Projects to improve the care and support available for people with long COVID are to benefit from an initial tranche of £3 million of Scottish Government funding.
Following a thorough planning process undertaken by health boards to determine the key priorities, the first allocations of the long COVID Support Fund across 2022 will provide £3 million for boards to introduce care co-ordinator roles, extra resource to support a patient-centred assessment, including a multi-disciplinary assessment service, and additional capacity for community rehabilitation to support people with issues affecting their day-to-day quality of life.
Support for people with long COVID is already available across a full range of NHS services. However, this additional investment has been informed by patient experience and expert views brought together by the long COVID Strategic Network set up by the Scottish Government – drawing on priorities identified by people affected by long COVID and recommendations from clinicians.
As well as the awards to boards, NHS National Services Scotland (NSS) has also been awarded £370,000 to support a national programme of improvement work led by the National Strategic Network – this includes £200,000 to provide digital tools to support the care of people with long COVID. The network will also provide an analysis of the specific needs of children and young people living with long COVID in Scotland.
Health Secretary Humza Yousaf, who announced the allocation during a Scottish Parliament debate, said: “We have already supported thousands of people struggling with long COVID through a wide range of measures but the investment announced today has been shaped by priorities highlighted by people with long COVID themselves.
“We’ve engaged directly with NHS Boards, alongside clinical experts and those with lived experience, to identify the support that they need. This will help ensure the investment through our £10 million long COVID support fund will make the biggest different to people living with long COVID.
“Given the range of symptoms which can be involved, we know there’s no ‘one-size fits all’ response and our approach is to support people with long COVID to access care and support in a setting that is appropriate and as close to their home as practicable.
“It’s for each board to explore what is the best service they can provide, this can include a Long COVID Clinic if they believe that is the best model to adopt – and today’s funding will help boards to bolster existing provision for those with long COVID.
“However, just because a service doesn’t say ‘long COVID’ on the plaque when you walk through the door, it doesn’t mean that these services cannot provide, or are not providing, a long COVID service. There is not a specific treatment being provided within long COVID clinics elsewhere that is not already available to those accessing NHS Scotland services.”
NHS Highland Associate AHP Director, Linda Currie said: “The funding allocation is welcomed. Self-management will be offered and we will recruit Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy to support holistic interventions like fatigue management, vocational rehab, goal planning and dysfunctional breathing.This funding will support coordination of care across the relevant clinical teams and our partners.”
Corra Foundation in partnership with Comic Relief are welcoming applications from community groups, organisations and charities for the latest round of #ShiftThePower Scotland Comic Relief Fund.
#ShiftThePower supports organisations with passionate people to make meaningful change in their communities.
Up to £20,000 is available to grassroots organisations and charities with an income of £250,000 or less, whose work fits one of two strategic themes:
Children Survive and Thrive
Supporting children to survive and thrive during the first years of life (0-5 years old) through targeted work and opportunities for children and families facing disadvantage.
Mental Health Matters
Supporting people with mental health issues or challenges to share their stories, live free from stigma and discrimination, and build positive relationships and experiences.
The Children Survive and Thrive strand will fund organisations supporting children at risk of, or experiencing, disadvantage.
Examples of this could include supporting parents, carers and communities, ideas that test new ways of supporting pre-school children or support for staff/volunteer training in early years settings.
The Mental Health Matters strand will prioritise organisations that have a focus on mental health issues alongside preventative approaches that support people before mental health issues escalate.
For example, the funding could be used to improve support networks or accessibility or relevance of services for people experiencing, or at risk of, poor mental health, especially those from marginalised groups.
The fund is seeking applications that demonstrate how the money will support people and increase the reach, capacity or quality of an organisation’s work or how it will support new ideas or approaches.
It is open to applications from today (17th January) and will close at midday on 8th March 2022.
The team at Corra is encouraging groups to get in touch to discuss their ideas before sending an application.
Eight projects working with young families to encourage good nutrition are being allocated funding by the Scottish Government as early intervention to reduce childhood obesity.
Among the initiatives is the Greater Glasgow and Clyde project ‘Thrive Under 5’ which will receive £269,344 towards a community food nurturing programme to help families of pre-school children in Glasgow’s most deprived areas with food insecurity, healthy eating and physical activity.
The funding is part of the Scottish Government’s aim to halve childhood obesity by 2030 and significantly reduce diet-related health inequalities.
Public Health Minister Maree Todd said: “Addressing obesity remains a public health priority and we want children and families to have access to appropriate support to give everyone the best start in life no matter where they live.
“We know that diet impacts on children’s health and development and will therefore continue to support local partners to develop these ambitious and effective plans to help prevent and reduce childhood obesity. Our 2021-22 Programme for Government sets out our focus on improving the health of young people by taking forward the actions in our Diet and Healthy Weight Delivery Plan.
