Welcome to our November 2018 E-bulletin: sharing news & views from the VHS network & updates from Scottish Government & the NHS affecting the voluntary health sector.

VHS News & Events

VHS Annual Conference & AGM
160 people have registered for our annual conference and AGM on 20th November, so places are now sold out and a waiting list is in operation. We look forward to welcoming you to the event.

Read our guest blogs on how organisations are working creatively to improve health:

Murray’s Blog: Waverley Care Arts Project
Read how Waverley Care Arts Project gives service users access to a range of creative activities including painting, photography and music to provide support to people living with or affected by HIV and hepatitis C in Scotland.

Chris’s Blog: A Unique Route to Health & Wellbeing through Printmaking
Read how Tayside Healthcare Arts Trust (THAT) and Dundee Contemporary Arts (DCA) Learning Team have collaborated in the development and delivery of short printmaking classes for adults with significant Long Term Health Conditions (LTC).

Emma’s Blog: Harmonious Place
Read how the Harmonious Place project in Dundee is co-creating an art/music project alongside people with dementia.

Chris’s Blog: An App Designed by People with Aphasia for People with Aphasia
Read how Tayside Healthcare Arts Trust (THAT) developed an APP for people with Aphasia.

Kristin’s Blog: Transforming the Treatment Matrix
Read how The Teapot Trust is using cross-sectoral approaches to provide early art therapy interventions to chronically ill children and to influence policy change in the provision of treatment in healthcare systems throughout the UK.

Lynsay’s Blog: Engaging bereaved families in a creative process to explore social isolation resulting from child death
The Scottish Cot Death Trust supports families when a healthy baby or child dies suddenly and unexpectedly. In their play/video 'Shattered', they took a difficult subject, created a vehicle to reach a wide audiences exploring social isolation  in an engaging, thought provoking way.

Minister for Mental Health meets Cross Party Group on Health Inequalities
Read the full transcript of what Minister for Mental Health Clare Haughey MSP had to say to the CPG about mental health inequalities on 30 October.

Cross Party Group on Health Inequalities Parliamentary Reception
Minister for Public Health, Sport and Wellbeing Joe Fitzpatrick MSP is our guest speaker at this evening reception on 11 December. 

Independent Evaluation of the Impact of Brexit upon Health & Social Care Bill
VHS is supporting the Private Members’ Bill: European Union Withdrawal (Evaluation of Effects on Health and Social Care Sectors), which calls for an independent assessment of the impact of Brexit on health and social care services across the UK . The Bill is going to be introduced by Brendan O’Hara MP immediately after Prime Minister’s Question Time on 14 November 2018. The lead organisations are the Alliance and Camphill.

Policy News

Engaging third sector in public health reform
VHS hosted a useful meeting on public health reform, enabling third sector to share experiences and lessons learned with each other and with members of the Scottish Government public health reform team. 

Audit Scotland reviews health and social care integration
In anticipation of Audit Scotland’s soon to be published report, we publish a note of our August round table between Audit Scotland and members of the Third Sector Health and Social Care Collaborative.

Reducing health harms of foods high in fat, sugar or salt
This Consultation is seeking views on: - identified categories of food and drink that would be targeted; forms of promotion and marketing that would be restricted; places the restrictions would apply and enforcement and implementation. Closes 9 January 2019.

Clinical Pathways and Guidance for Healthcare Professionals Working to Support Adults who Present Having Experienced Rape or Sexual Assault in Scotland
Consultation is seeking views from people with lived experience and professionals, on the clinical pathways and guidance for healthcare professionals working to support adults who present having experienced rape or sexual assault in Scotland. Closes 30 Jan 2019.

VHS Members' News & Events

Versus Arthritis: people with arthritis missing out on the support
A survey conducted by Versus Arthritis (formed following the merger of Arthritis Research UK and Arthritis Care) suggests that people with arthritis across the UK are missing out on the support they need to stay in work. Access to Work is a government-funded scheme designed to support those in work who have a disability or a physical or mental health condition. However,  59% of survey respondents said they'd never heard of the scheme. Versus Arthritis believe the help on offer to support people with arthritis to be in work must be improved. That’s why they are calling for people to get behind their campaign calling for improvements to the Access to Work scheme. 

Report shows Scottish carers under pressure
A new report from Marie Curie and Macmillan Cancer Support highlights a breakdown in care and unnecessary stress on family and friends taking on a caring role. Told through the first-person accounts of bereaved people, the issue stems from people not being identified as carers, or being identified too late to receive the support they are entitled to.

Alzheimer Scotland Annual Winter Lecture 2018
Join Alzheimer Scotland on 10 December for their Winter Lecture about current developments in the field of dementia research, to be delivered by Professor Karen Ritchie, Research Director, French Institute of Medical Research (INSERM).  Professor Craig Ritchie, Chair of the Psychiatry of Ageing and Director of the Centre for Dementia Prevention, the University of Edinburgh, will also give a presentation.

Spokes Autumn public meeting, Cycling for All – Diversity Rules!!
This Public Meeting on 15 November in Edinburgh will hear from a diverse range of people who are making things happen in cycling in difficult circumstances – and how it could be so much better! 

