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”.

NHS 24: Easter Opening Times

Important, please share 💙

It’s important to know the opening times of your GP, pharmacy and dental surgeries over the Easter weekend in case you need medical assistance.

A lot of these services will have reduced hours or be closed, so it’s best to check in advance to ensure you have access to the care you need.

Find out more at NHS inform

https://nhs24.info/servicedirectory

RCEM welcomes new Health Secretary

‘We must eliminate dangerous and unacceptable delays to patient care’

Responding to the latest Emergency Department performance figures for Scotland for February 2023 (see below) Dr John-Paul Loughrey, Vice President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine Scotland, said: “As the data show, the start of this year has continued to be difficult in Emergency Care.

“Patients continue to face long and dangerous waits as staff continue to be stretched to their limit. Ambulance queues, poor patient flow throughout our hospitals, exit block – where patients are stuck in the system in a ‘traffic jam’ – these remain prevalent across Emergency Departments in Scotland.

“We congratulate the First Minister for Scotland, Humza Yousaf MSP, on his appointment to his new role, and we welcome Michael Matheson MSP (above) to the role of Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care.

“We hope to continue and increase our engagement with the Scottish Government to improve patient care and staff conditions in Emergency Medicine and the wider health service.

“We urge the new Cabinet Secretary to build on the constructive engagement of his predecessor and increase focus on investing in adequate and sufficient social care to discharge patients in a timely way to free up beds.

£Alongside this, we ask him to prioritise expanding acute bed capacity across Scotland and retaining existing staff. These are the short-term priorities for Emergency Care. It would be wrong to take measures to manage demand and reduce attendances on the front door – such measures do nothing to tackle the root causes of long-term problems.

“In the long-term, we urge the new Cabinet Secretary to look at workforce planning and sustained and continued funding and investment in health and social care to ensure we do not reach the troughs of performance and patient care that we saw in 2022.

“We must reduce and eliminate dangerous and unacceptable delays to patient care that we know are associated with patient harm and patient deaths. We would welcome an opportunity to meet with the new Cabinet Secretary to discuss our Five Priorities for UK Governments for #ResuscitatingEmergencyCare.”

The latest performance figures for February 2023 for Emergency Departments across Scotland show:

  • There were 95,110 attendances at major Emergency Departments
  • 66.4% of patients were seen within four-hours at major (Type 1) Emergency Departments
    • This is an increase of 1.2 percentage points from the previous month, but a decrease of 5.3 percentage points when compared with February 2022
    • 31,964 patients waited over four-hours in major Emergency Departments
  • In February 2023, 10,709 patients waited eight-hours or more in an Emergency Department
    • This is a decrease of 18% from the previous month, January 2023
    • This is the worst February on record
    • This is equal to more than one in 10 patients waiting eight-hours or more in a major Emergency Department
  • 4,751 patients waited more than 12-hours before being seen, admitted, discharged, or transferred
    • This figure has fallen by 25% from the previous month
    • This is the worst February on record

NHS Dentists issue open letter to new First Minister

Following the election of Humza Yousaf as SNP leader and his swearing in as First Minister, dentist leaders in Scotland have called for immediate action to ensure the beleaguered service has a future.

The leadership election has delayed the timetable for reform of the low margin/high volume system dentists work to, that has left providers facing the risk of delivering NHS care at a financial loss. In an open letter the British Dental Association has stressed that without immediate action the exodus from NHS dentistry will accelerate.

A recent survey of high street dentists across Scotland showed over half (59%) have reduced the amount of NHS work they do since lockdown, and four in five (83%) say they plan to reduce or further reduce their NHS commitment in the year ahead.

In the letter BDA’s Scottish leadership state: “In 2021 the SNP made a promise to the Scottish electorate: free NHS dentistry for all. The decisions you take in your first 100 days will effectively determine if that promise is going to be kept.”

Agenda for Change pay offer accepted by health trade unions

Healthcare staff will begin to benefit from largest overall investment in Agenda for Change pay in a single year from next month, following unions’ unanimous agreement.

160,000 NHS staff – including nurses, midwives, paramedics, allied health professionals, porters and others – will receive an average 6.5% increase in pay in 2023-24.

