PDE Column, 29th September 2008 – Pressure on Ambulance Workers, Cdifficile Figures, WRVS Centre, Voices in Paisley, Awards for All, QE2

Pressure on Ambulance Workers

I am concerned the Scottish Ambulance Service is being starved of adequate funding.

I welcome the recent additional investment that will finally put an end to the common practice of ambulances rushing to an emergency with only one member of staff but there are still a worrying number of outstanding pressures to be addressed: a fair pay settlement for ambulance staff, a 12 per cent jump in ambulance service demand and the introduction of new services such as new emergency heart treatment as well as the recently announced additional costs of cleaning systems for vehicles.

This month also saw the Paisley Emergency Dispatch Centre move to Cardonald where this new centre will manage the ambulance responses to around 500,000 calls for the West of Scotland each year.

Cabinet Secretary, Nicola Sturgeon is imposing new responsibilities on the Scottish ambulance Service but there is no new money to provide for these responsibilities.

The Scottish Government have given the National Health Service including the ambulance service its worst financial settlement since devolution. I wonder how the ambulance service is to meet the new challenges without further funding.

Health must be a genuine priority and match the previous Labour government’s investment. It’s not good enough to talk about record investment when the facts don’t match the rhetoric.

Cdifficile figures

Following recent reporting on Cdifficile outbreaks and my call to the Scottish Government for an individual hospital based reporting system, I obtained through Freedom of Information some revealing and worrying statistics.

In the Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board area Cdifficile is recorded as the underlying cause of death in 9 cases in year 2000, jumping to 57 cases in 2007. In the RAH, there were zero cases in 2000 rising to 8 in 2007.

Furthermore figures recorded between 2000 and 2007  where cdifficile is included as a contributory factor rose from 32 to 180 in the Health Board area, and from 1 to 19 cases specifically at the RAH.

WRVS Centre in Paisley

I was very impressed on visiting the new WRVS centre in Causeyside Street. Not just a nice cup of tea in a lovely café setting but an invaluable Information Centre for the older people of Renfrewshire, their carers and family members offering practical wide ranging advice and support, from simple enquiries through to problem solving and help finding reliable tradesmen for those small jobs. I thoroughly recommend Buddies drop in to find out the services available.

Voices in Paisley

I was pleased to receive the brochure from the Paisley Festival Company for the superb Voices in Paisley programme of choral events in October and November. The Paisley Festival Company aims to establish Paisley and its environs as a nationally recognised centre for all types of choral activity and be known as Scotland’s Choir Town. For more information visit www.paisleyfestivalcompany.com or write to the Festival Company  at Mirren Chambers, 41 Gauze Street, PA1 1EX

Awards for all

I am delighted to learn that local organisations in my Paisley North constituency have been successful in applying to Awards for All, securing a total of £39,870 funding.
Awards for All Scotland is supported by the Scottish Arts Council, the Heritage Lottery Fund, Sortscotland and the Big Lottery Fund.
Congratulations go to Moorpark Primary School PTA, St Ninian’s Eden Project (Step Forward), Ferguslie Community Nursery Committee, Renfrewshire Council of Voluntary Services.

QE2 – The Last Queen of the Clyde

Clydebuilt at Braehead, one of the Scottish Maritime Museums, opens an exhibition on 2nd October. It’s a celebration of Cunard’s world famous liner built at John Brown’s yard in Clydebank and launched in 1967. The exhibition in timed to coincide with the QE2’s last ever visit to the Clyde on the 5th of October.