New prostate cancer treatment available at Edinburgh Cancer Centre is first in Scotland
Men in the South East of Scotland may now be able to access a new treatment for prostate cancer, which is available at the Edinburgh Cancer Centre, Western General Hospital.
The Edinburgh Cancer Centre (ECC) is the first in Scotland to offer High–dose-rate brachytherapy (HDR-BT) for treatment of prostate cancer.
It was successfully introduced by NHS Lothian earlier this year and is now being made available to suitable patients across the South East of Scotland.
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among Scottish males affecting 1 in 10 men. With more than 3,000 men diagnosed every year this figure is only expected to increase.
But, with early detection and improved treatments, survival rates are also increasing. Radiotherapy is commonly used to cure prostate cancers and increasing the radiation dose in treatments has shown to improve long-term cancer control.
The HDR-BT service at the ECC offers an additional treatment approach to deal with aggressive but localised prostate cancer. It allows a higher dose of radiation to be targeted directly into the prostate gland in a safe and controlled way. This minimises radiation exposure to surrounding normal tissue and thereby reduces potential side effects.
The new treatment is being offered alongside existing radiotherapy treatments at the Edinburgh Cancer Centre, expanding the range of treatment options on offer.
Dr Aravindhan Sundaramurthy, Consultant Clinical Oncologist at the Edinburgh Cancer Centre explains: “We have been successfully delivering low-dose-rate brachytherapy (LDR-BT) for prostate cancer with over 1000 men throughout Scotland benefitting from the service. However, men with more advanced or aggressive disease would not be eligible for LDR-BT on its own.”
“The start of the new HDR-BT service opens a very important therapeutic option for men with high-risk prostate cancer features. It brings together the skills and expertise of staff across our radiotherapy, oncology and anaesthetic teams to deliver another treatment option.”
He said: “I would strongly encourage anyone who is offered this treatment to go for it. It was a very smooth process and the care I received from the NHS was absolutely first class. I was looked after every step of the way and I knew that I was in the best possible hands for my treatment.”
This HDR-BT service is a collaborative effort involving radiotherapy nursing, prostate clinical oncologists, anaesthetics, therapeutic radiographers and oncology physicists. It is currently being offered at the Edinburgh Cancer Centre for suitable patients within the South-east Scotland Cancer Network with an aim to expand the service to other patients across Scotland.
Police are appealing for witnesses following a serious collision involving two vehicles at the Maybury junction last night.
The incident happened at around 6.50pm on the A8 Glasgow Road at the Maybury junction.
A blue BMW 3 Series driving east was involved in a collision with a double decker bus on the opposite side of the road just before the Maybury junction, near the Marriott Hotel.
The 52-year-old male driver of the BMW was taken to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh and is in a serious condition with potentially life changing injuries.
The 44-year-old male bus driver was taken to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh with minor injuries. There were six passengers on board and one suffered minor injuries.
Inspector Roger Park, of the Road Policing Unit, said: “We’re appealing to anyone who witnessed this collision or has dash cam footage to contact us.”
Those with information should contact Police Scotland on 101 quoting incident number 3048 of 26 October.
The Scottish Government is allocating a further £482 million to NHS Boards and Integration Authorities to meet costs of the pandemic and remobilising health services.
This includes funding for Test and Protect and to support the progress of the vaccination programme.
It comes on top of £2.1 billion provided to date to NHS Boards and Integration Authorities to support additional Covid-19 costs. Further funding will be provided as necessary over the course of the year.
Health Secretary Humza Yousaf said: “Our frontline health and care workers have been remarkable throughout the pandemic, and we continue to support NHS Boards and Integration Authorities to deliver and remobilise vital services as we approach the toughest winter the system has potentially ever experienced.
“This £482 million includes just over £121 million for Test and Protect and a further £136 million for the vaccination programme. The rest of the funding will cover costs including additional staffing to support hospital scale-up, equipment, maintenance and IT.”
