Tag: delays

D Mains parents call for council to speed up road safety improvements

An emergency meeting following the death of an Edinburgh school boy in a road traffic accident was held by concerned parents last night (Thursday).

The meeting was called after an Edinburgh child died on 1 March as he cycled to school. On the same day, there was a serious road incident involving a Davidson’s Main Primary School pupil. 

The parents from Davidson’s Mains Primary School organised the meeting to call on the city council to speed up road safety improvements for children coming to and from the school.

The meeting was attended by Scott Arthur, Chair of City of Edinburgh Council Transport and Environment Committee, local Councillor Norman Work and Dave Sinclair, Local Traffic and Road Safety Manager at the council. 

At the meeting, the Council Transport team committed to make small scale improvements as soon as possible.

Parents were told that the current city-wide backlog of road safety plans would take 10 years for the Council to act on and that, in general, cases would only be considered in chronological order.

Kim Pratt, vice chair of the Davidson’s Mains Primary School Parent Council, said: “Parents are deeply concerned that our children are forced to navigate dangerous roads to and from school every day because Edinburgh Council are dragging their feet to improve road safety.

“At the rate that Edinburgh Council is acting, our children are growing up and leaving school before the surrounding roads are made safe. 

“The Council have told us we must have a travel plan before they will act but the process is unclear and bureaucratic. Very few schools in Edinburgh have managed to complete the process. It feels like another excuse for the Council to delay.

“The Council have the power to make our roads safer and they must act faster and more decisively to protect our children travelling to and from school, not just in Davidson’s Mains, but across all of Edinburgh.” 

Felicity Neyme, from the Davidson’s Mains School Road Safety Team said: “As a parent, seeing Edinburgh strive for net zero by 2030 fills me with hope. But that future can’t be achieved without clean air and safe streets for our children. That’s why it is important that Parent Councils collaborate with local leaders. 

“Together, we can work to deliver tangible goals like improved pedestrian crossings and a reduction in car dependency around schools. This is about protecting our kids on their journey to school but it’s also about creating a healthier, more sustainable future for all of Edinburgh, aligned with the city’s inspiring net zero vision.”

Rod Alexander, from the Davidson’s Mains and Silverknowes Association said: “The Association is fully supportive of the actions by the Primary School Parent Council to improve safety on the routes to school following the tragic death of a school child at Barnton and the serious accident involving a Davidson’s Mains school pupil on Main Street.

“We are concerned that the planned upgrade to the roundabout and crossings at the west end of Main Street have still not been completed a full seven years after a fatal accident on one of the crossings, and believe that priority should also be given to upgrading the crossing on Main Street at Silverknowes Road.

“We want to work with both schools in our local area to ensure priority is given to these and other projects to improve pupil safety, particularly recognising that children are being encouraged to walk and cycle to school to reduce car use.”

A recent survey conducted by the Parent Council found that 98% of parents responding to the survey thought that road safety for pupils could be improved. 

In June 2019, the Council’s traffic survey showed that the average speed limit on Silverknowes Road East was 28.7 mph, despite being a 20 mph zone.

This is a main route to school for some pupils and there are no crossings. A crossing patrol assistant helps children cross safely at pick up and drop off times but is not present on every school day.

Despite the Council promising to investigate in 2023/24, no improvements have been made.

MSPs launch inquiry to investigate Scottish Government aid after transparency concerns raised

HOLYROOD’s Cross-Party Group on International Development, chaired by Sarah Boyack MSP, is launching an inquiry into the Scottish Government’s International Development, Climate Justice, and Humanitarian funds after transparency concerns.

This comes after the CPG was made aware of concerns from the sector regarding what funds are allocated, how they are prioritised and why.

Last May, concerns were raised about the significant delays to the awarding of the Climate Justice Fund.

There has also been a lack of transparency from the Scottish Government over recent years.

The Scottish Government’s regular International Development Contribution Report has not been published since the 2019-20 edition.

The inquiry aims to establish how and why decisions have been made and seek to make recommendations for a more transparent future approach.

The CPG’s inquiry will be a mix of evidence from stakeholders, alongside desk-based research.

Commenting on the inquiry launch, Chair Sarah Boyack said: “We know the great benefits that international aid can bring to communities in need.

