News archive
David Stewart MSP : 7,500 could be cut from incapacity benefits in Highlands and Islands 10/11/2011
Rhoda Grant MSP : H and I unemployment amongst 18-24 year olds almost doubles in 4 years. 10/11/2011
Number of anti-depressants prescribed rises by over 20 per cent in three years in the Highlands.
4 October 2011
Rhoda Grant MSP, Labour’s spokesperson on health in the Highlands and Islands, has released new official figures showing that the number of items of anti-depressants prescribed annually in the NHS Highland area has risen by over 20 per cent to over 250,000 in the past three years.
And since the early 1990s, the number of items of anti-depressants prescribed has increased by a dramatic six-fold .
The latest figures from the Scottish Government database, ISD Scotland, reveal that in 2007-08 the number of items prescribed was 213,342 in the NHS Highland area.
By 2010-11 this had surged to 259,947.
And as far back as 1993-94, the number of anti-depressant items prescribed was 41,795 .
Consumption of anti-depressants, (as measured by the Defined Daily Dose,(DDD) per 1,000 per population per day ) has increased since 2007/08 from 79.1 to 94.7 in 2010/11.
Ms Grant said,
"This continuing rise is very worrying.
"There needs to be greater availability of cognitive therapies to provide alternatives to medication which can also provides longer term benefits.
"Before the 2007 election, the SNP said that they intended to reduce the use of anti-depressants by 10 per cent by 2009.
"They have quite plainly failed to do this, as the figures indicate, and now seem to have abandoned this promise."
170 fewer nursing and midwifery posts in NHS Highland by next March since the SNP Government took power - forecast
12 September 2011Highlands & Islands Labour MSP Rhoda Grant has revealed new official figures showing that the number of nursing and midwifery posts in NHS Highland is now 100 fewer than in 2007, the year the present SNP Government took power and is set to fall even further.
Figures from ISD Scotland, the Scottish NHS database, indicate that in September 2007 , the number of nursing and midwifery posts in NHS Highland was 3,256 whole time equivalents (wte),but by June of this year, the number had fallen to 3,154 wte , a drop of over 100 posts.
NHS Highland themselves predict that the number will decline even further by March of next year to 3,087 wte, a loss of 54 posts over the present financial year.
Ms Grant said,
"Alex Salmond’s pre-election promise to ‘protect the health service for the duration of the next parliament’ has been broken within just 4 months of polling stations closing.
"The reduction of almost 170 nursing and midwifery posts in NHS Highland by next March under the SNP is perturbing news for both patients and staff.
"Dedicated overburdened staff should not be expected to work more with less resources to provide more help for ever more people.
"Frontline services at NHS Highland simply cannot meet the growth in demand for services while nursing and midwifery posts are being lost."
Unemployment in Highlands rises : Government must adopt credible recovery plan without delay, says Rhoda Grant
28 August 2011
Rhoda Grant MSP has released official figures showing the extent of unemployment across a range of jobs across the Highlands.
Unemployment in the Highland Council area last month (July 2011) stood at 3,767 (2.7 per cent) compared with 3,652 (2.6 per cent) in July 2010.
Mrs Grant said,
"There are now more people unemployed in the Highland council area than
a year ago because economic growth remains stubbornly slow.
"At a time when there needs to be investment in jobs, family incomes and businesses are being squeezed instead.
"As a result, no community has been spared from redundancies and an uncertain future."
Mrs Grant continued,
"Public organisations and private businesses both fear there will be
no turnaround soon in economic fortunes unless the Government adopts,
without delay, a credible recovery plan rather than persist with a
gamble that has failed."
Mrs Grant released official figures showing a cross-section of those in
the Highlands in receipt of Job Seekers Allowance and the type of jobs
they are looking for.
