E-Newsletter
May 2010
Trans Fats Bill
Many of you will be aware that I had proposed a Members Bill to ban Industrial Trans Fats. Trans Fats are made through a process called hydrogenization which turns liquid fats into solid fats. These fats are put into food stuffs such as biscuits and cakes to prolong their shelf life. They are also found in many takeaway foods. They are gram for gram worse for you than saturated fats. The Bill had the backing of celebrity chef Nick Nairn and Nutritionist Professor Mike Lean however it did not gain cross party support in the Parliament and unfortunately the Bill fell.
I will not be giving up on this issue. Many people eat these fats without knowing how unhealthy they are. It has been suggested that my Bill, if it had been passed, could have saved up to 700 lives a year from heart attacks.
I would also like to thank St Paul’s High School in Glasgow who wrote to every MSP asking them to support the Bill. It is always encouraging to see young people campaign on an issue which is of importance to them and their future. They have recently been nominated for a “Change It” award for their campaigning. If you would like to read my proposed bill you can do so here. To read more about St Paul’s High School campaign please click here.
Foster Care Fortnight
Foster Care fortnight began on the 17th of May. It is alarming to know that at least 1700 more foster parents are needed in Scotland to ensure that disadvantaged children can be given the chance to be placed in a home that will suit them. This campaign, being run by the Fostering Network, highlights not only this but the skills that are required to become a foster parent. I have tabled a motion on this which you can read here or to learn more about Foster Care Fortnight and the Fostering Network you can visit their website here .
Friends of Bridge of Allan
Recently the Friends of Bridge of Allan, of which I am a Patron, adopted the local train station. Across Scotland over 80 train stations have been adopted by local groups and I am proud to have been involved in this locally. The Friends of Bridge of Allan are now responsible for taking care of the trees and plants and around the station as well as keeping the station looking good. Elsewhere in the village the Friends have been responsible for clearing overgrown areas and setting up hanging baskets. To commemorate the adoption of the station and the agreement that has been made with ScotRail, myself and other members of the group were involved in planting trees.
“Place2Be”
I am a keen supporter of “Place2Be” and have recently met with their Scottish National Manager, Jonathan Wood and Scottish Development Officer, Catherine Henderson, alongside various Scottish health boards and councils to help highlight their achievements to date and to talk about how we can collectively help “Place2Be” to expand their great work in schools further. This charity works in schools to help improve the emotional well-being of children, families and whole school communities, by offering counselling sessions, places for children to talk and counselling for parents whose children have emotional or behavioural difficulties. To find out more about “Place2Be” please click here.
Quality Strategy
Two weeks ago there was a debate in Parliament on the Quality Strategy which has been published by the Scottish Government (you can read this here). Quality improvement is not a new concept within the Health Service rather it is about building on what has been done before. While in the last two Parliaments we have begun to address many of the problems which we faced at the beginning in 1999 such as: delays in getting appointments; unacceptable waiting times in accident and emergency. However there is still work to be done. There have been some successes such as in renal dialysis where we see satellite units established across Scotland in order to allow patients to be treated from home. It is this sort of patient centred approach which is crucial in providing a quality service. Postcode lotteries still exist such as no access to bariatric surgery for the morbidly obese at all in Fife, which is unacceptable when we are trying to achieve a universal service. It is also important that we embed quality improvement techniques into the managed care networks. We all want quality in the NHS and we also want efficiency but it is important that we do not return to the 1980’s where efficiency simply meant cuts. You can read the full official report from the debate by clicking here.