“However, for too long there has not been transparency on how the Scottish Government’s aid programmes have been delivered.

“This inquiry aims to take a constructive approach to bring clarity into the Scottish Government’s Aid programme.

“If Scotland is going to make a substantial impact with its international aid, it is vital that the processes for awarding this aid are suitably transparent.

“I look forward to engaging with stakeholders and others to carry out this inquiry.

“Our aim will always be to ensure Scotland is world leading in international aid, but it is critical that humanitarian support is sent to the right places for the right reasons.”

Concerns over Deposit Return Scheme delays

Devolved governments and businesses facing further uncertainty

Circular Economy Minister Lorna Slater has written to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to express her frustration at a further significant delay to the Deposit Return Scheme launch, despite repeated requests for DEFRA to set out its plans.

The full text of the Circular Economy Minister’s letter: 

To: Stephen Barclay Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
From: Lorna Slater Circular Economy Minister

Dear Stephen

I am writing to you to express my deep concerns at your comments about the future of a Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) to the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee on Tuesday 26 March.

Despite our continued requests for Defra to set out its plans for DRS, and my recent correspondence dated 8 March on such matters, it is extremely frustrating to hear about details of a further significant delay to the DRS launch from media reports.

Your Government committed to develop and consult on a DRS in England for metal, plastic and glass drinks containers in 2018, a commitment also set out in your 2019 manifesto. We are now five years on from that commitment, which has been significantly weakened following your Government’s decision to remove glass from the scheme in 2023. It is clear now that it will be further delayed.

As you know, Scotland would now have an operational DRS if the UK Government had not prevented it from moving forward as planned. This would have provided a launchpad for wider DRS across the UK meaning we would all be experiencing the environmental and economic benefits much sooner.

Instead, the UK Government’s refusal to provide that IMA exclusion created enormous uncertainty for businesses on what a scheme across the UK would look like and on how it would be delivered, and severely undermined confidence. Even though the main premise for undermining Scotland’s scheme was the need for a UK-wide approach, almost one year on, there is no further clarity on the details of your Regulations. We, the other devolved governments, and businesses now find ourselves facing even greater uncertainty as a result of these latest comments.

It is also now clear from your comments that the UK Government won’t hesitate to continue to use the IMA to undermine, override and re-write devolved legislation, disregarding four-nation agreements and good-faith engagement in Common Frameworks to so do.

Despite the continued shifting of goal posts and delays by the UK Government, which we have set out in an annex to this letter, officials across the four nations have been working closely since May last year to design and agree interoperable schemes.

Minister Moore’s letter to devolved Ministers on 1 March particularly emphasised the valuable input from Scottish officials, and that the preparations we had already put in place to deliver DRS in Scotland has helped inform the four nations approach, including the amendments to our regulations in May and September last year, based on significant feedback from business.

We have said from day one that we we’re committed to all schemes across the UK to work together. We designed our scheme in good faith so it would be interoperable with the proposals agreed and consulted upon by all UK nations. I would ask that you focus on working with all devolved nations to finalise an interoperable DRS, which still recognises the devolved nature of this policy, to provide businesses with the certainty they need to make the scheme a success. This includes setting out a realistic timescale for delivery which is agreed across the four nations, rather than creating speculation without consultation.

I am copying this letter to Robbie Moore MP Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Huw Irranca-Davies AS/MS Minister for Climate Change and Andrew Muir MLA, Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs. I have also copied to the Secretary of State for Scotland, Secretary of State for Wales, and Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, the Permanent Secretary for Defra and the Defra Director for Resources & Waste for their information.

Kind regards

LORNA SLATER

https://www.gov.scot/publications/deposit-return-scheme-letter-uk-government/ 

Edinburgh Trams scandal: What’s the delay now? asks Briggs

TRAMS FIASCO REPORT HAS NOW BEEN NINE WEEKS AT PRINTERS

Lothians MSP Miles Briggs said: “It is a perplexing that the Edinburgh Tram Inquiry is still with the printers nine weeks after it was finalised.

“The inquiry was funded by taxpayers money and the public, who have already waited over nine years,  have waited more than long enough to hear the findings.

“I am seeking answers to why the inquiry is on hold at the printers and if a review will be undertaken into the time and costs associated with the delivery of this inquiry.”