These include :
Sales and retail assistants 735
General office assistants and clerks 210
Cleaners and domestics 125
Labourers 415
Kitchen and catering assistants 105
Chefs and cooks 65
Hotel porters 15
Waiters and waitresses 45
Receptionists 25
Hotel and accommodation Managers 15
Restaurant and catering Managers 5
Bar staff 95
Security guards 20
Nurses 10
Gardeners and groundsmen 70
Care assistants and home carers 90
Leisure and sport Managers 5
Engineers 15 (composed of Civil engineers 5, Mechanical engineers 10)
Software professionals 10
Teachers : Secondary 10, Primary and Nursery 5, Nursery nurses 10
Lab technicians 5
IT technicians 35
Nurses 10
Musicians 5
Call centre operators 35
HGV drivers 20
Van drivers 130
Bus and coach drivers 5
Fork lift drivers 20
Farm workers 15
MSP's concern over rise in Diabetes in the Highlands
18 August 2011
A dramatic rise in the numbers of people diagnosed with diabetes in the NHS Highland area is causing huge concern for Highlands & Islands Labour MSP David Stewart.
A 2005 pharmaceutical industry report had predicted that the number of cases of diabetes in NHS Highland would be 5,732 by 2013.
However, the latest annual Scottish Diabetes Survey indicated that the numbers in NHS Highland diagnosed with diabetes had already soared to 13,914 last year, well over twice the forecast figure.
The official estimate of those with diabetes in NHS Highland is put at 19,843.
This includes a further 5,929 undiagnosed cases .
This number of undiagnosed cases represents 1.9 per cent of the population of the health board area.
Mr Stewart acknowledged the "dedicated work" that the NHS were carrying out in the Highlands in treating diabetes.
He said,
"Diabetes is not just simply a life-long condition. It also has a host of potentially serious complications such as heart disease, eye problems, strokes and kidney disease if the condition is not treated properly.
He continued “If we want the NHS to be a 21st. century leader in preventative health, then we must take co-operative action towards that goal.
"The public can expect quality advice on risks to health that certain conditions pose, quality care to enable self-management by those indentified with that condition, as well as the best possible information on how to minimise the risks at the outset”.
Notes
For further information, see :
http://www.scotpho.org.uk/home/Healthwell-beinganddisease/Diabetes/Data/diabetes_undiagnosed.asp
- from the Scottish Public Health Observatory
Those diagnosed with the various types of diabetes were :
Type 1 - 1,706 ( 12.3 per cent )
Type 2 - 12,100 ( 87 per cent)
Others - 108
Total - 13,914.
In 2005, ABPI Scotland (the Association of the British Pharmaceutical
Industry in Scotland ) published a report called “The Future Burden of
CHD ( coronary heart disease) and Diabetes in Scotland” which outlined
great concern about the increase in the number of cases of diabetes
across the country.
It said that diabetes was “ growing dramatically” and that “the impact
of living with diabetes has potentially devastating consequences for
individuals, the NHS in Scotland and our society as a whole.”
It indicated that there were 5,141 cases of diabetes in the NHS HIghland
area in 2004.
It forecast that by 2013, the number of cases of diabetes in NHS
Highland would rise to 5,732.
This prediction was made on the basis of population-based changes .
It did add that, “Given lifestyle trends, especially increasing levels
of obesity, the true number with diabetes is likely to be even greater.”
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MSP presses Westminster and Scottish Government to commit more rural broadband funding 18/08/2011
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Caithness unemployment rises
4 August 2011
Highlands & Islands Labour MSP Rhoda Grant has revealed official figures, showing that there is an increase in the numbers of unemployed in Caithness in the first year of Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition Government.
The number of unemployed in this area in June 2011 was 652, compared with 593 for the same month last year, an increase of 59.
Areas with the highest numerical levels of unemployment in Caithness were:
Pulteneytown with 125, up two on June 2010.
Wick saw an increase of 12, from 64 to 76
Ms Grant said “Caithness needs policies, such as Labour's temporary reversal of the VAT increase that will create jobs, enabling people to return to work, which in turn will boost demand and economic growth.
"One year of Tory-LibDem Coalition policies has done nothing to reduce the level of unemployment in Caithness,.
"On the contrary the level has gone up.
"Meanwhile in Edinburgh, we have an out-of-touch SNP Government pre-occupied with
procrastinating the date of its referendum to cut Scotland off from the rest of
Britain.
