Tag: letters

Letters: Landmark moment for child safety online

Landmark moment for child safety online as UK Government takes major step towards delivery of an Online Harms Bill

Dear Editor

Throughout the Coronavirus pandemic, online grooming crimes in Scotland were more that 30% higher when children were not at school compared with the same months last year.

The NSPCC has been calling for legislation to protect children from grooming, abuse and harmful content online, since 2017. After years of the charity campaigning, on December 15th, the UK Government announced the framework for a future Online Harms Bill that has the potential to provide much greater protection for children when they use the internet.

This is a landmark moment – a major step towards legislation that can make an enforceable legal Duty of Care on tech companies a reality. For too long children have been exposed to disgraceful abuse and harm online.

Social media companies will have a duty to protect young users from child abuse and harmful content online and face fines of up to £18million or 10% of their global turnover if they fail.

But that doesn’t mean that the work we do stops now. For instance, the proposals fall short of ensuring criminal sanctions against named directors whose companies fail to uphold their Duty of Care.

Child protection and children’s voices must remain front and centre of regulatory requirements. We have set out six tests for robust regulation – including action to tackle both online sexual abuse and harmful content and a regulator with the power to investigate and hold tech firms to account with criminal and financial sanctions. Failing to pass any of the six tests will mean that future generations of children will pay with serious avoidable harm and sexual abuse.

We will now be closely scrutinising the proposals against those tests. Above all, legislation must ensure Ofcom has the power and resources to enforce the Duty of Care and be able to identify and then take appropriate action against tech firms that fail.

For more information, search ‘NSPCC six tests’.

Joanna Barrett,

Policy and Public Affairs Manager for NSPCC Scotland

Letter: NSPCC Scotland seeks young people for new Board for Change

Dear Editor,

The NSPCC is looking for young people in Scotland to join a new group that gives them the chance to shape and influence the charity’s work, and ensure they are at the heart of our decision making.

We are launching the Young People’s Board for Change, and want to recruit 15 members aged between 13 and 16, from across the country.

The Board members will use the platform to raise awareness of what matters most to them, take action and make change happen. They will also have a big role internally advising staff and trustees.

The young people will take part in new experiences and opportunities, meet other young people, as well as develop confidence and learn life-long new skills, such as campaigning and public speaking.

Over a two-year period, members will take part in residentials, meetings and workshops, and campaign to share their views and opinions.

We want as many young people as possible to have the chance to apply, so we are encouraging parents and carers to speak to their children about this exciting opportunity, and teachers and other professionals to share details with their students and through their networks.

At the NSPCC, we are committed to ensuring that young people are empowered and that their opinions are listened to. It’s vital that we put children and young people first and embed their views into everything we do in our fight for every childhood

Readers can find out more at nspcc.org.uk/boardforchange, or for an informal chat please contact participationteam@nspcc.org.uk.

The deadline for completed applications is 11 January and interviews will be held between 18 – 21 January.

Carla Malseed

Local Campaigns Manager for NSPCC Scotland

Letters: The deadliest common cancer doesn’t stop for COVID-19

Dear Editor,

Around 780 people are diagnosed with the pancreatic cancer every year in Scotland: tragically, and more than half of people with will die within the first three months of diagnosis.

Pancreatic cancer hasn’t stopped because of COVID-19.

We know that during the first lockdown people were reluctant to go to their GP, that’s why during this year’s Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month we’re doing all we can to raise awareness of the symptoms and, urging anyone whose systems persist, to use the NHS. There’s no time to wait.

If more of us know the symptoms – which include tummy and back pain, indigestion, itchy skin or yellow skin or eyes, unexplained weight loss and oily floating poo – it could lead to more people being diagnosed earlier. Crucially, this could increase their chances of being eligible for life-saving surgery.

I urge your readers to find out more about the disease and if they are worried that they have the symptoms of pancreatic cancer they should speak to their GP as soon as possible.

We’d like to make sure people living with pancreatic cancer and their loved ones across the UK (NI/Wales) know that Pancreatic Cancer UK is here for them. Our free and confidential Support Line is run by Specialist Nurses, my colleagues and myself.

If you would like to speak to a Specialist Nurse you can call 0808 801 0707 or email nurse@pancreaticcancer.org.uk, available Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday 10am- 4pm  and Wednesday 10am – 6pm.

