New forum reviews deaf and impaired hearing services

Posted on Jun 17, 2011

A new group has been set up to continue work to review educational services for deaf or hearing impaired children in Bristol, Bristol City Council announced today.

The Deaf and Hearing Impaired Development Group includes experts from health, education, social care and finance, as well as representatives from Elmfield School for the Deaf, hearing resource bases and the deaf community. It will help develop a strategy for educational provision for deaf and hearing impaired children in the city and work to resolve the future for Elmfield School for the Deaf.

In response to an independent report published last year, the council started an informal consultation about whether the needs of children currently attending Elmfield could be served by two specialist hearing impaired resource bases, one primary and one secondary, within mainstream schools. The development group will take account of this proposal as part of their recommendations for a new strategy for the city.

Executive Member for Children and Young People, Cllr Clare Campion-Smith, said: “With so many more children who are either deaf or have hearing difficulties attending mainstream schools, it is right that we draw on a broad range of expertise to work towards a co-ordinated strategy for educational provision for deaf children across the city.

“This new forum does not rule out big changes in the city’s provision, but it will ensure that a range of different experts and groups are actively involved in shaping plans. Recommendations are expected to take into account the sustainability of proposed models.”

Bristol City Council currently supports the education of 309 children from the city who are deaf or hearing impaired. Of these, nine attend Elmfield School for the Deaf, with the rest in mainstream schools or resource bases attached to mainstream schools.

Early work for the group will include identifying key strengths of current provision and areas for development. An update report will be discussed at a Children’s Services Scrutiny meeting in July, but this will not be a final set of recommendations. These are expected by the end of the year.

New substance abuse program for LGBT community in Bristol

Posted on Jun 16, 2011

 

New programme launched to improve substance misuse service for lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people in Bristol.

Research by Safer Bristol has shown that services for people who have alcohol or drug addiction problems and who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or trans (LGBT), need to be strengthened and made more effective. A new programme has therefore been developed to train some drug service users and service providers from the LGBT community to act as champions to ensure that services that are provided to help drug users are suitable and effective.

“We know from our research that the pressure of feeling different can lead more members of the LGBT community to become negatively engaged with alcohol or other drugs,” said Russell Thomas, diversity and equality officer for Safer Bristol. “With this programme we wish to make sure that their specific needs are championed by service users and staff from voluntary and statutory organisations. We would also like to hear from service users who would be willing to take part.”

Safer Bristol has been working to successfully reach out to diverse equalities communities to take steps to engage, consult, partner and empower individuals and equality communities.

Recently work by the Diversity Trust, commissioned by Safer Bristol, has helped to identify the prevalence and patterns of drug use amongst Bristol LGB&T communities.

”We have also consulted people on what would help them feel more comfortable and confident in using services to help them recover from their dependency,” said Russell Thomas. “We are now taking steps to strengthen support and services for LGB&T communities”.

A trainer from the Diversity Trust, Berkeley Wilde, will be facilitating a programme of free training programme to support people to become effective champions and possible mentors for service users.

• The programme is as follows:
• 22/06/11 – 9:30am – 12:30pm ‘Introducing leadership’
• 29/06/11 – 9:30am – 12:30pm ‘How influential are you?’
• 06/07/11 – 9:30am – 12:30pm ‘Focus on facilitation’
• 20/07/11 – 2.00pm – 5.00pm ‘Focus on mentoring’
• 27/07/11 – 9:30am – 12:30pm ‘Focus on coaching’

Any service user as an LGB or T, who would like to take part in this exciting free training opportunity please contact Berkeley Wilde direct.

Phone 07747 752 454

Email berkeley.wilde@diversitytrust.org.uk

Kerry calls for greater recognition for the UK’s six million carers

Posted on Jun 14, 2011

Local MP, Kerry McCarthy has teamed up with TV presenter Angela Rippon to support this year’s Carers Week (13-19 June) and recognise the contribution made by those people in Bristol  and throughout the UK who provide unpaid care for someone who is ill, frail or disabled.

The theme for Carers Week 2011 is ‘The True Face of Carers’. It calls for greater recognition for the diverse range of people who have caring responsibilities. The work they carry out is vital for their families and friends, and for their communities.

