Local learners on a high!

Local young people short-listed for learners award

Late last year I spent time with a bright and enthusiastic group of young adults at Royston Wardieburn Community Centre to plan a piece of work. Their mission? To choose a subject of relevance to young people, research and then write an article on that subject for North Edinburgh News.

The group has now produced their article (see below) – and all their hard work is to be recognised too!

Community Learning & Development tutor Karen Riddell, who supported the group during the project, explained: “They really were a vibrant group of young people with strong opinions and it was great to see them engage with the topic and undertake the various activities related to building their skills and putting the article together.

“The group was nominated for an Edinburgh Adult Learners Achievement Award and I’m delighted to say that they have been short-listed for an award in the Young Adults Category.”

The Tomorrow’s People team will learn their fate at an event at the City Chambers on 20 May. Fingers crossed for you, guys – and here’s your article …

LEGAL HIGHS: Is It Worth It?

Local young people speak out against ‘legal highs’

We are a group of young people from Pilton who have just spent 16 weeks on the Tomorrow’s People employability programme. Part of our course helped us brush up on our literacy and critical thinking skills through a weekly CLD Practical Journalism course held at Royston Wardieburn Community Centre.

Dave Pickering, the editor at the North Edinburgh News, very kindly gave us the opportunity to write an article for his paper, so after much debate we decided to research and write about Legal Highs.

We compiled a local survey and found out that most of the young people who responded to the survey had either used Legal Highs or knew someone who had. The main reasons cited were: they were easy to get, friends were trying them, they’re cheap – at least half the price of illegal drugs, they give you a really good high, taking them gives you something to do, boredom and peer pressure.

Even although a high percentage of young people surveyed had used them without any serious long term consequences, we did find out that at least 68 people died last year as a direct result of using them, so they are not quite as harmless as some people think.

We found that their name made them quite misleading and people thought it meant they were pretty safe to use. The truth is that drugs councilors now advise their clients to stick to their heroin as legal highs are even more dangerous, burning the skin as it is injected and causing blistering and serious infection.

Most people who completed the questionnaire had also tried illegal drugs and strongly felt that these were safer than Legal highs. As a group, we definitely agreed with that.

We also feel that the government are failing to make drug taking safer. No matter what you might feel about drugs, a lot of people from literally all walks of life use them and are going to continue to do so. David Cameron dodges the issue for fear of losing votes and insists that ‘What is in place is working’ despite the fact that over 2500 people died from drugs-related causes last year in the UK.

Is it not time to follow Portugal and make drugs a health issue rather than a criminal one so that people are offered more protection? In Portugal they found that de-criminalising it didn’t bring about any increase in the level of drug use by people and also that millions was saved on the essentially ineffectual enforcement of drug laws.

Across Europe clubs have drug-testing facilities so that people can test substances before they take them – surely that must offer people more protection than kidding on that ‘what is in place is working’!

A recent Home Office report that we looked at said that having tough drugs laws didn’t make any difference to the level of drug use but Home Secretary Teresa May had this part of the report removed and it was only found out about when Norman Baker revealed the findings after he resigned! This just goes to show that governments make useless drug laws to kid on they are in control of the problem when they’re really just doing it as a vote catcher.

Present policy bears no relation to the reality of people’s recreational drug use and it’s time for the government to introduce some new policies to protect its citizens and not put their own vote-catching first.

We need much better drug education to help us keep ourselves safe, and the obvious place for this to take place is in schools. We felt strongly that a peer to peer support programme in schools would help young people make informed choices about drug use and help keep them safer.

Our research found that young people felt there needed to be far more opportunities for young people in the work-place and much better affordable or subsidised recreational facilities to offer them the chance to experience other kinds of ‘legal highs’, their own ‘natural highs’ like ski-ing, skating, abseiling, snow-boarding, canoeing, dirt-biking, go-karting etc. Risk-taking is part of brain-development for young people and we need to offer them the opportunity to explore this in a safer environment.

Drugs become a problem when there is little else in the drug users lives. We found out that in an experiment, mice which were separated from other mice kept going back to drink the drug-laced water whereas mice that lived in groups didn’t. The experiment showed that lack of strong emotional bonds in your life can drive you to bond with legal highs or drugs instead.