This £568 million deal includes a commitment to deliver the most progressive package of terms and conditions reform in decades and support for workforce recruitment, sustainability and retention.

Health Secretary Humza Yousaf said: “I am very pleased that the Agenda for Change trade unions have unanimously agreed to accept this pay offer, meaning staff will start seeing the benefits of this deal in their April pay packets.

“This £568 million deal that will ensure NHS Agenda for Change staff remain, by far and away, the best paid anywhere in the UK. We are also committed to delivering the most progressive package of terms and conditions reform in decades. 

“Our healthcare staff have shown how dedicated and hardworking they are time and again and I cannot thank them enough for their commitment, particularly over the last few challenging years. Our staff are the very backbone of the NHS and we are committed to supporting them, particularly during a cost of living crisis.

“I am grateful for the continued efforts to keep discussions going to reach this deal and that this has been able to be processed in time to get the money to staff so quickly.

A total of £568 million has been committed for Agenda for Change pay in 2023-24. This equates to an average uplift of at least 6.5% for all staff at Band 8a and below.

All staff will also receive a one-off pro rata payment of between £387 and £939 depending on banding.

The offer also reaffirms previous commitments to work to reduce the working week, protect learning time and review band 5 job nursing profiles.

Examples of increases over the two years (2022-23 and 2023-24):

  • experienced porters (band 2) receive more than £3,750 extra (19.1%)
  • experienced healthcare support workers (band 4) receive more than £4,000 extra.
  • experienced AHPs (band 5) receive more than £4,700 extra (14.4%)
  • experienced paramedics (band 6) receive more than £5,360 extra (13.2%)
  • experienced advance nurse practitioners (band 7) receive more than £5,900 extra (12.4%)

The revised pay scales are set out below:

Band  2021-222022-232023-24 Offer  2023-24 £ Uplift2023-24 % UpliftConsolidated increase over two years  One-off Payment 
11£19,487£21,692£23,240 £1,5487.1%£3,75319.3% £387 
21£19,609£21,814£23,362 £1,5487.1%£3,75319.1% £387 
 2£21,615£23,820£25,368 £1,5486.5%£3,75317.4% £387 
31£21,709£23,914£25,468 £1,5546.5%£3,75917.3% £389 
 2£23,603£25,808£27,486 £1,6786.5%£3,88316.5% £420 
41£23,709£25,914£27,598 £1,6846.5%£3,88916.4% £421 
 2£25,982£28,187£30,019 £1,8326.5%£4,03715.5% £458 
51£26,104£28,384£30,229 £1,8456.5%£4,12515.8% £461 
 2£28,049£30,329£32,300 £1,9716.5%£4,25115.2% £493 
 3£32,915£35,365£37,664 £2,2996.5%£4,74914.4% £575 
61£33,072£35,522£37,831 £2,3096.5%£4,75914.4% £577 
 2£34,637£37,087£39,498 £2,4116.5%£4,86114.0% £603 
 3£40,739£43,286£46,100 £2,8146.5%£5,36113.2% £703 
71£40,872£43,422£46,244 £2,8226.5%£5,37213.1% £706 
 2£42,530£45,080£48,010 £2,9306.5%£5,48012.9% £733 
 3£47,846£50,506£53,789 £3,2836.5%£5,94312.4% £821 
8a1£50,965£53,513£56,992 £3,4796.5%£6,02711.8% £870 
 2£55,016£57,767£61,522 £3,7556.5%£6,50611.8% £939 
8b1£61,325£63,530£67,285 £3,7555.9%£5,9609.7% £939 
 2£66,018£68,223£71,978 £3,7555.5%£5,9609.0% £939 
8c1£73,506£75,711£79,466 £3,7555.0%£5,9608.1% £939 
 2£79,221£81,426£85,181 £3,7554.6%£5,9607.5% £939 
8d1£88,385£90,590£94,345 £3,7554.1%£5,9606.7% £939 
 2£92,424£94,629£98,384 £3,7554.0%£5,9606.4% £939 
91£105,635£107,840£111,595 £3,7553.5%£5,9605.6% £939 
 2£110,468£112,673£116,428 £3,7553.3%£5,9605.4% £939 

Mother’s Day pride: mum and daughter tell of joy at working together at same hospital

A nurse and her daughter who work at the same hospital have both told how they love being part of the NHS family – and how proud they are of each other for the work they do.

