More than £14 million of funding will support the work of 117 charities helping children and young people throughout Scotland. The money, from the 2018/19 Children, Young People and Families Early Intervention and Adult Learning and Empowering Communities Fund, will enable a wide range of projects aimed at improving outcomes for children and young people and supporting adult learning to be delivered. Continue reading £14 million for young people and communities
Additional capacity for night shelters and extra staff to help get more people into accommodation are among the actions being taken to tackle rough sleeping this winter. Continue reading All I want for Christmas? A safe and warm place to sleep
Parents of premature babies in NHS care will now be able to get extra support with the financial cost. Through the Scottish Government’s 2018/19 draft budget the new £1.5 million Family Fund will be available from the 1st of April for parents of premature babies to help with the additional costs they face, such as for travel to and from hospital or food and drink. Continue reading Premature babies: £1.5 million Family Fund to help meet costs
For the first time, revellers at Edinburgh’s Hogmanay 2017 can expect to be enthralled by street acts alongside the festival’s usual stellar musical line-up.
Award-winning Scottish writer Alan Bissett proved to be a bit hit when he worked with students at Spartans Community Academy’s Alternative School at Fet-Lor Youth Centre recently. Continue reading Allan delivers the write stuff at Spartans School
Primary pupils across Scotland received a series of festive-themed maths puzzles to take home for the school holiday as part of a drive to encourage more positive attitudes towards numeracy and maths. The five puzzles are aimed at Primary Six pupils and their families to complete over the holidays as a fun way of exploring maths outside the classroom. Continue reading Making maths fun: John Swinney launches Christmas Maths Challenge
More than 20,500 children across Edinburgh, the Lothians and Fife will wake up to a Christmas present, thanks to the generosity of thousands of people throughout the region. This year’s Mission Christmas campaign, organised by Radio Forth’s Cash for Kids, has broken new records, with £1.1 million raised in gift and cash donations over the last six weeks. Continue reading Record breaking Mission Christmas helps thousands of local children
Yule Regret This: IT firm reveals Remote Control Decorations!
FESTIVE IT experts have kitted out their office with illuminated brash and noisy Christmas decorations – that can be remotely controlled by anyone online. Urging visitors to the webpage to “take control of our office decorations and annoy the team”, the ten-strong group at Consider IT has programmed a range of highly interactive decorations. Continue reading Consider IT Christmas!
Saturday 23 December – kick off 2pm
Christie Gillies Park, Marine Drive
To ensure patient safety, the children’s short stay assessment unit at St John’s Hospital in Livingston will not open on the weekends before Christmas and New Year. The decision was taken as a result of ongoing staffing and recruitment issues which mean there are not enough doctors available to cover overnight and weekends, coupled with late notification of clinician unavailability.
Parents are not being asked to do anything differently. If they require health care or advice over the weekends, they should take the normal steps of calling NHS 24 on 111. They will either be directed to an out-of-hours GP or referred on to the most appropriate place.
Children will still be assessed and treated in the Emergency Department and a paediatric consultant will be available on call 24/7. If a child needs to be admitted to hospital, a transfer to the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh will be arranged.
Maternity and neonatal services at the hospital are unaffected.
The short stay assessment unit will not open on December 23rd and 24th, however normal service will resume on December 25th, Christmas Day.
The same arrangements will apply the following weekend, with the unit not open on January 30th and 31st, before returning to normal on January 1st, New Year’s Day.
Jacquie Campbell, Chief Officer of Acute Services, NHS Lothian, said: “Despite our best efforts, we have been unable to reliably secure the levels of staffing required on the festive weekends to guarantee a safe service. The safety of our patients must be our top priority and for that reason the unit will not open. This is the safest option for the children of West Lothian and normal service will resume at the start of each week.”
NHS Lothian says it is working closely with the Scottish Ambulance Service, NHS 24 and local GPs to ensure the provision of a safe and reliable service.
