Tag: crisis

DECISION DAY

COMMUNITY PROJECTS TO LEARN THEIR FATE AT EIJB MEETING

SIXTY-THREE voluntary sector organisations will learn their fate today when Edinburgh Integration Joint Board makes crucial decisions on cost-saving measures.

EIJB is looking to make ‘savings’ (i.e. cuts) of £60 million and the proposal to disinvest in third sector projects would see the EIJB ‘save’ £4.5 million, but the voluntary sector argues that the scale of the cuts in some of the capital’s poorest communities – cuts imposed without any prior consultation – will actually cost the city far more in real terms – and they are urging the EIJB to think again.

If the EIJ Board accepts Chief Officer Pat Togher’s recommendations to disinvest, projects across Edinburgh will be forced to slash services, make staff redundant and, in some cases, close completely.

One of the projects affected is Libertus Services, a charity dedicated to supporting people to live independently. Libertus provides two registered Day Care services to local older people, located in Gracemount and Canalside, alongside a plethora of recreational, educational, cultural and social activities.

Libertus Services is dedicated to empowering its’ Members to make informed choices and to engage with activities which offer a selection of physical activity, reminiscence, games and art as therapy. 

Their Positive Futures project supports local people (50+) across Edinburgh to develop and run activity groups in community based settings. The groups take place on a weekly basis, facilitated by a dedicated team of volunteers.

Andrew Farr, General Manager at Libertus, said: “Libertus Services has been established for 43 years and employs 23 staff members to provide services for people at risk of many vulnerabilities, including social isolation, and has provided support to thousands of people.

“The impact of EIJB cuts to Libertus Services will affect at least 300 people aged over 50, and older vulnerable people and their support base who rely on the input and outcomes achieved within our groups.

“The loss of peer support, interaction and professionally led early intervention will inevitably lead to an increase in our vulnerable population of older people becoming more reliant on statutory services now and in the future. 

“The potential closure of our Positive Futures over 50’s service and our volunteer service additionally losing 42 volunteers not only increases risks to our Day Services for older people, which will no longer receive the additional social and practical input from our volunteers, but also reduces our financial stability.

“This is due to our premises increasing their reliability on the already reducing contract with the EHSCP, following a 10% in year contract reduction, followed by additional year on year 10% reductions in funding from 2025 onwards.

“A significant number of people would be without our support, leading to social isolation for a significantly higher number of people with social and psychological needs. Service provision would need to be absorbed by adding further pressure within statutory services, including hospital admissions and readmissions, due to the increase in demand resulting from the loss of this preventative service.”

The projects facing cuts today are:

ACE-IT

Art In Healthcare – Room For Art project

Autism Initiatives

Bethany Christian Trust – Passing The Baton project

Bridgend Farmhouse – Community Kitchen

Calton Welfare Services

Care for Carers – Stepping Out residential and short-term breaks for Carers

Caring in Craigmillar – Phonelink

CHAI Community Help and Advice Initiative (Edinburgh Consortium) – Income maximisation, debt and welfare advice

Citizens Advice Edinburgh (Edinburgh Consortium) – Income maximisation, debt and welfare advice

Changeworks – Heat Heroes programme

Community One Stop Shop – COSS

Community Renewal Trust – Health Case Management

Cruse Bereavement Care Scotland – Edinburgh bereavement services

Cyrenians – Golden Years Community Connecting Service

Drake Music Scotland – Musicspace

Edinburgh and Lothians Greenspace Trust – Healthy Lifestyles South Edinburgh

Edinburgh Community Food – Healthier Food, Healthier Lives, Healthier Future

Edinburgh Community Health Forum

Edinburgh Consortium (CHAI, Citizens Advice Edinburgh and Granton Information Centre) – Income maximisation, debt and welfare advice across the city

Edinburgh Garden Partners – Befriending Through Gardening project

Edinburgh Headway Group – ABI Rehabilitation Support Project

Edinburgh Leisure – Steady Steps programme

Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre – Rape crisis support service

Eric Liddell Centre – Caring for Carers Befriending Service

FAIR – Family Advice and Information resource for people with learning disabilities

FENIKS – Reach Out, Help Within support for Eastern European community

Fresh Start – Helping previously homeless people make a home for themselves

Granton Information Centre (Edinburgh Consortium) – Income maximisation, welfare and debt advice