Thank you,

Dianne Dobson

Pancreatic Cancer UK Specialist Nurse

Letters: Black Cat Day

Dear Editor,

Cat lovers have a lot to celebrate this Black Cat Day (27 October) with Cats Protection’s news that black and black-and-white cats are no longer overlooked as they once were.

Since we created the awareness day in 2010 to highlight that black cats took longer to rehome than other cats, they now spend 11 days less on average in care than before, prior to moving to their new loving homes.

Around 65,000 black or black-and-white cats have been homed through our adoption centres in the decade since the campaign started, a remarkable 44% of all cats homed through our centres during that time.

We would like to thank readers for their support and for helping us make a real difference. Not only do these cats now spend less time in our care, but each year thousands celebrate the day and engage with our #BlackCatDay hashtag on social media.

Throughout the campaign, Cats Protection has explored reasons why black cats might be less popular, working to change perceptions and buck the rehoming trend. These included black cats being seen as unlucky or not photogenic in selfies.

We would love to invite readers to celebrate and showcase their black cat knowledge by hosting a quiz for friends and family while also raising vital funds for their local branch or centre.

More details about the quiz and Black Cat Day can be found at www.cats.org.uk/black-cats 

Yours faithfully,

James Yeates

CEO, Cats Protection

Letter from Samantha Quek, Olympic gold medallist and TV personality

Dear Editor,

Four years ago while was in Rio winning gold with the women’s hockey team, my lovely 95-year-old Nanna, Dolly, had a stroke. I saw first-hand how important support is in helping stroke survivors to rebuild their lives.

I know that many people had a stroke during lockdown and many survivors returned home from hospital without any support or contact. The Stroke Association has been providing telephone counselling and emotional support for most of them but they need our help to reach even more people.

So I’ll be heading into the kitchen to bake some tasty treats for the charity’s Give a Hand and Bake week starting on 26 October. We may not be able to get together with family and friends, but you could arrange a Zoom party where everyone can share their goodies or give some baking as a gift, in return for a donation to the charity.

To get involved, visit www.stroke.org.uk/baking. They have some lovely healthy recipes using LoSalt, the charity’s partner in its #HealthierUK drive to raise awareness of how lifestyles can affect the risk of stroke.

Or if you haven’t time to bake it, why not fake it and buy something instead? I won’t tell!

I’m delighted to say that thanks to her determination and the support she received, my Nanna is still going strong at 99 and I’m sure she’ll enjoy the cupcakes I’m baking for her!

Best wishes and stay safe everyone

Samantha Quek

Letters: Delays to diagnoses are costing lives

Dear Sir/Madam,

My mother, Jean, died of sarcoma cancer nine years ago. Yet if she were alive today, she would still face the same excruciating wait for a diagnosis.

Delays to diagnoses are costing lives and devastating families across the UK. This has to change.

Shockingly, one in three (30%) sarcoma patients in the UK face an agonising wait of six-months or more for an accurate diagnosis of their cancer after first seeking medical help. One in six (17%) patients wait a year before being diagnosed.

This delay is unacceptable. Time is something those affected by sarcoma can ill afford. Sarcoma is one of the least understood but most aggressive forms of cancer and only 55% of patients survive more than five years. My mother fought the odds to survive for three years after being diagnosed and I count myself lucky to have had that time with her.

Put simply, late diagnosis costs lives, which is why I’m supporting the calls for change detailed in a new report launched by national bone and soft tissue cancer charity Sarcoma UK. Poor awareness, coupled with a complex diagnostic pathway, mean sarcomas often go misdiagnosed or are simply ignored and dismissed.

No one should ever find themselves in the position my mother and family did. People are needlessly losing their lives to this disease and will continue to do so if change doesn’t take place. The starting point for that begins here.

Delays Cost Lives: A call to policy makers to improve early diagnosis of sarcoma and more information about sarcoma, is available on the Sarcoma UK website.

Signed

Jess Phillips

Member of Parliament for Birmingham and Yardley 

Letters: Creating a step change in the health of the nation

Scottish charities call to cut deaths from our biggest killers

Dear Editor,

Heart disease, cancer, stroke, chronic lung disease and diabetes are responsible for around two thirds of all deaths in Scotland – around 39,000 every year – and are among the world’s biggest killers. And yet sadly deaths from these conditions are often preventable. The burden of these diseases on families and on our society cannot be underestimated.