One of Europe’s leading tech conferences for start-ups and scale-ups, Turing Fest is set to welcome around 700 in-person delegates to the EICC between 2nd and 4th November
Turing Fest CEO Brian Corcoran: “Turing Fest is a practical learning and networking event, primarily aimed at helping people build better start-ups and scale-ups, and it’s a win-win dynamic because the audience is keen to learn, and the speakers are keen to teach”
Speaker line-up includes: Hannah Fleishman, Director of Employer Brand & Internal Comms, HubSpot; Nilan Peiris, VP Growth, Wise; Ashley Faus, Content Strategy Lead, Atlassian; Saille DaSilva, Head of UX, Cazoo; Chris Savage, co-founder and CEO, Wistia; Varun Nair, co-founder or Two Big Ears and former Head of AR/VR Audio Software at Facebook, and; clinical psychologist Dr Suzanne Brown.
A major theme at Turing Fest is around diversity and inclusivity, building on its inclusion at the tech conference over the last few years with this year’s conference speaker line-up is 50% women and 20% People Of Colour – rare for a tech conference Turing Fest’s partners for 2021 include Current Health, FanDuel, Administrate, GearedApp, FreeAgent, Bureau, Avaloq, CodeClan, Baillie Gifford, Creative Informatics, Harper Macleod, Purpose HR, Turing Trust, Wistia, and the Freer Consultancy
Turing Fest, one of Europe’s top tech conferences for start-ups and scale-ups, has announced its partner and speaker line-up for 2021, taking place next week from 2nd – 4th November at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC). Event organisers are expecting around 700 in-person delegates this year, with a similar number of attendees joining online.
A major theme at this year’s Turing Fest is around diversity and inclusivity, building on its inclusion at the tech conference over the last few years.
Past speaker Check Warner, co-founder of Ada Ventures, shared: “We started Ada Ventures with the key objective of investing in overlooked founders and markets, following years of not seeing anyone be truly proactive at making a difference in this space. This was also my key focus for co-founding the non-profit, Diversity VC.
“So, when I was asked to be a part of Turing Fest in both 2018 and 2020, I learned about their self-set targets and tactics to provide a diverse and inclusive experience for all. From the range of speakers (gender, POC, background, you name it), to ensuring underrepresented groups could get access easily – and free – to attend the conference, I knew I had to be a part of it.
“I’ve recently found out that they are hitting and exceeding their targets this year – with over 50% of the speakers being female or non-binary and 20% being POC – I couldn’t be prouder of having been on their stage speaking about diversity and would happily do it again.”
Turing Fest’s partners for 2021 are Current Health, FanDuel, Administrate, GearedApp, FreeAgent, Bureau, Avaloq, CodeClan, Baillie Gifford, Creative Informatics, Harper Macleod, Purpose HR, Turing Trust, Wistia, and the Freer Consultancy.
Tickets for Turing Fest 2021 are available via the website:
How brave are you feeling this Halloween? Small group tour operator Rabbie’s (www.rabbies.com) have selected some of their spookiest destinations to test the mettle of their guests.
Rabbie’s tours explore locations that are dripping with gruesome history, twisted legends and good old fashioned ghost stories. Like on all Rabbie’s Tours, guests are in the capable hands of specialist driver-guides, whose deep knowledge of creepy folklore might just keep you up at night!
Rabbie’s is an award-winning small-group tour operator and for a limited time only, they’re offering an Early Bird Savings discount allowing travellers to save up to 10 per cent on all 2022 departures when booked before 7 November 2021.
Spooky staycations include …
Whitby, the most haunted town in Britain: Today Whitby is a bustling fishing port, but by spending just a little time exploring, you’ll soon learn how the town earned its spooky reputation. The ghost of St. Hilda, who founded Whitby Abbey, is rumoured to roam the Abbey ruins, where she peeks from the highest windows. The Barguest Hound, a monstrous black dog with large teeth and claws is said to patrol the streets, and rumour has it that Tudor mansion Bagdale Hall is still haunted by Browne Bushell, a pirate executed for his crimes. It’s no wonder Whitby served as inspiration for Bram Stoker who wrote his famous novel Dracula while staying in the town. It’s no less surprising that the town hosts a Goth Weekend to celebrate all that is spooky and subversive about this quiet seaside community. Visit Whitby during Rabbie’s five-day tour of York, the Dales, Lake District & Hadrian’s Wall, with prices starting from £299 per person departing from Edinburgh.
