Latest news with #Tina
STV News
9 hours ago
- Health
- STV News
Hospital At Home: Virtual ward service 'life-changing' for elderly patients
Elderly patients say the NHS's Hospital at Home programme has changed their lives by allowing them to receive safe medical care in the comfort of their own homes. A new report from Healthcare Improvement Scotland has found that the expansion of its 'virtual ward' service across Scotland has saved over £50m and kept around 15,500 people from staying in hospital for treatment over the past year. The programme is designed to treat patients at home, often with remote monitoring using technology, without the need to be separated from family and friends. It also helps to reduce the risks associated with hospital admissions, such as increased risk of catching infections and a decrease in mobility and independence. Among those who have benefited is Norman Cumming, 77, from Chapelhall, who was born with brionchiectasis. Over the years, he developed asthma and was diagnosed with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) in 1990 – a progressive, incurable lung condition. Symptoms include shortness of breath, frequent chest infections, and fatigue. Supplied/NHS Scot The pensioner takes daily medication and uses an inhaler, but occasionally needs to visit his GP clinic for nebuliser treatment, where medication is delivered as a fine mist to help ease his breathing. His wife Tina, 64, told STV News: 'This past year has been the worst it's been. It takes a lot out of him – he gets tired easily, his breathing is affected easily. This last spell, with the hot weather, he has really struggled with that. 'He sometimes has to sleep all day to rebuild his energy.' The couple were first told about Hospital at Home while visiting their GP clinic in December 2024. 'I thought it was a brilliant idea,' Norman said. 'In hospital, you've got to wait for attention. At home, I know there's someone there for me if I need help. 'It's a safe environment, and I'm not worrying about picking up other infections.' Tina added: 'Norman was absolutely delighted – obviously any infection he gets causes more damage to his lungs. 'It eases the pressure on us by being at home – Norman gets really agitated in hospital and likes the comfort of his own bed. He also loves drawing and painting, which he can't do in hospital.' The couple have used the Hospital at Home Service four times since January. Each time, care was provided for between one and two weeks. On the first visit they were provided with monitoring equipment, including a blood pressure cuff and thermometer, linked to a mobile phone that sent readings to the care team four times a day. Norman was also able to receive nebuliser treatment and oxygen support without leaving the house. The couple are encouraged to call for help whenever they need it, with a nurse sent to their home if required. Tina said: 'At first I was a bit wary because I'm not very techy, but it was so straightforward. They reassured us we could call any time, and they really meant it. 'For me, it's just easier being here with him. When he's in hospital I'd be up and down every day, juggling work and everything else. Now I can support him if needed. 'Without this service, he'd be in hospital longer, he'd be more anxious, and it would take him longer to recover.' Norman said: 'It has made a big difference to our life. The staff are so helpful and cheery – they always comes in with a smile on their face. They are fantastic.' Bill Denholm, 85, from Stenhousemuir was recently treated by NHS Forth Valley's Hospital at Home team. His wife Marion, 82, said: 'There are no words to adequately describe the care and attention Bill received. 'We've had doctors, advanced nurse practitioners, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, a dietitian and a speech and language therapist all visit our home to provide the care and treatment he required so he didn't have to go into hospital. 'This meant he was able to stay in familiar surroundings with his family and still receive the same type of care he would have in hospital. I also felt very supported as I could contact the Hospital at Home team direct if I had any worries or concerns. 