Tag: Health and wellbeing

Long COVID: Committee report urges Scottish Government to address stigma and improve awareness

HOLYROOD’s COVID-19 Recovery Committee has published its report on Long COVID and post-COVID syndrome, urging the Scottish Government to take action to address the stigma surrounding the condition and improve awareness among the public and healthcare professionals.

The inquiry focussed on the awareness and recognition, therapy and rehabilitation, and study and research linked to Long COVID, with the Committee noting “concern” in their findings over reports of patients being unable to get the correct diagnosis and the lack of treatment for common conditions associated with the condition.

The Committee said it was “deeply saddened” to learn about the stigma faced by those with lived and living experience of Long COVID, and the report highlights the impact that the lack of awareness and recognition of Long COVID can have on those with the condition.

The Committee also recommended the Scottish Government:

Works with the National Strategic Network and health boards to establish a single point of contact for Long COVID patients in every health board and develops standardised guidance.

  • In partnership with the National Strategic Network, provide a leadership role in reviewing the best practice of Long COVID clinics and evaluate whether they may be an appropriate development in Scotland.
  • Implement a public health campaign to raise awareness of long COVID and the impact it can have on individuals’ health and wellbeing.
  • Reviews the current booster vaccination publicity strategy to reduce apathy and encourage uptake.
  • Supports improving the integration of health boards and the third sector to provide self-management services for Long COVID.

Throughout the four-month inquiry, the Committee took evidence from a broad range of academics, clinicians and those living with Long COVID about the complex nature of the symptoms and the apparent lack of any lessons being learned from other chronic illnesses such as ME/CFS.

The Committee also made calls for more data on the prevalence of Long COVID to be gathered and noted the impact that incorrect coding of the condition can have on the accuracy of data, alongside encouraging improved use of data deployment into clinical practice.

Commenting, Committee Convener, Jim Fairlie MSP said: “The report sets out the urgent need for the Scottish Government to take action to address the stigma and lack of awareness surrounding Long COVID and to improve the diagnosis and treatment for individuals living with this condition.

“Throughout the inquiry we’ve been deeply saddened and concerned to hear of the stigma being faced by those with lived and living experience of Long COVID and the impact this lack of awareness can have on people’s mental health and wellbeing, their educational and employment opportunities and their overall quality of life.

“We’ve now made several recommendations including establishing a single point of contact in health boards, increased leadership by the Scottish Government in assessing the effectiveness of Long-COVID clinics, raising awareness and understanding of the condition and making better use of health data.

“The recommendations made in our report must now be acted on to ensure that the stigma associated with long COVID is addressed, enabling those suffering from the condition to receive the recognition and support they both need and deserve.

“The Committee also wants to, once again, thank all of those who participated in the inquiry and recognise in particular the input from those with experience of the condition, whose evidence helped shape this inquiry from the outset and these recommendations to the Scottish Government.”  

The report is available online

Dementia book launch at Stockbridge Library

Are you interested in learning more about dementia and how to support those who are affected by it? Do you have dementia and have questions about what it all means? A new self-help book, “FAQs on Dementia” written by Tom Russ and Michael Huddleston comes out today!

To celebrate this exciting release, there will be a book launch event at Stockbridge library on Friday 5th May, from 3.30pm-4.30pm. The event will feature the authors, and some friends and colleagues with dementia. Representatives from Alzheimer Scotland, Brain Health Scotland, the NRS Neuroprogressive and Dementia Research Network will be there to share information.

The Golden Hare bookshop will be in attendance to sell the book, so you will have the chance to buy your own copy at the event.

Here’s an extract from the blurb:

Will my partner stop loving me now they have dementia?

Does my mum have to go into a home now?

Is dementia a terminal illness?

All these questions, and hundreds more, are covered in this short but powerful, helpful, practical guide to understanding the nature, and impact, of dementia. Read at your leisure, or dip in and out when you most need the support or to shine a light on the issues and concerns that are making you uncomfortable or unhappy, and to bring them out of the shadows so you can understand and accept them.

