Tag: support

Prime Minister call for volunteers to support National Booster Effort

  • UK Government and NHS announce ambition to recruit tens of thousands of volunteers to help get jabs into arms
  • All eligible adults will be offered the chance to get their jab before the New Year
  • PM: “We need you to come forward again, to work alongside our brilliant GPs, doctors, nurses and pharmacists, to deliver jabs and save lives.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson and NHS Chief Executive Amanda Pritchard have joined forces to issue a rallying cry for thousands of volunteers to come forward and support the NHS booster campaign.

The public will be urged to play a crucial role in the UK’s fight against Omicron by helping the NHS to get as many jabs into arms as quickly as possible. No task will be too small to contribute towards this national effort.

Yesterday the Prime Minister announced a new ambition for every eligible adult to have the chance to get their jab by the end of the year.

This follows new evidence that suggest the Omicron variant is extremely transmissible and two jabs are not enough to protect against infection.

The new target means the NHS will be massively ramping up its vaccine operations in the next few days, and it needs as many people as possible to play their part by volunteering their time to help.

Urging volunteers to sign up to the booster drive, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “As part of our Get Boosted Now vaccination drive we need to increase our jabbing capacity to unprecedented levels.

“But to achieve something on this scale, we need your help. So today I’m issuing a call for volunteers to join our national mission to get jabs in arms.

“We need tens of thousands of people to help out – everyone from trained vaccinators to stewards.

“Many thousands have already given their time – but we need you to come forward again, to work alongside our brilliant GPs, doctors, nurses and pharmacists, to deliver jabs and save lives.

“So please come forward if you can.”

There are now almost 3,000 vaccine sites across the country, staffed by over 90,000 volunteers who have given up 1.1 million hours of time so far.

In the next week hundreds more sites, mobile units and pop ups will be springing up across the country. These will be in a range of locations that will make it as easy as possible for people to get boosted – such as at football stadia, shopping centres and racecourses.

This means volunteers are needed to perform tasks such as registering patients, managing queues and giving jabs.

Last week the NHS announced a recruitment drive for 10,000 paid vaccinators and support staff and that it will also work with the Royal Voluntary Service and St. John Ambulance to recruit a further 40,000 volunteers for roles such as admin and stewarding queues.

In the last week, 13,000 people have come forward as steward volunteers, and a further 4,500 people have registered their interest to take up one of the 10,000 paid vaccinator roles. The government and NHS now want to go even further.

NHS England Chief Executive Amanda Pritchard said: “In the face of the grave threat posed by the new Omicron strain of Covid, the NHS is seeking to offer vaccine booster protection to all eligible adults by the end of the month, a new national mission in which everyone can play their part.

“There is no doubt that our incredible NHS staff will rise to the challenge but we cannot do this alone – we need the support of the public and volunteers to once again support the Covid vaccination programme.

“Since we first issued a call to arms we have had an outstanding response but Omicron has shifted the goalposts and we are now renewing our plea to the nation – I would urge anyone who has volunteered in the past, or considered it but not taken up the opportunity, to come forward now – search ‘NHS vaccine team’ today and find out more about how you can help us save lives.”

Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid said: “To help us turbocharge our COVID-19 booster programme we need people across the country to join our national mission to get boosted now.

“We are so grateful to the volunteer vaccinators from organisations such as St John Ambulance and Royal Voluntary Service who have made an enormous contribution by administering millions of vaccinations since the start of this year.”

People interested in either a voluntary or paid role are urged to visit the Join Vaccine Team page or search ‘NHS vaccine team’. People who volunteered or were trained for paid roles previously are also being contacted to help out again.

Scotland’s First Minister will make a statement on the situation in Scotland this afternoon. It’s expected that restrictions will be strengthened here as Omicron variant cases continue to rise sharply across the UK.

Armed forces step up to support vaccination drive across UK

750 Armed Forces personnel have been made available to support the NHS, the Department of Health and Social Care and Scottish Government to accelerate the vaccine booster programme.