'I can't praise the Hospital at Home service enough. It makes so much more sense to treat people in their own homes if you can rather than occupy a bed in a busy hospital. It's definitely a win-win for everyone involved.' The report estimated £39m has also been saved due to reduced healthcare usage in the six months following hospital at home discharge. More than 1,600 patients were treated on average each month, up from 1,400 on the previous year, with around 15,470 people prevented from spending time in hospital. More than 650 extra hospital beds and almost 500 care home admissions would have been required over the year if hospital at home services did not exist. Belinda Robertson, associate director of Improvement at Healthcare Improvement Scotland, said: 'It seems that Hospital at Home is very much here to stay. We are finding that more NHS boards are not just increasing the numbers receiving acute hospital care at home, but that their services are maturing, becoming more efficient and being set up in such a way as to ensure they are sustainable. 'Making sure that Hospital at Home services are sustainable in terms of resources and capacity has been one of our main focuses over the past year, and we're delighted to see Scotland's NHS boards achieving this. 'For patients, the benefits of being able to be treated in the comfort and familiarity of their own homes is clear to see and this is set to continue.' The Hospital at Home service mostly provides care for frail, older people in their own homes who may be suffering from acute illnesses and health conditions such as respiratory and cardiac issues, infections, or require treatment after a fall. First Minister John Swinney recently announced funding of £85m which will allow 2,000 beds across Scotland to be made available through the Hospital at Home service. Health secretary Neil Gray said: 'This report shows we are delivering personal, efficient and reliable care to patients across the country. Our expansion of Hospital at Home means more people will benefit from first-class NHS care in the comfort and familiarity of their own homes. 'By increasing capacity to 2,000 beds by December 2026, we're on track to create the largest 'hospital' in Scotland – bringing care closer to where people live and need it most. 'I am delighted to see the positive impact Hospital at Home is having across Scotland, particularly for elderly patients who can now receive high-quality care without the need to travel to hospital. I am grateful to all of the partners who are delivering this service and look forward to its further expansion in the months ahead.' 'First Minister John Swinney recently announced funding of £85m, which will allow 2,000 beds across Scotland to be made available through the Hospital at Home service.' 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
Extra.ie
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Extra.ie
WATCH: Pulp release 'Tina' music video from album More
Pulp have released the new music video for their latest single Tina, from their UK No.1 comeback album More. The release follows their summer UK and Ireland tour dates, which included their headline gig at Dublin's 3Arena as well as their set at Glastonbury Festival. The music video was created in collaboration with Austrian artist Julia Schimautz (DTAN Studio) and features lyrical animation by Gaussian Studio. The clip blends digitally crafted imagery with the textured imperfections of traditional printmaking to capture the emotional core of 'Tina, according to frontman Jarvis Cocker, who describes it being 'about obsession and fantasy.' 'I love this video it's like digital Fuzzy-Felt. You should feel like you need a shower after listening to it,' he said. In a recent interview with Hot Press, Cocker unveiled the myriad creative influences behind the latest album, the bands first in almost a quarter-of-a-century. Next, the British alt-rock band are set to return to their hometown of Sheffield to headline Tramlines Festival on July 25, before heading to North America this autumn. 'Tramlines is going to be great,' said bandmember Saskia Cocker. 'It's a terrific line-up and it will be our first chance to play the new songs to the population of the Peoples Republic of South Yorkshire. Right good.' You can check out the video for 'Tina' below.