Hillcrest Futures – Futures Hub

Health All Round – Community health initiative in Sighthill Gorgie

Health in Mind – Counselling in Craigmillar

Home Start Edinburgh West and South West – promoting positive perinatal health

LGBT Health and Wellbeing – Core funding and community programme

Libertus Services – Positive Futures volunteering project

LCIL – Lothian Centre for Inclusive Living

MECOPP – Jump Start project

MECOPP – BME Carer Support

Multicultural Family Base MCFB – Syrian mens mental health group

Murrayfield Dementia Project – Day Resorce

Pilmeny Development Project – Older people’s services

Pilton Equalities Project – Mental health and wellbeing support service

Pilton Equalities Project – Day Care services

Portobello Monday Centre – Informal daycare for people with dementia

Portobello Older People’s Project – Lunch and social club for isolated people

Positive Help – HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C support service for vulnerable adults

Queensferry Churches Care in the Community – support services for older people

Rowan Alba Ltd – CARDS service for people with alcohol-related brain damage

Scottish Huntingdon’s Association – Lothian Huntingdon’s Disease service

Sikh Sanjog – Health and wellbeing group for ethnic minority women

South Edinburgh Amenities Group – community transport service

South Edinburgh Day Centre Volunteer Forum

Support in Mind Scotland – RAISE for Carers project

The Broomhouse Centre – The Beacon Club

The Broomhouse Centre – Vintage Vibes consortium

The Broomhouse Health Strategy Group – B Healthy Together initiative

The Dove Centre – Social day centre

The Health Agency – Community-led health improvement initiative

The Living Memory Association – drop-in facility for isolated older people

The Open Door Senior Men’s Group – tackling social isolation

The Ripple Project – Community hub in Restalrig

The Welcoming Association – Welcoming Health programme for migrants/refugees

Venture Scotland – Outdoor activities and residential experiences

VOCAL – Counselling support for carers

Waverley Care – HIV and Hepatitis C support

The following projects will make deputations to this morning’s meeting:

It’s looking increasingly likely that common sense will prevail today and that recommended funding cuts will NOT be imposed before the end of this current financial year – always an unrealistic ambition given the timescales involved and the lack of prior consultation.

Edinburgh Green Councillor Alys Mumford tweeted yesterday: “I’m sure everyone has been very concerned about news of potential in-year cuts to 3rd sector organisations.

“Here is an update from the Edinburgh Councillor Group, and as a board member of the Integration Joint Board, I’m glad I’ve submitted this joint proposal to reject the cuts:

So a small victory for the voluntary sector IS possible today, maybe, but would this be just a stay of execution, a short reprieve?

The EIJB must balance it’s books, and with the city council, NHS Lothian and the Scottish Government all facing financial challenges of their own, just how does Edinburgh Integration Joint Board fill that black hole?

And what is the future for our community projects – and the hundreds, perhaps thousands. of vulnerable people they support across what is supposed to be an affluent capital city – come the new financial year? Can it be a Happy New Year for them?

Hopefully all will become clearer this afternoon.

Good luck to all of the deputations this morning and here’s hoping Edinburgh Integration Joint Board belatedly sees the real human cost of the cuts being proposed – and rejects them.

Desperate times for arts organisations as funding uncertainty continues

NO DECISIONS BEFORE DECEMEBER?

CREATIVE SCOTLAND STATEMENT:

Following discussions with the Scottish Government throughout the Multi-Year process, we have now received confirmation that Creative Scotland’s budget to enable Multi-Year decisions will not be clarified until the overall Scottish Government draft budget announcement, scheduled for 04 December 2024.

As a result, the outcome from the Multi-Year Funding programme is being postponed until the end of January 2025. This is a revision to the published guidance.

281 applications to the programme, with an annual ask of £87.5m, are currently being assessed as part of Stage 2 of the published process. Final decisions on the level of support we will be able to provide to successful organisations will be made once we have budget clarity.

The National Lottery reserves that we hold, currently £11m, remain allocated to support Transition Funding from April 2025 for organisations currently in receipt of ongoing funding from Creative Scotland but are unsuccessful in their application for Multi-Year Funding.

Robert Wilson, Chair of Creative Scotland, said: “While we would have preferred to announce the outcome from this application process in October as planned and have been working collaboratively with Scottish Government to endeavour to do so, we also understand the extreme budget pressures that exist.

