MAJOR NEW CAMPAIGN TO HELP CHILDREN IN THE NORTH WEST GROW STRONG

NCH, the leading children’s charity, is today (8 October) launching Growing Strong, a major new campaign to improve the emotional wellbeing of children across the North West. The charity, which runs 54 projects across the region is calling on the Government to review policy relating to children’s emotional wellbeing and commit to its ‘Ten Steps to Growing Strong’, revealed in a new report, Growing Up Growing Together Growing Strong.

The new policy calls include:-

· Targets to measure and improve good emotional wellbeing rather than just harmful behaviour

· Children and young people to have a minimum of two structured activities every week

· A new advice service for parents worried about the emotional wellbeing of their children

· Measures to ensure the media portrays children and young people in positive ways

Emotional wellbeing means having the inner strength, resilience and self-esteem to cope with life’s problems and make the most of life’s opportunities. Children are most vulnerable at times of change – moving from primary to secondary schools, becoming teenagers, going through disruptions to their family life and dealing with death or serious illness in the family.

Paul Moore, NCH Strategic Director for Children’s Services North, says:- “Our children are struggling with the daily pressures of modern life – from exams to worrying about how they look, to what their image should be to fears for their safety. What keeps ringing out is that too many are simply not getting the emotional support they so desperately need.   Far too many agencies and families still have the emphasis wrong. Policies on poverty social exclusion, education and health will continue to be fatally undermined if the chronic lack of provision for the emotional needs of children is not addressed. The cycle will keep spinning from generation to generation. The Government must commit to tackling this problem if future generations are to receive the chance in life they deserve.”

When his mum’s mental health problems became severe 15 year old Chris from Trafford found that their roles were reversed: he had to be the parent and care for not only his mum but his younger sister as well. His mum’s increasing dependence on him was frustrating for both of them – and they couldn’t see a way out. The family were at breaking point when they contacted NCH’s Trafford Young Carers project, who, in the words of Vanessa, Chris’s mum, ‘have put our family back together’. Now that Chris’s home life has settled down, he’s lost weight, is working out regularly and has made new friends at school. His school grades have gone up to As and Bs and his ambition is to be a barrister. He is growing strong.  Chris said:- “Things were spiralling out of control and it got to the point where I hit my mum, which I am ashamed of. If it wasn’t for NCH, I think I would have ended up in care.”

Research shows that emotional wellbeing is essential for children’s health, education, friendships and future prospects:-

* 44% of those with emotional disorders tend to fall significantly behind at school

* 35% of those with emotional disorders reported difficulty in making friends

* Emotional wellbeing is becoming more important with every decade. It is now than 4 times as important in improving life chances and opportunities for those now in their 30s compared to those in their 40s

* The public cite emotional wellbeing as twice as important as social class in their own social mobility (59% compared to 27% of respondents cited it as important)

Concerns about the emotional wellbeing of the UK’s children are on the increase with recent research proving they have the worst emotional wellbeing in the developed world and hundreds of academics adding their name to letters to national newspapers on the impact of play on emotional wellbeing and the impact of divorce on emotional wellbeing.

NCH is calling on the public to take action to help children grow strong and join NCH’s Growing Strong Campaign at www.nch.org.uk/growingstrong.

LEARN TO EARN A MILLION

YOUNG people urged to gain essential qualifications to boost their earning potential. Forget the Lottery, or “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?”, an easier way to make a million is by gaining essential skills and qualifications.

The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) has calculated that those young people who gain a minimum level of qualifications – such as 5 A*-C GCSEs or the vocational equivalent such as a Level 2 Diploma in business for example – will earn well over a million pounds during their lifetime’s work, without even taking inflation into account.  Yet those who leave learning without any qualifications are set to earn just £873,392 between the ages of 16 and 68, when they reach the national age of retirement. The figures clearly illustrate the benefit of gaining this level of qualification with £148,720 (17%) extra being earned over a lifetime following the attainment of a Level 2 Diploma or 5 A*-C GCSEs.

The research is based on data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which includes Labour Force Survey data about the weekly amount paid to employees with differing levels of qualifications.

Julia Dowd, Director of Young People’s Learning at the LSC, said:- “The research really demonstrates the extra earning power of a Level 2 Diploma or 5 GCSEs grades A*-C and these qualifications can act as a springboard to further learning programmes such as A-Levels or a degree.  Hopefully this will help illustrate the real value of Level 2 qualifications, making it clear that any young person wanting to earn a million in their lifetime should remain in, or return to, learning to gain these essential qualifications.  Furthermore, you can even get paid to stay in learning with financial support in the form of Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA). With financial benefits now and in the future, it has never been more rewarding to gain the minimum set of qualifications. It is up to young people to take control of their learning – it’s in their hands.”

Schools and Learners Minister, Jim Knight, said:- “There are so many advantages to working hard and doing well at school. Through our plans to ensure all young people have the opportunity to stay-on in education and training until 18 and the roll-out of our new Diplomas - which mix academic and practical learning - we want to ensure all young people achieve that magic million mark.”

Below are the lifetime earnings shown by level of qualification.

Degree or equivalent                 £1,819,792
Higher education                      £1,384,448
GCE A Level or equivalent         £1,233,024
GCSE grades A-C or equivalent £1,022,112
Other qualifications                   £978,848
No qualification                         £873,392.

INVESTIGATION OF ULTRASOUND AND MRI SERVICES PROVIDED BY ATOS ORIGIN

UNISON, the largest Trade Union in the NHS, is extremely concerned to learn of serious problems regarding the contract to provide Ultrasound and MRI Scanning Services provided by “ATOS Origin”, (an international information technology services company) to NHS patients in the North West.

After being asked by the Department of Health to look into the contract, NHS North West found:-

a) Failures of safe and comprehensive patient record keeping.

b) Limited clinical specification and supervision of clinical services, allowing unstructured clinical services to be performed.

c) Inadequate clinical systems and control processes to ensure urgent cases were appropriately prioritised.

UNISON is dismayed that the result of all this means that hundreds of patients may have to be called back to hospital to have their scans repeated.  The original contract with ATOS was originally planned to be introduced from April 2007, but was brought forward to 5 December 2006 as a result of increased demands from PCT’s in Greater Manchester, Cheshire and Merseyside.

Stephanie Thomas, UNISON North West Head of Health said:- “While we welcome the prompt action of NHS North West in identifying the shortfalls and taking action to resolve them, we do question how the situation was allowed to occur in the first place. It’s quite clear that the contract was initiated prematurely, without proper checks being built in to ensure contract compliance. UNISON has always voiced its opposition to the use of the Independent Sector within the NHS and believes this incident demonstrates that where the Independent Sector is concerned, profit will always be seen as a high priority, compared to patient care.”

UNISON is calling on the Department of Health not to award any further contracts to the independent sector until the results of these findings can be considered more widely.  Given the problems in the North West, UNISON is now demanding that the ATOS Origins’ contract in the South West be terminated, should similar problems be found there.