Benarty Community Council Report 5th March 2020
Fife Councillor Rosemary Liewald
I was contacted earlier this week regarding work which is taking place on a strip of land adjacent to the Kirkland Farm estate; this is work to install a new pavement and landscaped edge between Kirkland Farm and Bonnar’s. I have been in conversation with Contracts Manager, Kevin Rooney from Springfield Development who has assured me that this work will be completed within two weeks and that full reinstatement of any excavated land will take place at the end of the work. This additional work was included in the full planning application of the site.
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As many of you know Rosewell Pharmacy along with two others in the Benarty area have been purchased in the last six months by Dears Pharmacy who operates throughout Fife and beyond. Recently some concerns were brought to my attention by a constituent whose family member had serious concerns regarding prescribed medication. I have this week met with Mr Mahyar Nickkha Amriy who is joint owner of Dears Pharmacy. This matter was dealt with immediately by the family, the Pharmacist and the prescribing GP. This matter has now been resolved and on privacy level requires no more reporting. Dears Pharmacy in Lochore have a rigid and stringent policy of prescribing in place which must meet the criteria laid down by the General Pharmaceutical Council who regulate pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and pharmacies in Great Britain. They work to assure and improve standards of care for people using pharmacy services. Their role is to protect the public and give them assurance that they will receive safe and effective care when using pharmacy services. They set standards for pharmacy professionals and pharmacies to enter and remain on the register. They seek assurance that pharmacy professionals and pharmacies continue to meet their standards, including by inspecting pharmacies. They act to protect the public and to uphold public confidence in pharmacy if there are concerns about a pharmacy professional or pharmacy on their register. Through their work they help to promote professionalism, support continuous improvement and assure the quality and safety of pharmacy. Within Dears Pharmacy each and every step of this vital service is checked, signed and double checked. In addition to addressing these concerns a further level of CPD is now implemented on a weekly basis where staff will have the opportunity to take part in the latest training and continuous updates within the pharmacy setting on a national level. Pharmacy services are at the highest level of a health critical service and the upmost care and professionalism must be adhered to at all times. On the thankfully rare occasions where human error or miss prescribing occurs, it must be addressed and steps taken. I have been informed in this instance that this is the case , with staff changes effective immediately. The staff within the Pharmacy would like to reassure the residents of the Lochore area that if they should wish to engage with the staff regarding any concerns they are more than happy to do so and they encourage residents to take up this offer.
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Ruth McCabe of Dementia Friendly Fife and myself, along with members of the Dementia Fife Group and the HSCP were delighted to welcome the Liverpool Branch of DEEP to Fife on Monday . Their vision is to improve the quality of life for people living with dementia, their careers and families and also to make Liverpool a dementia friendly city.
They are extremely impressed with the work which is taking place in Fife and the strides which we have taken to rolling out Dementia Friendly training and awareness . A host of topics were discussed from transport to environment to public perception and the improvements which have been made and those where improvement can continue.
DEEP stands for the Dementia Engagement and Empowerment Project — it is the UK network of dementia voices. DEEP consists of around 100 groups of people with dementia — groups that want to change things.
Huge thanks goes to the Members of the Masonic Lodge on Forth Ave in Kirkcaldy who allowed their hall to be used for the event, especially Stewart James Quigley and Gerry King who is a regular speakers within the Dementia Friendly Fife Group.
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CAROL SIMMONS MEAL MAKERS Fife presented to the Cowdenbeath Health and Social Care Locality Team last week the work of a new Fife Wide service called Meal Makers, funded by the Fife Health & Social Care Partnership, with an aim of addressing malnutrition, social isolation and loneliness in older people (55 years +), by pairing ‘Cooks’ and ‘Diners’ (information leaflet attached). Carol is happy to come and speak to Community
Councils and is open for referrals for both ‘Cooks’ and ‘Diners’. Carol encourages Core Group members to get in touch with her directly if they would like more information. Discussion took place around referrals, and gentle conversation around nutrition is a must and at the moment there are 24 pairing across Fife, it is hoped this will increase as referrals come in and the PVGs come back.
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The Locality Planning of the Cowdenbeath Health and Social Care met last week and identified the initial priorities for the locality. Five priority models were agreed for Cowdenbeath Area:
- • A community led one point of access concept The Well’, with the support of National Development Team for Inclusion Community Led Support Programme.
- • Agree the Test for change currently being piloted in Glenrothes giving GPs Direct Access to Short Term Assessment and Reablement (STAR) beds—This type of care aims to help people return to their own homes in a short period of time, typically around six weeks. Our teams work to help people become independent and offer the specific skills and support they need to do this. There are currently a total of 36 STAR beds in three care homes in Kirkcaldy, Lumphinnans and Glenrothes. to prevent unnecessary hospital admissions linking with Lumphinnans Care Village.
- • Bring GPs, social workers (under 65 and over 65), district teams and health visitors together to build relationships and understanding of roles and expectations within the local area.
- • Local Community Planning ‘Positive Alternative’ projects to be explored.