“These pressures mean we are required to postpone the outcome until such time as we have budget clarity. This will enable us to make final decisions in a context of budget confidence and to support as many organisations on a multi-year basis as we possibly can.”

Angus Robertson, Cabinet Secretary for Culture, said: “The cultural sector is an integral part of our identity as a country. This is why we’re working hard to help the sector to fulfil its potential in Scotland by assuring at least £100 million more annually in funding by 2028-29.

“We await the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s budget announcement on 30 October which has a hugely significant bearing on the Scottish budget. Following that we will be able to set detailed budgets for the coming financial year including for the culture sector.

“I will continue to work in collaboration with Creative Scotland and the sector over the coming months to ensure stability until Creative Scotland have sufficient clarity to be able to announce the recipients of their multi-year funding awards.”  

Homelessness is a hidden issue in Scotland’s student housing crisis

THE recent Cross-Party Group on Housing report on student homelessness proved that we have a long way to go with student housing (writes RUTH ELLIOTT, Vice-President Community of Edinburgh University Students’ Association).

In Edinburgh alone, there is currently a shortfall of over 13,000 bedspaces.

Students have been known to be both resourceful and resilient, hopping between hostels and crashing on friends’ sofas, but it’s hard to believe this lack of stability won’t have an impact on their studies, as well as their mental health.

In fact, NUS Scotland’s Cost of Survival Report (2023) survey showed that 66% of students feel this has impacted their mental health, with this skyrocketing to 83% of estranged students and 78 per cent and 79 per cent of low income and students with caring responsibilities.

And things aren’t much better if you do manage to find accommodation, with 75% of student respondents falling below the UK poverty line after housing costs (Russell Group Student’s Unions (RGSU) Cost-of-Living survey).

The Advice Place at Edinburgh University Students’ Association has seen an increasing trend of affordability as a barrier to finding housing for students.

As Vice President Community, I am calling on the University of Edinburgh and the Scottish Government to provide more accommodation that is genuinely affordable for students, and to support alternatives such as student housing co-operatives to alleviate the pressures on the housing market.

Nowhere to live

But there’s another, unexpected problem on top of the lack of accommodation and affordability.

One of the biggest issues with student homelessness is hidden homelessness. ‘Hidden homelessness’ refers to people who would meet the legal definition of homelessness but are not represented in the local authority homeless statistics (see here).

Some examples are:

  • Staying with family and friends
  • Sofa surfing
  • Living in unsuitable housing such as squats or in ‘beds in shed’ situations

Source: The Homeless Monitor: England 2018

Many students don’t realise they could be considered homeless (possible as the problem has become increasingly normalised). As a result, the majority of students are not empowered to reach out for help when they really need it, which also means we don’t have a good idea of how widespread this problem is.

This affects how the issue of student housing is recorded by the university, and therefore how it is prioritised and addressed. Equally, the fact that students do not consider the University as a place to reach out for help is troubling.

The University of Edinburgh has a lot of work to do to rebuild the relationship with its students to be viewed as more trustworthy and supportive.

Those who experience hidden homelessness are hidden from statistics and services as they are dealing with their situation informally.” (Crisis)

It is essential to raise awareness about hidden homelessness – as well as awareness about being at risk of homelessness, whether through overcrowding, unaffordable rent or those at risk of abuse in their homes – so we can better support our students and lobby for change that is backed by data.

Because of the limited housing options available, students are more likely to take on riskier situations – whether that be higher rent than they can’t afford, living further away from campus living with strangers, or subletting illegally.

This leaves students very vulnerable. Students are not a homogenous group and can be some of the most vulnerable people in our society as young people, international students, queer people, carers and parents, and people from low-income backgrounds.

It’s positive to see Edinburgh Council putting more focus on reducing homelessness, and I would like the University to take more responsibility here.

This year, I am working on a project with the University to include more comprehensive data collection on students’ housing situations in the matriculation process. It’s really important that this addresses the issues I have outlined regarding hidden homelessness, and encourages students to reach out.

The student housing crisis is a complex issue which needs addressing. But without the right data, we’ve failed before we’ve begun.

SOCIAL CARE CRISIS IN EDINBURGH: EDINBURGH TUC CONFERENCE

SATURDAY 14th SEPTEMBER from 10am – 1pm

at AUGUSTINE UNITED CHURCH, GEORGE IV BRIDGE

For further information contact:

EDINBURGH TUC – telephone 0773 491 2536

or email edinburghtradeunioncouncil@gmail.com

First Vision Care for Homeless People clinic opens in Scotland

A NEW free eye care clinic for people experiencing homelessness opened this week at Crisis Skylight Centre in Edinburgh, the first such clinic outside of England.

