Breastfeeding motion at North Lanarkshire Council meeting passes unanimously
Councillors Geraldine Woods and Fiona Fotheringham marked the anniversary of the Breastfeeding (Scotland) Act, which resulted from a Private Member's Bill presented by former MSP Elaine Smith.
A motion passed at a full meeting of North Lanarkshire Council marked the progress made locally with regard to breastfeeding in the 20 years since legislation came into effect.
Councillors Geraldine Woods (Labour, Coatbridge South) and Fiona Fotheringham (SNP, Wishaw) marked the anniversary of the Breastfeeding (Scotland) Act, which resulted from a Private Member's Bill presented by former MSP Elaine Smith.
At the meeting Councillor Woods said: 'There can be no better start in life for babies than to get their mother's milk. It is designer made by mums for their baby,' before mentioning numerous health benefits breastfeeding provides to both mother and baby.
Councillor Woods also elaborated on the importance of the 2005 Act, explaining that it made it an offence to attempt to stop a mother from breastfeeding in public. She said challenging this behaviour could undermine the confidence of mothers and put them off breastfeeding, which is dictated by demand from the baby and thus had to be permitted everywhere.
Seconding, Councillor Fotheringham said her daughter had been born in 2006, soon after the Act came into effect, and that she had seen a 'massive shift' in how women were empowered to breastfeed, before talking about her experiences with her own children and adding that she had shared stories with many other mothers and acknowledged those who were unable or unwilling to do so.
The motion celebrated the fact North Lanarkshire had recently surpassed the 50 per cent milestone for breastfeeding of newborn babies, and congratulated the work of NHS Lanarkshire's Infant Feeding and Maternity Services, as well as those in the council and partner organisations.
It also acknowledged that not all mothers are capable of breastfeeding so efforts to promote its benefits must be supportive, non-judgemental, and inclusive.
READ MORE:
The motion further commended NHS Lanarkshire's maternity services for their collaboration with both North and South Lanarkshire Health and Social Care Partnerships, which earned them the UNICEF Achieving Sustainability Gold Baby Friendly Accreditation and supported participation in World Breastfeeding Week which begins on August 1.
No amendments were presented in relation to this motion so it was carried unanimously.
And did you know Lanarkshire Live had its own app? Download yours for free here.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
3 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Wedding joy for Scot 18 months after she nearly died in horror crash but was saved... by her watch
The beaming smile on Meg Coburn's face perfectly summed up the joy she felt as she married her husband Sean O'Connor. However, the happy occasion in Scotland was only possible thanks to a smartwatch which saved her life following a horror crash. Ms Coburn, who moved from her hometown of Hawick, in Roxburghshire, to Australia, was driving home from her job on a sheep farm when her car ran off the road and crashed into a tree. By sheer luck, the 27-year-old was wearing an Apple smartwatch that was designed to detect crashes. It kicked into action and – when she failed to respond to its prompts – contacted emergency services on her behalf. This call, and the watch's tracking system, allowed paramedics to find her exact location – lying in a ditch in 'the middle of nowhere'. The medical team later said they were amazed she had survived given the extent of her injuries and the isolated area of Victoria where she was found clinging to life. She had to be flown to hospital from the remote crash site. The terrifying incident in December 2023 was the start of a long health battle that saw her undergo gruelling physio sessions so she could walk down the aisle at Traquair House, near Peebles, last week. Discussing her near-death experience, Ms Coburn told the Mail: 'I feel so grateful for that technology. I just used to wear the watch occasionally to count my steps. I didn't even know it could do something like that.' She suffered bleeding on the brain, collapsed lungs, a fractured pelvis and extensive nerve damage. Following emergency treatment, she spent a total of 123 days at Royal Melbourne Hospital – and was unconscious for the first 12 of them. The new bride said: 'They had to teach me how to walk and talk again. It was a long time before I could walk as far as I can today.' Describing what it meant to be able to walk down the aisle, she added: 'It was a miracle for me. It's something no one would have expected.' Ms Coburn moved to Australia in November 2016 to take up work as a sheep shearer, having learned the craft from her father Tony, 64. She didn't usually wear the smartwatch but was using it on the day of the crash because she knew she had a busy day ahead of her and was interested to see how many steps she would rack up. Following the alert sent by her watch, she was found by paramedics Luke Henderson and Alistair Kyrkou. They later told a local newspaper in Australia that she had been 'in the middle of nowhere'. Mr Henderson said the majority of traumas like Ms Coburn's had proved fatal and it was his firm belief that the watch had saved her life. The incident resulted in post- and pre-traumatic amnesia, with the result that Ms Coburn cannot remember anything from around three months before or three months after the crash. She said: 'I don't know how it happened, why it happened, or where it happened. It's very frustrating. However, I'm slightly glad I can't remember.' Mr O'Connor, 36, had to call her family more than 10,000 miles away in Scotland to tell them what had happened. Her loved ones, including mother Anne and sister Laurie, raced to be by her side within 48 hours of the crash. Her grateful sister said: 'Everybody did everything they possibly could to make sure that we were there as quickly as we possibly could be.' Ms Coburn said that she now wears the watch regularly and has a profound sense of appreciation for it. She said: 'I still have it and I will wear it until the day it dies.'