Over 100 personnel are currently supporting the vaccine rollout in Scotland. 600 Armed Forces personnel have been made available to NHS England to administer vaccines, working in small teams across the country.

In addition, around 50 personnel will provide planning support to NHS England. 41 planners will deploy to NHS trusts across England and 10 logistics experts will be based at NHS England’s headquarters in London.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said: “We have rapidly mobilised Service personnel to work alongside our dedicated health services to accelerate the vaccine booster programme.

“Our Armed Forces will help to get vaccines into arms as quickly as possible as we continue our efforts to support the UK’s response to the pandemic.”

Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid said: “We are turbocharging our COVID-19 booster programme to offer every adult in England a vaccine by the end of the year to protect people from the Omicron variant.

“Building our defences through boosters is a hugely important national mission and it’s brilliant to see the military supporting our NHS staff in our race against the virus.

“Please get boosted now to top-up your immunity and keep yourself and your loved ones safe this winter.”

Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Sir Tony Radakin said: “I’m proud of our Armed Forces who are once again stepping up to help protect people and communities.

“We have a long history of working hand in hand with the NHS as two organisations with a common goal – to help keep our people safe.”

Planners based at NHS England headquarters will be led by Brigadier Phil Prosser who was previously deployed to support the delivery of the vaccine programme which began in December 2020. They will work alongside NHS England to maximise existing capacity and ensure the vaccine programme can be delivered at pace.

Since March 2020, Defence has supported over 430 tasks as part of Operation Rescript – Defence’s support to the UK’s response to the pandemic.

Defence is currently supporting ambulance services in Wales and Scotland and the vaccine rollout in Scotland among other tasks including testing.

Support is being provided through the Military Aid to the Civil Authorities (MACA) process.

Personnel supporting on Operation Rescript tasks have deployed from across the three services – Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force – and are a mixture of regulars and reservists.

EVOC: Edinburgh Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund is now open

EVOC is delighted to announce that this Fund is now open to expressions of interest. 

Expressions of Interest I Get Involved I Key Documents I Funding Overview

We’ve had a busy November, discussing this funding with as many people as we can.

To try to make it more accessible, instead of long application forms we’re asking you to fill in a few key details setting out what you think your organisation or group can do to meet the needs of communities in Edinburgh. Please also tell us what support you might find helpful.

These expressions of interest will be publicly available for others to see on our website from mid-December, so do check back in a week or two. We hope this open process will stimulate partnerships and ideas.

Expressions of Interest
All expressions of interest need to be submitted using this online form, but we’ve also created a word version of the form to help you draft your application. 

The closing date for expressions of interest is Fri 14 Jan 2022.

For details of the process after this point please see the Partnership Plan.

Other Ways to Get Involved
If you don’t plan to apply to the fund, but would like to be involved in the process – e.g. as part of the decision-making collaborative – we would really welcome this and can discuss funding for your time where appropriate.

Please get in touch: funding@evoc.org.uk

Key Documents & Links

Fund Overview

  • £1.255 million has been allocated to Edinburgh to support Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing, for those aged 16 and above.
  • The fund is to support mental health and wellbeing at a small scale, grassroots, community level. It can be used to increase capacity for existing groups and projects or for new initiatives.
  • Groups do not have to have mental health and wellbeing as their main focus, but there needs to be a clear benefit to the mental wellbeing of people in their community.
  • Initiatives with a focus on addressing mental health inequalities by supporting those who have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic will be prioritised, particularly those supporting communities experiencing multiple forms of marginalisation.

Hearts fan shares MND diagnosis

Lifelong Heart of Midlothian supporter, Stevie Morris, is speaking out about his diagnosis of motor neurone disease (MND) to raise awareness, in support of the Club’s partnership with MND Scotland. 

