'I missed around half of school - I refused point-blank to go'
Charity Who Cares? Scotland found that looked-after pupils face an exclusion rate almost six times higher than the average.
The research has been described as a 'reality check' for those claiming Scotland is on track to keep The Promise to transform care by 2030.
It calls for an end to formal and informal exclusion for care experienced pupils.
STV News spoke to young people affected, including Honey, who has been in foster care for four years.
She's recently been assigned an advocacy worker to ensure she has a say in her future, after missing out on around half of her education. iStock Honey said she missed her S3 exams.
She said: 'I missed probably half of my school because I didn't go to my S3 exams. I barely went in.
'I just refused point-blank to even go into school.
'Even when I had a cut down timetable, I would still not go in. I've probably missed a huge bit of school.
'Going to school is a huge support system and having teachers that understand you help a lot. I've also just been given an advocacy worker.
'I think if I was younger, I would have benefited a lot from that if I had it before.
'When you're a kid, it's really hard to speak up in front of loads of strangers, in meetings because you don't have that sort of confidence.
'Sometimes it's just good to have someone that's there for you and you know that they have the right thing planned for you.'
Nicola Killean, Children and Young People's Commissioner Scotland, said: 'Within the report we heard that there were some children and young people who were getting offered 30 minutes a week of education, sometimes in a room with minimal support and minimal engagement with other children, young people and the rest of the school.
'That's really worrying.
'I'm calling for the Scottish Government to ensure that there is monitoring scrutiny of when these are happening, why they're happening, and whether they are in the best interests of children and young people.'
The Promise, set out in 2020, aimed to radically reform how young people are cared for in Scotland.
At the time, Nicola Sturgeon described The Promise as 'one of the most important moments' in her time as First Minister, and the Scottish Government said it was committed to implementing the recommendations within a decade.
Louise Hunter, chief executive of Who Cares? Scotland, who produced the report, said: 'Unfortunately, this tells us what we've known for a while that The Promise isn't being kept for the vast majority of care experienced children, young people who had an education.
'That basic right to education is not being met. And that's not what The Promise said.'
She added: 'We know that are huge pressures on the workforce, on funding.
'The young people that we work for and speak to tell us that if they had someone who was in their corner helping them understand their rights, then they might have an opportunity to have those rights upheld.'
The Scottish Government insists exclusion should only be used as a last resort.
First Minister John Swinney said this week: 'There are good examples in our education system about nurturing approaches, about inclusive practices that enable individuals to sustain their education.
'It is far preferable to exclusion and that will particularly relate to care experienced young people whose prospects and opportunities we need to address as a matter of urgency.'
Get all the latest news from around the country Follow STV News
Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Record
4 hours ago
- Daily Record
Terminally ill grandad waits 15 hours at Scots A&E until health board boss intervenes
Peter Black, 71, who suffers from stage 4 cancer, is one of the latest victims of the country's hospital waiting times crisis after being taken to Wishaw General with alarming symptoms on Saturday. A terminally ill granddad was kept waiting for 15 hours through the night at a Scots A&E until a health board boss intervened. Peter Black, 71, who suffers from stage 4 cancer, is one of the latest victims of the country's hospital waiting times crisis after being taken to Wishaw General with alarming symptoms by worried relatives at 6.30pm on Saturday. The grandad-of-five, from Motherwell, wasn't seen until 9.30am the next day. Peter's daughter Nicola, who stayed with her dad during his mammoth wait for care, said the former joiner was only seen after a family member emailed the health board's chief executive to complain. The NHS apologised to the family last night, while the case has been branded 'utterly heartbreaking' by opposition MSPs, who said it should be a 'wake up call' for Scotland's health secretary Neil Gray. Nicola, 47, said: 'My dad had been vomiting and there was blood in his urine. 'We told them exactly what was happening and we sat there from 6.30pm on Saturday evening. 'We watched people come and go who couldn't string a sentence together. We saw people threatening people next to them and as time was going on and we saw people come in and out before us. 'By 3am dad said 'I'm going to go home, I've had enough'. But we'd sat there long enough by then, so I said we needed to stay. 'We eventually got through because a family member had managed to get an email to the chief exec of the hospital. 'From the time of that email being sent at 9.20am we were taken and seen and out by 10.05am. 