The haunting graveyard that inspired Robert Burns: Rabbie’s one-day Culzean Castle, Burns Country & the Ayrshire Coast tour promises to be a treat for those looking to immerse themselves in creepier stories from Scotland’s most famous bard. In the village of Alloway you’ll find Auld Kirk, an eerie 16th century chapel long since left abandoned. Burns grew up only a few miles away and it’s likely that he will have played amongst these ruins as a boy. Modern visitors who are brave enough to wander through the graveyard may spot the resting place of William Burns, Robert’s father. Memories of the spooky abandoned church and graveyard must have influenced the poet when he wrote “Tam o’ Shanter”, as his protagonist, Tam, is chased away from Auld Kirk by witches and warlocks. Today, two iron mortsafes are displayed inside the chapel. These large iron contraptions were once locked in place over gravestones to stop graverobbers digging through the bones of the dead. Who knows the sort of characters a young Robert Burns might have met while playing amongst the headstones, but one thing is sure, Auld Kirk remains one of Scotland’s creepier destinations. It’s only right that Rabbie’s take guests on a tour to discover more of the company’s name-sake’s history – this one-day tour from Edinburgh starts from £39 per person.
Irish legends at Torc Waterfall: Explore the beauty and spirituality of Ireland’s West coast, taking a moment to visit Tor Waterfall – a wonderful rock formation with cascading streams falling down its face. While the area may be beautiful, its name Torc, Irish for Boar, hints at the twisted legends that lie beneath the service. Stories tell of a man who was cursed by the devil to spend each night transformed into a wild boar. The man created the waterfalls as a place to hide his shame and wandered the area in despair. That was, until a cold-hearted local famer revealed the man’s secret. The man is said to have burst into flames and disappeared into the nearby Devils Punchbowl Valley. Explore this beautiful yet haunting landscape on Rabbie’s three-day Dingle, Killarney & the Wild Atlantic Way tour, departing from Dublin for as little as €309 per person.
Rabbie’s operates sustainability-focused, eco domestic travel options, ensuring that the places we love are there for future generations to enjoy and advocates ‘taking only photos and leaving only footprints’.
Rabbie’s tours provide worry-free journeys so guests can enjoy a sustainable staycation without concerns.
The Royal Veterinary College (RVC) is calling for owners of dogs in the UK with autoimmune diseases to take part in a vital piece of new research, which aims to gather data and insight into the diagnosis, treatment response and outcomes of these dogs.
This information will then be shared with local veterinary practices and specialist hospitals to help owners and vets make well-informed decisions when dogs are diagnosed with one of these conditions.
Autoimmune diseases are encountered frequently in dogs, often causing severe illnesses that require intensive hospital care and prolonged treatment with immunosuppressive medications.
The RVC alone sees between 50-100 dogs with immune-mediated diseases each year, with many more never being referred for treatment at specialist hospitals. In some cases, however, treatment causes side effects that can have a negative effect on quality of life.
To address the current shortage of information and aid the veterinary community, researchers at the RVC have developed a new observational study, named ImmunoRegistry.
The registry will gather information about dogs that have been recently diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, following them in real-time over a one-year period to find out how they respond to treatment.
Once enrolled, owners and vets will be contacted at regular intervals using emailed questionnaires to ask for detailed updates about their dog’s progress.
Analysis of this information will then be used to answer key questions, including defining the prognosis and risk of relapse for dogs with these diseases as well as whether some breeds or types of dogs develop more side effects from medications than others.
The team aims to collect information from 400 dogs, making it the largest planned study of autoimmune diseases ever conducted in veterinary medicine globally and providing an important resource for future study.
James Swann, postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University, New York, said:“There is an urgent need to optimise the treatment of dogs with autoimmune diseases, and this study represents an important first step in gathering vital information to make clinical recommendations and guide future research projects.”