The clinic, run by eye health charity Vision Care for Homeless People (VCHP), will operate from the new Wellness Floor at the Skylight in Canongate. The Wellness Floor has been funded by Specsavers and, alongside the bespoke eye clinic, includes additional rooms, which will enable Crisis to broaden the health services it provides to members.

A special event to mark the occasion was attended by more than 60 attendees from Crisis, VCHP and Specsavers, as well as third sector professionals, with all guests receiving a tour of the new facilities whilst being able to speak to experts on the invaluable support being offered at the Centre.

The Edinburgh Crisis Skylight opened its doors last year but was unable to fund these additional facilities until Specsavers stepped in to finance the new health and wellness suites.

Specsavers Scottish Divisional Chair, Jenny Stephenson, says: ‘We are delighted to help VCHP open its very first clinic in Scotland. Our founding purpose is to improve eye care for all, but for those experiencing homelessness it can sometimes be difficult to get access to the eye health care they need. 

“The opening of the Wellness Floor celebrates an impactful collaboration with Crisis and VCHP with the ultimate ambition of making care equitable and accessible for all, regardless of their circumstances.’

VCHP Founder and Chair of Trustees Elaine Styles, spoke on behalf of her team when she said how thrilled they were with the new clinical rooms, which includes a separate dispense area: ‘This new clinic will be our tenth in total and all are staffed and run by volunteers, who provide professional ophthalmic services to people experiencing homelessness.

“It’s a true testament to what our long-term partnership with Crisis and Specsavers is achieving.’

Mark Kennedy, Director of the Crisis Skylight in Edinburgh, says: ‘’Crisis has been running frontline services for people experiencing homelessness in Scotland for more than a decade but this new clinic will allow us to do even more for the people we work with.

 ’We’re incredibly grateful to Specsavers and VCHP for their support. Having the clinic available for our members is invaluable in helping people to improve their eye health and, ultimately, to help them on their journey out of homelessness.’

VCHP, Crisis and Specsavers are working with wider optical industry stakeholders and charities to call for changes in government policies that will enable people experiencing homelessness to access the eye care they need.

To find out more, visit:

specsavers.co.uk/news-and-information/community/homelessness

https://www.crisis.org.uk

https://www.visioncarecharity.org

‘Grassroots music venues are in crisis’

A new levy on arena and stadium tickets and a cut in VAT are urgently needed to support grassroots music venues across the country as they struggle to cope with a crisis of closures and soaring costs, says a Westminster committee.

The recommendations are in a report from the cross-party Culture, Media and Sport Committee, which highlights how small local venues integral to the pipeline of professional creative and technical music talent are stopping performances or closing entirely at a rate of two per week.

The Committee also heard about how artists are facing a “cost of touring crisis”, while promoters are struggling to get shows off their spreadsheets and into venues.

On top of immediate financial help through a levy-funded support fund and a targeted temporary VAT cut to help stem the tide of closures, the report says a comprehensive fan-led review of live and electronic music should be set up this summer to examine the long-term challenges to the wider live music ecosystem.

The Committee inquiry, launched at the Music Venue Trust’s Venues Day in October 2023, heard from across the sector1 of the scale of the crisis facing venues and the impact this is having on artists and all those that rely on them for business.

The MVT described 2023 as the most challenging year for the sector since the trust was founded in 2014, while Creative UK said the grassroots music sector took a ‘battering’.

In total the number of GMVs declined from 960 to 835 last year, a net decrease of 13%, representing a loss of as many as 30,000 shows and 4,000 jobs.

The report says that given the urgency of the crisis, a voluntary levy on arena and stadium concert tickets would be the most feasible way to have an immediate impact, creating a support fund for venues, artists and promoters administered by a trust led by a sector umbrella body.

The Committee also calls for the industry to ensure the levy cost is not passed on to music fans. If there is no agreement by September or if it fails to collect enough income to support the sector, the Government should step in an introduce a statutory levy, the report adds.

On VAT relief, the Committee calls for a temporary cut based on venue capacity, with the Government undertaking analysis to assess the impact to inform future decisions.