'If that email hadn't been sent who knows how much longer we'd have been sat there.' In February, the Scottish Government was urged to take immediate action to address 'unacceptable' and 'dangerous' A&E waiting times by an industry body. The Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) said the number of patients waiting for more than 12 hours in A&E was 99 times higher than what it was 14 years ago. The Scottish government said it was determined to improvement the stats and met with the RCEM to discuss concerns. Peter was diagnosed with kidney cancer in October last year which has spread to his lung. He has been undergoing treatment for the cancer but it is not curable. The dad-of-three started vomiting on Friday and when it continued into Saturday Nicola attempted to get her dad medication through NHS24 under the guidance of the Beatson cancer centre and a house call from a doctor. But when Nicola struggled to get the prescriptions and her dad began to experience blood and clots in his urine the family were advised to get him checked out to rule out a potential infection. Nicola said A&E staff were made aware of her dad's background as they waited to be seen. She said: 'My dad had a potential infection and we'd been told an infection in a cancer patient needs dealt with ASAP. All we really needed was this one prescription. 'I went up and asked a few times and said to the desk 'I know it's not your fault but I've seen people come and go with what would appear to be self-inflicted reasons why they're here. My dad is not choosing to be here. He just needs something to help him in the meantime as he has cancer'. 'I was told what he was there for wasn't life-threatening. Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. 'I said 'I'm not a medical professional but I don't think the people who have come in here escorted by police on drink or drugs are life-threatening either'.' While the family were waiting the hospital was put on divert and closed to GP referrals and minor injuries. Nicola said: 'There were five ambulances sitting outside with people in them who couldn't come in. 'In the morning they came around with a breakfast trolley because we'd been there so long. 'But the reception staff and one girl in particular were amazing at trying to keep everyone comfortable, bringing us blankets pillows and making tea and coffee.' In the morning the family alerted a relative to what was happening and they managed to reach NHS Lanarkshire's chief executive Louise Long via email. The chief exec responded to the family saying all emergency departments had been experiencing high volumes of patients and she had requested an update to ensure Peter was 'prioritised'. Nicola said: 'We were eventually called just after the email was sent. By the time we left we were there for 15 and a half hours.' Peter is now recovering at home but his family have been left outraged over the incident, as have opposition MSPs. Dr Sandesh Gulhane MSP, Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care for the Scottish Conservatives, has offered to meet with the family. He said: 'This case is utterly heartbreaking. 'No patient should be left waiting 15 hours for urgent care, but it is even more disgraceful when this individual is terminally ill. 'The SNP government have allowed Scotland's NHS to fall into a state of permanent crisis and patients like Mr Black are paying a devastating price. 'Dedicated frontline staff are doing their best but have been failed by dire workforce planning from successive SNP health secretaries and a complete lack of leadership. 'This appalling case which occurred in Neil Gray's backyard should be the wake-up call for him to finally deliver the care patients expect and to get a grip of this crisis in A&E departments.' Scottish Labour health spokesperson Jackie Baillie MSP also condemned Peter's treatment and said Anas Sarwar would declare a 'national waiting times emergency' if made First Minister. She said: 'Lives are being put at risk by the SNP's disastrous handling of our health service. 'Nowhere is the SNP's failure clearer than in the state of Scotland's NHS. 'Scottish Labour will deliver a true NHS recovery plan which transforms our NHS into a modern service and protects primary care services from cuts.' Russell Coulthard, NHS Lanarkshire Director of Acute Services, said: 'We are very sorry to hear of Mr Black's experience and we would like to apologise to him and his family for the upset this has caused. 'We are reviewing our patient pathway to help avoid a similar situation happening again and to help patients in these circumstances access appropriate care away from a busy A&E environment. 'We fully acknowledge the pressures on our A&E department and remain committed to improving patient experience, the working environment for our staff and reducing waiting times.' A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: 'We are sorry that Mr Black's experience fell short of the standards we expect. We are determined to improve patient experience and reduce long waits of this nature. 'Our A&E departments are facing sustained pressure; this situation is not unique to Scotland. Some people are still waiting too long for treatment, and we are determined to drive improvement. 'We are investing £200 million to reduce waiting times, improve hospital flow, and minimise delayed discharges' 'To help ease the pressure on teams, we will provide direct access to specialist Frailty teams in every Emergency Department and expand Hospital at Home capacity to at least 2,000 beds by the end of 2026. These are just a few of the initiatives we are implementing to shift the focus of care from acute settings to community-based services.'