RCEM welcomes new Health Secretary

‘We must eliminate dangerous and unacceptable delays to patient care’

Responding to the latest Emergency Department performance figures for Scotland for February 2023 (see below) Dr John-Paul Loughrey, Vice President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine Scotland, said: “As the data show, the start of this year has continued to be difficult in Emergency Care.

“Patients continue to face long and dangerous waits as staff continue to be stretched to their limit. Ambulance queues, poor patient flow throughout our hospitals, exit block – where patients are stuck in the system in a ‘traffic jam’ – these remain prevalent across Emergency Departments in Scotland.

“We congratulate the First Minister for Scotland, Humza Yousaf MSP, on his appointment to his new role, and we welcome Michael Matheson MSP (above) to the role of Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care.

“We hope to continue and increase our engagement with the Scottish Government to improve patient care and staff conditions in Emergency Medicine and the wider health service.

“We urge the new Cabinet Secretary to build on the constructive engagement of his predecessor and increase focus on investing in adequate and sufficient social care to discharge patients in a timely way to free up beds.

£Alongside this, we ask him to prioritise expanding acute bed capacity across Scotland and retaining existing staff. These are the short-term priorities for Emergency Care. It would be wrong to take measures to manage demand and reduce attendances on the front door – such measures do nothing to tackle the root causes of long-term problems.

“In the long-term, we urge the new Cabinet Secretary to look at workforce planning and sustained and continued funding and investment in health and social care to ensure we do not reach the troughs of performance and patient care that we saw in 2022.

“We must reduce and eliminate dangerous and unacceptable delays to patient care that we know are associated with patient harm and patient deaths. We would welcome an opportunity to meet with the new Cabinet Secretary to discuss our Five Priorities for UK Governments for #ResuscitatingEmergencyCare.”

The latest performance figures for February 2023 for Emergency Departments across Scotland show:

  • There were 95,110 attendances at major Emergency Departments
  • 66.4% of patients were seen within four-hours at major (Type 1) Emergency Departments
    • This is an increase of 1.2 percentage points from the previous month, but a decrease of 5.3 percentage points when compared with February 2022
    • 31,964 patients waited over four-hours in major Emergency Departments
  • In February 2023, 10,709 patients waited eight-hours or more in an Emergency Department
    • This is a decrease of 18% from the previous month, January 2023
    • This is the worst February on record
    • This is equal to more than one in 10 patients waiting eight-hours or more in a major Emergency Department
  • 4,751 patients waited more than 12-hours before being seen, admitted, discharged, or transferred
    • This figure has fallen by 25% from the previous month
    • This is the worst February on record

Be prepared for Road Works when travelling to RIE and New Sick Kids

If you are travelling to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh or Royal Hospital of Children and Young People for an appointment, please be aware of road works which are due to commence Monday 17 October 2022, for 24 Weeks as this will affect your travel time to your appointment.

The road works will result in 2-way Temporary Lights on Old Dalkeith Road near Little France Campus. The lights will move as work progresses from the campus up towards Shawfair Park and Ride/Train station. This will take a break for 2 weeks from Friday 23 December 2022 until Friday 6 January 2023.

We have been informed that this will result in a minimum of 20 minutes delay up to 50 minutes at peak times.

It has been suggested that people travelling to these sites should instead travel via Gilmerton Road, Edinburgh which runs parallel to Dalkeith Road, to access the Campus, as this may limit time impact.

Telford Road resurfacing to take TWENTY weeks

Resurfacing work on Telford Road starts today as part of the city council’s roads maintenance programme.

The work is expected to last for for TWENTY weeks.

Follow @edintravel on twitter or Facebook for regular updates on roadworks, or download the regularly updated list on website http://edinburgh.gov.uk/edintravel

One in four ambulances delayed 30 minutes or more as Emergency Care falls deeper into crisis

The latest Winter Sitrep data for the week ending 27 March show:

  • There were 79,588 ambulance arrivals, 2.7% less than the previous week.
  • More than one quarter of ambulances experienced delays of 30 minutes or more, equal to 21,051 ambulances – an increase of 7.4% on the previous week
  • This is the highest proportion of ambulance delays on record
  • More than one in nine ambulances were delayed by more than 60 minutes, a 10.2% increase on the previous week, setting a new record high for this reporting period.
  • The average number of delays for this winter has continued to creep up, increasing from 0.3% up to 21.3%. The previous highest weekly average number of delays was 14.3% in 2019-20.