They say it takes a community to bring up a child so that’s why it’s very important for us to work together to stop the reckless experimentation that can lead to addiction, to value the young people of Pilton and provide them with the support they need to keep their use of drugs and alcohol to an acceptable level and help them realise their potential.

It seems to us that one of the worst thing about legal highs is the hypocrisy of supposedly ‘respectable’ shop-keepers who are prepared to stock them in the full knowledge that people, especially young people, buy them to consume them. We feel a local campaign should be set up to stop these shops from selling them.

Good websites:

(1)Anyone’s Child; Families for Safer Drug Control – www.anyoneschild.org

(2) Release.org

Food conference follow-up tomorrow

Taking the next steps forward to tackle food poverty

Pilton Community Health Project recently produced a report on December’s ‘Good Food for All’ conference which focused on food poverty in North Edinburgh.

http://pchp.org.uk/sites/default/files/resource/files/Good%20food%20for%20all%20final%20report.pdf

The report identifies a number of issues that we, as people living and working in the community, cannot solve ourselves. We need action on policy issues

Particularly:

– Living wages

– Job creation and security

– Social security and the punitive sanctions regime

– Better recognition of the contribution that this local community makes towards improving its own food culture and access to affordable, fresh, healthy food and further support for this

– The role of business in the provision of food.

You are invited to a meeting on Tuesday 28 April from 10 – 12 at Pilton Community Health Project to discuss how we might go about having our voices heard on these issues.

Please let me know if you are able to attend.
Anita Aggarwal (Community Development Manager)

Pilton Community Health Project

73 Boswall Parkway, Edinburgh, EH5 2PW

Telephone 0131 551 1671

anitaaggarwal@pchp.org.uk

www.pchp.org.uk

Wild Horses wouldn’t keep her away!

Susan Boyle serenades residents during music session

Scottish singing sensation Susan Boyle, who has sold over 20 million albums since being discovered on Britain’s Got Talent in 2009, made a surprise visit to specialist health and social care service Penumbra Milestone last week.

Grammy-nominated Susan took time out of her busy schedule to visit the ten-bed residential service for people recovering from alcohol related brain damage (ARBD). During her visit she was given a guided tour by Service Manager Lesley Forbes and spent time listening to a residents’ music group.

The singer, who is due to head into the studio to record a new album later this month, was invited to visit Penumbra Milestone by a former service user.

Dr Mathew Hicks, who runs the music group at Penumbra Milestone, said: “Our music therapy group aims to encourage recovery from ARBD. Performing and listening to music helps residents to improve memory, coordination and motivation.

“When we told residents that Susan Boyle was coming to the therapy group they thought we were joking. When she arrived they were amazed.

“Susan listened to the music and chatted to staff and residents. Towards the end of her visit she sang one of her biggest hits – Wild Horses. It was an amazing experience to hear her sing in person – we were mesmerised!”

Penumbra Milestone is a partnership between mental health charity Penumbra, Waverly Care, NHS Lothian and Edinburgh City Council’s Department of Health and Social Care. It is an alcohol-free 10-bedded step-down unit which provides short-term care for vulnerable men and women, aged 18+, who have a diagnosis of ARBD.

Speaking about the service Graeme Henderson, Director of Services and Development at Penumbra, said: “Penumbra Milestone is an innovative step-down unit which bridges the gap between hospital and community based care. The service has been designed to ease the pressure on acute hospital beds caused by the lengthy stay of people diagnosed with ARBD.

“This joined-up approach makes the NHS more efficient and improves the care provided to people by drawing on the valuable range of skills in the third sector, NHS and council services.

“Penumbra Milestone offers the ideal environment in which people experiencing ARBD can be supported, allowing them to transition back into the community when they are ready.”

While Penumbra Milestone began accepting referrals late last year, it will be officially opened next Thursday (23 April) when actress, comedienne and campaigner Elaine C. Smith – who coincidently played Susan Boyle in a musical based on the singer’s life – will be the special guest.

for more information about Penumbra visit www.Penumbra.org.uk

Twitter (@Penumbra_Scot)

and Facebook (Facebook/PenumbraScotland).

