The Scottish Parliament’s Cross Party Group on Stroke – of which we are secretariat, is exploring the current position of emotional support available to people affected by stroke in Scotland. Our aim is to support stroke improvements in this area.
A vital part of this is to gather the views of people affected by stroke in Scotland.
We want to know: what support you received? Was it the right support for you?
Please have your say by completing out short online survey.
Since the election of a Tory Government there has been such a severe reduction in living standards all over the country that poverty is being seen as normal.
This Tory attack on working people is deliberate policy. How else could these people be so incompetent and so wicked at the same time?
They are responsible for the continuing rise in prices daily. This autumn there has been a massive government-sponsored rise in the cost of living; the rise in electricity prices was a devastating blow to most people in the country; the price of fuel for cars, etc. has rocketed, giving the fuel suppliers millions of pounds in profits which was promptly given to shareholders while the price of heating and food rose.
The Tories now intend to show how much they don’t care as they have already announced a 10% increases later on this winter.
Yes, this is what the Tories will do and continue to do. All workers must do all they can to resist the Tories.
We would like to wish The Makaton Charity a very happy birthday. The Makaton language programme uses symbols, signs and speech to help people with communication and learning difficulties to communicate, and this Sunday 28th August, marks 50 years since the language programme first began.
It has been an honour to work with The Makaton Charity this year to create Makaton resources for NSPCC Talk PANTS. At the NSPCC, we have been supporting parents to Talk PANTS and help keep children safe from sexual abuse for nearly 10 years.
The new resources using Makaton were launched here in Scotland earlier this summer, particularly within our Inter Islands PANTS campaign, and will help keep more young people safe, by supporting children with a range of special educational needs to understand and talk about the PANTS rules.
With the help of Pantosaurus, the NSPCC’s friendly dinosaur, Talk PANTS with Makaton helps children with special educational needs to understand that their body belongs to them, and they can tell someone they trust if anything makes them feel upset or worried. The resources include a series of six short films fronted by staff and pupils.
Children with disabilities are over three times more likely to suffer abuse than their non-disabled peers and helping children with a range of needs to access our preventative messages is really important to us. We’re really grateful for the all the support from The Makaton Charity to create these resources to keep children safe.
For more information and to download the Talk PANTS with Makaton resources, visit nspcc.org.uk/pantsguides
We would like to wish all our friends at The Makaton Charity and all families who use Makaton a very happy Makaton International Awareness Day!
For a lot of children and young people, body image is a great concern. Going through physical body changes and developments is challenging enough, yet with outside influences such as social media, young people can feel even more pressure to look a certain way to fit in.
Every summer, we are confronted by advertisements asking if we are ‘beach body ready’. Here at Childline, we have seen just how much these advertisements, messages and perceptions can affect the way in which young people view themselves.
Between April 2021 and March 2022, Childline delivered 5,085 counselling sessions on the topic of struggling with eating and body image in Scotland and across the rest of the UK – a 6% increase from 4,787 in 2019/20.
We believe one of the reasons that children and young people are feeling low about their appearance is the increasing amount of time they spend on social media, particularly since the pandemic. Some young people in Scotland have told Childline’s trained counsellors that they feel insecure and self-conscious about their weight after seeing images of others on social media platforms.
Here at Childline, we would like to remind all children that the service’s counsellors are here to support them and that they don’t have to cope alone.
They can contact our counsellors on 0800 1111 or online at www.childline.org.uk, where they can visit the ‘my body’ advice page and also speak to other young people who might be feeling the same away via moderated message boards.
It can be difficult for parents and carers to keep up with online technology because it changes so quickly, but it’s something that children and young people deal with every day.
There’s been lots of news about the metaverse being the next big development in online technology, but it’s important to know exactly what it is, and what risks it could pose to children and young people.
The metaverse is an online environment where users can take part in activities which they might already enjoy offline or in the ‘real world’. For example, people can go shopping, have dinner, or watch a film at a virtual cinema. Some experts call it a ‘3D internet’.
Companies use technology to allow users to access the metaverse using a headset to create a more immersive ‘real-life experience’.
The NSPCC is concerned that there’s no age-assurance in the metaverse, so anyone can go online and pretend to be younger or older than they really are. This makes it easier for children to access inappropriate material or digital environments where they could be at risk, and easier for online offenders to groom, bully or abuse children.
When it comes to ensuring your child is safe online, talking with them regularly about their online life means they will feel relaxed about telling you if they do have any worries. You can also ask them who they are talking to online. If it’s people they don’t know offline, don’t get angry, just remind them that not everyone online is who they say they are and they should never arrange to meet someone offline without telling you first.