Healthy Heart Tip: Get On Your Feet

Heart Research UK Healthy Heart Tip, written by the Health Promotion and Education Team at Heart Research UK

Healthy Heart Tip: Get On Your Feet

Thursday 27th April is ‘On Your Feet Britain’, a national activity awareness day to promote the benefits of sitting less and moving more.

Decreasing the amount of time we spend sitting can contribute to reducing your risk of developing heart diseases. The key is to make small, sustainable changes to your usual daily routines, making more movement and less sitting easy to achieve.

Here we detail a few ways you can do this:

Walking meetings and phone calls

Lots of us work at desks most days, making movement difficult. Challenge your organisation to allow walking meetings. Especially as the weather warms up it can be a great way to get in some extra steps.

If you don’t have a desk-based job or attend meetings, you could still take every phone call you receive or make outside and walk while chatting.

Set movement reminders

We live in a world full of technologies we can use to our advantage to help improve our health. Your smart phone can be a fantastic tool to encourage you to stand more and take part in movement.

Set up multiple daily alarms throughout your day to remind you to stand up and move. This could look like four alarms spread out throughout the day and when the alarm goes off you pop your trainers on and go for a 10-minute walk.

Look for opportunities for movement

If we spend a bit of energy looking for opportunities to move more, we can usually find them. For example, if you are out shopping, take the stairs rather than the elevator or get off the bus a stop early and walk a little bit further.

If you drive for the daily school drop off, park a little further away and get moving with the kids before school. It doesn’t have to be lots of time spent in one go, just little chunks of time that add up throughout the day.

For more tips on how to stay healthy, sign up for our weekly healthy tips at www.heartresearch.org.uk/health-tips.

Miles Briggs raises safety concerns over asbestos in Lothian schools

110 schools across Edinburgh contain asbestos

During Education and Skills portfolio questions yesterday at the Scottish Parliament, Lothian MSP, Miles Briggs asked the Cabinet Secretary for Education  and Skills Jenny Gilruth, about the safety of schools in Scotland.

Mr Briggs said how it is critical that this government and councils acts as quickly as possible to remove asbestos from the Scottish schools estate to ensure that pupils, teachers and staff across Scotland are learning and working in a safe environment.

Across the Lothians 241 schools contain asbestos – 110 in Edinburgh (details below), 31 in East Lothian, 18 in Midlothian and 82 in West Lothian. In the last year, 58 schools had asbestos removed – 20 in Edinburgh, 0 in Midlothian, 38 in West Lothian and East Lothian declined to provide the information.

The Scottish Conservatives have previously criticised the SNP for continuing to pass on “savage” cuts to local authorities, meaning schools don’t have the resources to remove asbestos from school buildings.

The Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills of Scotland, herself a former teacher, was asked “what progress has the Scottish Government made in removing asbestos from schools, what impact assessment has been undertaken to look at where currently asbestos is in the school estate and where this will be removed and what timescale will government develop to make sure this happens”.

In response, Ms. Gilruth acknowledged the importance of the issue and said: “Obviously a number of the schools that we are talking about are historically old buildings, I confess that the last building that I worked in, over in Fife, had asbestos in it.

“It is soon to be replaced by a brand new building thanks to this government. I think that’s hugely important as we move forward in improving the school estate, but we will need to recognise some of the challenge here”.

Lothian MSP, Miles Briggs, said: “The danger of asbestos is common knowledge.

“Despite this we still have over 240 schools in across Lothian which still contain this hazardous material.

“It is vital that pupils, teachers and staff across Scotland are learning and working in a safe environment.

“Continued underfunding of local authorities by SNP Ministers makes it extremely difficult for council to carry out the necessary work in our school estates to remove asbestos.”

The TUC has highlighted the dangers of asbestos today, International Workers Memorial Day. Asbestos is the biggest cause of work-related deaths in Britain.