- • H&SCP explore Meal Makers Project for Cowdenbeath. I will be attending the upcoming event of launch of the report evaluation of the service of the 6 Home Start Schemes in Fife. This is taking place at FVA on Tuesday 10th March , and a presentation by Marie Renauds, (Consultant Clinical Psychologist)and Fiona Duncan chair of independent care review evaluation of the core work with young vulnerable families
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Residents in Lochgelly will be asked what they would like to see in the town’s proposed new Health and Wellbeing centre. The first Public Consultation meeting is set for Sat 28th of March and this will be in Lochgelly Town Hall from 11am to 3pm where the outline business case can be fully discussed. One initial information event was held with the Lochgelly Community Council. It will then go to the board in the summer and then submitted to Scottish Government in the autumn.
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I unfortunately have been working very closely with Tracy Duncan over the past several weeks as we have had a large increase in the amount of illegal dumping right across the ward .A large amount of this being in and around Benarty . Tracy has instructed her teams to rectify this unlawful and on-going issue.
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I attended the Seen + Heard groups work at the Stables in Falkland this week as part of my remit on ife’s Corporate Parent Board.This is a creative, rights-based project for children with care experience age 9 to 12 from across Fife including representation from the Cowdenbeath area. Using creative arts, Children’s Parliament in partnership with Fife’s Corporate Parent Board, supports groups of children to explore what it means to be healthy, happy and safe in care. Members of Children’s Parliament (MCPs) learn about their rights, have a say in matters that affect them and build relationships with adults who make decisions about their lives. The children’s views and experiences will inform decisions made by the Corporate Parent Board and help improve services for children with care experience across Fife. The Independent Care Review (The Care Review)update has been published this week .The was launched by the Scottish Government in 2017 to examine the legislation, practices, culture and ethos of the care system with an aim to make positive changes for children with care experience. The Care Review is a ‘root and branch’ review, opening up scope for the examination and reform of the entire care system. Central to the success of the Care Review is the understanding that in order to create lasting change for those with care experience, the ‘lived experience and wisdom’ of care experienced people has to be prioritised and needs to shape the direction of the review. As part of a commitment to listening to the voices of those with care experience, the Care Review has sought out children and young people with care experience to contribute to discussions about care and what would improve the quality of care for all children in Scotland. As part of the ‘Journey stage’ of the Care Review, ten working groups were set up to explore issues relating to areas of change and make recommendations relating to their areas of focus. These ten working groups were: Best Place in the World, Components of Care, Edges of Care, Health and Wellbeing, Justice and Care, Love, Rights, Stigma, Stop: Go, and Workforce. The recommendations will highlight practices and policies which are positive and should be maintained or increased, and those practices and policies which are damaging and should be stopped. The Children’s Parliament’s Seen + Heard Fife group were asked to investigate the recommendations from the working groups, allowing children with care experience to critically consider and use their experiences to feedback on these recommendations. However, due to delays in finalising the recommendations from the working groups, the children took part in more general discussions about care and about the issues and priorities the children felt most important when designing a ‘care system’ in Scotland which allows all children to thrive. Throughout discussions with the children, recurring threads kept rising to the surface, allowing us to draw out some key themes for this report. These themes are interrelated and relevant to the specific areas of interest and forthcoming recommendations of the Care Review.The themes identified by the children are:
- Relationships in care
- Keeping in touch with important people
- How decisions are made about us
- How we talk about care
- Our sense of belonging
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I will be attending the Fife Young Carers AGM later in March Fife Young Carers SCIO is a local charity committed to improving the support and information provided to young carers in Fife.lt was established in 1998, providing local support groups aimed at giving children and young people aged between 8 and 25 years of age, a break from their caring roles. Since then the service has expanded significantly and now employs a manager and 10 members of staff, along with a bank of sessional workers. The delivery of its service is also supported by volunteers. Fife Young Carers is managed by a voluntary board of trustees who oversee the development of the service across Fife. In 2017 Fife Young Carers became a Scottish Charity Incorporated Organisation, with all assets being transferred to it, from Fife Young Carers.Fife Young Carers believe all young and young adult carers should be recognised, supported and be given a voice. To provide person centred support through group and one-to-one meetings. To provide information and signposting for young carers and their families. To provide an opportunity for young carers to have a break from their caring roles and build confidence. To support young adult carers to move onto adulthood To raise awareness of young carers and their support needs.
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I attended the “Show We Care At Fife” event at Fife College on Friday for a Wee Care Cuppa, in celebration of Care Day 2020. All staff, students and carers were welcome to come along to find out more about the services and support available to Care Experienced students as well as the chance to “Show us how you care” for others in your life. We will also be taking this opportunity to proudly declare our pledge in support of the recent Fife College Care Review.
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Dates for the Housing Walkabout sessions are currently being organised by Lynn Murray and final dates will be secured ASAP.
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In addition to this report I have met with residents regarding private matters, ranging from Housing, Social Care, Health issues, Carers support and Education matters among others.
Cllr Rosemary Liewald Ward 8
