A report following a joint inspection of health and social work services for older people in Edinburgh has been published. Of nine ‘quality indicators’ five were found to be weak or unsatisfactory and the report makes 17 recommendations for improvement. Continue reading Health and social care inspection report ‘pulls no punches’
Emotional abuse and neglect will be a criminal offence
New legislation to criminalise emotional abuse and neglect of children will be introduced in Scotland, Minister for Childcare and Early Years Mark McDonald has announced. The Children and Young Persons (Scotland) Act 1937 will be updated to recognise the impact of emotional abuse and neglect, as well as physical harm. Continue reading New law to protect children
Police in Edinburgh are seeking the public’s help following confirmation of the death of teenager Blake Ross on Monday night. Continue reading Did you see Blake?
Homecare Support, a care at home service contracted by the City of Edinburgh Council, has been told to make urgent improvements to in the care it provides to vulnerable people. Continue reading ‘Failings’ at local care at home service
Inspectors step in to respond to Ferryfield patient buzzers
Health Inspectors were twice forced to step in to answer patients’ alarm buzzers while conducting a recent survey into complex clinical care in Edinburgh. It’s little surprise, then, that their report makes a number of recommendations for service improvement. Continue reading Elderly hospital care: NHS Lothian must do better
Dear Editor
By the middle of 2016 all patients who have limited life time left will receive palliative care treatment.
In the past there have been other ideas; for example the ‘Liverpool Pathway’ treatment which is now seen as bad practice and was stopped.
A full public explanation of palliative care is urgently needed to give assurance that this latest scheme is based on enhanced individual care, carried out by adequatel numbers of staff fully trained in enhanced caring.
A. Delahoy, Silverknowes Gardens
PEOPLE throughout Scotland who are looking for quality-assured information about care are being reminded to use the improved Care Information Scotland service.
Minister for Sport, Health Improvement and Mental Health Jamie Hepburn urged people to turn to the online and telephone resource for all their care information needs at Scottish Care’s National Care at Home and Housing Support Conference in Glasgow today.
He said: “Back in 2010, when Care Information Scotland was first launched, it was the first site of its kind in Scotland, offering a single point of contact for care information for older people.
“The service has now expanded to provide accessible, quality information to not just older people but to all carers, those being cared for and care support services across Scotland.
“This re-designed service provides a central point to help guide people through the maze of resources and to ensure they have access to comprehensive, accurate and up to date information, either for themselves, a relative or a friend. I would encourage everyone to visit this website to find out more.”
NHS 24 – which manages the service – has worked in partnership with the Scottish Government and a wide range of organisations including Age Scotland, the Carers Trust and Shared Care to ensure the re-designed website and telephone service meets the needs of carers and those being cared for.
NHS 24 Head of Health Information Services, Lynne Huckerby, said: “This fresh new service now offers features such as web chat, direct links to social care across local councils and the ability to share content and information.
“The service is designed to complement service provision in local areas and provides advice and signposting information a range of topics, allowing people to make informed decisions. This service will be a useful resource for those finding themselves in a caring role for the first time.”
Carers Trust Scotland has been one of many organisations involved in the expansion of the service.Florence Burke, Carers Trust Director for Scotland, said: “We were pleased to be involved in the development of Care Information Scotland, using our experience of supporting carers and carers’ services across the country.
“The website has a wealth of information for people who are starting out in a caring role, as well as being a good reference tool for people who have been caring for some time.
“For carers, having access to relevant information at a time that suits them can be valuable in helping them to navigate the demands of caring.”
The Care Information Scotland helpline is available on 0800 011 3200 between 8am and 10pm seven days a week.
The online service is available at www.careinfoscotland.scot and includes video content, webchat and BrowseAloud, a speech and reading support tool which can also translate material into different languages.
LOOPs – Care at Home
Over recent months EVOC has been working with a range of organisations to analyse the possibility of a Care at Home Collaborative.
As part of this work we have put together a survey and we would be very grateful if any Third Sector organisations were able to complete it. This will help us to understand three main things:
The Care at Home Collaborative Survey can be accessed by clicking here. This survey should take about 20 minutes to complete, and will be available for 2 weeks.
Closing date for completed surveys is Friday 13th March 2015.
We will soon be hosting the next meeting of the main group to feedback on what we have learned so far. That meeting will take place soon and we will keep you posted about the date.
Call in Homecare are currently recruiting Community Care Assistants (Full or Part Time in the North Edinburgh areas and they’re holding a Roadshow at Muirhouse Millennium Centre on Tuesday (24 June) from 1 – 5pm.
Call in ir visit our website at www.muirhousecommunitycentre.co.uk
Jim McGinty