TUC’s Sally Asquith said: “Schools are some of the most likely buildings to contain asbestos, but also the most obvious site for safe removal.

“Many schools desperately need repair or replacing anyway: the Department for Education has admitted a serious risk of collapse in many school buildings. We know more than 90 per cent of schools contain asbestos, and that the rate of mesothelioma diagnoses among former teachers is rising rapidly, so the need for removal is urgent. In the past six months alone, four schools in England had to close after asbestos was disturbed.

“As well as providing adequate support, and research, for those affected, the only real way to prevent asbestos-related illness in the long term is to remove the substance once and for all.

“Only by removing asbestos from all public buildings can we avoid future risk of exposure and stop the thousands of early – and entirely preventable – deaths from this dreadful, fatal illness.”

#IWMD

Edinburgh

A total of 110 schools contain asbestos:

Nursery/EYC – 21

Primary – 73

High School – 12

Special – 4

We have removed asbestos from 20 schools since 1st April 2022.

New Perinatal Befriending Service to support parents impacted by neonatal experiences

Aberlour Children’s Charity is today launching a service which offers vital emotional and befriending support to parents impacted by neonatal experiences. 

The new Aberlour Perinatal Befriending Service is for families living in the Lothians whose babies are born at 34 weeks’ gestation or later and have received neonatal care through the NICU at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.

Following a pilot in the neonatal unit last year, the charity concluded that whilst becoming a new parent can be an exciting and challenging time – parents whose babies have needed specialist neonatal care are at greater risk of increased anxiety and isolation. 

It is estimated that parents of babies with a neonatal experience are 40% more likely to develop perinatal mental health difficulties. Parents with neonatal babies born at 34 weeks’ or later were identified as a cohort requiring enhanced support.

Funding secured from the National Lottery Community Fund, East Lothian Council, William Grant Foundation and the Charles Gordon Foundation has enabled Aberlour to establish the new Perinatal Befriending Service.

It aims to connect with parents at the earliest opportunity both in hospital, community or home settings, building relationships to support parents and babies throughout pregnancy and in the first year of baby’s life.

Working in parallel with the charity’s NHS partners, the service will offer in person support from a Perinatal Coordinator, a 1:1 match with a Perinatal Befriender and bespoke digital support all of which connects parents, improves emotional wellbeing, reduces isolation and supports positive relationships between parents and babies. It also recognises the significance of sustaining wider family relationships. 

Perinatal befrienders are dedicated trained volunteers who are matched to parents and offer emotional listening support and help accessing services and activities in the community.

The launch of the service coincides with the launch of Aberlour’s Perinatal Connections app. As a result of listening to mums and gathering data, a gap was identified in mental health support services outside normal working hours for new and expectant mums.

The app has been developed to offer a safe, facilitated space for new and expectant mothers supported by Aberlour to connect with each other and access information and resources whenever they wish.

Emma Cashmore-Gordon, Assistant Director at Aberlour, said: “We are thrilled to be able to establish the new Perinatal Befriending Service. It’s great to see all the strands come together and provide greater support – Perinatal Coordinator, Perinatal Befrienders and the new app.

“Knowing that we can help families who have received neonatal care, in particular parents of babies born 34 weeks+ who really will benefit from the enhanced support is amazing. Special thanks to the Pilgrim Trust who funded the pilot and to all our other funders who have helped bring the service to fruition.”  

Megan, parent of Rosie, said: “The help I got from the service and the relationship with my befriender was unique. When I look back, I’m a totally different person now, when I have rough times, I can get through a day at a time”.

£15 million mental health funding

Community support for third year of fund to help more projects

Projects to support mental health and address social isolation and loneliness in adults will share a further £15 million this year.

The Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund for adults, launched in 2021, has now provided around 3,300 grants to community organisations delivering mental health and wellbeing support, bringing total investment to £51 million.  