Dr Barbara Glanemann, lead researcher and senior lecturer in Small Animal Medicine at the RVC, added:“This study will be the first time that the treatment and progress of dogs with autoimmune diseases has been investigated outside universities, providing an essential perspective on the challenges faced by affected dogs and their owners in wider veterinary practice.”
Criteria and information for enrolment includes:
Dogs must have been diagnosed with any of the following conditions in the past 10 days: immune-mediated haemolytic anaemia (IMHA), immune thrombocytopenia (ITP, low platelet count), immune-mediated polyarthritis (IMPA), or steroid-responsive meningitis arteritis (SRMA).
Owners must give informed consent to participate in the study and allow access to the dog’s medical records and permission to contact their vet
For owners expressing interest, vets will be contacted to determine the suitability of each case
Participating in the study will not alter the treatment or management of owners’ dogs in any way
All personal data will be handled securely and confidentially. Owners can opt out of the data collection at any point.
The project is funded by the Small Animal Medicine Society (SAMSoc), and owners can volunteer to participate in the study by visiting:
We’d like to support Care Experienced Week by reaffirming our commitment and sharing our Care Experienced Pledge which was developed following discussions with the Edinburgh Champions Board on what we can do to better support those with care experience.
The Edinburgh City Division Care Experienced Pledge will guarantee the following:
Where it is identified to police that a care experienced young person has concern for their personal safety at home, we will guarantee a meeting to discuss a safety plan and offer advice should they wish to accept such an offer.
Where a care experienced young person is identified as wanting to join the police (as a constable, special constable or member of police staff) and meets the minimum criteria for application, we will: • facilitate a meeting with a serving probationer constable or member of police staff to discuss the practicalities and demands of the role, and • offer support with the recruitment process via the Divisional Training Sergeant or police staff equivalent, and • guarantee them a meeting with a member of the Local Area Command team should they wish support in the application process
Where it is identified that a care experienced young person has been successful in the recruitment process and wishes additional support, we will identify a mentor for them for the length of their probationary period.
We will actively promote the Police Scotland Youth Volunteers programme to care experienced young people.
Small businesses can win a mentoring session with the Dragons Den star and Wellbeing Entrepreneur
Caribbean cuisine entrepreneur Levi Roots and beauty and wellness megabrand founder Liz Earle are leading a new campaign to encourage UK small businesses to unlock the benefits of digital skills training to help drive their post-pandemic growth and prosperity.
The ‘Get mentored, Get growing’ campaign highlights a partnership between BT and Google, that offers free one-to-one mentoring sessions for UK small businesses and charities covering a range of topics including digital marketing, e-commerce and business strategy.
This comes as BT research* shows almost half of all UK small firms (49 per cent) said they worried their business wouldn’t survive without external support. Meanwhile, 64 per cent said they’d be more likely to adopt new technologies if the IT and telecoms industry provided training.
As an extension of their mentoring programme, BT and Google are offering small businesses the opportunity to win a one-to-one mentoring session with Levi and Liz, where they can learn from their experiences of building and scaling a brand as well as adapting to a digital-first world.
UK based small business, we can ask for proof of a registered UK business address if required.
Small business with under 50 employees
They must be available on 15th November, Tuesday 16th at 10:00AM, Thursday 18th at 10:00AM, 19th November (11:00AM onwards)
They must want to be mentored on one or more the following topics:
Building your brand
Building an online community
Time management
Team collaboration
All entrants are subject to the terms and conditions.**
Ronan Harris, Google’s UK MD, said: ”We’re proud to partner with BT and the participating business leaders on this inspirational program.
“Equipping small businesses with the digital tools needed to grow and succeed, is not only integral to future proofing the UK business landscape but it’s the next step in the UK’s journey to economic recovery. We’re committed to making sure shared knowledge and digital skills are as accessible as possible and make a lasting impact for the entrepreneurs of the future.”
Chris Sims, BT’s MD for its SoHo (Single/Small Office, Home Office) unit, said: “Our partnership with Google comes from a shared vision and commitment to help small businesses harness digital as a driver of growth and prosperity.