This week, as a global campaign takes place raising awareness of the impact of these non-communicable diseases (NCDs), we have come together – representing ten of Scotland’s leading health charities – to call for action.

We believe many of these deaths and lost healthy years of life are preventable through addressing modifiable and societal risk factors. Official statistics estimate that each year around 14,000 deaths in Scotland could be prevented through public health interventions.

As a collective, we have set out a series of priorities to tackle three of the biggest risk factors that affect people today – tobacco use, alcohol consumption and unhealthy diets – to improve the health of everyone in Scotland.

Evidence shows the environment around us heavily influences whether we smoke, the amount of alcohol we drink and what we eat. The visibility of products on our high streets and the way they are marketed all contribute to Scotland having one of the lowest healthy life expectancies in Western Europe.

This is particularly true in our most deprived communities where levels of smoking, harmful alcohol use and overweight and obesity are often at their highest. Research shows us that this is in part due to the higher presence of outlets in these areas selling alcohol, tobacco and unhealthy food and drink. We must act now to ensure that the healthy choice is an easy choice for everyone in Scotland.

Covid-19 has also provided a wake-up call on these issues. We are becoming aware of possible links between smoking, alcohol intake and obesity on the severity of Covid-19 infections, highlighting the need to take action now more than ever as we continue to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic.

Scotland has been a pioneer in public health. It was the first country in the UK to ban smoking in enclosed public spaces and the first in the world to introduce a minimum unit price for alcohol.

In this week of awareness, we are calling on all political parties to place the prevention of Scotland’s biggest killers as a priority and to give a strong commitment, ahead of next year’s Scottish Parliamentary elections, to work with us to create a step change in the health of the nation.

Yours sincerely,

Alison Douglas, Chief Executive, Alcohol Focus Scotland
Shelia Duffy, Chief Executive, ASH Scotland
Lorraine Tulloch, Programme Lead, Obesity Action Scotland
Lindsay Paterson, Interim Director, SHAAP
Joseph Carter, Head of the Devolved Nations, Asthma UK and the British Lung Foundation
Dr Charmaine Griffiths, Chief Executive, British Heart Foundation
Michelle Mitchell OBE, Chief Executive, Cancer Research UK
Andrea Cail, Scotland Director, Stroke Association
Angela Mitchell, National Director, Diabetes Scotland

Letters: Caring for our older people

Dear Editor

The NHS, in all it’s forms, has been invaluable for people. This is understood: we would all be in deep trouble without it.

It is hard to believe organisations see the provision of health services as a means to make huge profits. One of the biggest dangers for the NHS is countries like the USA.

The importance of the people to own and control the NHS has been a tremendous lesson for all. It is now unthinkable to most that it should be otherwise.

This example of how to benefit society must now be extended to what is called the ‘care sector’. It, too, should be a publicly-owned extension of the NHS, not owned by private cmpanies or a business dependent on grants from local councils.

Every elderly person is exactly that, and must be treated with respect, not as an afterthought on some idea of ‘can we afford the cost?’ We can and must afford it!

The now elderly people need care and attention, love and respect for all they have done for us.

A. Delahoy

Silverknowes Gardens

Letter to the Editor: new services to help families with disabled children in Edinburgh

Dear Sir

Recent research from the Disabled Children’s Partnership found that 66% of families with disabled children in Scotland have been providing a lot more care during lockdown and many continue to do so despite restrictions easing.

The current national emergency has compounded the challenges many parents of disabled children faced. And added layers of new ones as respite, therapies, care and schooling arrangements were largely stopped or changed and usual routines disrupted.

Contact, the charity for families with disabled children, is offering a helping hand to families in Edinburgh during this difficult time.

Family support appointments

We’ve launched free 1-1 telephone appointments with a family support adviser for parent carers looking for a listening ear, reassurance and practical and emotional support.

Workshops

We are running free virtual workshops on topics such as sleep, behaviour, wellbeing, money matters, and speech and language, to provide additional support for families who may be struggling during this crisis.

Families who have a disabled child can make an appointment or find out more details on the Contact website www.contact.org.uk/covid-response-services/

Yours sincerely,

Susan Walls

Contact Scotland, the charity for families with disabled children
The Melting Pot
5 Rose Street
Edinburgh
EH2 2PR