“These projects, alongside our Best Start Foods payment and Scottish Milk and Healthy Snack Scheme Milk are central to our commitment to ensure everyone in Scotland has access to healthy, nutritious food. We have also introduced the Good Food Nation Bill to help ensure good quality, locally sourced and produced food is a practical everyday reality for everyone.”
Health Improvement Lead at Glasgow City Health & Social Care Partnership Siobhan Boyle said: “We are delighted to receive year two Scottish Government funding for the Thrive Under 5 Project. This project is an exciting pre-5 early intervention project that aims to enable a healthy weight in the early years through a child poverty lens.
“This programme will directly benefit families in the Thrive Under 5 neighbourhoods by combining a suite of healthy lifestyle supports in relation to financial inclusion, food insecurity, healthy eating and physical activity.
“A local Thrive Under 5 network in each area will drive the project forward in partnership with local people. We are looking forward to seeing the positive difference that this project will make.”
As well as Thrive Under Five in Glasgow, other projects to receive funding are: Jump Start Tots in NHS Ayrshire and Arran, the HENRY Train the Trainer model in NHS Fife, NHS Lothian and NHS Grampian, an extension to the HENRY programme in NHS Shetland and NHS Western Isles, and Little n Lively in NHS Lanarkshire.
£792,000 for Victoria Primary School community project
A primary school in Newhaven, which was about to fall empty, is set for a new role at the centre of the community following an award £792,000 from the Scottish Land Fund.
On hearing news of its successful application, Rodney Matthews, Chair, Heart of Newhaven Community, said: “This grant will cover the purchase price of the property and help with initial development costs.
“While the date when the children will move into their new school in Western Harbour is not yet known, we are now able to move forward confidently with our plans for what is a much-loved icon of Newhaven.”
In the project’s latest newletter, released this morning, The Chair told Heart of Newhaven supporters: “The site of Victoria Primary School IS going to be the Heart of Newhaven Community!
“This time last year the City of Edinburgh Council approved our request to take over the school and reduced the valuation price by £85,000 because of what we’ve promised to do, especially for the very young, the elderly, isolated and most vulnerable. Provided we could pay them£700,000, they would sell the site to the community.
“The Scottish Land Fund (SLF) has just given us that whole amount – and more!
“This SLF was set up by the Scottish Governmentto help charities just like ours working to improve local communities in the ways we have set out for the site, in order for it to become a vibrant hub of activity of people of all generations working and playing together; as we have often said, ‘the beating Heart of Newhaven’.
“All approved. We are now poised to sign two contracts: one with the SLFand the other with the Councilfor vacant possession of the site on a date yet to be announced, dependent on the completion of building works across the road. When we do get the keys, there will be much work to be done to get the building safe and ready for use, so bear with us. We will go as fast as we safely can.
“There will be plenty of exciting things to share to take us on through the challenge of the months ahead right through the inevitably unknown autumn and winter to come and into the spring of 2022 – when you will really begin to see things happen.”
The Heart of Newhaven funding announcement – and welcome news for three further community projects – was made yesterday (29 July) by Environment and Land Reform Minister, Mairi McAllan (below), while visiting EATS Rosyth.
Last November EATS Rosyth received £284,500 from the Scottish Land Fund in order to purchase a disused Clydesdale Bank Building in order to relocate and expand its community activities around cooking and food.
Ms McAllan said: “Communities across Scotland are achieving great things with support from the Scottish Land Fund. These awards will be a boost to the four communities who’ve worked so hard to keep their projects going through all the challenges of the last year.
“Visiting the Rosyth Community Garden and Orchard has shown the value of placing ownership and decision-making in the hands of local communities.
“By relocating the community hub to the new premises acquired through the Scottish Land Fund, EATS Rosyth aim to expand their existing services and offer a suite of new activities aimed at growing and sharing food, reducing waste, helping the environment, and improving food education.
“These projects will make a big contribution to their communities, to local resilience and recovery.”
Stephen Lynas, Chairman of EATS Rosythsaid:“We’re grateful to the Scottish Land Fund for their assistance in helping us purchase the building. Following a successful round of fundraising and getting in place the various consents required, we will be starting the renovation works for our new hub premises in the very near future.
“We’re looking forward to providing a brand-new community facility that will give us with a fantastic platform to grow our services and support our local community in Rosyth and Southwest Fife.”
Other projects benefiting during the current round of funding include Forgan Art Centre, which has been given £292,800 to buy the Leng Home, a disused care home in Newport on Tay and turn it into a space for social and economic activities and to increase social interaction.
Forgan Art Centre Chairperson, Gillian Burch, said: “The management team at Forgan are really delighted that we have secured the funding to buy the Leng Home and take the Forgan Arts Centre forwards onto the next phase of its journey.
“The continued support from our local community, who want to see the Leng Home kept for community use, has encouraged us to keep going and we now look forward to expanding the Forgan Arts Centre in its new home.”