Geraldine Sparkes is lead nurse for the Acute Medical Unit and Medical Assessment Unit at the Royal Alexandra Hospital (RAH) in Paisley, and 18-year-old Gemma is a Health Care Support Worker on Ward 10.

They live together in Paisley with dad Trevor and nine-year-old daughter Mirren, and the whole family is spending Mother’s Day together. 

The pair travel together to work every morning – stopping on the way for a coffee that’s “totally essential” according to Gemma – but because of Gemma’s shifts it’s quite unusual for them to get time off together, and Geraldine is really excited because of that.

“We’re all going out for a steak dinner, and I’m looking forward to spending the day together. I think it will be really special.”

What Geraldine doesn’t know is that Gemma “sweet-talked her boss” to be able to spend time with her mum. “It’s great that we’ll all be able to celebrate Mother’s Day together this year. I’ve got a few wee bits for mum, and Mirren loves arts and crafts so she’s been doing lots. I think it will be a lovely day.”

Geraldine, 38, has only been a nurse for eight years, after deciding to change career to care for patients. She juggled her training with her day job, as well as doing bank shifts to get additional experience, and she is now passionate about the NHS, the RAH and being a nurse.

She said: “There’s no denying that nursing has its challenges just now, but I feel so strongly that it’s a wonderful job. There are so many different roles in the NHS that once you’re part of the NHS family the world’s really your oyster.

“I’d encourage any young person to come and work with us – and especially at the RAH! Working locally is great – we really feel part of the community, and to be supporting neighbours and friends is the best feeling.”

But it’s when she starts speaking about Gemma that her pride really shows.

“I’m so proud of her. She’s been working since she was 16 and has a great work ethic. It’s great to see her in a full-time job, and hopefully it will be the start of a great career for her.

“When she first started at the hospital she was quite apprehensive, but she’s hit the ground running and I’ve been told she’s doing really well and has a great way with patients and relatives.”

Gemma has only been a HCSW since November, but she’s loving her time at the RAH. “It’s a great place to work,” she said. “I really feel like a part of the team. Everyone is so helpful – and not just the people at my grade but everyone, right up to the managers.

“I love working here and I’m really proud of the NHS. I’m always telling my friends to go for it, that working here is really worth it.”

But she admits working with her mum has taken her a bit by surprise. “It’s really weird! At home she’s my mum, but I see a completely different side of her when she’s working. She’s so committed and professional – she takes the care of her patients so seriously.

“In fact I’m really proud of her.”

Geraldine feels very lucky to be sharing today with her family, and she has one final message.

“Happy Mother’s Day to all mums today – and special thanks to my colleagues at the RAH who are on duty caring for our patients, or any other mums who are working. You’re all doing an amazing job.”

NHS ‘still in the depths of crisis’

“We remain extremely concerned about our patients and their safety and for the welfare of staff who are struggling”, RCEM says

Responding to the latest monthly Emergency Department performance figures for Scotland for January 2023, Dr John-Paul Loughrey, Vice President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine Scotland, said: “The monthly data make clear we are still in the depths of crisis.

“While it is true that the data for January 2023 show improvements when compared with December 2022, December was the worst month on record. We are relieved that we have mitigated against a repetition of December, but we remain extremely concerned about our patients and their safety, and for the welfare of staff who are struggling.

“January saw continued high numbers of extremely long waits; the third highest number of 12-hour waits on record. While the weekly data from February also show that we cannot let up in our requirement for substantial improvement.

“As the Scottish leadership election begins, tackling the crisis in Emergency Care as well as the crisis in the wider health and social care system must be a priority for the next First Minister. In 2022, a total of 55,095 patients waited 12-hours or more in an Emergency Department in Scotland.

“Analysis by the College shows that consequently, in 2022, there were an estimated 765 patient deaths associated with these dangerously long waiting times – equal to an estimated average of 64 each month. This is entirely unacceptable and a marker of a system that is not functioning as it should.

“To tackle this, in Scotland we urgently need a restoration of the acute bed base, that means opening an additional 1,000 staffed acute beds where safely possible.

