A SCOTTISH charity has shipped two tonnes of donations destined for Poland’s mobile clinics helping those escaping the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
Working in partnership with NHS Scotland Global Citizenship, Artmedis and K&N, Kids Operating Room (KidsOR) has secured the transportation of eight pallets worth of goods from its global logistics centre in Dundee to Krakow, Poland where it will be put to good use by the emergency medics caring for the influx of refugees.
KidsOR is a global organisation focused on providing dedicated operating rooms for children’s surgery with bases in Edinburgh and Dundee.
The donation includes medical products, clothing and footwear as well as items specific items to help in a conflict situation, such as air chambers to assist with ventilation.
Dave Tipping, Director of Global Operations at KidsOR heads up the Dundee logistics centre. He said: “As events continue to unfold in Ukraine, donations are playing a vital role in supporting those most impacted by the conflict.
“That’s why a shipment of medical items once destined for Northern Iraq and Syria, but delayed for two years and eventually unable to be processed due to lack of documentation was, has been redirected to Poland.
“Over the next week, the shipment including blankets, clothing, sheets and gloves – all urgently required – will begin its travel and is expected to reach the mobile clinics within the next week.
“Under such terrible circumstances, we are proud to be able to help in a small way and know these items will be life changing for many.”
The seven-strong team at KidsOR’s Dundee warehouse typically facilitates large shipments of medical equipment to completely fit our paediatric operating rooms. Recent shipments have reached Tanzania, Ivory Coast, Democratic Republic of Congo, Senegal, Zambia and Nigeria.
Founded by Garreth and Nicola Wood, it is the only global organisation focused on the single task of providing dedicated operating rooms for children’s surgery. They work in more than 40 countries to provide world-class surgical facilities and won’t stop until every child has equal access to safe surgery.
For more information on KidsOR, please visit: www.KidsOR.org
This Mother’s Day mums across the country will wake up to breakfast in bed and bouquets of flowers from their little ones. But although the recognition from family members is appreciated, the fact is many working mums are being pushed to the brink.
Juggling work with family life is not easy. And working mums are buckling under the strain of a combination of caring responsibilities and the added pressures of wages and bills crisis.
Last week the Chancellor delivered his spring statement – setting out spending commitments for the next six months. But there was nothing in the Chancellor’s mini-budget to support working mums, despite the fact that recent TUC research found that one in three parents of pre-school age children spend more than a third of their pay on childcare – a staggering amount when households across the country are struggling to cover soaring energy bills.
And there are other challenges facing women in the labour market. Nearly two in five (38%) key workers are paid less than £10 an hour, and most of them are women. Around 2.5 million women key workers earn under £10 an hour.
One in 10 (1.4 million) women workers earn too little to get any sick pay. And TUC research shows that BME women are twice as likely to be on a zero hours contract than their white male counterparts.
Mums took on the lion’s share of caring responsibilities during the pandemic when schools closed. Now they’re more likely to have to take time off work to care for their children when they get Covid-19. Many are being forced to sacrifice hours and pay to do so.
And too many women are stuck in low-paid, insecure jobs with few rights and no sick pay. They deserve so much more.
5 ways the government can help mums this Mothers Day
This Mother’s Day, the TUC wants the government to introduce five key measures to help mums stay in work and support their families:
Increase the minimum wage to £10 an hour
Increase statutory sick pay to at least the level of the real Living Wage, for everyone in work.
Bring in an entitlement to 10 days parental leave per year for each child, on full pay. Currently parents have no legal right to paid leave to look after their children.
Ban zero hours contracts.
Introduce a right to genuine flexible work, from the first day in a job. Flexible working includes having predictable or set hours, working from home, job-sharing, working compressed hours and term-time only working.
Long-term reforms
But ministers cannot stop there. The TUC says the gender pay gap opens when women become mothers, which then feeds into the gender pensions gap later in life.
Government must look at fundamental reforms to equalise care between men and women. A striking omission from the spring statement was the lack of any mention of childcare.
Without access to affordable childcare many families will be forced into further hardship and many mums will be forced out of the labour market.
And the Governments evaluation of shared parental leave is long overdue.
The TUC says ministers must:
Tackle the gender pay and pensions gap. Government should require all employers to publish an action plan alongside their pay gap reporting, setting out the steps they will take to close their gender pay gaps.