Thanks to an innovative sponsorship deal with Dell Technologies, MND Scotland’s logo is taking pride of place on the front of the Hearts home kit for the 2021/22 season. To help raise more awareness, Stevie, from Mid Calder, is sharing his experience of living with MND and what the partnership means to him and his family.

Before being diagnosed with MND, the Tynecastle Park season ticket holder used to love playing sport, including football, walking football and golf multiple times a week. 

He said: “I used to live a very active life before my diagnosis, and it has been really tough having my ability to play sport gradually fade away to the point where I just can’t do it anymore.

“I’m someone who likes to take care of their garden, but this past gardening season I was even starting to find mowing the lawn to be too much.”

Stevie, who is married to Mary (61) and dad to Craig (37), used to attend every Hearts game, both home and away, but due to his worsening condition, is sadly unable to travel to watch away games anymore. 

“Hearts has always been a huge part of my life. It’s really important to me and I used to love travelling to the games on the Livingston Hearts supporter’s bus, but I can’t do that now. The walk to the ground from the bus is just too far. Even going to home games, I have to get dropped off right at the entrance and am in the process of moving my season ticket seat, so I don’t have to walk as far.

“Right now, I am still able to get down to the pub on a Sunday to watch other TV games, something I’m still really glad I can do.”

Stevie first suspected something was wrong during a round of golf, when he experienced a freezing cold sensation in his foot, something which seemed even more unusual given the warm weather on the day. 

He said: “From visiting my doctor to being diagnosed took around nine months in total. There was a lot of testing involved and other things that had to be ruled out. At first, I thought it might have been a trapped nerve but sadly it was more serious than that.”

Stevie was diagnosed with MND in February 2021 and less than a year on is having difficulty getting up and down stairs, as well as relying on a breathing machine at night. 

“Being diagnosed with MND was devastating obviously. It just floored us and the whole family went through a period of complete disbelief. Although I found it very difficult to tell my family and friends, the hardest part was definitely having to tell my dad.

“For the past three games, I’ve taken my dad for hospitality at Hearts, which has been an amazing experience for us both and something very special we could do together.” 

Stevie and his son Craig are extremely happy about the partnership between Hearts and MND Scotland and have both got the strip with the charity logo. 

He continued: “MND is a horrible disease. For my team to be involved in such a positive and direct way is tremendous. I hope the money raised from the partnership will allow MND Scotland to continue helping people in my situation. The support and services they provided me with really helped to take a load off my family – they are magnificent. 

“I hope the message gets through that MND can affect anyone. I’m a fan, who is there every week. I’m your midweek, go to Inverness or Ross County fan. I’m a fan that will have a sing a long on the supporter’s bus, and a beer before and after the match. Hearts are my team. My wish is that no one else misses out on future games because of MND.” 

MND Scotland’s Head of Fundraising, Iain McWhirter, said: “Our partnership with Hearts has been amazing so far, and both the club and its supporters have played an enormous role in our effort to raise vital awareness and funding, to help change the lives of people living with MND today.

“I want to thank Stevie for bravely speaking out about his story and sharing his experience with us.”

To help people like Stevie, and to join MND Scotland’s search for a cure, please donate today.

Scottish Football spreads Christmas cheer through Festive Friends campaign

  • Over 3,000 people will be supported by Festive Friends this year
  • A record £100,000 has been committed to this year’s campaign
  • More community trusts and SPFL clubs than ever involved (41)
  • This year’s campaign will see the continuation of last year’s doorstep visits to people who are at risk of social isolation
  • Some clubs will host festive events again for the first time since last year

SPFL clubs and associated community trusts (ATCs) across Scotland are bringing Christmas cheer to those that need it most this year by taking part in the biggest ever Festive Friends programme during the holiday season.

Festive Friends is a brilliant opportunity for clubs to give back to their local communities.

The programme is now in its sixth year, with 41 SPFL clubs taking part in the campaign this year.

The campaign has the largest fund ever this year, a total of £100,000, which means the SPFL Trust will be able to more than DOUBLE the number of people clubs are able to support.