“There are also significant shortfalls of staff in Scotland. The Emergency Medicine workforce needs at least 100 more consultants, as well as senior decision makers, ACPs/ANPs/Physician Associates, junior doctors, and vital nurses.

“We welcomed the expansion of Emergency Medicine medical training places in Scotland by 10, but this expansion is considerably short of what is required and there has yet to be any commitment to maintain this each year.

“This winter continues to be the most challenging yet for the NHS in Scotland. A failure for meaningful action now will prolong the risk to patient safety and maintain these dangerously long waiting times at the detriment to staff who are already burned out and exhausted. 2023 must be the year that we see political will translated into action that improves patient care and conditions for staff.”

Record Pay offer to Scotland’s NHS staff

£568 million for Agenda for Change (AfC) pay deal in 2023/24

Healthcare staff across Scotland have been offered the largest pay package in the history of the NHS, with a £568 million increase in investment.

160,000 NHS Agenda for Change staff – including nurses, midwives, paramedics, allied health professionals, porters and others – will be offered an average 6.5% increase in pay in 2023/24.

This pay offer includes the commitment to deliver the most progressive package of terms and conditions reform in decades. 

The offer also includes the commitment to modernising Agenda for Change, which was introduced nearly 20 years ago, to support workforce recruitment, sustainability and retention.

Health Secretary Humza Yousaf said: “We have engaged extensively with trade union representatives over recent weeks, leaving no stone unturned to reach an offer which responds to the key concerns of staff. Our healthcare staff have shown how dedicated and hardworking they are time and again and I cannot thank them enough for their commitment, particularly over the last few challenging years.

“Over the two years of this £1 billion of increased investment in NHS Agenda for Change, a newly qualified nurse would see their pay increase by 15.8%, and experienced nurses at the top of band 5 would see their pay improve by over £4,700.

“This ensures that Scotland’s NHS Agenda for Change staff are, by far and away, the best paid anywhere in the UK. In fact, for NHS England to catch-up with Scotland the UK Government would need to offer increases in 2023/24 of over 14% at the top of band 5, over 13% at the top of band 6, and over 12% at the top of band 7.

“We have taken difficult decisions to find this money within the health budget because we know that our staff are the very backbone of the NHS and we are committed to supporting them, particularly during a cost of living crisis. I am grateful for the continued efforts around the table and that the trade unions will now put this to their members.”

‘Continued improvement’ in A & E performance as winter pressures ease

Resilience committee holds further meeting

The Scottish Government’s resilience committee (SGoRR) met again yesterday to discuss the challenges facing health and social care this winter.

Chaired by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, the meeting focussed on hospital occupancy, and the measures being taken to reduce levels of delayed discharge and find care placements and packages for those clinically fit to leave hospital.

The most recent A&E statistics have shown a continued improvement in performance, with 70.1% of people being admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours – the best performance since May.

Additional funding has also been made available Health and Social Care Partnerships who have the responsibility of providing care packages for those in their locality, to provide 300 interim care home beds for people who no longer need to be in hospital. So far, 162 people have entered interim care facilities paid for using this additional funding.

The SGoRR meeting was also attended by the Health Secretary, other cabinet ministers, the Chief Medical Officer and senior representatives from NHS boards, COSLA, Integration Joint Boards and the Scottish Ambulance Service.

The First Minister said: “The continued improvement in A&E performance is something to be welcomed, but there is still much work being done on safely freeing up hospital capacity and easing pressures elsewhere in the system. That is why we are continuing to pursue a range of measures to enable people to leave hospital as soon as possible when it is clinically safe for them to do so.

“We remain indebted to the health and social care staff in all parts of Scotland who have continued to do an outstanding job, despite the extra challenges that winter has presented.”

Figures showing the uptake of additional interim care placements and the total number of people in interim care placements.

“There can be no denying it; the Emergency Care system is failing”

RCEM launches campaign to resuscitate Emergency Care as polling reveals the public’s lack of confidence in UK government’s policies to tackle the crisis

The Royal College of Emergency Medicine has outlined five priorities for UK governments to tackle the crisis in Emergency Care, after polling carried out by Ipsos on behalf of the College found 59% of respondents expressed a lack of confidence that the UK Government have the right policies to tackle long patient waiting times in A&E departments in hospitals.