Other News

Launch of Scottish Government's National Development Project Fund
£1 million has been allocated to this fund which is open to the Third Sector. The closing dated for this round of applications is 6 December 2018.  

Realising Scotland’s Public Health Priorities: Innovating for Change
Public Health Reform, Scottish Government, has organised 2 free events on' Realising Scotland’s Public Health Priorities: Innovating for Change'.  These events will be held 10am till 4pm in Glasgow on the 28th November: and Perth on the 6th December.

Public health reform in Scotland - Survey
Public health reform aims to challenge our current ways of working, putting more decisions directly in the hands of citizens and providing support to local communities to develop their own approaches and solutions to local population health challenges. The Improving Health Commission wants to hear your views and suggestions on how the system can work better to support community-led approaches and the work you do. The survey is open until 23rd November. 

Tackling Health Inequalities Workshops
CHEX and Evaluation Support Scotland are joining forces to offer free workshops to support you to understand the role that you and your organisation play in tackling health inequalities and take steps to measure your impact. This training is funded by NHS Health Scotland through the National Learning Collaborative on Inequalities.

New Action Group on Isolation & Loneliness in Scotland (AGIL)
A new Action Group on Isolation & Loneliness in Scotland (AGIL), has been formed by Age Scotland, Befriending Networks, British Red Cross, Campaign to End Loneliness, Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland, Community Transport, Contact the Elderly, Eden Project Communities, Health in Mind, Royal Blind and Scottish War Blinded - to tackle loneliness and social isolation across Scotland. AGIL has made six specific asks of the First Minister ahead of the publication of the Scottish Government’s highly anticipated strategy to tackle loneliness and social isolation, due by the end of the year.

Dementia Inclusive Choir Network Invitation to Tender
The Life Changes Trust and the Baring Foundation are inviting bids to establish and resource a Dementia Inclusive Choir Network in Scotland. They are also inviting bids for the evaluation of the Network.  This network would be made up of existing and new choirs that include people with dementia and their families. The deadline for bids is Friday 16 November at 4pm.

Cascading Leadership: in the voluntary & community sector
The King's Fund Cascading Leadership programme is now open for new applications.  The programme,  in its third year, offers free support, advice and training to the leaders of health and wellbeing charities based on a ground-breaking model of peer-to-peer support. To date, it has supported 120 voluntary and community sector (VCS) leaders and is now offering a further 64 places on this year’s programme. This year, they are particularly keen to support smaller and newer charities.
More information on the programme, course dates and how to apply on their website. The deadline for applications is 30 November.

Inequalities in health and wellbeing in later life: does neighbourhood matter? 
This Social Policy Seminar on 23 November, 3 - 6pm, at Edinburgh University will consider the extent to which local neighbourhood conditions influence health (and health-related) outcomes in later life and the extent to which longitudinal data provide more convincing evidence for area health effects.

Digital Skills Scotland - digital marketing training
Digital Skill Scotland's  Digital Promotions for Business course is a fully funded online course for up to 5 members of staff, covering search engine optimisation, social media and content marketing.

SCVO Launch State of the Sector Statistics Data Hub
SCVO's new interactive data resource covers organisations, new charities, geography, people, income and expenditure.

Cyber grants now available to Scottish charities
SCVO are working with the Scottish Government to help charities to improve their cyber resilience. The cyber grants, of up to £1,000, help charities to meet the costs of preparing for and receiving Cyber Essentials accreditation. This grants round is open until 18 December, and Scottish charities can apply for a cyber grant online here.

“Decisive Action” Required to Secure Scotland’s NHS
The Auditor General for Scotland has published her annual report about the NHS in Scotland. The performance of the health service has declined against national targets and auditors concluded “the NHS is not financially sustainable in its current form”.

New SHAAP report 'Dying for a drink'
SHAAP's new report, commissioned by the Scottish Government, discusses alcohol deaths  and draws on interviews with those affected to highlight the personal tragedies that this continues to cause. The report makes recommendations for actions to reduce this in future and calls for more ‘professional optimism’, to recognise that people can recover from alcohol problems and to support that process.

Scottish Government news
Smartcards to support family food
Funding to help end homelessness​
National flu vaccination programme
Universal Credit
Financial health checks

Dates for your diary
5 - 10 Nov Dyslexia Awareness Week
20 Nov VHS Annual Conference & AGM: Get the Picture
11 Dec CPG on Health Inequalities Parliamentary Reception
CPG on Health Inequalities meeting 31 January

Other opportunities for VHS Members
Newsdirect - Political Intelligence
Looking to promote your issues in the scottish Parliament? Newsdirect is offering VHS members a discount on subscriptions on their daily parliamentary and political briefing, 'Health Today'.
Contact Newsdirect if you're interested in subscribing.

Join Living Streets Register of Associate Consultants (Schools, Communities and Policy)
Living Streets, the UK charity for everyday walking, are calling for interested consultants/freelancers to join their associates consultants register (schools, communities and policy).  They are interested in receiving applications from associates with skills and experience delivering projects with children and young people, older people, and community consultation / engagement. To apply please email for an application pack. The latest submission for this round of applications will be 5pm on 7 December.