As such, the programme is expected to support over 3,000 people this year.

It’s been a tough few years for everyone due to Covid-19, but of course it has been especially difficult for the elderly who are at higher risk of social isolation.

Festive Friends brings Christmas cheer and companionship to elderly people who are socially isolated and at risk of being alone during the festive season.

Almost 4,000 people have enjoyed an event in the last five years and last year’s new-look initiative, when it was not possible to hold events due to physical distancing rules, was also a huge success with over 2,800 people receiving Christmas hampers in doorstep visits.

Hampers contained food, snacks, essential toiletries, gifts, games and more. Some clubs even brought video messages from managers and players; others had players make personal deliveries.

This year club staff and volunteers will continue to visit participants with hampers, or welcome them to their ground to enjoy a hot Christmas lunch, fun and games, a club gift, and transport there and home.

Tommy (84), who lives in rural Perthshire, received a Christmas hamper from St Johnstone Community Trust ‘Saints in the Community’ last year.

Tommy self isolated during the first national lockdown in Spring 2020. The lack of social interaction and the loss of his beloved football had taken its toll on him physically and mentally.

He was thrilled to receive a hamper which was packed with festive goodies, a memory lane activity book, and a bonus video message from first-team player Stevie May.

Tommy said: “The gift box was full of lovely stuff. I like when Saints come to visit and we can have a chat about the games. I don’t always remember all the scores, but Danny [former St Johnstone FC player Danny Griffin] keeps me right.

“The wee activity book took me back, it’s no substitute for talking to others about the game, but it brought back nice times.”

https://youtu.be/9sK5CbHVALU

SPFL Trust CEO, Nicky Reid, said: “Festive Friends is a real highlight of the year for me and my colleagues at SPFL clubs. It’s all about good old fashioned Christmas spirit – bringing club staff and volunteers together to reach elderly people who are at risk of social isolation.

“Scottish football is trusted to support, and our recent research shows that almost 83% of people live within ten miles of a SPFL ground – because of this clubs and their associated community trusts are well positioned to effect this type of change in their communities.

“This year 41 SPFL clubs are involved making it our biggest programme yet, supported by a record breaking fund of £100,000. We look forward to supporting more elderly people than ever before, after all kindness never mattered more.”

For more information on Festive Friends visit: 

www.spfltrust.org.uk/festivefriends

 

CAS launches Big Energy Saving Winter campaign

Citizens Advice Scotland has launched our Big Energy Saving Winter campaign, which encourages people to get advice amid soaring energy prices (writes CAS Chief Executive DEREK MITCHELL).

It comes after months of turmoil in the energy market, with Bulb being the biggest supplier so far to go out of business. The spike in global gas prices saw suppliers sell energy at unsustainable losses and that has led to a shrinking of the market, meaning not only less consumer choice but also bigger bills.

In October the energy price cap, put in place to protect consumers, rose by a record amount, just as people faced a perfect storm of rising inflation and falling incomes due to things like the reduction of Universal Credit by £20 per week.

As we reveal, this all adds up to more than 1 in 3 of us finding bills unaffordable.

In polling for CAS by YouGov, people blamed rising energy prices and the cost of living, but also hard to heat homes and low incomes. Given there’s likely to be another rise in the Spring which on average will add around another £500 to bills, this situation will only get worse.

When we speak about energy bills in the winter, and Scotland’s unacceptable levels of fuel poverty, you’ll often see the cliché around “heating or eating”. But what feels like a cliché in the pages of a newspaper is the reality for too many people. 1 in 4 households were in fuel poverty before the pandemic, and as the snow begins to fall in parts of Scotland they face an incredibly rough winter.

In previous years this campaign would have encouraged people to “switch and save”. But due to the crisis in the market, the official advice is not to switch as many people will end up on a higher tariff.

