Views sought on North Ayrshire Health and Social care plan

Today at a specially convened meeting North Ayrshire Council approved the Health and Social Care Integration plan.   The integration scheme sets out the terms and conditions of the Integration of Health and Social Care and the relationship between the council and Ayrshire and Arran Health Board.  Integrating two large organisations is a rather complicated, technical process with lots of interesting challenges.  

However, the point of it all couldn't be simpler.

The creation of Health and Social care partnerships is about NHS Ayrshire & Arran and North Ayrshire Council working together in a way that is best for patients and service users.

At the moment the draft strategic plan is out for consultation.  This document describes the partnerships vision for improving the health and wellbeing of our communities and suggests some priorities for achieving these improvements.  There will be opportunity to attend consultation events where you can ask questions and provide feedback in person, but meantime you may wish to have a look at the draft plan.

http://www.north-ayrshire.gov.uk/council/consultations/hsc-partnership-draft-strategic-plan-summary-2015-18.aspx

OpeNAyrshire Birthday Bash, LGBT History month

With founding members Sian & Josh

On Saturday I was honoured to attend OpeNAyrshire's first birthday party.  

OpeNAyrshire are North Ayrshire's first LGBT youth group.  Set up last year with support from North Ayrshire Council Youth Workers they meet weekly and provide a safe, friendly supportive, fun space for LGBT young people and their supporters.

The event was chaired ably with confidence and good humour by Josh McCormick who welcomed the audience which which included North Ayrshire Councils Provost Joan Sturgeon and Chief Executive Elma Murray.

Speakers from the group introduced us to a selection of short films they had picked.  The introductions and the films were inspirational, informative and pretty emotional.  Some of the younger speakers had never presented in public before, it's no mean feet standing in front of an audience and sharing, thoughts and feelings so frankly - very proud of you all!

Straight Talking

On Monday night North Ayrshire Council held a "Straight Talking" event entitled "North Ayrshire, The Best place to grow up", the first aimed at our young people.  It was a really well attended, lively event and I was pleased to see so many take part and share their views and feeling that the exercise was worthwhile and one they would wish to repeat.  Next steps will be that the information from the workshops be gathered then the council will share with the involved groups what they said and most importantly what we did.  

I personally, feel there is even more we can do to make it as easy as possible for young folk to contribute and would like to see locality specific events for only young people but there is no doubt Monday was a worthwhile experience as one of our MYSPs commented on Twitter after #morelikethis

Youth Legacy Ambassador

YLA Erin Mcauley collecting "Legacy Wishes" from Cllr Marie Burns and I

Pilot House restoration - update

Cllr Maguire with some of the Coastwatch Irvine members

A while back I wrote about an exciting project to bring the Pilot House back into community use.  I am delighted to report that things are progressing with the Pilot House Restoration project.

I met with Coastwatch Irvine on Saturday at the Pilot House where they were speaking to the public about their plans.  STV were there filming folk on the beach enjoying the good weather and also stopped for a chat and seemed interested to do a piece on the project in the future.

There will be an organised tidy up of the grounds at some point soon and will continue to canvas around the area, if you see them stop for a chat.  There are boards up on the fence at the Pilot House which show plans and contact details.

Coastwatch are still recruiting more volunteers, if you are interested in getting involved Billy Lamb is the person to contact.

North Ayrshire "Rising Stars" praised in Scottish Parliament

Cunninghame North MSP Kenneth Gibson has tabled a motion in the Scottish Parliament praising North Ayrshires rising stars:

"That the Parliament congratulates all of the winners at North Ayrshire’s Rising Stars Awards 2013; understands that the awards celebrate the many and varied ways in which young people help to enrich the lives of others and support their community; further understands that the awards also recognise young talent including artists, academics, sportsmen and sportswomen, as well as those who are considered to be assets to their local community, and considers that North Ayrshire’s Rising Stars Awards, which are now in their second year, offer a great opportunity to recognise and celebrate the outstanding contribution made by the young people of North Ayrshire, who it believes are a credit to themselves and their communities and who offer a positive example to others."


The motion has received cross party support of MSPs from all over the country who clearly recognise what an asset our young people are to us here in North Ayrshire.