Dame Caroline Dinenage MP, Chair of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, said: “We are grateful to the many dedicated local venues who gave up their time to take part in our inquiry. They delivered the message loud and clear that grassroots music venues are in crisis.

“The ongoing wave of closures is not just a disaster for music, performers and supporters in local communities up and down the country, but also puts at risk the entire live music ecosystem. If the grassroots, where musicians, technicians, tour managers and promoters hone their craft, are allowed to wither and die, the UK’s position as a music powerhouse faces a bleak future.

“To stem the overwhelming ongoing tide of closures, we urgently need a levy on arena and stadium concert tickets to fund financial support for the sector, alongside a VAT cut to help get more shows into venues.

“While the current focus is on the many grassroots music venues falling silent, those working in the live music sector across the board are also under extraordinary strain. It is time that the Government brought together everyone with a stake in the industry’s success, including music fans, to address the long-term challenges and ensure live music can thrive into the future.”

Among the report’s other recommendations are for the Government and Arts Council to make it easier for the live music sector to apply for public funding and for stakeholders across the industry to continue to support the Featured Artists’ Coalition’s campaign to end punitive fees on artists’ merchandise.

Further information:

Emergency appeal launched to help children on the brink of starvation

International school feeding charity Mary’s Meals is asking for urgent support in response to the spiralling hunger crisis in Ethiopia’s Tigray region 

Mary’s Meals has launched an emergency appeal to deliver urgent food aid to children in Ethiopia who are on the brink of starvation. 

The current situation in Ethiopia is dire. A combination of drought, displacement, and brutal conflict has left huge areas of the country in crisis. Having lived through the atrocities of the Tigray War, millions of Ethiopians are facing emergency levels of food insecurity and hunger. 

The most recent assessment of food security needs from the Government of Ethiopia projected that 15.8 million people in the East African country will face hunger and need food assistance in 2024. This includes more than four million internally displaced people and 7.2 million experiencing high levels of food insecurity and needing emergency help1. 

International school feeding charity Mary’s Meals has been working in Ethiopia since 2017 and feeds 24,320 children every school day. With its local partner, it provides daily school meals to marginalised and disadvantaged children in the impoverished Tigray region in the north-east of the country, close to the Eritrean border. 

The Tigray region is one of the worst affected by the hunger crisis. According to the BBC, 200,000 children in Tigray have left school in the last three months alone2, with many of them working, begging or scavenging for food to survive. 

During the civil war, Mary’s Meals provided community feeding programmes to 30,000 people while schools were closed and families were displaced. 

Following the ceasefire agreement in November 2022 and the re-opening of schools, Mary’s Meals has now fully reinstated its school feeding programme across Tigray. This is bringing hungry children back into education and providing a lifeline to them and their families living in extreme poverty in these challenging days.  

But with an estimated 7.6 million children in Ethiopia out of school because of the conflict and climate shocks3, it is critical that the programme is extended to attract more children into the classroom where they will be given energy to learn and the hope of a brighter future. 

Now, there is an urgent dual priority – ensuring that children in Tigray have food and boosting their chances of engaging with education again. 

Matt Barlow, Executive Director of Mary’s Meals, says: “The stories we are hearing from our partner in Ethiopia are simply devastating. 

“The two-year civil war has caused widespread destruction and left physical and mental scars on people all over Tigray, including children – many of whom have missed years of schooling and who are now starving. The war has undone years of progress in Tigray’s education system and we know the impact of children missing years of learning is huge. 

“With your support, we can bring these hungry children back to the classroom and give them a nutritious meal which will allow them to focus on their lessons and give them an education. Ultimately this will help to lift them, their families and communities out of the extreme poverty they are living in”. 

As funds allow, Mary’s Meals’ partner is ready and waiting to extend its feeding programme to more schools, in areas of great need across the region. They will work together to reach as many more children as possible with daily meals in school over the coming weeks and months. 

Matt continues: “The situation is urgent. But there is something you can do. You can help to bring these desperate children back from the brink of starvation. 

“Throughout the UK, I have witnessed people respond with incredible acts of kindness in moments of crisis and when all hope may seem lost.

“Now, we need your support. Please donate what you can today – even the smallest donation can help to save a life.” 