Invest in the childcare sector and ensure everyone has access to good quality and affordable childcare and childcare workers are paid a living wage. TUC research found that one in three parents of pre-school age children spend more than a third of their pay on childcare. TUC research also found that over 170,000 childcare workers would benefit from a minimum wage increase to £10 per hour.
Overhaul Shared Parental leave (SPL). Around only 1 per cent of eligible families take up shared parental leave. We need an individual right to SPL for both parents on a use it or lose it basis and paid at real living wage rate.
Women have fought hard for their rights and progression in the world of work, but more than a decade of austerity, compounded by the pandemic and now the wages and bills crisis risks turning the clock back on progress towards women’s equality at work and in wider society.
If the government is serious about women’s equality then it must get serious about its policy interventions.
Pentlands SNP MSP Gordon MacDonald has welcomed the package of measures announced yesterday by the Scottish Government to provide immediate support and break the cycle of child poverty for people across Edinburgh.
Shona Robison, the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government, announced an increase of a further £5 to the ‘game-changing’ Scottish Child Payment – bringing the total payment to £25 per week per child at the end of the year, following the increase to £20 next week.
This move will see the SNP Government’s package of five family benefits for low income families, including the increased Scottish Child Payment, now totalling over £10,000 to low income families by the time a first child turns 6, and £9,700 for subsequent children.
It directly benefits 7,995 of children across Edinburgh already in receipt of the payment.
In contrast, families in England and Wales receive less than £1,800 for the first child and under £1,300 for subsequent children.
The SNP Cabinet Secretary also announced:
· an increase in employment services with the aim of supporting up to 12,000 parents into fair and sustainable work, backed by investment of up to £81 million in 2022-23
· investment of up to £15 million in a new fund to tackle the financial barriers parents face when they enter the labour market
· immediate steps to mitigate the Tories’ Benefit Cap, which is impacting many families already struggling to make ends meet, backed by up to £10m
It is estimated that, through these and current Scottish Government actions, 60,000 fewer children will be living in relative poverty in 2023/24 compared with 2017.
Gordon MacDonald said: “This package of measures to tackle child poverty is hugely welcome and the impact it will have on households across Edinburgh cannot be underestimated – increasing the Scottish Child Payment even further, to £25 per week per child, will make such a difference to families struggling to cope with the Tory cost of living crisis right now.
“This stands in stark contrast to the Tory Chancellor’s spring statement which utterly failed to provide any meaningful lifeline support for people across Edinburgh who are facing soaring energy bills and a cost of living crisis now – and that was a political choice.
“I am glad that families across Edinburgh have an SNP Scottish Government taking serious, life-changing action to protect them where it can within limited powers and a fixed budget. The significant parental employment package also announced will help people across Edinburgh into fair and sustainable work.
“Other political parties must now recognise the reality that whilst the SNP is doing what it can to put money in people’s pockets in Scotland and tackle poverty, Westminster is consistently undermining Scotland’s efforts through their damaging policy agenda.
“These actions from the Scottish Government make it crystal clear that Edinburgh and the people that live here, would be better off with independence and all the levers to tackle poverty and hardship.”
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss confirmed that the UK will provide Ukraine with £2 million in essential food supplies for people trapped by Russian advances
The UK is set to provide £2 million in vital food supplies for areas of Ukraine encircled by Russian forces, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss confirmed today (26 March).
The announcement comes following a direct request from the government of Ukraine, with the UK funding a rapid donation of dried food, tinned goods and water.
Warehouses in Poland and Slovakia are being readied to supply these goods to the government of Ukraine from early next week. Around 25 truckloads will then be transported by road and rail to the local Ukrainian communities in greatest need.
It is estimated over 12 million people are currently in need of humanitarian assistance across Ukraine, with the actual figure likely to be much higher.
This rapid donation is essential, with the window to reach towns and cities already encircled, as well as those at high risk, closing.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said: “This vital donation of food and supplies will help support the Ukrainian people in the face of Russia’s barbaric invasion.
“Our teams are working day and night with our Polish and Slovakian friends and the government of Ukraine to ensure those at most risk get the essential supplies they so badly need.”
Alice Hooper, FCDO Humanitarian Adviser said: “The need on the ground in Ukraine is clear, with so many people in encircled areas trapped in basements without access to food or water. Nearly 6 million children remain in Ukraine, many sheltering inside buildings which are coming under attack.
“We are working with partners at the borders to ensure these vital UK supplies reach the places they are needed most as quickly as possible.”
Access to food, water and cooking facilities for those trapped by Russian advances is becoming increasingly difficult, with people taking refuge in basements from shelling.