The Royal College of Emergency Medicine and The College of Paramedics have collaborated on this Ambulance Handover Options Appraisal guidance that details the ways in which Paramedics and Emergency Medicine staff can reduce ambulance handover delays.

Dr Ian Higginson, Vice President of The Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said: “The data show Emergency Department crowding, long “hidden” within the walls of EDs, has become more visible as handover delays have dramatically increased, leading to ambulances waiting outside EDs with their patients still inside.

“It is vital that ambulances return to active service whenever possible and safe to do so. Delaying ambulance handovers should be a last resort. Holding patients in ambulances leads to unnecessary delays to their care, leaving seriously ill or injured patients in the community requiring an ambulance to wait longer.

“Ambulance handover delays are almost entirely caused by dangerous crowding in Emergency Departments. The root cause of these problems is “exit block” where there are delays for patients to be admitted to inpatient beds from the ED. Patients suffer harm or die unnecessarily when they cannot get an ambulance in time, when they are held in ambulances on arrival in ED, or when they are treated in crowded EDs.

“Emergency Departments must have sufficient capacity to meet demand, and constant flow from the Emergency Department into inpatient beds, otherwise they will not be able to keep patients and staff safe. This means that risk must be properly shared within organisations, and through systems.

“When this does not happen leadership teams tend to look for mitigation. Unfortunately, this mitigation is usually focused at the front door of the hospital, rather than being directed at the root cause of the problem. The Royal College and The College of Paramedics have produced this joint guidance to support good decision making when managing ambulance handover delays in an effort to tackle ambulance handover delays and dangerous Emergency Department crowding.”

Tracy Nicholls, Chief Executive of The College of Paramedics, said: “We hear from our members how consistently challenging this situation is and, whilst we can see that paramedics, ambulance clinicians and hospital ambulance liaison officers are doing everything they can, the system is now at breaking point. 

“Those who need an ambulance are continuing to wait an unacceptable length of time and those paramedics and ambulance clinicians who are running to their next job can clearly see how long their next patient has been waiting and know they are going to be met with frustration, anxiety or fear.

“It seems incongruous that additional measures are being taken at the front door when the whole system flow of patients still needs to be addressed, but we suspect that there are now few options left without further risk to both those who are using the ambulance services and those who are working within them.

“Ambulance operations centres are still fielding calls at record numbers because callers want to know when an ambulance will arrive and are often calling back time and time again.

“It is difficult to hear that an ambulance might be delayed but imagine how a caller feels when their 999 call isn’t answered straight away. The moral injury is not just with the paramedics, but also with all of those involved directly with patients and their care.

“The College supports RCEM’s call for both the reduction in ambulance handover delays and in ED overcrowding.  It is only by working together as a system that we will see this much-needed change and this guidance document outlines the risks associated with the current challenges.”

Trams to Newhaven project ‘on track’

The majority of track has been laid to take the tram to Newhaven as the scheme enters the final phase of construction works.

More than 3km of track – 70% of the total to be laid – is now in the ground as part of the Trams to Newhaven project, which remains on schedule to begin revenue services in spring 2023, delivered within the £207.3m budget.

The main construction work on three of the eight new tram stops is also complete, while over 3km of drainage (66% of the total) and almost 4km of communications ducting (82% of the total) serving the tram and wider area has been installed.

Construction is ‘largely finished’ on several key sections of the route, other than some localised works, including Constitution Street, between Constitution Place and Queen Charlotte Street, and Ocean Terminal to Rennie’s Isle.

Next week, operational tram stops on Princes Street and St Andrew Square will reopen following their temporary closure. These were closed to allow for the removal of the York Place tram stop and installation of new infrastructure there connecting the existing line to the new one.

As we enter the final year of major civil work ahead of testing and commissioning this winter, a review of the specific completion dates for remaining sections has been carried out.

This has resulted in some changes affecting certain sections due to various unavoidable factors such as complex utilities diversions, archaeological finds and an industry wide shortage of materials, though this is not expected to affect the final completion date.

Full details of the updated programme are available on the Trams to Newhaven website.