Activities will target older people, areas of economic deprivation, people with  long term health conditions or disability and LGBTI communities. The Fund has also had a particular focus on responding to the cost of living crisis, which remains a priority this year.

Improved mental health and wellbeing support is one of the commitments in the Scottish Government’s Policy Prospectus, which outlines firm actions to be achieved by 2026.

Health Secretary Michael Matheson visited Pause and Breathe, a social enterprise, in High Bonnybridge yesterday (Friday 21 April) where he announced the additional funding. 

He said: “This investment reflects the importance we place on promoting good mental health and early intervention for those facing mental health challenges –  ensuring that people can access a range of different types of help to match their needs.

“The Fund will continue to support a range of valuable community mental health and wellbeing projects, reflecting one of the priorities set out by the First Minister earlier this week.”

Pause and Breathe was awarded £10,000 from last year’s fund to offer a variety of wellbeing sessions and activities. Work is underway to change a building that has lain unused in High Bonnybridge for 20 years.

Managing Director Susie Hooper said: “This funding will enable us to hold free weekly wellbeing sessions throughout the whole year and means we can support people who wouldn’t otherwise attend due to financial constraints.”

Abortion Rights Scotland – supporting safe, legal, NHS abortion services

Saturday 22nd April Edinburgh 11am-1pm

THIS MORNING (Saturday), Abortion Rights Scotland is celebrating the fifty-fifth anniversary of the date the 1967 Abortion Act became law in England, Scotland, and Wales, from eleven am to 1pm on Lothian Road Edinburgh – Usher Hall side – because on the other side of the road, SPUC (the Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child) are holding their protest against access safe, legal, local abortion, provided and delivered by the NHS. 

The SPUC protest against safe legal abortion and the feminist celebration of the Abortion Act, are both now in their tenth year – two years missed because of lockdown.

Audrey Brown, retired NHS abortion care consultant, says: “NHS Scotland has long supported women to make their own choices about pregnancy.

 “Abortion care is extremely safe, and in fact is safer than continuing a pregnancy. NHS doctors, nurses and midwives working in abortion care are trained to provide a safe and supportive service.

“The majority of women now choose early medical abortion in the privacy of their own home. Restricting access to abortion won’t stop abortion, it will push it underground and make it less safe. We must continue to support free, safe and legal NHS abortion care.”

The counter-vigil against the anti-abortion protest, is both in support of the continuing right to safe, legal, local abortion in Scotland, provided and delivered by the NHS, but also standing with people in countries like Poland and the United States, where the anti-abortion movement has achieved its goal of denying free access to safe legal abortion.

SPUC’s frequent assertion is that they want to make this essential reproductive healthcare “unthinkable” – and most people in Scotland oppose that goal.

SPUC has organised a ‘Pro Life Chain’ event from 11am – 1pm

Organisers say: ‘Remember the lives hurt and lost through abortion by attending SPUC’s 2023 Pro-Life Chain. This peaceful act of witness spreads the message that abortion kills unborn children and hurts women and families.’

New online self-harm support service available Scotland-wide 

Self-Harm Network Scotland (SHNS) has launched a new online self-harm support service for  people aged 12+ across Scotland.

The new online service is in addition to its three existing  locality-based services which recently opened up across Dundee, Glasgow and the Highlands  and Islands. People can visit the online service here: selfharmnetworkscotland.org.uk 

The SHNS service is operated by Penumbra Mental Health, a pioneering charity providing  dedicated services for people with mild to serious enduring mental ill health. SHNS is funded by the Scottish government. 

People who experience self-harm will be able to access support via the portal and receive a  response within 24 hours of the team receiving their details. From there, the team will  provide and/or connect people to the most suitable ongoing support. 

Furthermore, the portal was created to provide recovery-focussed support, tools and  information that anyone can access to enable people to support themselves and others. This  includes sections for those who self-harm, people supporting someone who self-harms, and  professionals working with someone who self-harms. 