"If they spent as much time and energy on job creation as they do on
separation they could make a real difference”.
| Caithness |
|
|
|
| JSA claimants |
|
|
|
|
|
June '10 | June '11 | percentage rate |
|
|
|
|
June '11 |
| Caithness Central | 37 | 51 | 2.9 |
| Caithness North East | 35 | 35 | 2.2 |
| Caithness North West | 46 | 60 | 3.7 |
| Caithness South East | 62 | 56 | 3.8 |
| Pulteneytown | 122 | 125 | 6.7 |
| Thurso Central | 66 | 65 | 4 |
| Thurso East | 53 | 59 | 2.4 |
| Thurso West | 55 | 71 | 4.3 |
| Wick | 64 | 76 | 4.6 |
| Wick West | 53 | 54 | 3.8 |
| total | 593 | 652 | |
| Source : Office of |
|
|
|
| National Statistics |
|
|
|
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Rhoda Grant calls for SNP to reverse Fuel Poverty Budget Cut as yet another Fuel Company Announces Price Hike
22 July 2011
Speaking today as Scottish & Southern Energy announced that household gas bills will increase by an average 18% and electricity bills by an average 11%, Scottish Labour's deputy finance spokesperson Rhoda Grant MSP said,
“With energy company after energy company announcing price hikes like this it is our duty to help the poorest and most vulnerable in our society, who will be hit hardest by soaring bills in these already tough times.
“The fact that one in three Scots are now struggling to heat their homes – almost twice as many as in England – underlines just how wrong it was for the SNP government to slash the fuel poverty budget by almost a third.
“I urge the SNP government to wake-up to the reality facing hard-pressed Scots and urgently reverse its cut to the fuel poverty budget."
Notes :
(1) Citizens Advice Scotland recently warned of a growing ‘crisis’
of fuel poverty in Scotland, after official figures showed that the
problem is significantly worse in Scotland than in the UK as a
whole. The UK government report showed that Scottish fuel poverty is
running at 33% while the rate in the UK as a whole is 20%.
http://www.cas.org.uk/news/2011-news/July/Fuel+poverty+approaching+crisis+levels+in+Scotland
(2) The Scottish Government spending on fuel poverty has been cut by
£22.9m (32%) in the last year.
Total fuel poverty spending:
2010-11: £70.9m
2011-12: £48.0m
Details of 2010-11 budget:
http://bit.ly/j5xdJI
Details of 2011-12 budget:
http://bit.ly/jDtzyW
(3) Definition of fuel poverty:
A person is living in fuel poverty if, in order to maintain a
satisfactory heating regime, they would be required to spend more
than 10 per cent of their household income (including Housing
Benefit or Income Support for Mortgage Interest) on all household
fuel use.
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Built-Environment/Housing/access/FP
Rhoda Grant urges participation in BBC 3G mobile phone Coverage Study
18 July 2011
The BBC is conducting a major survey into the state of mobile phone
coverage in the UK.
Over the course of the next month, the project will attempt to chart
the availability of 3G and 2G services up and down the country.
Mobile operators offer their own coverage maps but no independent
survey has yet been carried out.
Measurements will be made using an app developed by network analysis
firm Epitiro.
The software can be downloaded by anyone with an Android handset and
will record street level coverage across Britain.
At the end of the test period, the BBC aims to display the results
on a clickable map.
Highlands & Islands Labour MSP Rhoda Grant, who is campaigning for
improved broadband services across the Highlands & Islands said,
“ This is the opportunity for those that have poor mobile reception
and broadband connectivity to take part and help identify all the
areas in the Highlands & Islands which suffer from a very poor or
weak signal”
Ms. Grant went on to say,
“ I understand that those wishing to take part will need an Android
handset to download the app.
"Once downloaded, data will be collected without you having to do
anything more.
"If you wish to see what coverage is like in a particular place,
simply click on the app.
"The app is free to download and it uses very little bandwidth .
"The data is anonymised and neither Epitiro nor the BBC will collate
or store any personal data”.
Links
BBC to survey UK mobile coverage
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-13874818
Download the UK 3G Survey App - BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/uk/11/3g_survey/inc/disc.inc
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