“Through our free mentoring programme and digital skills training, we’re aiming to equip small firms with the skills and knowledge needed to succeed in a digital world. BT initiatives, including one-to-one mentorships, have already boosted the digital literacy of almost 300,000 small business employees to date and our partnership with Google is helping us significantly extend our reach and impact within the small business community.”
Following his success on BBC’s Dragons Den, Levi Roots is proof-positive of the power of business mentoring, which helped transform his kitchen table start-up into a £45M business.
Similarly, Liz Earle is one of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs. From a career starting as a health and beauty writer, she co-founded her eponymous beauty brand with her best friend, which was sold for a multi-million sum before returning to the wellness category with her own website, magazine, podcast series and YouTube channel and earning an MBE for services to the beauty industry.
Both Levi and Liz are passionate about supporting the entrepreneur community.
Commenting on his involvement in the BT and Google campaign, Levi Roots said; “Running your own business can sometimes be overwhelming and lonely, so I know from my own Dragons Den experience how game-changing it was, both professionally and personally, to work with someone who could understand and appreciate my challenges and ambitions, and give me personalised, meaningful and actionable advice, as well as practical tools and training to help me build and grow my business.
“I’m really delighted to get the chance to pay it forward and share my journey and insights with today’s small business community and help them unlock the power of digital to accelerate their growth.”
Liz Earleadded; “When my beauty brand was launched more than twenty years ago, our mail order business was based around paper forms and payments by cheque. Today everything moves at a completely different pace.
“You have to act like a publisher on your social media channels and be super responsive to customers who want a real-time answer, not a letter in the post! With my later publishing brand, we had to learn a mass of digital skills super-fast and I encourage small businesses to grab all the available resources and training they can to help successfully navigate their way in the online world.”
Both BT and Google are jointly committed to helping small businesses across the UK get better positioned for growth by addressing the digital skills shortage.
Since the launch of BT Skills for Tomorrow in 2019, BT has delivered free digital skills training to almost 300,000 UK small business owners and their employees, supported by webinars from Google Digital Garage, putting Google on course to achieve its target of enabling one million small British businesses remain open by helping them be found online.
On top of this, Google has exceeded its target of helping train 100,000 UK SMBs. In total, over 700,000 business owners have been trained through the Google Digital Garage programme.
Small business case study comments:
Khamisi McKenzie, who co-founded South London soul food business Drums & Flats with his best friend Daniel Opoku-Baah, is one of the thousands of small business founders and employees who’ve already benefited from BT and Google’s digital skills support and training scheme.
Commenting on the experience, he said; “Lockdown forced us to take a step back and re-evaluate our business and we recognised that while our energy and effort went into perfecting our recipes and brand identity, we needed to get seen by more people.
“Thanks to the digital marketing mentoring sessions, we improved how we show up on Google and boosted our efforts in social media. We’ve definitely seen an increase in followers and better engagement rates, and it’s helped build our profile which resulted in us taking over the menu at The Smugglers Tavern in Central London.”
Laurelle Darroux, founder of Sleepgoddess, a one-stop shop for vegan, ethical British-made beauty sleep products, launched her business in the middle of the pandemic in 2020 and BT and Google’s digital skills training was a key enabler in getting up and running and rapidly expanding her customer base.
“Feeling lost and dejected when I was made redundant, I was inspired by my own struggles with sleep to start a business that would help people wake up feeling their best. While finding suppliers to create the prototypes for my satin pillowcases and beauty products, I started an Instagram page and built an email marketing list even before I officially launched!
“I watched on-demand digital skills webinars from Google and BT after I had put my children to bed and had one-to-one mentoring sessions to look at ways to optimise my website and social media, as well as build a digital marketing strategy.
“Since then, business has exploded, with customers as far away as New Zealand, and a really loyal and supportive following on social media. I love the relationships and connections I have with the community I’ve built!”
This week is National Care Leavers Week and the UK’s community bank, Metro Bank, is supporting the Care Leaver Covenant – a joint promise made by the private, public and voluntary sectors to provide support for care leavers aged 16-25 to help them to live independently.