The power of lived and living experience has helped to shape the portal from the beginning.  An internal reference group was set up which consisted of people with lived experience, and  practitioners and managers of self-harm services across Penumbra.

Supported people were either present on these calls or gave feedback through their practitioners throughout the  process of creating the portal. 

Penumbra Mental Health is the largest employer of mental health peer workers in Scotland  with 29% of its teams in peer support roles. 

At SHNS, all of our peer practitioners have lived experience of self-harm. They bring an  understanding of what people who live with self-harm might be experiencing, and will work  with each person to find out what matters in their life and offer support to find healthier  coping strategies. 

Shona McBain, Senior Practitioner for the new self-harm portal service, tells us a bit about  her background and what working for this new service means to her:  “I first found out about Penumbra Mental Health when I was 16 years old and received  support from their Aberdeen self-harm support service.

“They helped me to understand where  my self-harm was coming from, and that it was just my way of coping with other difficulties in my life. They gave me the space to work through what was going on in my life and I began  to process a lot of what I hadn’t previously. 

“I knew I wanted to help people in a similar way, and after going to college to study social  sciences, I eventually ended up working for Penumbra at the same Aberdeen service I  reached out to when I was just 16. Later on, I was invited to take part in the SHNS internal  reference group for the portal and eventually landed the role as senior practitioner.  

“I think one thing that has struck me throughout this process is just how much the portal has  been designed for the people using it, from the look and feel to the content itself. People  with lived experience, like myself, have been involved from the beginning to ensure that the  portal is as accessible and functional for as many people as possible. 

“There are local self-harm support services dotted throughout Scotland, but the portal itself  has been designed to fill the gap around self-harm support. Whatever area of Scotland you  are based in, you can access support via the portal. Whether that be 1:1 support, or you’re  just looking for some information and resources that you can undertake in your own time. 

“We want to break the stigma around self-harm. By offering this online resource to both  family/friends and professional’s working with someone who self-harms, we hope to give  people the confidence to start talking about it. Self-harm isn’t something we should fear, but  something we can better understand in order to support ourselves, loved ones and co workers.” 

Healthy Heart Tip: Spotlight on Stress

Heart Research UK Healthy Heart Tip, written by the Health Promotion and Education Team at Heart Research UK

Healthy Heart Tip: Spotlight on Stress

April is National Stress Awareness Month, which aims to highlight the negative health impact stress can have on us.

Proactively managing our stress levels by scheduling in self-care practices is an important part of staying healthy. Specifically relating to heart health, those with higher levels of stress tend to make less healthy lifestyle choices such as not exercising and not eating a balanced diet.

If we are chronically stressed we may also use less healthy coping mechanisms such as drinking more alcohol or eating too much sugar.

Stress is an inevitable part of life, but we can take positive steps to limit its impact on our health.

Take time to recharge

Scheduling in time to recharge throughout your day is a great way to mitigate stress. This could be something as simple as getting outdoors and going for a walk or stepping away from work and listening to some calming music for 10 minutes.

More and more people are turning to meditation to recharge and reduce stress, there are some great free apps available.

Prioritise food and sleep

If we are well-rested and well-nourished, we are more able to handle stressful events. Prioritising your daily seven to nine hours of sleep will ensure you are full of energy and ready to tackle the day, whatever it may bring.

Put steps in place to ensure you keep up with healthy eating even when you are feeling stressed. Prepping your food in advance can help as it makes you less likely to reach for a less healthy option when you may be feeling stressed at the end of the day.

Limit your exposure to the news

While staying on top of worldwide affairs is important for some people, consuming it too often or too much can have a negative impact on our stress levels.

Even if you don’t realise it, these repeated small exposures to negative information (which the news can be) throughout the day will be impacting your stress levels.

Remove the news apps from your phone or turn off the notifications and set aside a specific time every day to get up to date with world events.

To help keep your heart healthy, why not try out some of our healthy recipes from our website: https://heartresearch.org.uk/heart-research-uk-recipes-2/.