Tag: improvements

Council has made ‘a huge amount of progress’, say Council leaders

The City of Edinburgh Council has delivered sustained improvements over the last 12 months and is continuing to fulfil its longer-term commitments, according to new bench-marking reports.

Demonstrating the Council’s continued focus on investing, delivering and improving the services that matter most to residents, the city’s annual performance report reveals good progress in a number of key areas while also recognising there is room for improvement still to be made.

The findings will be considered alongside the latest Local Government Benchmarking Framework and an update on the Capital’s Coalition Commitments.

Elected members will discuss achievements to date – including improvements in road and waste services, reducing carbon emissions and increasing educational attainment – and how we are working to improve more areas at a meeting of the Policy and Sustainability Committee on Thursday (20 August).

Council Leader Adam McVey said: We’ve made a huge amount of progress over the last 12 months and the results of many of the changes we’ve introduced are clear to see.

“Thousands of new homes are being built, our road condition is getting better and educational attainment across our communities is improving. We’ve seen another significant drop in waste complaints and carbon emissions showing we can continue to improve our basic services while working towards our long term ambitions for Edinburgh. These figures show we’re recording better performance in many areas we know are important to residents.

“We’ll continue to work hard for our citizens and prioritise the issues that matter to them. We face a number of challenges which weren’t foreseen and our plans on how the City adapts to COVID will help us sustain progress, prioritise investment to drive down carbon emissions further and support those residents most in need.

“Despite the challenges which still lie ahead, we remain committed to building on all of the achievements we’ve made to date. With nearly two years until the next Council election we’re well on our way to achieving 48 of our 52 Coalition Commitments, having delivered plans for more classroom assistants and smashed our target for new trees with a net increase of more than 12,000 delivered so far.

“Major infrastructure improvements like the new Meadowbank Sports Centre and Tram to Newhaven are crucial to our City’s wellbeing and sustainable future as are the thousands of new low-carbon homes being built. COVID has shown us how fragile progress can be but it’s also shown us how much we can do with the will to do it.”

Depute Leader Cammy Day said: “We deliver over 700 services every year for residents and visitors, from Council housing and care homes to making sure children receive the right start in life and the education they deserve.

“As we provide these services, our priority is to support our most vulnerable residents, focus on sustainable growth and address poverty – so I’m pleased to see a lot of improvements made in areas like health, the environment and education.

“While a great amount of progress has been made, there are still areas for improvement and we’re working to address these. The inequality gap still exists and we will continue to do all we can to make Edinburgh a more inclusive city, particularly as we recover from the COVID pandemic.

Alongside annual progress, we also need to look to the future. Our Coalition Commitments will put measures in place to make Edinburgh the fairer, greener City we are aspiring to.

The latest performance updates emerge from work the Council has carried out to focus improvements in line with the Council’s Change Strategy, Coalition Commitments and the results of the Edinburgh 2050 City Vision.

Amongst the highlights, the set of reports record:

ROADS AND WASTE
• A drop in domestic missed bin collection requests, down >5,000 in just two years (17,690 vs 22,853 in 2017/18)
• Almost all emergency road defects made safe within 24 hours (98% vs 95% in 2018/19)
• Almost all priority road defects repaired within five days (94% vs 81% in 2018/19)

CARBON EMISSIONS
• A reduction in Council and Edinburgh Leisure emissions (37% reduction to 2005 baseline)

SCHOOLS
• More pupils achieving early level reading (84%) and school leaver literacy and numeracy (67.1%) targets
• More school leavers heading into an initial positive destination (95.1%)

HOMES
• A rise in new homes being built (3,006 projected for this year vs 1,832 in 2017/18)
• A rise in new homes being approved (1,930 which is 230 above target vs 1,475 in 2017/18)
• A decrease in repeat presentations of homelessness (5.5% vs 7.9% in 2017/18)

HEALTH
• A downward trend in people delayed awaiting discharge from hospital (156 vs 267 in 2017/18)
• A downward trend in the number of people waiting for a package of care in hospital (48 vs 151 in 2017/18)

CUSTOMER CARE
• Increased customer satisfaction with the Council’s contact centre (76%)
• Quicker processing of claims and grants, including half the time taken for benefit claims (16.75 days vs 30.9 in 2017/18)

COUNCIL COMMITMENTS
Progress delivering Coalition Commitments (48 out of 52 fully or partially achieved), including successfully:
• Increasing the number of classroom assistants and support staff for children with additional needs to improve attainment and wellbeing
• Increasing allotment provision and support and expanding the network and the number of community gardens and food growing initiatives
• Upgrading parks and planting an additional 1,000 trees in communities
• Protecting Edinburgh World Heritage Status
• Exploring the introduction of fair rent zones, a workplace parking levy and transient visitor levy (TVL)
• Retaining Lothian Buses and Edinburgh Tram in public ownership
• Continuing the Council’s policy of no compulsory redundancies.