Daily Mail
3 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Gray missing in action as Scotland records its worst cancer waiting times on record
Neil Gray was declared 'missing in action' yesterday after it emerged he is on a 'junket' in Japan as Scotland records its worst cancer waiting times on record. The beleaguered SNP health secretary has been accused of letting the NHS 'spiral out of control' as delayed discharges also hit a new high. The 'appalling' figures emerged as doctors warned the health service was 'dying' as Scots increasingly raided savings to go private to avoid huge waiting lists. The Scottish Conservative Party 's health spokesman Dr Sandesh Gulhane said: 'These appalling statistics confirm Scotland is facing a ticking timebomb when it comes to cancer cases on the SNP's watch. 'Yet while cancer waiting times hit record lows and delayed discharge rates spiral out of control, Neil Gray is on a junket abroad. 'In the words of BMA Scotland, our NHS is 'dying before our eyes', but the SNP health secretary is missing in action. 'Neil Gray should be focused on fixing our health service, not globetrotting. 'While this delegation may be helpful for the industry, Neil Gray's presence looks like a jolly. 'He needs to show common sense and adopt our plans to cut bureaucracy and surge resources to the frontline.' The row exploded as a raft of official figures underlined the crisis in Scotland's NHS: * Nearly a third of Scots referred with an urgent suspicion of cancer still hadn't started their treatment by the 62-day target in the first quarter of 2025. * The number of delayed discharge patients stuck in hospital hit a record 720,000 last year, with one NHS bed in nine occupied by someone who didn't need it. * Waiting times in A&E worsened last week, with just two-thirds of patients seen on time, and 11 per cent waiting more than eight hours. * Dr Iain Kennedy, chair of BMA Scotland, accused the SNP of 'repeatedly ignoring' warnings about NHS lists, forcing patients to 'use their own hard-earned money' instead of 'languishing' in a health service 'dying before our very eyes'. There was particular anger at Holyrood over the cancer waits - and Mr Gray's absence on a Scottish healthcare 'trade mission' half-way around the world. A key NHS Scotland's standard means 95 per cent of patients should wait no longer than 62 days from an urgent suspicion of cancer referral until their first cancer treatment. But only 68.9 per cent of patients referred from January to March started treatment on time, down from 73.5 per cent the previous quarter and 70.5 per cent for the same period in 2024. Only one of Scotland's 14 regional health boards, NHS Lanarkshire, hit the target. It was the worst performance since comparable records began in 2012. A target for 95 per cent of patients to start treatment within 31 days of a new cancer diagnosis was also missed, with 94.1 per cent treated on time. Dr Sorcha Hume, of Cancer Research UK, said: 'It's unacceptable that people are waiting too long for cancer treatment - and the situation is getting worse, not improving. 'Given the rise in the number of people being diagnosed with cancer, the Scottish Government must take urgent action. We need to see a significant increase in investment in the workforce. Reforms to NHS infrastructure and services are also required.' Mr Gray was last year criticised for going on 'jollies' to Aberdeen FC games in his official limo and had to apologise to parliament for looking 'more of a fan' than a minister. This week the Airdrie & Shotts MSP is on a trip selling Scotland's 'strong international reputation for pioneering health technologies' in Japan. But it emerged yesterday that the SNP's ill-fated NHS app, which is already a decade behind England's, has been scaled back to a single function in a single health board. Hailed as a 'digital front door' to the health service by John Swinney, it will initially deal only with dermatology appointments in NHS Lanarkshire when launched. The cancer and delayed discharge figures are published at the same time each year. The Scottish Government confirmed Mr Gray would have known the timetable, but denied he knew the content, when he agreed to be overseas when they came out. The Health Secretary arrived in Japan on Sunday evening and met the trade mission's delegation at the British Embassy in Tokyo on Monday morning. He is also due at Expo 2025 in Osaka this week. He is not expected back in the UK until Friday, the day after MSPs leave Holyrood for the summer recess, letting him duck questions in the chamber about his record. Mr Gray also went on a five-day round trip to Japan in 2023 when he was Economy Secretary, when his flights and hotels cost taxpayers £7,000. Scottish Labour deputy leader Dame Jackie Baillie said: 'It is right that we engage with other nations when it comes to promoting Scotland and strengthening ties. 'However, many will question the timing of this visit by the Health Secretary when our NHS is in such a poor state after years of chronic mismanagement by SNP ministers. 'After making use of a ministerial limo to football matches, it would be wise of Neil Gray to make this trip a more productive one than his previous jaunts. 'And perhaps while he is abroad boasting about Scotland's reputation for pioneering technology, he could tell us when the long-delayed Scottish NHS app will finally launch.' Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton added: 'A cancer time-bomb is looming. The SNP must act now to cut these dangerously long waits and deliver urgent, life-saving care. 'Nothing Neil Gray has done since being appointed health secretary has turned the tide for stressed out staff and patients. 'It's all well and good for Scotland to be advertising its excellent health technology abroad but patients facing the worst ever waits for cancer treatment and delayed discharge might well wish the Health Secretary were at home working out how to drive down waiting lists.' Mr Gray said: 'We are treating more patients with cancer on time, within both standards, compared to the same quarter six years ago - 7.7 per cent more within the 31-day standard and 0.1 per cent more within the 62-day standard. 'Cancer remains a national priority for the Scottish Government. We have directed £14.23 million of the £106 million in additional planned care funding for 2025/26 to cancer waiting times, with a focus on colorectal, urological and breast as our most challenged pathways.' A Scottish Government spokeswoman added: 'While in Japan Mr Gray is taking forward a full schedule of engagements promoting Scotland's health technology sector. This includes a meeting with the Japanese Ministry of Health to discuss the shared challenges of caring for a growing ageing population and explore potential areas for collaboration. 'International engagement like this is vital to supporting innovation, attracting investment, and delivering long-term benefits for patients and our health service.'