Children Experiencing Domestic Abuse Recovery Project - CEDAR

This afternoon at a launch in Cunninghame house CEDAR in North Ayrshire was introduced to a wide range of practitioners and community partners from the area.  

The Cedar project is a therapeutic 12 week group work programme for children and young people aged 4-16 who have experienced domestic abuse.  Mothers have the opportunity to attend a women's group to support their children.  It aims to support children in learning how to manage their emotions and actions in response to domestic abuse.  National evaluations have demonstrated that CEDAR improves children's physical and mental health, their performance at school and their family relationships.

Referrals are made directly to CEDAR and taken over the phone on 01505 682216, no forms to fill in.  Mums can also refer themselves and their children, the group leaders are happy to have an informal chat  and provide information about other services if CEDAR isn't the best programme for you and your family.  More information online at http://cedarnetwork.org.uk/

Greedy and Irresponsible Lenders slammed

At a meeting of North Ayrshire’s full council on Wednesday 8^th May, Elected members unanimously backed calls from Irvine Councillors Burns and Maguire to authorise the Leader of the Council to contact the OFT and call for the strongest possible action against Legal Loan sharks.

Introducing the motion Cllr Marie Burns praised previous well documented awareness and campaign work by both Local MSP Margaret Burgess and Labours Kezia Dugdale.

Councillors heard that at a time when household finances were under pressure some Payday lenders were damning people to a lifetime of debt by failing to carry out checks to make sure borrowers could afford to repay the loan.  Recent figures released by Citizens Advice show that 65% of payday loans don’t come with financial checks, people are not being asked about their current financial situation which has led to 7 in 10 not being able to pay back the loan. The figures also showed that borrowers who weren’t asked affordability questions and had repayment problems were further let down by lenders as:

• 6 in 7 did not offer to freeze the interest and charges when the borrower agreed repayment.
• 71% did not explain how much it would cost to extend the loan.
• 84% did not treat people sympathetically.

These practices go against pledges the Payday loan industry made in its customer charter launched in November 2012. 

Speaking during the debate Irvine Cllr Ruth Maguire gave an example where someone despite paying £57 a month on a £500 loan for 6 months still owed £437 and said “These companies are not standing by their promises to treat people fairly and check that customers can actually afford the loans they are selling them.  The knock on effect of their greed and irresponsibility is devastating for our communities as families become consumed with debt”   

Irvine - Cycle Friendly Town?

I was pleased to learn yesterday that funding has been secured from Sustrans Scotland to identify the potential to develop and promote Irvine as a Cycle Friendly Town.  The Study area includes the Irvine West and Irvine East Wards and Eglinton Country Park within the Kilwinning Ward.  Eglinton Country Park was included within the Study as it was identified as a key location for Irvine residents to visit.

The aim of the Study is to identify a programme of recommendations to make active travel a viable option for everyday journeys in and round Irvine and encourage modal shift to cycling.  

Cycle Friendly Town status and the safe cycling environment that comes with it encourages more people of all ages to make journeys by bike.  Taking part in even 30 minutes of exercise a day can improve Health and Wellbeing.  Being a form of transport it can be one of the easiest ways to incorporate exercise into your daily routine - saving money, increasing fitness and being good for the environment to boot.

The first stage of the process is a consultation, I'd encourage all interested parties to take part online at the address below:

http://www.mvasurvey.com/cyclingirvine/ 

Information on existing cycle routes throughout North Ayrshire can be found here on the website 

Youth champion

Just a quick note to say how happy I am to have been appointed Youth Champion.  North Ayrshire's young people are represented already through the youth council, there has been a lot of good work done in ensuring their voices are heard.  At the joint meeting of North Ayrshire's cabinet and Youth executive I heard from some very impressive young people, confident and eloquent communicators  I look forward to working with them.  I also wish to try to engage with our young people who might not feel as comfortable in the council chambers debating with our education Director and the leader of the council! I intend to spend  some time over the next wee while meeting with youth groups and projects and listening and learning.......watch this space.

Safer Streets, all playing our part

Yesterday morning in Irvine I met with a large group of folk and took part in a Safer streets audit.

