency funding which prevented our worst case scenario becoming reality.

“Sadly however, this will provide little consolation to the 17 valued members of our team who have lost their jobs just weeks before Christmas.

“Losing our major income source has been an enormously unsettling and upsetting time for everyone involved, and while we try to remain positive there is no doubt there will be challenging times ahead as we refocus and prioritise what programmes we deliver within schools and colleges on such a reduced staff model.”

Last year, YE Scotland supported over 18,000 school and college students through its enterprise programmes, including its flagship Company Programme, which many entrepreneurs credit with setting them on a successful business career.

In the past three years, more than 1,000 students have gained a YE Scotland enterprise qualification (SCQF Level 6) to prepare them for further education, work and life.

Emma Soanes added: “We will definitely be engaging our own entrepreneurial mindsets in the coming weeks and months as we reposition ourselves within the education ecosystem and continue with our commitment to deliver financial and enterprise education from primary one and early years, right through to S6”.

Rare festive photographs reveal glimpse of Scotland’s rural past

The National Museum of Rural Life has released a group of rare festive photographs from the Scottish Life Archive. The five historic photographs will be available to download for free for the first time, as a set of Christmas cards.

The photographs, each over 100 years old, include record-breaking snowy scenes, an eccentric Father Christmas from Fife and a family portrait by one of Scotland’s earliest woman photographers.

The Christmas cards are free to download from nms.ac.uk/ScottishLifeArchive, just in time for the festive season. Each one offers a unique glimpse of Scottish Christmases past.

Lady Henrietta Gilmour took up photography after the birth of her seventh and last child. She became a pioneer of the medium, capturing over a thousand images of Scottish country life, including a tender portrait of her children sledging in the grounds of Montrave House, Fife, in 1900.

Also from Fife, Mr Henry Watson posed as a characterful Father Christmas in Burntisland in 1909, wearing a fake beard and long, fur- trimmed coat decorated with dolls and toy animals. Two snowy scenes capture the extreme winter of 1895, when Braemar in Aberdeenshire captured the lowest ever recorded temperature in the UK at minus 27.2°C.

The Scottish Life Archive was established in 1959 as a way of preserving and documenting material culture and histories relating to rural life in Scotland. In later years it expanded to include evidence of not only country life, but maritime, urban and industrial life.

It contains a large collection of photographic negatives, slides and prints. It can be viewed by the public upon appointment.

Dr Ailsa Hutton, Curator of Modern and Rural History at National Museums Scotland, said: “The Scottish Life Archive offers remarkable insight into all aspects of Scottish life, with 300 years of documentary and illustrative material.

“I am thrilled to have an opportunity to shine a light on this rich resource, and Scotland’s fascinating rural history, through these magical festive photographs. Whether it’s a quirky Santa Claus or a record-breaking snowy winter, I hope people enjoy sharing a little bit of Scottish rural history this Christmas.”

The National Museum of Rural Life in East Kilbride consists of a museum, historic farmhouse and working farm, telling the story of the land, people and ways of working that have shaped Scotland’s rural history.

On display in the museum is Scotland’s largest collection of tractors, combine harvesters and farming machinery, while the farm is home to Ayrshire, Aberdeen Angus and Highland cattle, Tamworth pigs, sheep, hens and Clydesdale horses.

Lanarkshire’s Reid family lived in the Georgian farmhouse for ten generations, and rooms are as they would have been in the 1950s.

Auditor General: No clear plan to deliver NHS vision

The Scottish Government needs a delivery plan that clearly explains to the public how it will reform the NHS and address the pressures on services.

Despite increasing funding and staffing, the NHS in Scotland is still seeing fewer patients than before the Covid-19 pandemic.

Auditors found that:

commitments to reducing waiting lists and times have not been met
the number of people remaining in hospital because their discharge has been delayed is the highest on record
and NHS initiatives to improve productivity and patient outcomes have yet to have an impact and lack clear progress reporting.

Health accounts for about 40 per cent of the Scottish budget. Funding grew again in 2023/24 but has mostly been used to cover pay commitments and inflation. Costs are forecast to continue rising and making savings remains challenging. Work to build new healthcare facilities also remains paused.

The Scottish Government’s restated vision for health and social care is not clear on how these operational pressures on the NHS will be addressed or how reform will be prioritised. It needs to work with NHS staff, partners and the public to set out a clear delivery plan and make tough decisions about how it may change or potentially even stop some services.

Stephen Boyle, Auditor General for Scotland, said: “To safeguard the NHS, a fundamental change in how services are provided remains urgent. The Scottish Government needs to set out clearly to the public and the health service how it will deliver reform, including how progress will be measured and monitored.