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
‘Compassion and care are being stripped away': a Just Stop Oil activist on her time in prison
Louise Lancaster, 59, was one of a group of Just Stop Oil activists given the longest-ever UK sentences for peaceful protest for planning disruption on the M25 in November 2022. This year, she wrote a diary for the Guardian, detailing her first six months behind bars. Here, written before her release on 8 April and after her sentence was reduced on appeal, she reflects on her final months of incarceration. At the start of the year, I turned a corner and encountered a new emotional landscape. Transfer to open prison and the sentence appeal were on the horizon. Change, out of my control, was brewing. Open prison, a surveilled environment without bars or locks, intended as a stepping stone to community reintegration, is a goal for many in closed prison. But, heartwrenchingly, it is only a pipe dream for the more troubled inmates – those who struggle to adhere to the strict behavioural rules, so often due to fragile mental health, complex psychological or neurodivergent needs, which there is scant provision to cater for. Every day, I try to engage with Tina, whose internal distress can result in loud, anguished outbursts in the night and repetitive calls for help. She regularly finds herself punished for these, with downgraded conditions, locked in her cell for days without TV, phone or association time with others. Prison is no fit place for Tina. This morning, I call my daughter, Verity, but first pick up a message she left a few days before. I would have loved to have phoned her at the time, to share and support. I feel a pang of guilt and the chasm between us. Today is her birthday. It is also the day Cressie, Lucia (her co-defendants Lucia Whittaker De Abreu and Cressida Gethin) and I are assembled in HMP Send's video room for our appeal hearing. Two foot-thick tomes of court papers weigh down the table. Next to them, a cup of delicious flapjacks Lucia has made, that happily we are allowed to share. The legal arguments went on for two days and we strained to hear, but we are sustained by the knowledge that thousands gather outside the court, to peacefully and insistently make their support known. And we're uplifted to see (co-defendants) Daniel (Shaw), Roger (Hallam) and appellants from the other three trial groups, via the video-link system, on the screen. The verdict will take four to eight weeks. We are not holding our breath. News in the UK and abroad is getting grimmer by the day. Surreal stuff. Trump's tornadoes of turmoil, world temperatures tipping 1.75C above pre-industrial levels, 35% of Los Angeles engulfed by wildfires, and Storm Éowyn, listed as a real danger to life in the UK, is ripping the covers off polytunnels where I work in the prison gardens. I and those working with me there are also being scattered, reassigned to different work or education. This can happen without warning. It's very unsettling for the many neurodivergent people who make up nearly half the prison population. Appealing against the moves is futile. I have just been put on a 12-week education course, which I'm already qualified for and which I will never complete, as I move prison in three weeks. Given how much information the prison system amasses on us, it is such a waste that inmates' time is not more intelligently managed. There is little follow-through after courses, aside from links established by altruistic staff, with outside trusts and employers that boost the hopes and dreams of a few. Pre-empting the move to open prison, I prepare cards and little gifts for all I've built relationships with here. I feel sheepish letting Ava know. As a foreign national, she is barred from open prison, despite attending every course asked of her over the many years and giving much to the prison community. Today is grey and drizzly. Cressie and I cross the exercise yard with our plastic boxes to collect lunch. An officer spots us and cheerily announces we are moving to East Sutton Park open prison tomorrow. We exchange puzzled looks. We are the lucky ones. Mina, a fellow transferee, only finds out in the morning. Every time you move prisons, all your possessions must be checked out, one by one. In reception, we dutifully pick items out of our plastic bags, which get placed in new, sealed ones. We are surprised to discover that we will travel by car rather than prison vans, aptly named sweat boxes. This seems weird. Stranger still is the environment we arrive at – a manor house and grounds akin to the ones I used to visit with my parents on a day out as a kid, with functional interiors reminiscent of outward-bound centres I stayed at in school groups. The communal rooms are beautiful and filled with books. Food is a step up. There's a well-run gym, relaxed, supportive staff and the shared bedrooms have barless garden views, which cheer up the same prison furniture. Sadly, the mattresses are even poorer – within a week, Lucia's back is in chronic pain. Although beautiful, the house has many steps – a nightmare for less mobile prisoners, and all work programmes require a level of physical fitness some just don't have. Prison causes deterioration of health for many inmates. Those who struggle are either assigned work that