North Edinburgh Young People’s Forum staged the North Edinburgh Youth Awards at Crewe Toll’s Urban Village Resort on 22 March. The gala event was an opportunity to celebrate the achievements and talents of our young people, and the winners were:
Continue reading North Edinburgh Youth Awards: And the winners are …
Two Edinburgh families have expressed their delight after receiving specialist equipment that will make a dramatic difference to the lives of their profoundly disabled children. Continue reading Specialist tricycles make playtime more fun thanks to charity donation
The Holyrood government should publish all documents relating to the safety and certification of baby boxes following fears over a fire risk with the products, says the Scottish Conservatives. Continue reading Baby boxes: Tories call for “complete transparency”
Community Event 16 May:
Attainment/Achievement of children and young people experiencing poverty
The Scottish Parliament’s Education and Skills Committee is meeting at Muirhouse Millennium Centre at 6 pm on Wednesday 16th May. The committee are very keen to hear directly from parents/carers/guardians, young people, teachers, and other professionals who work with young people in schools and in the community with a focus on attainment or achievement. Continue reading Holyrood’s Education & Skills Committee is coming to Muirhouse
Almost a billion pounds will be invested annually to fund the huge expansion of early learning and childcare, transforming the life chances of children in Scotland, the Scottish Government has announced. Continue reading Going forward together: ONE BILLION POUNDS to fund childcare expansion
“The hospital fixes the hole in the child, but camp fixes the whole child” – a camper’s parent
Each summer, children and families from Edinburgh and Lothians who are affected by serious illness get a chance to attend one of Over The Wall’s free Therapeutic Activity camps. These camps help to rebuild some of what is lost to childhood illness, thanks to monumental efforts from groups of talented and highly skilled volunteers. Children aged 8 – 17 spend a week where they can kick back, relax, and simply be themselves. Continue reading Over the Wall
When Health Secretary Shona Robison announced in 2016 the closure of the East of Scotland cleft surgery unit in Edinburgh – which Lothian MSP Miles Briggs and parents campaigned hard against – she reassured people that “local outreach clinics, will continue to be delivered locally as they are now, across Scotland.” https://news.gov.scot/news/cleft-surgery-recommendation
A Written Answer (see below) shows that in two areas local clinics stopped altogether in 2017 with no indication of when they might start again. This means extra travelling and inconvenience for families, as well as having limited dates when they can be seen.
There has been a reduction in the number of Multi-Disciplinary Clinics (MDC) in Edinburgh, with only fortnightly appointments available.
The service is also still short of the third surgeon that it needs.
Conservative health spokesman Miles Briggs MSP said: “It is very apparent that the SNP Ministers decision to centralise the Cleft Palate Service has been a disaster.
“The families of babies and young people who require the service are the ones losing with an inferior service being provided.
“I am particularly concerned that parents are being forced to travel so far for appointments, often having to make longer journeys than the recommended limit for new born babies.”
Evonne McLatchie, lead campaigner to save the Edinburgh cleft unit, comments: “Parents in the East are angry but not the least surprised as the promises Ms Robison made were as predicted not worth the paper they were printed on.
“Many families in the East don’t even have correct contact details and it is parents that are driving patient reviews and consultations for their children having to resort to asking questions on Facebook to get answers for their concerns and then chasing up appointments.
“Shona Robison stated repeatedly that centralisation would improve care, especially if a surgeon was off- that has yet to be proven!
“The majority of parents are afraid to voice concerns as they have to work with the service for perhaps the next 20 years and despite assurances that any complaint won’t affect care they simply don’t want to risk it.”
Edinburgh-based Scottish Adoption has been awarded a £16,000 grant from the Scottish Children’s Lottery. The charity provides support to anyone affected by adoption – be it children, birth families, prospective adopters, adoptive parents and adults who were adopted as children. Continue reading Edinburgh adoption charity awarded £16,000 from Scottish Children’s Lottery
The UK’s fastest growing trampoline park operator, Jump In, opened the doors of its latest £1.5m high-spec, eagerly anticipated arena on the outskirts of Edinburgh this weekend. Hundreds of excited families from across the central belt enjoyed a live demonstration by British Champion Gymnast, Lara Craig (22) from Musselburgh (above). Continue reading New trampoline park opens in Musselburgh
More than one hundred adults, young people and children attended Pilton Youth and Children’s Project’s Open Day on 12th April. Continue reading One hundred attend PYCP Open Day