“Difficult decisions are needed about making services more efficient or, potentially, withdrawing those services with more limited clinical value to allow funding to be re-directed. Taking those steps will require greater leadership from Scottish Government and NHS leaders than we’ve seen to date.”

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The Scottish Government responded:

Santa’s Grotto to bring festive cheer to Utilita Energy Hub in Leith

Donations at Santa’s Grotto set to benefit South Leith Foodbank this weekend

Families are invited to swing by Utilita’s Energy Hub in Newkirkgate Shopping Centre this Saturday (7 December) between 11:30am and 3pm for a fun and free festive experience.

Visiting children will be given a gift completely free of charge and can take a selfie with Santa – thanks to the UK’s leading Smart PAYG energy supplier, Utilita.

In the spirit of giving, Utilita is asking every family to bring a non-perishable food item with them if they can, which will be distributed to South Leith Foodbank – part of Edinburgh North East Foodbank.

Natasha Baillie, Manager at the Leith Energy Hub, is looking forward to welcoming families and children to the hub on Saturday, 7 December. She said: “We’re excited in the countdown to Christmas to have a very special visitor coming to our high street energy hub.

“As well as giving youngsters the opportunity to take selfies with Santa Claus and receive a free gift, their grown-ups can also benefit from free and simple energy advice to help make their energy spend go further this winter. So why not swing by this Saturday for a cuppa and some festive cheer?”

Utilita’s high street hubs make it super simple to manage your energy – no phone lines or online dashboards, just a friendly face to speak to.

Whether you’re looking for account support, help to manage your spend or energy-saving advice, Utilita’s Energy Experts are on hand to help.

End Child Poverty: Budget Briefing

In the period 2020 to 2023, 1 in 4 children in Scotland were growing up in poverty. Poverty strips away the opportunities for children and young people to learn, grow and develop fully, and have happy and thriving childhoods.

As well as harming children and families, poverty harms Scotland’s economy to the cost of at least £2.4 billion per year. This isn’t acceptable, and change is possible.

We welcome progress on action to drive down child poverty, especially through investment in the Scottish Child Payment, a powerful intervention for putting money directly in the pockets of low income families.

However, while tackling child poverty is the Scottish Government’s and the First Minister’s stated “first priority”, this priority must be better reflected in budget decisions.

That is why the End Child Poverty Coalition is calling on the Scottish Government to ensure the 2025-26 Scottish Budget allocates the necessary additional resources to address the root causes of child poverty.

The 2025-26 budget should resource action across social security, employment, housing and whole-family support.

It is vital that the Scottish Government raises the resources in this budget – including through the ambitious and bold use of devolved taxation and Barnett consequentials flowing from the recent UK Budget – to fund the action needed to deliver on the First Minister’s number one priority of ending child poverty.

ECP Pre-Budget Briefing Final V02 Download

Edinburgh to host 42nd British-Irish Council

Capital meeting will mark 25th anniversary of BIC

The Scottish Government will host the 42^nd Summit meeting of the British-Irish Council in Edinburgh on 5 and 6 December, First Minister John Swinney has confirmed.

The British-Irish Council was formally established following the Good Friday Agreement. It brings together leaders from the Northern Ireland Executive, the Government of Ireland, the UK Government, the Scottish Government, the Welsh Government, the Isle of Man Government, the Government of Jersey, and the Government of Guernsey.

The meeting in Edinburgh marks the 25^th anniversary of the first BIC which was held in London in 1999.

With a focus on financing a just transition, the First Minister said this Summit provides a forum for leaders to work collaboratively on tackling climate change and delivering real progress towards action that will help protect the planet.

First Minister John Swinney said: “I am pleased to confirm Scotland will host the 42^nd Summit meeting of the British-Irish Council in Edinburgh – a meeting which marks the 25^th anniversary of the first Summit which took place in December 1999 following the Good Friday Agreement.

“Since that first meeting, politics across our nations – and the issues that we have each faced – have changed significantly however the principles underpinning the British-Irish Council remain as important now as they did 25 years ago.

“In this anniversary year, I hope our meeting in Edinburgh will encourage and enhance a shared desire to work collaboratively on the big issues facing people.

“One of the biggest issues facing us all is of course climate change and this Summit’s theme of financing a just transition is a critical example of how governments must work together in recognition of the challenges we have to overcome, whilst seizing shared opportunities for the future.”

The 42^nd Summit of the British-Irish Council (BIC) will take place on Thursday 5 December and Friday 6 December 2024, marking the 25th anniversary of the first Summit which was held in London in December 1999.

This will be the sixth time the BIC Summit has been held in Scotland.

The Scottish Government last hosted an in-person Summit in June 2016, in Glasgow. In November 2020, it hosted a Summit virtually.