conference – Page 2 – The NEN – North Edinburgh News

Care workers to be recognised at Scottish National Care Home Awards

A prestigious evening Awards Ceremony recognising the best of the independent care home sector will be held tomorrow (Friday 1 April) at the Hilton Hotel in Glasgow. The National Care Home Awards 2021 (rescheduled from November 2021) is an important opportunity to highlight the contribution of care homes and their staff during the Covid-19 pandemic.

88% of all care home support in Scotland is delivered by the independent sector, with these services caring for over 33,000 older individuals and employing nearly 46,000 people.

Scottish Care, the representative body for independent social care services across Scotland and organisers of the event, are encouraging those working in the sector and the wider public to join the Awards Ceremony to recognise and celebrate the role of care home workers.

Winners will be announced by the Awards Host – Pop Idol winner, Michelle McManus.

Awards will be presented over fourteen categories:

Ancillary & Support Staff Award
Meaningful Activity Award
Nutrition & Eating Well Award
Training, Learning & Staff Development Award
Emerging Talent Award
Outstanding Achievement Award
Management & Leadership Award
Palliative & End of Life Care Practise Award
Nurse of the Year Award
Carer of the Year Award
Specialist Service/Unit of the Year Award
Care Home Service of the Year Award
Positive Impact Award
Strategic Contribution Award

Dr Donald Macaskill, CEO of Scottish Care and the co-host of the Awards Ceremony said: “Over the past two years, care home staff have demonstrated resilience whilst adapting to the challenges of Covid-19. The dedication and professionalism of care home staff in supporting residents, families and each other has been exceptional.

“We have witnessed new innovative activity and unprecedented collaboration in care homes, with staff often going above and beyond the call of duty.

“The care home workforce has behaved with such dignity, compassion, professionalism and skill over the last few years, as they always do. The awards ceremony is a chance to say thank you and to recognise the particular skills of a few.

“But it is also a night to acknowledge all the individuals, teams and companies delivering care at an incredibly high standard in a challenging period and within an increasingly demanding work environment. We owe them a debt of gratitude.”

The awards have been hailed a huge success in recognising individuals, teams and companies, with more entries than ever flooding in each year from employers, care home staff, residents and relatives nominating their peers, colleagues and local services.

The Care Home Awards follows a full-day conference for the care home sector with speakers including the National Clinical Director, Professor Jason Leitch and the Minister for Mental Wellbeing and Social Care, Kevin Stewart MSP.

The Scottish Care National Care Home Conference & Exhibition, which is now in its 22nd year has incorporated an awards ceremony for the last 17 years.

The conference will be the first in-person event hosted by Scottish Care since the start of the pandemic.

The title of the conference is ‘Care Chrysalis: An emerging future’, bringing people together from across the sector to share their experiences from the Covid-19 pandemic and plan for the future of care homes in Scotland.

The conference will explore topics as diverse as the role of technology, care home nursing, business and finance, restoring relationships, the importance of family, the role of creative arts in wellbeing and recovery, and workforce.

The conference, exhibition and care awards are the largest of their kind for the care home sector in Scotland.

Sign up to TUC Congress

Congress is open to everyone from Sunday 12 September until Tuesday 14 September. Come and join us!

As we recover from the pandemic, how do we build a world of work that gives everyone the dignity and fairness we deserve?

Every trade unionist is invited to join us online for three days of discovery and debate at Congress 2021.

What to expect

Between Sunday 12 September and Tuesday 14 September, union members across the UK are meeting online to discuss how we build stronger unions and mobilise for a new deal for workers.

We’ll have debates on investing in a green economy, with good unionised jobs. We’ll discuss tackling racism, highlighting the work of the TUC’s Anti-Racism Task Force. And we’ll campaign for an overdue pay rise for our key workers and an end to the scandal of fire and rehire.

We’ll hear from Keir Starmer, leader of the opposition, and TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady, as well as union leaders, activists and key workers. A full online fringe events programme offers everyone a deeper chance to engage on issues they care about.

Join us

Congress is open to everyone. We have a growing union movement, based on our work keeping members safe and protecting their rights and livelihoods throughout the crisis.

This is our moment to demand real change for working people.

Join us by signing up today.

And please share with friends and colleagues on Facebook and Twitter using #TUC21

Free virtual conference on impact of pandemic on children for people working with Edinburgh families

Supporting children during the pandemic and beyond, is the focus of a free online conference being held for people working with families in Edinburgh.

The virtual conference has been organised by Edinburgh Child Protection Committee and NSPCC Scotland to mark the end of a year-long campaign launched to encourage families in the city to access support and advice.

Anyone who works with children or families in Edinburgh can sign up to the conference, which is being hosted on Microsoft Teams on Tuesday, April 13^th, between 2pm and 5pm.

Speakers will look at how the pandemic has impacted children, the ways in which organisations have adapted to help struggling families and what has been learned during the last year.

Attendees will hear about the All of Us campaign, which was launched to prevent child neglect by encouraging families to get help at an early stage and giving advice on how to support those who were struggling.

There will also be an opportunity for people to discuss how to better support children and families in Edinburgh in the future.

Carla Malseed, NSPCC Scotland local campaigns manager, said: “The pandemic has presented many hardships for families, including financial pressures, school closures, relationship strains, isolation and ill-health, and it has been more important than ever that people feel they can reach out for support and advice and get help.

“Organisations in Edinburgh have worked hard to find ways to adapt and support families while social distancing measures have been in place. This conference will give us the opportunity to look at what we have learned over the last year and how we can best support families in Edinburgh in the future.”

Jackie Irvine, Chair of the Edinburgh Child Protection Committee, said: “We know that even as we move out of lockdown, people will continue to experience the impact of the pandemic on their lives.