To find out more about the Mary’s Meals Crisis in Ethiopia appeal, please visit www.marysmeals.org.uk/campaigns/crisis-in-ethiopia 

£100 million new aid for over three million vulnerable Ethiopians as humanitarian crisis deepens

  • UK Government announces new aid to save the lives of mothers and babies in Ethiopia as UK warns of growing risk of humanitarian catastrophe.
  • The funding comes as the UK’s Development and Africa Minister, Andrew Mitchell, returns from a 2-day visit to the country,  witnessing the humanitarian crisis first hand
  • UK calls on the international community to step up efforts to prevent a major crisis

More than three million Ethiopians, including mothers and babies, will receive lifesaving help from the UK through a new humanitarian aid programme and further support for the Tigray region. The uplift has been announced by UK Minister for Development and Africa Andrew Mitchell following a two-day visit to Ethiopia.

While in Ethiopia, Mr Mitchell set out a series of actions the UK is taking to help stem the worsening tide. He announced a new UK fund worth £100 million for Ending Preventable Deaths that is targeted on children, particularly children under the age of five, and also on pregnant and post-natal women.

The programme will help more than 3 million Ethiopians – mostly women and children – access essential health services. The funding will increase, among other things, access to family planning support, medicines, and childhood vaccinations.

In addition, emergency funding will help 75 health centres tackle malnutrition and other preventable causes of death such as malaria and cholera.

Across northern Ethiopia, millions of people are facing hunger. War and climate change have crippled crop production and driven people off their lands. The conflict in Tigray has left more than 1 million people displaced.

The combination of conflict and failed harvests in northern Ethiopia have plunged over 3 million into a state of critical food security and hunger. Millions more people are in need, with women and young children in particular, severely affected.

The Minister for Development and Africa Andrew Mitchell said: “The crisis is a wake-up call to the world. Food shortages are at a critical level. War has displaced people and decimated vital infrastructure. Climate change and El Nino have fuelled local exoduses with 400,000 displaced in the Somali region of Ethiopia as of last December. 

“Millions are trapped in displacement, hunger and need.  As ever the most vulnerable people, particularly women and children, are the first to be hit.

“The international community needs to come to Ethiopia’s side and work with our friends in the government and international partners to halt and reverse this crisis. In a region that has experienced the horrors of famine in the past, we must ramp up international efforts to avert a major crisis in the near future. We need to act fast and act now.”

The Government and international donors are responding to the needs of 6.6 million people. But as the Minister has warned, the number of critically food insecure people is growing rapidly and will reach 10.8 million in the coming months. 

 Mr Mitchell stressed that while the UK is taking positive action which will save lives on the ground, its efforts alone will not be sufficient to contain the crisis, and that urgent cooperation with international partners and agencies and government will be necessary to prevent the worst.

Meeting with the Government of Ethiopia, he also discussed the UK’s humanitarian commitment to Ethiopia, to women and girls, ending internal conflict, and issues affecting regional stability, including the recent Memorandum of Understanding between Ethiopia and the Somaliland authorities on access to the Red Sea.

Gaza: what you can do to help

How you can donate responsibly to help the people of Gaza

Make your donation safely

Donating through established and well-coordinated emergency response appeal mechanisms is the most effective way to support people during a humanitarian crisis. You can do this through the British Red Cross.

If you wish to help Gazans at this time, the UK government recommends that you donate to this organisation, or through other trusted aid organisations.

If you wish to donate to other charities, you should make a few checks before giving:

  • search the charity register to check the charity’s name and registration number. Most charities with an income of £5,000 or more must be registered, which means they are regulated by The Charity Commission
  • make sure the charity is genuine before giving them any financial information
  • if in doubt, ask the charity or organisation for more information

Donating essential supplies

One of the best ways to help is by donating cash through trusted charities and aid organisations, rather than donating goods.

We cannot provide advice to you or your organisation on shipments (for example, transport, logistics, tax, customs).

Donating as a UK company

If your UK company wishes to donate, we recommend that you should also donate through established emergency response appeal mechanisms or other trusted aid organisations.

If your private sector organisation wish to explore donating goods in-kind, we encourage you to:

Operational guidance for organisations providing aid

We have published guidance for organisations operating in high-risk jurisdictions. This aims to support them to provide vital and legitimate humanitarian aid, while complying with counter-terrorism legislation and/or sanctions.

RCEM: ‘We must not normalise crisis’

Accident and Emergency

‘We must not normalise crisis or celebrate small improvements – our patients and our members deserve more.’ That is the response of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine to the latest A&E performance data.