The campaign launches amid the worst Emergency Care crisis on record, as reflected in A&E performance figures across all four-nations.

Five Priorities for UK Governments to #ResuscitateEmergencyCare lays out what UK governments must focus on to tackle the crisis, improve patient care, retain staff, and prevent harm.

The five priorities are:

  • Eradicate overcrowding and corridor care for patients
  • Provide the UK with the Emergency Medicine workforce it needs to deliver safe care
  • Ensure our NHS can provide equitable care to emergency patients
  • Focus on evidence-based interventions to tackle overcrowding
  • Introduce meaningful and transparent metrics to facilitate performance and better outcomes for patients.

More patients than ever before across the UK are facing long and dangerous waits. It has been widely reported that crowding, corridor care and long waiting times for patients in Emergency Departments are associated with patient harm and patient deaths.

The public are acutely aware of the issues and pressures in A&E departments, with an Ipsos poll, commissioned by the College, showing that:

Nearly half of those polled by Ipsos expressed that they did not feel confident they would be treated in an appropriate area if they personally had a medical emergency in the next week that required them to attend their local A&E.

Meanwhile, two-thirds did not feel confident that a hospital bed would be available if they personally had a medical emergency in the next week and needed to be admitted to hospital.

Dr Adrian Boyle, President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said: “There can be no denying it; the Emergency Care system is failing and not functioning as it should.

“We can argue about numbers and calculations of excess deaths or we can work together and take the urgent and necessary action to prevent any further harm or deaths occurring. Patients and staff are rightly concerned, they deserve to see honesty and meaningful action from our political and health leaders. This is our plan to tackle the crisis.

“The roots of the problem lie in the lack of adequate capacity in hospitals, lack of staff, and lack of social care in the community. Since 2010, more than 29,000 beds have been removed from the system despite the increasing complexity of population healthcare needs.

“While for many years, social care has faced devastating cuts, meaning patients medically ready to leave hospital do not have the support they need to leave – so they reside in hospital for longer than they should preventing others from being admitted.

“The inability to discharge patients and the inability to admit patients is causing severe exit block – our hospitals are completely gridlocked, meaning Emergency Departments are becoming dangerously crowded and patients are facing extremely long waits.

“These delays and crowding impact heavily on the existing workforce, which has been stretched to its limit for too long. There are significant shortfalls of staff in Emergency Medicine; Emergency Departments across the UK are not safely staffed and the public recognise that.”

Polling shows that just 18% of respondents surveyed agreed their local A&E had enough staff to care for them in a timely way while just 23% expressed agreement that their local A&E had enough staff to care for patients in a safe way.

Dr Boyle said: “Clinicians are doing all they can and what they can to bridge the gap between an under-resourced system and the quality of care patients require, but it’s plain as day to anyone that we have too few staff.

“We are in a dire place right now, but it is fixable. We know what needs to be done to tackle the crisis and improve patient care, but this requires sustained and continued cross-party political willingness and investment to engage with the issue and tackle it root and branch.

“Our campaign to resuscitate Emergency Care shows the way forward for governments, with five key priorities to address. The first priority must be on improving flow through our hospitals to end corridor care and overcrowding.

“UK governments must open more staffed beds, where safely possible, and run hospitals at no more than 85% bed occupancy. In tandem with this, UK governments have been right to invest in community and social care but this can no longer be short-term; we need sustained expansion, resource and funding for social care to ensure patients are discharged safely and promptly when their medical care is complete.

“There must also be recognition of the impact of the crisis on the workforce, they do excellent work, but they cannot continue to flirt with burnout or this will lead to burn away. UK governments must urgently work to retain our highly-skilled frontline clinicians – but they must feel supported, listened to and valued.

“Lastly, performance is at an all-time low and metrics are currently documenting a failing service. Together with the expansion of capacity and resourcing of social care, we must see a renewed effort to improve performance and meet the four-hour waiting time target in Emergency Departments.

“We cannot afford to be in a performance vacuum any longer, metrics must have meaning and drive improvement and better patient care. In England, this must start with monthly publication of 12-hour waits from the time a patient arrives – as it is in the rest of the UK – rather than the misleading and dishonest current metric which measures 12-hours from the time a decision to admit a patient is made.”