Book your seat at PCHP exercise training course

This weekend (Sat 18th & Sun 19th April) Pilton Community Health Project (PCHP) are very excited to be piloting a brand new ‘Seated Exercise Training Course’.

This has been developed by PCHP’s Physical Activity Development Worker in partnership with Specialist Instructors and Physiotherapists, in response to long term local need in North Edinburgh (and beyond).

For a number of years the physical activity development work at the PCHP has identified (and attempted to fill) a gap in the provision of regular physical activity for older people in residential homes, sheltered housing and lunch clubs. We strongly believe that every older person should have access to regular and FREE activity sessions that will maintain functionality and improve quality of life.

Please share this around your networks, there are still 3 or 4 spaces available on the training and it would be a real shame to see them go to waste!

Furthermore, since this is the first pilot it is FREE OF CHARGE!

Do you or someone you know work with (or would like to work with) older adults in North Edinburgh?

Do you or someone you know have an interest in and appreciation of the importance of keeping active in later life?

Are you interested in learning about the effects of ageing on the body and how this impacts health?

Would you like to gain new skills and knowledge around leading activity sessions for specialist groups?

Would you like to volunteer to deliver seated exercise sessions in North Edinburgh that might improve the health of older people?

If you can answer yes to any of these questions then this training might be just what you are looking for!

The training will be taking place at Pilton Community Health Project as follows:

Sat 18^th April 9.30am-3.45pm

Sun 19^th Apr 10.00am-3.15pm

If you are interested in taking part then please get in touch with liannepipskyj@pchp.org.uk or call 0131 551 1671 asap to secure your place!

Healthy regards

Lianne Pipskyj (Development Worker – Physical Activity)

Pilton Community Health Project

73 Boswall Parkway Edinburgh, EH5 2PW

0131 551 1671

liannepipskyj@pchp.org.uk

www.pchp.org.uk

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Sports quiz support for Sick Kids

‘during these worrying times the Drop-In Centre is a haven’ – Michelle (mum)

The Sick Kids Friends Foundation (SKFF) is calling on sports fans to pit their knowledge against rival teams at this year’s Ultimate Sports Quiz to help the charity raise funds for the Drop in Centre at the children’s hospital.

The Foundation is looking for supporters to enter teams of five or ten to battle it out at The Ghillie Dhu on Thursday 23 April, after last year’s event raised £10,700 for the hospital’s Wayfinding signpost system.

This year the charity aims to raise £18,500 for the SKFF Drop in Centre, which provides a non-clinical atmosphere where patients, siblings, families and friends can spend time together away from the hospital.

Last year the centre welcomed more than 650 patients and 1,700 parents, including the Harnwell family of Rosyth in Fife. Mum Michelle visits the Drop in Centre regularly when accompanying her 7-year-old daughter Olivia and 9-year-old son Ben (pictured top) to appointments at the RHSC.

Michelle said: “Olivia has cerebral palsy and as a result visits the Sick Kids regularly for crucial orthopaedic appointments. My son Ben also has acute lymphoblastic leukaemia so we visit the hospital every month so he can receive life-saving chemotherapy treatment and blood and platelet transfusions.

“During these worrying times the Drop in Centre is a haven – it’s somewhere you can go for a relaxing, reliable chat located within the hospital grounds. The team are second to none and their professional, empathetic and approachable nature always puts me at ease.

“As well as having the opportunity to meet with other parents who are going through a similar experience, the centre provides complementary therapy which helps keep you sane after spending hours in the hospital ward worrying about your little one.”

The SKFF’s Drop in Centre was the first of its kind in the UK when it opened its doors in 2006 and the funds raised from the Ultimate Sports Quiz will help to meet the £135,000 the charity invests in the centre each year.

SKFF supporters and sports buffs attending this year’s quiz will be treated to a drink and tasty supper before having the opportunity to get their hands on priceless sporting items at the event auction.

The quiz itself will be hosted by Scottish sport pundit Scott Wilson and quizmaster Johnny Craig.

Rachel McKenzie, head of voluntary fundraising at the Sick Kids Friends Foundation, said: “We’re very excited to welcome quiz teams from across Edinburgh to join long-time SKFF supporter Scott Wilson at the eighth annual Ultimate Sports Quiz.