Our campaign is about offering people solutions. Because that’s the good news: there is real help available. We want to ensure that people know they don’t have to feel powerless in the face of soaring bills.

There are various ways we can help them save energy, that’ll have the benefit of saving the planet as well – something to consider with COP 26 fresh in our minds.

CABs can also unlock money for people through things like social security, employment entitlements and debt reductions. In fact during the pandemic our network unlocked around £147m for people in Scotland.

So our campaign is all about making people aware of this help so they can access it.

You’ll possibly see your local CAB out in your community in the next few weeks, pushing the same message. Hopefully we’ll manage to provide some relief to at least some of the people who are suffering the cold.

So please help spread the message of our campaign. Tell your friends and family about it, re-tweet us (@citadvicescot), and if you’re in a position to amplify it in any other way, please do.

In the longer term, we need policies ensure consumers are protected and bills don’t eat up as much of people’s household income.

Until then the CAB network is here to help, as we have for over 80 years. 

National Grief Awareness Week – 78% of us have NEVER spoken to a GP about bereavement

At the start of National Grief Awareness Week, Cruse Bereavement Support and the Royal College of GPs are announcing an exciting new partnership to strengthen bereavement support and understanding of grief for people across the UK.

In an important step for UK healthcare, the partnership aims to highlight just how impactful grief can be on a person’s physical and mental health.

New research released today by Cruse, shows that over three-quarters of adults in Britain (78%) have never spoken to a GP about a bereavement*.

With this staggering figure in mind, Cruse and the RCGP are making clear to people who may need additional support after experiencing a bereavement, whether recent or in the past, that they can connect with their GP practice team.

This will give GP teams the opportunity to identify people who may need additional support from bereavement services as well as offering information and advice on support available.

With support from a grant of more than £574,000 from The National Lottery Community Fund the largest funder of community activity in the UK, this campaign will supply GPs nationwide with a toolkit supporting them to provide consistent and compassionate support for grieving patients.

The toolkit also provides information and products for patients and healthcare staff – including an animation on the new partnership, a patient poster for all GP surgeries on bereavement and grief and a VBA (very brief advice) card for practice staff.

Sadly, nearly everyone will be affected by bereavement at some point in their life and it is vital that the right support is available and known for people who need it.

This exciting initiative delivered by Cruse Bereavement Support in partnership with The RCGP, is a big step toward ensuring healthcare groups and bereavement support charities are working in partnership to provide the best bereavement support for grieving people.

Steven Wibberley, Chief Executive of Cruse Bereavement Support comments: “Understanding grief and how it can affect your health is the first step towards getting the support you need – and GPs and practice teams can play a really important role in helping grieving people with this.

“That’s why we are so pleased to be collaborating with the RCGP in this important campaign to bridge the gap between healthcare and bereavement support. It’s our hope that this partnership will also ensure all grieving people, especially those who may feel alone and unsure of where to get help, are able to access the right support when they so desperately need it.”

Dr Catherine Millington-Sanders, Clinical Lead for Palliative and End of Life Care for the Royal College of General Practitioners comments: “After a bereavement, it’s natural to want and ask for support. Many people find support from their friends, family or community networks but others may be really struggling with their grief and find more formal support helpful.

“GP practices are a valued and important source of information, support and advice in our communities. This work between the RCGP and Cruse aims to equip GP practice teams with the tools to help identify people with bereavement needs and accessible information to sign-post people to appropriate bereavement support, ensuring the bereaved person is at the centre of every step.”

Military deployed in Scotland to aid Storm Arwen response

A total of 134 personnel from across the services have been deployed to the Grampian region to check on vulnerable people in their homes and to conduct door-to-door checks on over 4,000 homes.

The military will also provide welfare and humanitarian support for remote communities and are on standby to deliver further support and vital supplies if needed.

Teams of 10 will deploy to remote communities across the region who have been impacted by the loss of power and water following the storm.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said: “We are always ready to provide extra support to civil authorities across the UK in their time of need and it’s great to see units based in Scotland supporting their local communities.