Using parental controls and, for younger children, keeping gaming devices and computers in family spaces will also help to keep them safe.
For more information visit the NSPCC website. If you are concerned about a child, contact the NSPCC Helpline on 0808 800 5000 or email help@nspcc.org.uk. Children can contact Childline on 0800 1111 or visit www.childline.org.uk.
As we approach the International Day of Friendship (30 July), Mary’s Meals is celebrating heart-warming stories of hope and camaraderie from around the world.
Mary’s Meals is a charity that serves nutritious school meals in 20 of the world’s poorest countries. The promise of a good meal attracts hungry children into the classroom where, instead of working or looking for food, they can gain an education.
As your readers will know, the classroom is also where lifelong friendships are made. Friendships like that of Fridah and Annette, from Zambia.
Fridah’s life changed forever when she fell ill with an undiagnosed illness, losing all ability to move and communicate. Luckily, she has a wonderful friend in Annette.
The two girls attend school together, where they eat Mary’s Meals. Despite the challenges she faces, Fridah is determined to get an education. She uses her toes to write and turn the pages of her books.
Fridah dreams of becoming a professional footballer when she is older. With our nutritious school meals giving her the energy to learn and play, and a good friend like Annette by her side, we hope she will achieve her dream.
It costs just 8p a day to feed a child with Mary’s Meals, meaning every donation – no matter how small – will make an enormous difference. For more information, please visit marysmeals.org.uk
Thomas Black
Head of major giving and partnerships, Mary’s Meals
School’s out for summer and parents will be making important decisions about childcare over the next few weeks.
There isn’t a legal minimum age for a child to stay home or go out alone and parents often call the NSPCC Helpline to ask for advice on the appropriate age.
There’s no set rule for all because every child is different, but between work appointments and other family commitments, it’s inevitable that parents will have to consider whether to leave their child home alone at some point.
It can be difficult to know what’s best and with this in mind here’s some guidance about when it’s safe for your child to be home alone.
Infants and young children aged 0-3 years old should never be left alone – even for 15 minutes while you pop down the road. This also applies to leaving them in your car while you run into the shops.
While every child is different, we wouldn’t recommend leaving a child under 12 years old home alone, particularly for long periods of time.
It’s important to talk to your child about anything they may be worried about. Regularly checking how they feel can pinpoint any concerns and help you decide if they are ready to be left alone.
A child who doesn’t feel comfortable about staying alone should never be left home alone. Even if they are older, they may not be ready to look after themselves or know what to do in an emergency.
We have checklists to help keep children safe, visit:
Childline is also here for them. They can speak to a trained counsellor for FREE, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, on 0800 1111 or via 1-2-1 chat on www.childline.org.uk
People of our area alongside many communities have had a very tough time under this disgraceful Tory led government.
It has been no accident but deliberate policy.
The manipulation of the fuel prices causing absolute confusion.
But not for the fuel suppliers, No!! In particular the shareholders of the fuel suppliers who are making hundreds of millions of pounds in profit at the same time.
In contrast the Tories are ‘promising’ another 10% rise in the cost of living this year!
The lesson is there for us: it’s time the people slung out the Tories like they did in Honiton recently.
It needs repeating, people should really object to the ‘decoration’ of roundabouts with prominent signs in the middle of them advertising the boards as private selling space.
Roundabouts are for the direction of traffic, for everybody’s safety, not to divert the drivers’ attention away!
With great sadness and frustration, I read recently about an inquest into the death of an 80-year-old with coeliac disease who was fed cereal containing gluten in hospital. The patient fell ill within hours and started to vomit. She died four days later from aspiration pneumonia.
As someone with coeliac disease myself, it is upsetting to realise that even among medical professionals there is such a lack of understanding of this serious autoimmune disease.
One in 100 people have coeliac disease, and there is no cure. The only treatment is a strict gluten free diet. Even a crumb of gluten can cause a severe reaction.
My own mother, who is 86, has had difficult experiences in hospital. She was offered toast containing gluten, which would have made her very unwell. Another time she was told she was ‘too late’ at 4pm for gluten free food. The hospital clearly regarded a gluten free diet as a specialist request, rather than a medical necessity that should be offered as part of standard care provisions.
At Coeliac UK, we are calling on all hospitals to urgently review their guidelines and protocols. We’re asking the NHS to update the information about coeliac disease on their website as the current list of symptoms is misleading. And we want to see better training for healthcare professionals to improve their understanding of coeliac disease, and their management of patients who have the condition.
No one with coeliac disease should have to worry about being glutened in hospital.