Carluke Development Trust has been awarded £112,000 to buy a two-storey house adjacent to Carluke High Mill, which the Trust already owns. This will allow it to continue its project to reduce dereliction and promote regeneration in the town.
Bill Anderson, Carluke Development Trust, said: “We are delighted to receive support from the Scottish Land Fund for the acquisition of the former Millers House that sits within the Carluke High Mill and ONECarluke Community Growing & Learning Garden site.
“The acquisition of the house will complete the community ownership of the whole site and allow the project to create a larger Community HUB and move into an even more exciting period of delivery and further development.”
And Edinbane Community Company on Skye has been given £135,000 with which to buy three serviced building plots on which it plans to erect six affordable homes that will be rented to the community.
Alistair Danter, Chair, Edinbane Community Company,said: “This is great news for the community who have been working for over three years to tackle the lack of affordable housing in Edinbane.
“We are immensely grateful to the Scottish Land Fund for its support of our community initiative, and we look forward to working with the private developer SLL to deliver six new affordable homes in 2023.”
The new Chair of the Scottish Land Fund, Cara Gillespie, said: “We are delighted to make these awards, the first for our new Committee.
“It is a privilege to support communities with their efforts to improve where they live. These awards will make a positive difference, strengthening communities and empowering local people.”
The Scottish Land Fund is funded by the Scottish Government and delivered in partnership by The National Lottery Community Fund and Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE).
Sandra Holmes, Head of Community Assets at HIE, said: “It’s great to see more dynamic communities taking control of resources for the long-term benefit of their local areas and people.
Having greater control over such assets will help ensure their long-term future. I am delighted we have been able to provide Scottish Land Fund support and wish all the groups the very best in their new ventures.”
The Community Shares Scotland(CSS) team are holding the next roadshow in their pan-Scotland series at the Melting Pot in Rose Street this Friday (1 May).
The aim of the event is to show local communities how they can utilise an alternative funding method to develop their own projects and invest in their own futures.
It also offers groups a chance to meet and mingle with other community groups who are interested in setting up a share offer or learn from those who have had success already.
CSS programme manager, Kelly McIntyre, said: “We launched our roadshow programme last year with the aim of growing the community enterprise market through practical application and help people progress their own community projects.
“We are now beginning to see a network of like-minded enterprises grow across Scotland using community shares to generate income for their communities – from Fort William to Dunbar, Aberdeen to Harris and throughout Scotland.
“People have asked us for case studies and examples of other enterprises whom have been successful in getting their projects, big and small off the ground.
“For example, the Sunart renewable energy hydro scheme in Lochaber is real example of community spirit and effort to make an ambitious project a reality.
“And right on our door-step we have local greengrocer, Dig-In Bruntsfield Community Greengrocers Ltd, who will be giving a talk on the day about their experience of setting up a community greengrocer business through their community share offer.
Dig-In’s Catherine Francis said: “We are a community-owned and supported, not-for-profit greengrocer in Edinburgh who supply locally-sourced produce and foster community spirit.
“Thanks to our incredible volunteers, community shareholders and committee membership, we are now a thriving enterprise.
“We function along the lines of a community enterprise model, offering community shares which keeps us rooted in the community. We’re looking forward to participating in the Community Shares Roadshow on 1 May– coincidentally, also the first anniversary of our shop opening!”
Kelly McIntyre added: “Fair Trade is another area where community share schemes have been used to provide a different model for developing a live project.
“For example, Glasgow-based Bala Sport are a new co-operatively-led venture that plans to take Fairtrade Sports balls to the same level of awareness and sales as other popular Fairtrade products, such as bananas, coffee, tea, sugar and chocolate.”
Angus Coull, marketing and communications director of Bala Sport, explained: “As a start-up community benefit society, selling high-quality Fairtrade-certified sports balls, the help and support we received from Kelly at Community Shares Scotland was invaluable.
“With no previous experience and little knowledge of how community share offers work, so it was like having our own account manager with personal one-to-one advice and a lot of social media back-up.
“I was surprised at the amount of input from CSS – you can tell they really do want your business to succeed and they naturally know their stuff.”
He added: “As a tiny co-op competing with big brand sports balls companies, we need to raise £150,000 to help us buy in sufficient levels of stock in our early stages and we wanted to make a big impact at our launch event.
“We booked Hampden Stadium and, with the financial support from Community Shares Scotland, we were able to produce high impact promotional materials to reinforce the message and help convince the potential investors at the event.
“When Kelly thinks we’re easing off on the awareness raising, she’ll let us know – and the CSS tweets will start coming thick and fast – very welcome motivation and a pleasure to deal with.”
Bala Sports balls come from Fairtrade accredited factories in Sialkot, Pakistan, where both workers and the wider community benefit from the Fairtrade premium that is paid.
The current share offer closes on 31 May 2015 and people are encouraged to invest as little as £50 to meet the target of £150,000.