This latest donation comes as part of the £400 million committed by the UK, with £220 million of this on humanitarian aid.
The Foreign Secretary today announced the allocation of the first tranche of this funding, which will be shared amongst trusted humanitarian delivery partners on the ground, including:
£25 million to the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR to support surrounding countries to receive and care for refugees from the conflict
£20 million to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the OCHA-managed Ukraine Humanitarian Fund (UHF), to provide coordinated lifesaving humanitarian assistance, protection and basic services to those remaining in Ukraine
£10 million to International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to deliver healthcare and water, sanitation and hygiene provision amongst other support
The World Cup play-off between Scotland and Ukraine was meant to take place on the 24th of March. It was postponed due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Moved by the recent events, Spartans have decided to team up with the Edinburgh-based charity, Dnipro Kids Appeal, and host a five-a-side football tournament to raise money to support Ukrainian orphans forced away from their home.
Join us on the 3rd of April at Ainslie Park Stadium and support our cause.
Get your friends together and play football for those in need!!!
People who ordinarily live in Ukraine will be able to access NHS services at no charge on the same basis as people living in Scotland.
An amendment to current legislation will ensure that people who have fled Ukraine can access services such as maternity care, mental health services and treatment for specific conditions at no charge while they remain here.
This will also apply to people from Ukraine who were in Scotland on short-term visas when the conflict began and who apply to extend or switch visas because they cannot return home.
Anyone in Scotland, regardless of their nationality, residence status or length of time they will be in the country, is already entitled to receive emergency treatment at an A&E or casualty department, and can register with a GP Practice to receive general medical services, at no charge.
In addition, emergency legislation which came into force on Tuesday 22 March will allow people coming to Scotland from Ukraine to meet residency conditions for Scottish social security benefits.
This means that those fleeing war in Ukraine, and who are eligible, will have immediate access to benefits such as Scottish Child Payment and Child Disability Payment.
Health Secretary Humza Yousaf said: “We are determined to do everything in our power to give displaced people from Ukraine the warmest welcome possible when they arrive and this includes offering healthcare to those who need it.
“We fully recognise that they may have been through very traumatic experiences and could require specialist treatment and care. Removing charges for healthcare and providing access to benefits is a practical step in ensuring those who have been forced to flee their homes and country can live safely and comfortably in Scotland for as long as they need to.”
Grassroots football facilities across Scotland will benefit from an initial £2 million of UK government funding to improve grassroots football facilities, as part of a major commitment to levelling up access to physical activity across the nation.
Beneficiaries of an initial £2 million direct investment in grassroots football facilities across Scotland this year announced
Spartans is one of 18 projects to benefit from first tranche of £230 million investment in football facilities across the UK to level up access to quality sport provision
Improvements to be made in partnership with the Scottish Football Association
SPARTANS Community Football Academy is one of eighteen projects across Scotland to receive funding to create and improve pitches, changing rooms and pavilions, so that more local communities can access high-quality facilities.
Projects have been chosen for their ability to deliver improved facilities in deprived areas, support multi-sport use and increase participation among currently under-represented groups, including women, girls and disabled players.
As well as North Edinburgh social enterprise Spartans Community Football Academy, other examples include:
Drumchapel United in Glasgow – a community club powered by volunteer coaches, which keeps the local community active at all ages from nursery to walking to football, who will use this £150,000 grant to regenerate their pitch;
Kilwinning Community Football Academy in Kilwinning, North Ayrshire – who have just signed the community asset transfer of the pitch and pavilion and are using this funding to regenerate the pitch as part of wider plans to improve the site. The pitch will support everything from school PE to mental health programmes for the local community. The £120,000 grant will be combined with the club’s own funds and funding from North Ayrshire Council.
Buckie Thistle High School where, combined with funding from the council, the renewed 3G pitch will support year round use for the ladies team there.
The funding, combined with contributions from clubs and other local partners, will improve the quality of community facilities, bring people together to enjoy playing sport in their local area, regenerate communities and enhance social cohesion.
It forms part of a £25 million UK-wide investment in grassroots facilities during this financial year, out of a total of £230 million set to be invested to help to build or upgrade up to 8,000 quality pitches across the UK over the next four years. The funding will also support the construction or refurbishment of clubhouses, changing facilities and community buildings.
The Scottish Football Association is delivering the programme on behalf of the UK government in Scotland.
