Alison Leitch, Community Link Worker Network Area Lead for North Edinburgh, was recently part of a panel presenting evidence to the Scottish Parliament's Health, Social Care and Sport Committee's Inquiry into Alternative Pathways to Primary Care. The Committee's MSPs spent a large part of their … [Read more...] about Inquiry into Alternative Pathways to Primary Care spotlights link working
A Chance to Change Primary Care and Tackle Health Inequalities
Published on 14th March 2022, a new Scottish Government report sets out 23 recommendations for actions to be taken to help primary care play a stronger role in reducing health inequalities in Scotland: Report of the Primary Care Health Inequalities Short Life Working Group. VHS is a member of the … [Read more...] about A Chance to Change Primary Care and Tackle Health Inequalities
Jim’s Blog – Smoking and Mental Health: A Forgotten Epidemic
Introduction ASH Scotland - Action on Smoking and Health (Scotland) - is the independent Scottish charity taking action to reduce the harm caused by tobacco. The IMPACT Project is part of our work to support the Scottish Government’s target of achieving a national smoking prevalence rate of 5% or … [Read more...] about Jim’s Blog – Smoking and Mental Health: A Forgotten Epidemic
Action urged on underpayment of children’s social care workers
VHS is urging MSPs to ask Ministers to address the pay gap between the adult social care workforce and the children’s social care workforce. An inequity has been created because children’s services have not been included in the recent pay uplift for social care workers, announced by the Scottish … [Read more...] about Action urged on underpayment of children’s social care workers
Emma’s Blog – Guide Dogs Scotland: helping adults and children with a vision impairment
Emma Brown, Services Marketing Manager Scotland, from the charity Guide Dogs Scotland, outlines below how the organisation can help people with sight loss. She also discusses the resources available to learn the useful skill of sighted guiding as well as the benefits of volunteering with the … [Read more...] about Emma’s Blog – Guide Dogs Scotland: helping adults and children with a vision impairment
Bella’s Blog: Building an Intergenerational Nation
Building an Intergenerational Nation 2022 is proving to be an exciting year for Generations Working Together (GWT) who are leading the Excellence Awards which offers recognition for intergenerational activities / projects across Scotland. The Awards will be presented at GWT’s International … [Read more...] about Bella’s Blog: Building an Intergenerational Nation
Bushra’s Blog: Tackling organ and tissue donation inequalities in South Asian communities
Working in partnership Since 2014 Kidney Research UK has been working in partnership with the Scottish Government and NHS Blood and Transplant (Scotland) to train and manage a Peer Educator (PE) project amongst the South Asian (Sikh, Hindu and Muslim) communities of Glasgow, Edinburgh and … [Read more...] about Bushra’s Blog: Tackling organ and tissue donation inequalities in South Asian communities
NPF4, what’s health got to do with it?
I think it’s fair to say that analysing a national planning framework is quite a daunting prospect for many of us working in the health and social care sector. Planning policy contains a lot of jargon and it's hard to work out where our expertise fits into it all. However, voluntary health … [Read more...] about NPF4, what’s health got to do with it?
Consultation Response: Good Food Nation (Scotland) Bill
The Scottish Parliament's Rural Affairs, Islands & Natural Environment (RAINE) Committee is leading the scrutiny of the Good Food Nation (Scotland) Bill. The Bill requires the Scottish Government and relevant authorities (e.g. health boards and local authorities) to create good food nation plans … [Read more...] about Consultation Response: Good Food Nation (Scotland) Bill
Nicola’s Blog: Demonstrating CLWs’ Impact on Tackling Health Inequalities
What we did Voluntary Health Scotland (VHS) supports the newly established Scottish Community Link Worker Network for Community Link Workers in primary care settings. Feedback from Community Link Workers (CLWs) over the last few months has shown that there is an appetite for learning and sharing … [Read more...] about Nicola’s Blog: Demonstrating CLWs’ Impact on Tackling Health Inequalities