Yesterday (14 December 2023) two sets of data published by NHS England, have been released: the latest Urgent and Emergency Care (UEC) Daily Situation Reports 2023-24 (also known as Winter Sitrep); and monthly A&E performance figures for November 2023.

While there have been some small signs of improvement in certain areas the overall situation remails extremely challenging with A&E departments declaring critical incidents this week, clinicians describing things as the worst they have experienced and ambulance chiefs expressing serious concerns about the pressure their service is under.

The most recent Winter UEC Sitrep data which covers the period 4-10 December 2023 paints a worrying picture with bed occupancy running dangerously high at almost 95% (the level considered ‘safe‘ is 85%) and two-thirds of ambulances not meeting the 15-minute target to hand over patients.

There was a small uplift in the number of beds available within hospitals, but these do not appear to have helped to ease pressure elsewhere in the system, and there remain thousands of patients, who are well enough to go home, but have not been discharged – occupying beds which are needed for other people.

The November performance data reveals that last month more than 144,000 people who visited an A&E within the month were there for more than 12 hours – the target is four hours.

Reacting to these figures, Dr Adrian Boyle, President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said: “While the data suggest a marginal improvement compared to last year, it’s just deja-vu and we must not allow this permacrisis to become accepted as ‘normal’.

“Ambulances are queueing outside A&Es, Trusts are declaring critical incidents, patients are facing dangerously long waits in overcrowded and uncomfortable A&Es. Conditions are intense and difficult for staff, and the experience of patients is distressing and undignified.

“Clinicians are doing their very best, despite the circumstances, to deliver optimal and compassionate care, and mitigate any potential risks to patients but it is taking its toll on them too.

“It is welcome to see small increases in bed numbers, but it is not enough and patients continue to endure long waits.

“Significant and urgent action is required now to address these issues – this is what our members and their patients need and deserve.”

Data in detail:

The latest Urgent and Emergency Care Winter sitrep data for week ending 10 December (week 4 of publication for 2023/24) published today by NHS England show:

  • Bed occupancy levels at Trusts with a major A&E (Type 1 acute Trust) was 94.9%.
  • There were 99,497 beds open at Trusts with a major A&E, 1,521 more than the same week last year.
  • The Government promised that by winter 2023/24 there would be 5,000 more beds open when compared to October 2022 (97,287). For this week, there was an increase of 2,210 Type 1 beds compared with October 2022.
  • On average, one third of ambulance handovers involved a delay of over 30 minutes, while only one third of patients arriving at A&E were handed over within 15 minutes as per national guidance.
  • On average, 46,929 patients occupied a bed for more than seven days at a Trust with a major A&E.
  • On average, 384 beds were general and acute beds were occupied by patients with flu.
  • On average, 12,927 patients remained in hospital while no longer who were ready to be discharged.
  • There was an average of 49,020 daily staff absences at Trusts with a major A&E.
  • This is 7,547 fewer than the same week last year.

Published today (14 December 2023) by NHS England, the latest A&E performance figures for November 2023 show:

  • There were 1,385,701 attendances to major A&Es (Type 1 EDs) in November 2023.
    This is a 1.97% decrease compared with the previous month.
  • In November 2023, 144,085 patients waited 12-hours or more from their time of arrival. This accounts for 10.9% of all major A&E attendances in November. This means that more than one in 10 patients waited 12-hours or more.
  • The four-hour target at major A&Es stood at 55.4%, this is the fourth worst four-hour performance on record and the lowest so far in 2023.The aggregate four-hour target stood at 69.7%, the lowest so far in 2023. This is 6.3 percentage points lower than the Government’s intermediary threshold target of 76% to be hit by March 2024.
  • 42,854 patients waited 12 hours or more from decision to admit (DTA) to admission. This is a 4% decrease when compared to the previous month. It is a 13.2% increase when compared with November 2022.
  • Beds data for October 2023 show bed occupancy stood at 94.8%.
  • Data show there were 98,844 Type 1 General & Acute beds available.  This is an increase of 1,473 beds from October 2023 (97,371). And an increase of 1,636 beds from November 2022 (97,208).
  • Since it was announced in January 2023 that 5,000 new beds would be made available by winter 2023/24 compared with October 2022 (when there was 97,287 beds available), there has been an increase of 1,557 beds.
  • There were 396,755 emergency admissions at major A&Es. This is a 1.19% decrease since the previous month (401,523). This is the second highest number of admissions so far in 2023.