UK Sports Minister Nigel Huddleston said: “We are committed to improving access to high quality sports facilities for the underprivileged and underrepresented in Scotland.
“From Almswall Park in Kilwinning, to pitches in Buckie and Stenhousemuir, this will ensure more people can enjoy the physical and mental health benefits of sport at top class facilities in their local community.”
Secretary of State for Scotland Alister Jack said:From the Borders to Moray and from Inverclyde to Dundee, this £2million UK government funding will breathe new life into grassroots football facilities right across Scotland.
“The investment will help communities all over Scotland become winners on and off the pitch by inspiring people from all walks of life to get active and enjoy the physical and mental health benefits that playing the beautiful game can bring.”
Chief Executive Officer of the Scottish Football Association Ian Maxwell said:“Our goal in Scotland is to harness the power of football, with the positive physical and mental wellbeing benefits that football offers being perfect examples of this.
“This funding will open opportunities for increased participation across many different demographics, including boys’ and girls’ football and para-football disciplines, some of which will be in areas that currently suffer from severe deprivation.
The announcement follows a joint ‘Expression of Interest’ submitted to UEFA by the Football Associations of England, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, Scotland and Wales on Wednesday (23 March).
The governments of the UK, Ireland, Scotland and Wales have confirmed their support for the EOI submission and, given the Northern Ireland Executive is currently not meeting formally, officials there continue to observe the process closely.
Formal discussions on the technical specifications for the tournament are expected to take place with European football’s governing body over the coming weeks, before a final decision is made on submitting a formal bid.
On the prospects of hosting UEFA EURO 2028, Sports Minister Nigel Huddleston added:“This is welcome news from the FAs, and the government remains committed to working closely with them and our partners in the government of Ireland and the Devolved Administrations to bring UEFA’s flagship festival of international football to the UK and Ireland.
“Our unprecedented partnership creates the potential for the best EUROs ever, and we are passionate about bringing another world-leading sporting event here, creating a real celebration of football for people across the UK and Ireland.
“The government continues to demonstrate its commitment to sport and recreation, recently announcing that it is also investing £30 million to refurbish more than 4,500 tennis courts across the UK.”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson gave a statement at the NATO Summit in Brussels yesterday:
It is scarcely believable as we stand here today that just a month ago, the Ukrainian people were living ordinary, peaceful lives. Now, they are locked in an extraordinary battle for survival against an unprovoked onslaught from their neighbours.
Ukrainians have taken up the fight and taught the world the meaning of bravery. Against the odds, they have snarled up Russia’s invading army, inflicting defeat after defeat. The heroism of Ukraine has changed the geopolitics of Europe.
Vladimir Putin has badly miscalculated in Ukraine, and I believe he knows it. But now that Putin’s Plan A has foundered, he is already escalating by intensifying his attacks on civilians.
Maternity wards, schools and homes and have been bombed without any regard for civilian life. Families are being starved out in freezing basement shelters, and targeted as they flee.
The United Kingdom – and our allies in NATO and the G7 here today – are clear: we will not stand by while Putin vents his fury on Ukraine.
I have rarely seen our nations more united in recent years than we are now. Putin’s failure in Ukraine is vital for the peace and prosperity of all of us, and his barbaric invasion has galvanised the international community into collective action.
We will work with likeminded allies to ramp up lethal aid to Ukraine at scale, providing kit to President Zelenskyy in the quantity and with the quality and quantity that he needs to defend his country from its bullying neighbour.
Today, I have announced we in the UK will send an additional 6,000 missiles and provide £25 million in unrestricted funding for Ukraine’s armed forces, more than doubling the lethal aid we have provided to date.
We are bolstering our support for the NATO countries on the frontline, sending a new deployment of UK troops to Bulgaria on top of the doubling our troops both in Poland and in Estonia.
This is just the beginning. We must support a free and democratic Ukraine in the long term. This is a fellow European democracy fighting a war of national defence.
NATO and G7 leaders were also united today in our determination to continue turning the screws on the Kremlin’s war machine, including by weaning ourselves off Russian oil and gas and reshaping global energy security.
The UK has already hit over 1,000 Russian individuals and entities in our toughest-ever sanctions, and the Foreign Secretary has announced 65 new sanctions against Russian banks, weapons manufacturers and oligarchs just this morning.
I also discussed the humanitarian response with our allies and partners today, as we continue to see huge numbers of Ukrainians flee their homes.