The aim, to achieve a busy, vibrant, safe town centre over the festive period by identifying potential problems and preventing them before they happen.  

For me, yesterday was a great example of the commitment there is to partnership working in North Ayrshire.  Led by Chief Inspector Roddy Newbiggings along with Irvine community police officers the group had local licencees and business owners, taxi drivers and marshals, youth workers, CCTV, the fire service, environmental health, members of the licensing board and local Councillors.  

Audit sounds like something that goes on behind a desk but the process was practical and simple; we walked the streets in the centre and talked.  Where folk could see potential problems actions were agreed to address them.  

Extra Police officers will be deployed in the town centre and following feedback from one of the licensees will change where they patrol slightly to ensure that they are as visible as possible.  Other things like extra bins out and street cleaning to remove any bottles, the supermarkets coming into the centre to ensure all their trolleys are removed before revelers arrive for the evening and use them for go carts, damaging themselves or shop windows! will all contribute to making the city centre an environment conducive to having a good time in the evening.  

Prevention isn't a difficult concept, but in practice can involve a huge range of services, exercises like the Safer Street audit are just one of many ways that North Ayrshire is working with partners to make a difference.  I was glad to have seen it in action and look forward to hearing about the impact it has had.

NATO no ta.

Hopelessly naive and not tired of marching - 1 week on

When I was in primary 5 our teacher Mrs Johnston said she had something really important to tell us: There was going to be a day off as her union was striking.  I don't remember whooping at the day off but then P5 was a very diligent year at Drakies Primary, Inverness.  She told us that although she wasn't in favour of the strike she would be taking part as that was democratic. I remember feeling very grown up as she then went on to explain firstly what a union was the importance of democracy and democratic process. It stayed with me that lesson, not simply for the content but the respect with which she showed us with her honesty and explanation.

So respect, process and democracy.....even though I felt sick to my stomach at the prospect, that was how I tried to square things when the notion of reversing my parties long standing opposition to NATO membership became a reality.  The issue would be debated fully and freely, due process would be followed and I would live with the decision because that's democracy and the right thing to do.  Simple eh?

Not really.  I have had many sleepless nights since Friday trying to figure what is the right thing to do.  If I were not an elected member my membership card may well have joined others in the bucket on the way out of the conference hall.   Membership of a first strike nuclear alliance is not compatible with my long held and firm belief that nuclear weapons, weapons which kill indiscriminately and leave untold damage for years to come are wicked and wrong.  As many of the speakers touched on during the debate the nuclear issue is only one area for concern, recent reports of the increase of Drone attacks in Pakistan provide an illustration.

I will not support the new policy, and couldn't live with myself pretending to.  This is a matter of conscience for me. When brothers and sisters on the left and the anti-war movement cry "shame" for the hypocrisy it stings, because they are right.  Scotland has an opportunity to lead the way with nuclear disarmament and NATO membership at best makes it difficult, probably delays it and at worst prevents it.  

But as well as a responsibility to my own conscience, as a local elected member I have a responsibility to serve the people that voted me into this job.  A responsibility to continue on the platform I was elected on, this policy decision does not affect that.  I have to ask if this decision stops me fulfilling pledges made or aspirations myself and my fellow Councillors have for North Ayrshire, it does not.  On the doorstep when answering folk as to why there were 2 SNP candidates in the ward our message was unequivocal, the SNP wish to form the administration and run North Ayrshire council.  We are and I hope that the people who live here are beginning to see changes for the better. 

For Scotland, independence is not and cannot be about the vision of one person or political party.  To win the referendum we need many diverse voices.  I will be proud to be one of them in the Scottish National Party shoulder to shoulder with Labour for Indy, The Greens, SSP, Solidarity and perhaps most key those who have no political party as part of the YES campaign, working together for the goal that unites us Scottish Independence. 

Marymass - Festival of Light Procession and Fireworks

Great night at the procession and fireworks with the family. 

Lots more going on for Marymass check out North Ayrshires website for details.

1st Councillor Surgery

My first surgery - Tomorrow, Wednesday 5th June between 10:00 and 11:00 at Redburn Community Centre, Dickson Drive.  






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