Around 11,000 young people (aged 16 – 18) leave care each year and the aim of the Care Leaver Covenant is to provide them with additional support. The Covenant centres around five key areas – independent living; education, employment and training; finance; safety and security; mental and physical health.
Since signing the Covenant, Metro Bank has started to deliver new bespoke Money Zone sessions for young adult care leavers. Money Zone is a series of financial education lessons about budgeting, saving and banking that Metro Bank has already delivered to over 203,000 UK school children.
Metro Bank has also introduced a special identification and verification process for care home residents and care leavers to make it easier for them to open bank accounts and become financially independent.
In addition, the Bank has worked with its recruitment team and the Care Leaver Covenant to communicate its “hire for attitude and train for skills” ethos by promoting roles that are available and suitable for young adults across the business.
“We are committed to supporting young adults leaving the care system,” explains Kat Robinson, director of customer experience at Metro Bank. “We are helping them take their first independent steps towards managing their personal finances.”
After six years presenting on Sunday morning breakfast together, Ewen and Cat will be handing over their early Sunday mornings to their mate Greigsy in trade for a well-deserved lie-in.
The popular duo announced today that their last weekend show together will take place on the 7th November before handing over the reins of the Clyde 1 and Forth 1 (and across Scotland on the Hits Radio Network) Sunday breakfast show to Greigsy who currently hosts the weekday 10am to 1pm show.
Ewen and Cat will continue to entertain the nation across the Greatest Hits Network on weekdays 6-10am on ‘Ewen & Cat At Breakfast’.
The award-winning pair were reunited on weekday breakfast earlier this year, and although they have loved the past six years on Sunday breakfast together, are looking forward to hitting the snooze button and enjoying a leisurely weekend while still getting up to their usual mischief during the week.
On top of his weekday 10am to 1pm show, Greigsy will be tackling the early rises on Sundays from 14th November, taking calls from listeners, sharing some of their best weekend stories and of course playing the biggest hits and biggest throwbacks to soundtrack our Sunday mornings.
Ewen said: “Cat and I loved spending a Sunday morning together with our listeners, we had such a laugh every week.
“I’ve got be honest though, it’s going to be great getting a bit of a lie in on Sunday for the first time in six years!”
Cat, who recently became an Amazon Books bestseller with her ‘Cat’s Out The Bag’ biography, added: “After a cracking six years hosting ‘Ewen & Cat at Breakfast’ every Sunday, I’m really looking forward to sitting in my PJ’s on a Sunday morning listening to Greigsy.
“I will miss our legendary ‘Sunday Buffets’ though!”
Greigsysaid: “Ewen and Cat are legends of radio, and they have left some big shoes to fill, but I’m really looking forward to Sunday morning’s with our brilliant listeners and having a laugh along the way.”
Victoria Easton-Riley, Content Director for Scotland, said: “Ewen and Cat have done a brilliant job of keeping us all tuned in and laughing six days a week, for a while now. I’m glad to see them finally pass on their Sunday morning microphones to Greigsy, so they can get a well-earned weekend rest.
“I’m really looking forward to hearing Greigsy bring his fantastic energy, content and music from his weekday show to Sunday mornings.”
Full Sunday line-up on the Hits Radio Network, Scotland, from Sunday the 14th of November:
6am-9am Gavin Pearson
9am-12noon Greigsy
12noon-4pm Gregor & Lynsey (Cassi Clyde 1 only)
4pm-7pm UK Chart Show
7pm-10pm The Throwback with Micky Gavin
10pm-1am Hits Chilled with Meg McHugh
Listeners can tune in to Ewen & Cat At Breakfast every weekday across the Greatest Hits Network between 6-10am on AM**, on DAB, online, via the station App or on a Smart Speaker.
Listen to Greigsy on the Hits Radio Network between 9am-12noon every Sunday (& weekdays 10am-1pm) on FM, DAB, online, via the App or on a Smart Speaker.
The Amazon Books bestseller, ‘Cat’s Out The Bag’ by Cat Harvey, gives readers a glimpse into the life of times of the popular radio presenter and journalist and is currently available at Waterstones (Amazon have sold out!).