Councillor Lesley Macinnes, Transport and Environment Convener, said: “It’s clear that the Trams to Newhaven project is well on its way to completion, as these figures show, and before long we’ll be testing trams on the streets of Leith.

“Next week, we’ll also see the return of the existing service to the city centre, which I’m sure will be great news for many.

“Of course, while this project will bring significant benefits to the area, we know that its construction has impacted all those who live and work nearby, and I’d like to thank them for their patience during the last two years.

“As we enter the final year of work to deliver the tram line, we’ve had to make some changes to the programme due to issues outwith our control.

“I want to assure communities along the route that we’re doing everything we can to mitigate the impacts of this, and that we’re still on track to begin providing the service by spring next year.”

Councillor Karen Doran, Transport and Environment Vice Convener, said: “This project will be transformative for the north of the city and it’s really exciting to see it take shape already.

“Once complete, it will play a key role in the future growth and development of the city. Delivering the tram line to Leith will unlock a large area of the city for housing and economic development, while providing a low-carbon, clean mode of transport to densely populated communities.”

The project team is working to mitigate the impact of changes to the programme, ensuring the scheduled spring completion date is met.

Based on lessons from the first tram line, and best practice from other major European construction projects, Trams to Newhaven focuses on large work sites, providing the flexibility to continue construction elsewhere on-site if issues are encountered.

In the coming months, localised works will continue on completed sections to resolve defects, carry out landscaping, install equipment to support the new tram line including tram communication systems, complete tram stop fit-outs and install overhead line equipment, street lighting and traffic signalling.

Since 2019 the project has provided significant support to businesses through its £2.4m Support for Business initiative. As part of this more than £100k has been spent on an ‘Open for Business’ campaign, 60k deliveries have gone through dedicated logistics hubs and 140 applications have been made to the business continuity fund. In addition, the extremely popular itison scheme has seen over 20k vouchers sold, generating £200k spend in participating businesses.

Additional milestones:

  • 90% of utility diversions complete
  • Substation at Melrose Drive complete and fit-out ongoing
    Lindsay Road retaining walls complete
  • All track crossovers, which allow the tram to turn back on itself, installed
    Constitution Street wall rebuilt following archaeological excavations
  • Archaeological excavations on Constitution Street complete, which saw more than 360 bodies exhumed, dating from between 1300 and 1650, as well as finding the apparent remnants of the original medieval graveyard wall.

Still no word from the long-running Edinburgh Tram Inquiry into the Edinburgh Tram project.

This inquiry,which was set up in 2015, aims to establish why the original Edinburgh Tram project incurred delays, cost massively more than originally budgeted and through reductions in scope delivered significantly less than oroginally promised.

The costs to taxpayers so far is an eye-watering £12.5 million …

Find out more about Trams to Newhaven online.

A Deepening Crisis

This winter is already far worse than last winter, says RCEM President

The latest data from The Royal College of Emergency Medicine’s Winter Flow Project 2021/22 show that since the beginning of October 2021 there have been 56,096 patients delayed by 12 hours or more from time of arrival in Emergency Departments.

In comparison, last year’s Winter Flow Project 2020/21 didn’t record over 50,000 12 hour stays from time of arrival in Emergency Departments until February Week 3.

Data also show that in December 2021 Week 2, four-hour performance fell to 56.3%, the lowest ever recorded.

Dr Katherine Henderson, President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said: “The data show a deepening crisis. We’ve now reached 50,000 12-hour delays, a figure we didn’t reach until February last winter.

 “It is hard to communicate the enormous strain NHS staff are under and how deeply the pressures affect patient care. The latest Winter Flow Project report details some of the harrowing conditions patients find themselves in and conditions in which staff are delivering care. This winter is already far worse than last winter, with the coming weeks set to take us deeper into crisis.

“Trusts are already doing all they can, opening every last bed where safely possible. The government must ensure adequate support is given to social care, as difficulties in discharging patients following their treatment has knock-on effects throughout the system and causes exit block in Emergency Departments, ambulances handover delays, and prevents ambulance crews from returning to the community and responding to emergencies.

“The public must be cautious and sensible over the Christmas period and take care of themselves and those around them. Using facemasks, washing hands, avoiding spending long periods of time in very crowded places, getting tested if you develop Covid symptoms, and getting boosted – all these practices will make a real difference in the coming weeks.”