“Protecting young people and supporting families remains a priority for us and we want everyone across the city to be aware of where to turn for help if they or someone they know is struggling.

“It is crucial that we work together to find the best ways of supporting families across the city during this difficult time and beyond.”

Early last year, as part of the campaign, a number of community events were held across the city but further ones were cancelled because of Covid-19 and all activities were moved online, including workshops, seminars and a family fun-day.

In April, the partnership brought together information on its web page about organisations and contacts where families could go for help and support during lockdown.

This included information on support offered by public services, voluntary agencies and charities. Some examples were food banks, financial advice, crisis loans, mental health support, activities for children and support and advice on home learning.

The information was sent in food boxes to more than 300 families across the city and via email to parents through schools, and it was highlighted through social media campaigns. This resource has continued to be regularly updated throughout the pandemic.

The campaign raised awareness among communities and professionals about the early signs of child neglect and how to help families who were struggling through lunchtime learning sessions and webinars.

To find out more about the campaign visit www.edinburgh.gov.uk/allofus.

To sign up for the conference visit bit.ly/3w3UCjK or email allofus@safefamilies.uk.

For parenting advice and support visit NSPCC helpline or call 0808 800 5000, weekdays 8am to 10pm and weekends 9am to 6pm.

People can also contact Social Care Direct on 0131 200 2324.

Scottish Liberal Democrats pledge to make Scotland a mental health world leader

The Scottish Liberal Democrat spring conference has today backed a package of proposals to “fix overwhelmed mental health services for good”.

As part of the party’s call to put recovery first, the seven-point plan will:

Increase the number of training places for psychiatrists and clinical psychologists, especially those specialising in CAMHS;
Add counsellors to NHS workforce planning so their skills can help more people;
Expand the trained counselling workforce through new bursaries and training routes to widen access;
Fully resource mental health services through a target for them to receive 15% of future health spend increases;
Make every health service contact count through enhanced signposting to existing counsellors and third sector resources;
Provide new community services that young people can access with their families;
Restart and ramp up mental health first aid training with a new aspiration that every workplace should benefit.

Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said: “It’s time for Scotland to put the recovery first and fix our overwhelmed mental health services for good.

“That means increasing the number of training places for psychiatrists and psychologists. We need to dramatically expand the number of counsellors and get the health service to help them tackle mental health problems in communities, schools and workplaces.

“The Scottish Government’s mental health strategy was years late and short on ambition. Even before the pandemic struck we had a record number of children waiting over a year for help.

“Scottish Liberal Democrats have consistently championed our national mental health. Already this year our research has shown the toll it is taking. We’ve led Parliament in declaring a crisis and secured £120 million more for services next year. But it needs the full weight of our proposals and a government that will put recovery first to fix this for good.”

Scottish Liberal Democrat mental health spokesperson Rebecca Bell said: “This election is about putting the recovery first and that can only happen if we put both physical health and mental health at the core of the recovery.

“Far too often mental health services are reliant on third sector provision with only a short- term funding commitment from the government. Meanwhile the Scottish Government cancelled training for mental health first-aiders during the pandemic despite similar courses continuing to run elsewhere in the UK.

“These first-aiders can make all the difference, for example, someone to talk to at work when they start feeling unwell, before problems get worse. At the same time 1 in 8 specialist positions in child and adolescent mental health are unfilled, with young people in long queues waiting for treatment whilst they and their families are desperate for help.

“It’s time for a radical change. Scotland needs this realistic investment in order to achieve the long-term solutions we require to emerge from this crisis. You shouldn’t have to wait years for mental health support, any more than you should for cancer or a broken leg.

“These proposals from Scottish Liberal Democrats demonstrate our commitment to making Scotland a mental health world leader.”

SNP announce free school meals for all Primary School pupils

“PROGRESSIVE VISION TO TACKLE POVERTY IN THE FACE OF TORY CUTS”

SNP MSP Gordon MacDonald has welcomed the announcement that every primary school pupil in Edinburgh will be eligible for free school meals, all year around, if the SNP is re-elected in May.

Deputy First Minister, John Swinney, set out this latest step in the drive to tackle child poverty and make Scotland the first nation in the UK to offer universal free primary school meals at the SNP annual conference at the weekend.

The SNP previously extended eligibility for a free school lunch to all P1 to P3 pupils while P4 to P7 pupils are eligible based on a range of income and benefits criteria.

Now, in the face of predictions that Westminster cuts will drive child poverty rates even higher, the expansion – estimated to cost around £230 million per year in additional expenditure – will introduce a free year-round breakfast and lunch for all primary school pupils from August 2022.

SNP MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands, Gordon MacDonald, said: “The Covid-19 pandemic has put real financial pressure on families, and it’s right that the Scottish Government ensured that children in Edinburgh would continue to receive free school meals over the holidays.

“But I am happy that we are not stopping there. If the SNP is re-elected in May, every single primary school pupil in Edinburgh will be eligible for free breakfast and lunch, all year round.

“And unlike the Tories, we didn’t have to be publicly shamed and condemned into choosing to feed hungry children – that is the basic duty of any government.

“This ambitious expansion of the free school meals scheme is the next step in our battle to stop the Tories forcing more and more kids into poverty, support families, and make Scotland the best place to grow up.

“That progressive vision, underpinned by human rights, equality and wellbeing, is exactly why people in Scotland continue to put their faith in the SNP.”

A fairer society will be a more prosperous one, says Business Minister

SCOTLAND is well placed to tackle the challenges posed by an era of rapid technological development, Scotland’s Business Minister told an Edinburgh conference yesterday. Continue reading A fairer society will be a more prosperous one, says Business Minister