“Our dedicated Armed Forces will conduct door-to-door checks on people in their homes, providing essential support to those impacted by Storm Arwen.”

Scottish Secretary Alister Jack said: “Once again our fantastic British Armed Forces have stepped up to support communities in times of need.

“As well as having been front and centre of the COVID-19 recovery efforts, I’m very pleased they are also able to help those in the Grampian region suffering disruption caused by Storm Arwen.

“We are incredibly fortunate in the UK in having such committed, skilled and willing military personnel to support us in such challenging times.”

There are thousands of military personnel on standby to support resilience tasks across the UK including the response to the coronavirus. There are over 300 personnel currently supporting health boards in Scotland with the vaccine rollout and the Scottish Ambulance Service.

Locations who will benefit from military assistance include Aboyne, Alford, Banchory, Banff, Ellon, Fraserburgh, Huntly, Inverurie, Peterhead, Stonehaven, Turriff and Westhill.

This support has been provided through a Military Aid to the Civilian Authorities request which is the official process for MOD to provide assistance to other government departments and civil authorities for responding to emergencies, maintaining supplies and essential services during a crisis.

Those deployed come from units based in Scotland including 39 Engineer Regiment, 3 Scots and 45 Commando. Some of the marines from 45 Commando have recently returned from cold weather training.

The Ministry of Defence is also engaged with a number of local authorities in northern England who have been affected by Storm Arwen to identify where it would be appropriate to support.

Over the past five days, emergency teams have been working tirelessly to restore power in affected areas. Around 1 million people have been affected in total and power has now been restored to 98% of those affected.

Multi-agency response to Storm Arwen continues

The multi-agency response to return power to communities across the North East of Scotland is ongoing.

Anyone without power can refer to Scottish & Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) for updates on power cuts and the welfare support available.

The Aberdeenshire Council assistance centre remains open, between 8am and 8pm, to provide help to residents. They are contactable on 0808 1963 384 and information about rest and welfare centres is also available on their website.

Chief Superintendent George Macdonald said: “The damage caused by Storm Arwen has been unprecedented and has required significant repairs to be undertaken across the power, water and communications networks.

“The Strategic Local Resilience Partnership has met almost 20 times since last Friday, in preparation for and in response to the weather. The partnership involves local authorities, health and social care partnerships, emergency services, Maritime and Coastguard Agency, NHS, Scottish & Southern Electricity Networks, Scottish Water, SEPA, Forestry and Land Scotland, British Red Cross, and other local voluntary organisations. Together we are all committed to providing ongoing support to those affected by the power outage.

“Rest centres, which have been in place since the weekend, remain in place in a number of locations where SSEN advise full power has yet to return. There has been a significant humanitarian effort in response to the storm, with volunteers from across the partnership carrying out welfare checks on those without power, including more than 1,800 people who were identified as potentially vulnerable.”

Chief Superintendent Macdonald continued: “We recognise that this has been a very challenging time for everyone who has been without power and water for a long time. Due to the ongoing challenges and uncertainty around when supplies will be fully restored, which has added to the complexity of the response, the partnership has deemed it proportionate and necessary to seek additional humanitarian support from the military and we are grateful for their assistance.

“The scale of damage and difficult weather conditions have added to the challenges of restoring power, however there is an absolute commitment from all agencies to do this as quickly as possible and to continue providing support as we work towards a return to normality.”

Chief Superintendent Macdonald has also praised the community support and effort that has been seen since the storm hit the North East. He said: “The sense of community spirit has been fantastic to see and there has been numerous examples of kindness and selflessness in the face of real difficulties.

“Members of the public, businesses and volunteers have come together in true North East style, including helping my officers during the storm by providing additional torches, cut back or move fallen trees and branches and other examples of basic support, kindness and practical assistance which I know has been really appreciated and made officers jobs so much easier. Thank you.”