Daily Mail
11 hours ago
- Daily Mail
NHS staff sickness rate highest for 10 years as levels rise in 18 Scottish health boards
Scotland's struggling NHS is facing even more pressure after it emerged sickness rates among staff have reached the highest level for ten years. A new report revealed the rate for 2024-25 was 6.4 per cent – up from 6.2 per cent the previous year. The NHS Education for Scotland report showed that was 'the highest rate in the past ten years'. It comes after the Scottish Tories claimed patients are 'dying needlessly' as A&E departments see waiting times worsening amid fears of a winter disaster. The latest worrying sickness rates come despite the fact that in 2009 the Scottish Government set a national target which aimed to reduce the NHS staff absence rate to 4 per cent. However, new figures for the year to the end of March showed that sickness absence rates decreased in four NHS boards and increased in 18. At the Scottish Ambulance Service, the sickness absence rate increased by 0.8 per cent to 9.7 per cent – the highest sickness absence rate of any health board. The data showed the health service employed 161,333.8 whole time equivalent (WTE) staff – up 0.1 per cent on the previous year. That included 67,714.6 WTE nursing and midwifery staff, with the number of absences amongst this group falling by 23.1 per cent to 2,601.2 WTE posts. As well as that, the figures detailed a reduction in spending on bank and agency staff. Spending on agency medical and dental staff dropped by 16.7 per cent to £108million. The bill for agency and bank nursing staff fell for the first time, to £410million, with this linked to falling spending on agency workers. The report said: 'After more than doubling in a three-year period, total nursing bank and agency expenditure decreased during the past year.' A Scottish Government spokesman said: 'Our aim is to limit all agency use as much as possible.' It comes as Public Health Scotland revealed more than a third of patients were not seen within the four-hour target last week in Scotland's A&E departments. Scottish Conservative health spokesman Dr Sandesh Gulhane said the figures were 'nothing short of disgraceful'. He said: 'How many more families need to lose loved ones before John Swinney and Neil Gray finally come up with a plan to address this crisis?' The proportion of patients admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours fell from 66.9 to 64.9 per cent last week, even though attendances were fractionally down. Mr Gray said: 'I know that some people are still waiting too long for treatment, and I am determined to drive improvement.' Other figures showed a 3.2 per cent increase in cancer deaths over the past decade, with lung cancer was the most common killer.
The National
19 hours ago
- The National
Risk of cancer death drops by 11.1 per cent to record low
Statistics published by Public Health Scotland (PHS) have shown an 11.1% reduction in mortality rates since 2013, from 333.7 per 100,000 diagnoses to 296.8 per 100,000 in 2022. The data, published on Tuesday, showed the death rates from the illness are the lowest on record since 1998. READ MORE: Chemical company fined £100k after worker suffers 'serious burns' Health Secretary Neil Gray said: 'It is encouraging to see the risk of dying from cancer in Scotland is at a record low. This is down to the hard work of NHS staff, improved treatment options, and people reporting their symptoms at an earlier stage. 'We are determined to further improve cancer survival, reduce waiting times and provide excellent, equitably accessible care right across Scotland.' Due to Scotland's ageing population, 69% of all cancer-related deaths recorded in 2022 were individuals aged 70 or older. 'We are taking action to improve the awareness and earlier diagnosis of cancers, including expanding our Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Services and our investment of more than £14 million towards cancer waiting times this year', Gray continued. 'Reducing health inequalities is a clear ambition for this government. Cutting smoking rates is key to tackling lung cancer incidence in areas of deprivation – our world-leading tobacco control measures are helping us in our goal of a Tobacco-Free Scotland by 2034.' MSP for Rutherglen Clare Haughey welcomed the figures, praising the work of NHS staff and action taken by the Scottish Government to improve both treatment options and early detection initiatives. 'One death from cancer is one too many but these figures are welcome and show the real progress we are making to improve cancer survival under the SNP Government', Haughey said. READ MORE: Ayrshire trust in race to raise £200k for community ownership of B-listed church 'The fact that the likelihood of dying from cancer is at its lowest level on record is testament to the incredible work that staff in our NHS do throughout Scotland every day. 'The SNP is determined to go even further to improve cancer survival across Scotland by taking action to improve awareness and earlier diagnosis of cancers. This includes expanding our Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Services and investing more than £14 million to reduce cancer waiting times this year. 'Whilst other parties continually talk down our NHS, the SNP is getting on with the job of improving and extending lives by investing to tackle health inequalities and improve health outcomes for people right across Scotland.'