And the message that President Putin can take from today’s extraordinary meeting of NATO and the G7 is this: Ukraine is not alone.
We stand with the people of Kyiv, of Mairupol, of Lviv and Donetsk. And as President Zelenskyy has said himself – the people of Ukraine will prevail and Putin must fail and he will fail.
Watching a large number of medical staff gather around my baby boy to resuscitate him was the scariest thing I have ever been through.
We were at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, an hour away from our home, after rushing my son, Carter, there ourselves. Eventually the doctors managed to stabilise Carter, but he was still struggling with his breathing and needed to be intubated and kept on the paediatric intensive care unit (PICU). He had developed a respiratory virus from a cold and as a result was experiencing breathing apnoea due to a build-up of mucus in his lungs.
We went to see him in PICU where he was covered in tubes and I was just sitting there, looking at him and felt my heart break into pieces. There was a chair next to Carter’s bed that I was prepared to not move from until he got better. But with parents unable to stay on intensive care wards with their children, even this wasn’t an option.
As I started to try and work out how I was going to cope with this situation I was told about The Sick Children’s Trust and its wonderful Acorn House. It’s one of ten ‘Homes from Home’ the charity runs around the country, giving families a free place to stay close to their seriously ill children.
I was still hesitant at first about leaving Carter’s side, but when the nurses told me that Acorn House was just minutes away from the hospital the more comfortable I felt about staying there.
I knew it was likely we would be in hospital for a while; The Sick Children’s Trust supports families for an average of 14 nights when their children are on the incentive care units, so knowing we had a place to stay took away a lot of these extra stresses.
When I arrived at Acorn House, I felt at home. There was a kitchen, living room and even a playroom so I knew straight away that I could bring Elsie, Carter’s older sister, to stay as well when the time was right.
This year, The Sick Children’s Trust is celebrating 40 years of keeping families, like mine, together with their seriously ill children while they are in hospital. Since the charity was launched in 1982 they have made sure more than 73,000 families have been able to stay just minutes away from their ill child’s hospital bedside and I really don’t know what we would have done without their support.
Acorn House was our ‘Home from Home’ for two weeks while Carter recovered, and he’s been doing amazing ever since.
He’s reached all his milestones and is such a loud and energetic character. As part of their 40th anniversary celebrations The Sick Children’s Trust is aiming to raise £237,000 to support families in all 148 rooms of its ten ‘Homes from Home’ for 40 nights.
I’m encouraging everyone to think about families like mine who suddenly end up in hospital with their child critically ill and not knowing how they can stay with them. No parent wants to leave their child while they’re in hospital and by supporting The Sick Children’s Trust and its ‘Homes from Home’ you can make sure more families can be together.
Without Acorn House Carter’s time in hospital would have been so much harder. I don’t think I would’ve have coped. Please donate £40 today by visiting sickchildrenstrust.org
Regulations have been passed to put in place a safe, fast and free vetting system for those who open their homes to displaced Ukrainians.
Under the scheme, volunteer hosts will be able to apply for expedited disclosure checks. These enhanced checks will offer the same level of scrutiny as the initial checks carried out for those working with children and vulnerable adults.
Sponsors will be contacted as part of the matching service and guided through the disclosure check application process.
Children’s Minister Clare Haughey said: “The generosity of people who want to open their homes for Ukrainians fleeing the illegal invasion of their country is heart-warming.
“We want Scotland to be a welcoming and safe haven and so ensuring the wellbeing and safety of those arriving from Ukraine, who are overwhelmingly women and children, is critical. That is why we have taken action to put in place appropriate checks for sponsors and to make sure the checks are free for those who are offering a place to stay.
“Under this scheme, Disclosure Scotland will prioritise checks for volunteer hosts when they are matched so the homes are ready for any new arrivals as quickly as possible.”
The regulations will come into effect today – 24 March. It will mean that potential hosts who are matched with Ukrainians – whether they have offered to host adults only or families with children – will be subject to enhanced disclosure checks.
Anyone aged over 16 in the same household as the sponsor will also be required to undergo the same checks.
These higher level disclosures contain information about spent criminal convictions, other relevant information provided by police, details of prescribed court orders and sex offender notification requirements, and information about whether the applicant is barred under the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (PVG) Act from working with children or protected adults or whether the applicant is under consideration for barring.
Potential hosts should wait to be contacted about disclosure checks.
The regulations will not apply to unaccompanied children and protected adults arriving from Ukraine. Separate arrangements for their care are being urgently considered.