Daily Mail
3 hours ago
- Daily Mail
DR SANDESH GULHANE: Minister is nowhere to be seen as Scots NHS is let down
During the SNP 's time in office, Scots have been hammered with the highest taxes in the UK but have been getting worse public services in return. Nowhere has this decline been more obvious than in our NHS and yesterday we had some of the most shameful and appalling figures yet seen. The worst delayed discharge figures on record and cancer statistics showing that almost a third of Scots are waiting longer than the 62-day target for treatment. Meanwhile, Health Secretary Neil Gray was in Japan 'showcasing Scotland's strengths in digital health and life sciences'. Whatever our achievements in those fields, it hardly disguises the fact that, at the most basic tasks we expect from a health service, the SNP is letting Scotland down, and the cabinet secretary isn't here to face the music. Despite being on their fifth NHS recovery plan in the past four years, the Nats are not only failing to repair the damage their policies have inflicted on the NHS. They're making matters worse. A&E waits remain high – despite it being summer, traditionally one of the quietest periods. The SNP have not met their own waiting time targets on cancer for over a decade. And it's been a decade since Shona Robison, the then health secretary, vowed to eradicate delayed discharge. Instead, the situation is worse than ever. Almost three-quarters of a million days were lost to bed-blocking – every one of them a waste of NHS resources, a source of despair to the patient stuck in hospital and a lost opportunity to treat someone else languishing on a waiting list. The equivalent of one in every six Scots is on a waiting list. As Dr Iain Kennedy, chairman of BMA Scotland, said yesterday – Scotland's NHS is 'dying before our eyes'. He pointed out that almost a third of Scots say they or someone in their household has been forced to pay to go private due to the difficulty in securing NHS treatment. The record waiting lists – with more than 63,000 people waiting over a year and, shockingly, 5,200 having waited for two years or more – are 34 per cent worse than this time last year. That is an utterly damning figure. The SNP have never once met their target that no one should wait over 12 weeks for in-care or daycare treatment – despite having passed a law making it a legal obligation. These aren't just abysmal statistics. They represent people left without timely treatment, suffering unnecessary pain, whose chances of recovery and, in the most extreme cases, survival, are being put at risk by the inability of successive SNP ministers to get a grip on this crisis. I know from my colleagues that it is also pushing dedicated NHS staff to breaking point. The SNP made the disastrous decision to cut the number of medical students by 8 per cent, nursing students by 20 per cent and trainee midwives by 40 per cent. There's a dangerous shortage of oncologists and radiologists. There are more than 450,000 extra patients registered with GP practices since 2012, but the government has little chance of meeting their target of 800 new GPs by 2027. Audit Scotland identified a 6 per cent cut in real-terms spending on GPs between 2021 and 2024. Wasteful public spending is going through the roof, yet frontline care is being starved of resources. The SNP now spends more money on the best-paid public sector fat cats than it does on paramedics. They've squandered millions on an app that should have been up and running years ago and which – if it arrives – will be inferior to the one the rest of the UK has had for a decade. Almost a million pounds a month is still being spent on preparations for a botched National Care Service, even though the SNP have abandoned most of their plans for it. The SNP cannot avoid the responsibility for this litany of failure. Over almost two decades, they have presided over a shameful decline in our health service. A string of inept ministers, each more dismal than the last, has acknowledged the system is in crisis. They've launched a series of recovery plans that have failed to produce any improvement. Patients are suffering needlessly. Staff are being pushed beyond endurance. What Scotland urgently needs now is a plan of action to repair the damage they have created, not perfunctory apologies and ever-worsening figures.