“I know Scott will have no problem putting attendees’ sporting knowledge under the spotlight on what is sure to be a great night of fun and fundraising. There’s still time to secure your place and help us continue to fund a fantastic facility which benefits thousands of families each year, including the Harnwells.”

The SKFF’s Ultimate Sports Quiz takes place from 7pm on Thursday, 23 April at The Ghillie Dhu, 2 Rutland Street.

Tickets are priced at £45 per person, £225 for a team of five or £450 for a team of ten and can be purchased from Linda Cameron on 0131 668 4949 or linda.cameron@luht.scot.nhs.uk.

Childrens services coalition urges more spending on mental health

A coalition of children’s service providers has launched a petition, calling on the Scottish Government to plough its £25m share of additional UK Government spending on mental health services from the Budget to improve mental health services for vulnerable children and young people in Scotland.

The Scottish Children’s Services Coalition (SCSC) – members include Falkland House School, Mindroom, Spark of Genius, Who Cares? Scotland, Young Foundations and Kindred- has launched a petition on the 38 Degrees website, calling for Scotland’s share of the £250 million extra for mental health services in England announced by the UK Government in the Budget for this year (£1.25bn over the next 5 years) to go towards Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) north of the border.

Scotland’s Commissioner for Children and Young People, in evidence to the UK Joint Committee for Human Rights (JCHR) this week, raised several concerns about both access to clinical mental health services and the quality of treatment that children and young people in Scotland receive.

The petition is available to sign on the 38 Degrees website at https://you.38degrees.org.uk/p/investinmentalhealthscot

The SCSC believes that extra funding for CAMHS, which are under increasing pressure in Scotland and have seen a 60% increase in referrals over the last 2 years, could help address and improve significantly key problem areas like:

Diagnosis and treatment wait times

Half of Scotland’s Health Boards are failing to meet an 18-week Scottish Government waiting time target for treatment from CAMHS which came into force in December 2014 and five are failing to meet a 26-week target dating from March 2013.¹

This is set against a background of a 10 fold increase in waiting times for those waiting more than 13 weeks to access services from 20 in December 2013 to 226 in December 2014.

An increased number of children and young people being sent to non-specialist units

According to figures from the Mental Welfare Commission (MWC) the number of children and young people being admitted to non-specialist units such as adult and paediatric wards has increased from 177 last year to 202 (174 adult and 28 paediatric) meaning that they may not be getting the appropriate support they require.²

This situation has been worsened due to a lack of inpatient beds, 42 in all of Scotland, a totally inadequate figure, reinforced by a 60% increase in the number of those being referred to CAMHS over the last two years.

There is also no secure/locked provision in Scotland for under 18s – all 3 adolescent Inpatient Psychiatric Units are open wards and there are no units for those with a severe learning disability.

Thus those with challenging behaviours and learning disabilities are oftenbeing treated in unsuitable adult or paediatric wards, or being sent miles away from their families to England, a clearly distressing situation.

SCSC Member and Director of Kindred Scotland Sophie Pilgrim said: ““We would urge people to really get behind this campaign and sign the petition to ensure that this £25m in additional funding is put into mental health services north of the border.

“At the moment mental health services in Scotland are at breaking point, with 20% of children and young people having a mental health problem in any given year, and about 10% at any one time. This is putting medical professionals are under incredible pressure, with the number of referrals for specialist child and adolescent mental health services increasing by 60% over the last two years.

“Our health professionals do fantastic work to help people suffering from mental ill health, but this is often seen as a poor relation when compared with physical health. A lack of resources in the face of dramatically increasing demand means that we are often asking medical staff to work with one hand tied behind their back.Due to a lack of adequate provision hundreds of vulnerable children and young people are being treated in unsuitable adult or paediatric wards, or being sent miles away.

“We urge that the Scottish Government takes this opportunity to go that extra mile and ensure that we have a range of mental health services available in Scotland for those who so vitally need it.”

Circuit Class is fitting replacement for Metafit

Thursday night’s first session of the Circuit Class attracted seven people with a further 5 older people turning up and putting themselves forward for next week’s session.