exacerbates their condition or are paid a third of the meagre wage if they cannot work as hard as other people. The individual needs of those brought here can surely be better considered and provided for. Meals at East Sutton Park are communal events. We eat with prison friends from HMP Send. These are releases on temporary licence (RoTLs), a common topic of discussion. As with enhancements and open prison, they are a privilege and largely favour those who already possess the skills to access work in the community. RoTLs generally include day release, work outside the prison and gradually increasing numbers of nights at home. With only two female open prisons in the UK, many people are far from home. Newly proposed guidelines are set to reduce financial support for travel for those on RoTL, which could limit access for poorer inmates and exacerbate discrimination. Over lunch, news reached us that HMP Send may be the one women's prison James Timpson plans to close to trial out alternative forms of 'punishment and rehabilitation'. Send may convert into one of the 14 new male prisons the government insists on building. We all share our concerns for those left behind. Some will move to alternate, non-custodial community provision, therapy centres or drug and alcohol rehabilitation. It's definitely reform on the right trajectory – but others will surely be transferred. Send is one of the better closed prisons. What will be their fate? Today, our fate has been decided. Cressie, Lucia and I walk in the unseasonably warm sun to the video room, where our lawyers will inform us of the verdict of our appeal. It is almost shocking to receive a reduction in sentence when 10 other appellants do not. We take time to process the new reality. As well as pleasure, a range of emotions and thoughts spring to mind. Not insignificantly, the unpredictable danger of curfew tag error, triggering recall to prison; harsh licence conditions regarding participation in events and internet use; and restrictions that will prevent us contacting each other and so many others. But when I phone my family to break the news, they are already celebrating the year off of my sentence and that I could be released on curfew tag within weeks. Our sentences are still manifestly excessive, of course. The real injustice is not their length but that citizens engaging in nonviolent civil resistance are incarcerated by a legal system that outlaws consideration of the deep wrongs that compel their action. The 1,000 people who sat silently on the road and stayed there for 90 minutes, despite pressure from the police to move, are in my view the catalysts for the reduction in sentences. My thanks goes out to them; we must never underestimate the power of such collective action. That night I reread Martin Luther King Jr's letter from a Birmingham jail. I quote: 'Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.' In these rapidly shifting sands of global instability, compassion and care are being stripped away. Injustice is increasing. We cannot let this happen. The names of inmates Tina, Ava and Mina have been changed to protect their identities. Additional reporting by Matthew Taylor
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
‘Compassion and care are being stripped away': a Just Stop Oil activist on her time in prison
Louise Lancaster, 59, was one of a group of Just Stop Oil activists given the longest-ever UK sentences for peaceful protest for planning disruption on the M25 in November 2022. This year, she wrote a diary for the Guardian, detailing her first six months behind bars. Here, written before her release on 8 April and after her sentence was reduced on appeal, she reflects on her final months of incarceration. At the start of the year, I turned a corner and encountered a new emotional landscape. Transfer to open prison and the sentence appeal were on the horizon. Change, out of my control, was brewing. Open prison, a surveilled environment without bars or locks, intended as a stepping stone to community reintegration, is a goal for many in closed prison. But, heart-wrenchingly, it is only a pipe dream for the more troubled inmates – those who struggle to adhere to the strict behavioural rules, so often due to fragile mental health, complex psychological or neurodivergent needs, which there is scant provision to cater for. Every day, I try to engage with Tina, whose internal distress can result in loud, anguished outbursts in the night and repetitive calls for help. She regularly finds herself punished for these, with downgraded conditions, locked in her cell for days without TV, phone or association time with others. Prison is no fit place for Tina. This morning, I call my daughter, Verity, but first pick up a message she left a few days before. I would have loved to have phoned her at the time, to share and support. I feel a pang of guilt and the chasm between us. Today is her birthday. It is also the day Cressie, Lucia (her co-defendants Lucia Whittaker De Abreu and Cressida Gethin) and I are assembled in HMP Send's video room for our appeal hearing. Two foot-thick tomes of court papers weigh down the table. Next to them, a cup of delicious flapjacks Lucia had made, that happily we are allowed to share. The legal arguments went on for two days and we strained to hear, but