Kirk Loan residents celebrate walkable pathways – despite dent in new railing!

Corstorphine residents celebrated success recently following the completion of a successful partnership project, enabling residents to walk more for every day, local journeys.

Kirk Loan Residents Association have been working with Living Streets Scotland and the city council to get improvements made to local streets, meaning many residents can now reach the local shops and bus stop, instead of feeling isolated in their accommodation. Continue reading Kirk Loan residents celebrate walkable pathways – despite dent in new railing!

£9.34 million funding for improvements to GP practices

GP practices will receive more than £9 million of new funding to upgrade their premises and IT systems supporting better services for local communities.

The funding will facilitate improvements to GP practices and enhancements to make the best use of existing space. It will improve internet connectivity and also support the deployment of Attend Anywhere – an online virtual clinic that patients can link into wherever they are.

Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said: “This is a substantial investment by the Scottish Government which will support GPs, the wider primary care workforce and the communities they serve.

“The upgrades to premises and IT systems will see continued improvements to the delivery of high quality patient care, including the continued deployment of Attend Anywhere in our remote and rural areas.

“This investment is part of a wider commitment to increase general practice funding by £250 million by 2021 as part of an extra investment of £500 million per year for primary care funding. This funding together with our wider reform programme will mean additional staff working in primary care, providing better services for patients and allowing them to see the right person at the right time.”

Scottish GP Committee deputy chair Patricia Moultrie said: “This is welcome funding for GP premises and will allow partners to improve their practices and give much-need updates to IT systems.

“This funding is definitely a step in the right direction in regards to making premises fit for the multidisciplinary teams working within general practice in the future, as we look towards the development of Phase 2 of the GP contract.”

The £9.34 million will be split as below:

  • £5.14 million to fund digitisation of GP paper records and improvements to GP premises

– £5 million allocated to Integration Authorities to carry out digitisation of GP paper records and improvements to GP premises

– £0.14 million to NHS National Services Scotland to digitise paper GP records transferring between paper-light GP practices

  • £4.2 million will support implementation of Primary Care Improvement Plans (PCIPs) and improvements to GP IT, and improve practices’ internet connectivity.

– £2.2 million of this would be targeted to supporting Boards on their implementation of PCIPs and on their improvements to GP IT in 2019-20 and promoting joint working, including specific support to rural and remote areas.

– A further £1.8 million funding would be targeted to making faster progress on two other key areas of supporting infrastructure investment:

– Internet connectivity

– Staff and patient Wi-Fi in practices.

– £600,000 of the £1.8 million is going to be used to pay for the on-going costs of practices which have already had their internet connection upgraded. This cost wasn’t paid from the Primary Care Fund previously and is a direct result of previous investment to improve internet connections. Around £100,000 is identified for upgrading further practice internet connections.

– The remaining £200,000 would be targeted at supporting the deployment of Attend Anywhere to remote and rural GP practices.

  • The new GP contract developed in partnership with the BMA, is helping to cut doctors’ workload. Along with investment in multi-disciplinary teams is making the career even more attractive to new doctors, and helping patients to be seen at the right time by the right person.
  • A central aim of the new GP contract is to focus GP time on complex care, while building capacity in the wider multi-disciplinary team.

 

 

Prepare for more roads disruption: now it’s the A7

A major £1.5 million resurfacing project on one of Edinburgh’s major arterial routes will start next week. Work on the main road stretching from South Bridge to Newington Road is expected to take three months and will mean considerable disruption for both commuters and local residents. Continue reading Prepare for more roads disruption: now it’s the A7

Leith’s Kirkgate set for revamp

kirkgate

It’s been looking a bit tired and run-down for quite a while now, but Leith’s Kirkgate is set to be transformed as part of a plan to improve the area.

Changes will see the addition of trees, uplighting and new seating arrangements, as well as the removal of the tusk feature outside the New Kirkgate shopping centre.

Aimed at creating a safer and more attractive space at the bottom of Leith Walk, the proposals have been approved by Leith Neighbourhood Partnership  following feedback from local residents.

More than 1000 Leithers responded online and in person to a survey that sought their views on the proposed changes. 

Councillor Lesley Hinds, Transport Convener, said: “By listening to the views of local people we hope to create a safer, more attractive atmosphere for all those visiting or passing through the area. This work will complement the ongoing programme to improve Leith Walk, which has already received lots of positive feedback from the public.”

The Kirkgate improvements will come alongside ongoing work to upgrade the bottom of Leith Walk, as part of the Leith Programme, in addition to internal development to Kirkgate shopping centre.

Queen Victoria Leith

As well as enhancing the appearance of the area, the new design aims to create a safe, welcoming space for locals, retaining the Queen Victoria statue at the foot of Leith Walk (above) and making the entrance to the shopping centre more open and accessible.

Find out more about the Leith Programme on the Council website.