Kerry  and Angela have joined together to pay tribute to carers, and to urge that they receive more support in their caring roles. Kerry said:

“Thousands of people in Bristol sacrifice not only their time, but also their money and their health in order to care for a loved one. Together they save this country an incredible £119 billion every year and deserve to be recognised for their contribution to both our local community and to wider society.

“I am backing Carers Week to show my respect and appreciation for our carers. I also want to let them know that there are services out there to help them. Caring can be so incredibly demanding. It’s important that carers know that they don’t have to struggle on alone.”

Angela Rippon has personal experience of being a carer. She says:

“For a number of years now I’ve become aware of the extraordinary job that carers do throughout this country. I feel that it’s important that anybody who has any knowledge at all stands up and be counted for them and make the job that they do public, because they should not be invisible, they should be out there and being seen as the heroes and heroines that they are.

“It’s a strain that people accept willingly and lovingly, and if they’re prepared to do that, I think that as a civilised nation we should be prepared to do something in return.”

Other celebrities supporting this campaign include Dame Judi Dench, Sir David Jason OBE, Jack Charlton OBE and Martin Lewis. Carers Week is organised by a partnership of 9 national charities: Age UK, Carers UK, Counsel & Care, Crossroads Care, Dementia UK, Macmillan Cancer Support, MS Society, Parkinson’s UK, and The Princess Royal Trust for Carers.

For more information about local events and activities taking place as part of Carers Week, visit www.carersweek.org.

Free electric blanket tests offered in Bristol

Posted on Jun 10, 2011

Bristol City Council and Avon Fire and Rescue Services are offering free electric blanket safety checks throughout Bristol in the Summer and Autumn. “Also on offer will be free safety advice and a chance of a free home safety inspection. Spaces are limited so booking is essential,” said Phil Parkyn, principal trading standards officer for Bristol City Council.

A recent council survey showed that over 30% of the blankets checked had potential life threatening faults such as defective overheat protection, and exposed wires.

National figures also show that 95 per cent of electric blanket fires are caused by blankets which are over 13 years old.

Modern designs are also potentially dangerous as although they are made to fail safe, problems can still arise through misuse, such as poorly wired plugs and broken switches.

“Our advice is get your blanket checked now, minor faults will be repaired free of charge”, said Phil Parkyn.

To find out more or to book a session Bristol residents should ring 01179 223522

At-Bristol is off to the Cheltenham Science Festival

Posted on Jun 8, 2011

At-Bristol, the popular hands-on science centre on Bristol’s Harbourside, will be at the Cheltenham Science Festival all this week, entertaining visitors from 7^th-12^th June.

With over 300 hands-on exhibits, live science shows and a Planetarium, At-Bristol is one of the UK’s largest and most exciting science centres providing an interactive day out for all the family, while also welcoming over 40,000 educational visits every year.

At-Bristol will be bringing some of this interactive fun to the Cheltenham Science Festival, when it joins the likes of Brian Cox, Alice Roberts and other line ups to engage new audiences in science.

The At-Bristol team will be in the Discovery Zone, where the attraction’s in-house science communicators will be bringing science to life with hands-on activities and experiments.

Among the activities, visitors will be able to explore the fantastic world of forces with At-Bristol’s portable exhiblets – discover all about the force of pressure and electrifying effect of electricity!   You can explore more about yourself with At-Bristol’s Power Lab, where you can take a look at the electrical activity of your heart with your own ECG (Electrocardiograph).  Visitors can also put themselves under the lens with the Proscope. This special handheld digital microscope allows you to take a closer look at yourself – find out what your skin, hair or nails look like magnified!

To celebrate the opening of At-Bristol’s latest All About Us exhibition, which contains over 50 new exhibits all about the human body and the brain, At-Bristol will also be out and about around the streets of Cheltenham with clean streaking body suits.  These special suits have illustrations of the human anatomy, showing what your insides look like on the outside!

MP urges carers to “care for their incomes and pensions”

Posted on Dec 1, 2009

Kerry McCarthy MP has added her support to Carers UK’s national carers’ rights campaign on Friday 4th December 2009.

There are over six million unpaid carers in the UK who provide care and support to family, friends and neighbours, providing unpaid care worth an estimated £87 billion each year. The Carers Rights Day campaign, run by Carers UK, seeks to increase the take-up of benefits and raise awareness of carers’ rights and the support that they may be able to get in order to protect their pensions. It might be the Carer’s Allowance, council tax discount, Pension Credit or Housing Benefit that makes a difference.

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