The Metafit formula was changed to allow older users to take part and, with more elder people joining the group, we are sure that the decision to ‘re-shape’ Metafit – as reported as reported in the NEN, our own website & and North Community Newsletter and Facebook – was the correct journey to make.

As word of mouth goes round we think we’ll get even busier so thanks to all who supported our news and to the participants – see you all next Thursday!!

James McGinty

Waiting time info now available at NHS inform

PEOPLE seeking information about waiting times in Scotland can now access this via Scotland’s national health information service, NHS inform. Queries can be directed to the national health information service on 0800 22 44 88.

The extension of the NHS inform service builds on the ‘Your Health, Your Rights‘ resource at www.nhsinform.co.uk/rights which brings together information for the public about their health rights, access to health care and national waiting times.

Developed by NHS 24 in partnership with the Scottish Government, the zone was launched in 2013 with the aim of making it easier for patients to access the information relevant to them in one place.

Health Secretary Shona Robison said: “Patients have an entitlement to be treated as quickly as possible but also at a time that fits in with their lives. The helpline provided through NHS inform will continue to give patients a single point of contact to find out more about their rights and how long they can expect to wait for treatment.

“Waiting times continue to be amongst their lowest ever levels in Scotland, and we want to make sure that patients know what they are entitled to. This information line will also help ensure that waiting times are open, transparent, and that patients receive help and support if they need it.”

NHS 24 Head of Health Information Services Lynne Huckerby added: “Our health information team are trained to answer health information queries on a wide variety of subjects from people throughout Scotland. By contacting NHS inform, people are accessing reliable health information from a trusted source.

“Directing their waiting times queries to the NHS inform phoneline will make it easier for people to access clear and accurate information on their rights and responsibilities. It allows people to access all the health information they need from a single trusted source.”

For more information, visit www.nhsinform.co.uk/rights

The NHS inform helpline is available on 0800 22 44 88, 8am to 10pm, seven days a week.

Live Well in Later Life

Drop-in event for older people at Broughton High School next week

Come along to our free drop-in event between

11am -3pm on Thursday 16 April

at Broughton High School, East Fettes Avenue.

Tea, coffee and cake will be served.

Free transport is available if booked in advance.

Call 0131 529 6552 or email rachel.howe@edinburgh.gov.uk

Live Well Inverleith Flyer

Last gasp for tobacco displays

Ban on displaying tobacco in small shops comes into force today

A ban on displaying tobacco in small shops and convenience stores comes into force today. The display of tobacco products has been illegal for large stores and supermarkets since 2012 but smaller retailers were given more time to implement the legislation.

From today, the display of tobacco products is prohibited in all premises and the ban has been welcomed by public health campaigners.

Action on Smoking and Health (Ash) says the ban is an ‘important step forward’. Welcoming the ban, Hazel Cheeseman, director of policy at Ash, said: “Two-thirds of smokers start before the age of 18, so it is vital that everything is done to put tobacco out of sight to protect future generations.

“The display ban in small shops will work hand in hand with standardised packs, which will be introduced in May 2016, to further protect children from glitzy tobacco packaging.”

Retailers’ organisations say the ban is unnecessary and that there is not enough proof that it will have a real effect on child smoking rates. There also believe there are other more effective means of stopping children from taking up smoking.

The Tobacco Retailers’ Alliance, said: “The introduction of the display ban into larger shops hasn’t even been evaluated, so how do we know it will work in smaller shops? Of course retailers will need to comply with the law but this is a further unnecessary measure that will hit small businesses.

“There will be real difficulties around its application, including longer transaction times, and the costs of implementation such as the installation of new gantries. Coming on top of plain packaging, it is an unnecessary burden on shops already struggling with red tape.”

The organisation says tobacco represents about a third of the average newsagent’s turnover and says the Government should crack down harder on the tobacco black market and increase resources to enforce the existing law on the prohibition of sales to young people.

Cancer Research UK’s director of cancer prevention, Alison Cox, said: “Smoking kills 100,000 people every year in the UK. It’s great that tobacco will no longer be in plain view of children and young people every time they go into a shop.

“Research shows that children exposed to tobacco displays are more likely to start smoking and removing these eye-catching, colourful walls of cigarettes will protect them from tobacco marketing.”