The Scottish Government have approved the Public Social Partnership approach to the re-provisioning of the Royal Edinburgh Hospital.  The original phase 1 was to build a 90-bed acute mental health inpatient  and IPCU unit with phases 2 and 3 which would consider rehabilitation and other services following rapidly on.

The Scottish Government have now agreed that phase 1 should be extended to include:

• The original 90 beds mental health and IPCU
• 60 beds for older peoples mental health assessment and treatment
• 15 beds for Lothian wide mental health rehabilitation for people with complex needs and
• 20 beds for people with brain injury (replacing the Robert Ferguson Unit

The aim is to stay as close as possible to the original timescale i.e. completing the “outline business case” by this summer.  This means that there will be a huge amount of work to consider before Lothian Health submit the business case. In particular there will be opportunities to shape how the third sector reaches into the hospital and how we support people to retain/regain their connections with their community.  There will be “calls for engagement” coming out very soon focused on rehabilitation (Wayfinder project) in the first instance but more will follow.

Please watch this space for further developments.

The non-confidential responses to the recent exploratory consultation on ideas for the proposed Community Empowerment and Renewal Bill, along with an independent analysis of all 447 responses, have been now been published:

Non-confidential responses

Analysis

A letter has been issued by the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Employment and Sustainable Growth about new Single Outcome Agreements (SOAs) and the third sector’s role.   Please click here to download the letter for your information.

Running simultaneously with EVOC’s Hate Crime Survey (aimed at voluntary organisations) is a Hate Crime Survey aimed at individual members of the public.

Edinburgh’s 1st Triennial Hate Crime Survey 2012 is being conducted by Edinburgh and Lothians Regional Equality Council in partnership with The City of Edinburgh Council, Lothian and Borders Police and Edinburgh’s Hate Crime Strategy Development Group (HCSDG). The Survey will be the first of a triennial survey to assess hate crime in Edinburgh. Your participation in the survey will provide a useful evidence base to receive feedback on perceptions of hate crime and also suggestions on how it could be tackled. The Survey will be available in the following formats:

• Online through Survey Monkey – Click Here for the Survey
• Hardcopy – Please call our office on 0131 556 0441 if you would like to request a paper copy of the Hate Crime Survey.

If you require assistance with the completion of the questionnaire, please do not hesitate to contact us. We can arrange for one of our volunteers to help you with the form. Please let us know if you require a hardcopy of the survey and we will make it available to you by post.

For more information, you can contact Deborah Clark on 0131 556 0441or DClark@elrec.org.uk or admin@elrec.org.uk

Please let us know if you require a hardcopy of the survey and we will make it available to you by post. We would be grateful if you could return the completed questionnaire to us by Friday 14 December 2012.

In addition to street surgeries, community events and stakeholder meetings, Lothian and Borders Police have also published an online survey to seek feedback.  This survey should take no more than a few minutes and is viewed as a vital part of theirr consultation.

The survey provides the opportunity to be involved in future planning exercises, but should you choose not to, your answers will remain anonymous.

Thank you for your time and cooperation, your assistance is very much appreciated.

Take the survey.

This consultation is seeking views on the national draft personal footcare guidance that has been developed by a multi-agency working group. This is a key action highlighted for implementation in the National Delivery Plan for Allied Health Professionals in Scotland, 2012-2015. The overall aim is to improve the way in which personal footcare for older people is supported and delivered through the implementation of training and good practice guidance.

Please see the Scottish Government website for the consultation documents.

A consultation on a joint plan for older people, between NHS Lothian and the City of Edinburgh Council in partnership with Scottish Care and Edinburgh Voluntary Organisations’ Council (EVOC), is taking place until Friday 21 December 2012.

For more information and to download the documents, please see the CEC website.