we are sustained by the knowledge that thousands gather outside the court, to peacefully and insistently make their support known. And we're uplifted to see (co-defendants) Daniel (Shaw), Roger (Hallam) and appellants from the other three trial groups, via the video-link system, on the screen. The verdict will take four to eight weeks. We are not holding our breath. News in the UK and abroad is getting grimmer by the day. Surreal stuff. Trump's tornadoes of turmoil, world temperatures tipping 1.75C above pre-industrial levels, 35% of Los Angeles engulfed by wildfires, and Storm Éowyn, listed as a real danger to life in the UK, is ripping the covers off polytunnels where I work in the prison gardens. I and those working with me there are also being scattered, reassigned to different work or education. This can happen without warning. It's very unsettling for the many neurodivergent people who make up nearly half the prison population. Appealing against the moves is futile. I have just been put on a 12-week education course, which I'm already qualified for and which I will never complete, as I move prison in three weeks. Given how much information the prison system amasses on us, it is such a waste that inmates' time is not more intelligently managed. There is little follow-through after courses, aside from links established by altruistic staff, with outside trusts and employers that boost the hopes and dreams of a few. Pre-empting the move to open prison, I prepare cards and little gifts for all I've built relationships with here. I feel sheepish letting Ava know. As a foreign national, she is barred from open prison, despite attending every course asked of her over the many years and giving much to the prison community. Today is grey and drizzly. Cressie and I cross the exercise yard with our plastic boxes to collect lunch. An officer spots us and cheerily announces we are moving to East Sutton Park open prison tomorrow. We exchange puzzled looks. We are the lucky ones. Mina, a fellow transferee, only finds out in the morning. Every time you move prisons, all your possessions must be checked out, one by one. In reception, we dutifully pick items out of our plastic bags, which get placed in new, sealed ones. We are surprised to discover that we will travel by car rather than prison vans, aptly named sweat boxes. This seems weird. Stranger still is the environment we arrive at – a manor house and grounds akin to the ones I used to visit with my parents on a day out as a kid, with functional interiors reminiscent of outward-bound centres I stayed at in school groups. The communal rooms are beautiful and filled with books. Food is a step up. There's a well-run gym, relaxed, supportive staff and the shared bedrooms have barless garden views, which cheer up the same prison furniture. Sadly, the mattresses are even poorer – within a week, Lucia's back is in chronic pain. Although beautiful, the house has many steps – a nightmare for less mobile prisoners, and all work programmes require a level of physical fitness some just don't have. Prison causes deterioration of health for many inmates. Those who struggle are either assigned work that exacerbates their condition or are paid a third of the meagre wage if they cannot work as hard as other people. The individual needs of those brought here can surely be better considered and provided for. Meals at East Sutton Park are communal events. We eat with prison friends from HMP Send. These are releases on temporary licence (RoTLs), a common topic of discussion. As with enhancements and open prison, they are a privilege and largely favour those who already possess the skills to access work in the community. RoTLs generally include the day release, work outside the prison and gradually increasing numbers of nights at home. With only two female open prisons in the UK, many people are far from home. Newly proposed guidelines are set to reduce financial support for travel for those on RoTL, which could limit access for poorer inmates and exacerbate discrimination. Over lunch, news reached us that HMP Send may be the one women's prison James Timpson plans to close to trial out alternative forms of 'punishment and rehabilitation'. Send may convert into one of the 14 new male prisons the government insists on building. We all share our concerns for those left behind. Some will move to alternate, non-custodial community provision, therapy centres or drug and alcohol rehabilitation. It's definitely reform on the right trajectory – but others will surely be transferred. Send is one of the better closed prisons. What will be their fate? Today, our fate has been decided. Cressie, Lucia and I walk in the unseasonably warm sun to the video room, where our lawyers will inform us of the verdict of our appeal. It is almost shocking to receive a reduction in sentence when 10 other appellants do not. We take time to process the new reality. As well as pleasure, a range of emotions and thoughts spring to mind. Not insignificantly, the unpredictable danger of curfew tag error, triggering recall to prison; harsh licence conditions regarding participation in events and internet use; and restrictions that will prevent us contacting each other and so many others. But when I phone my family to break the news, they are already celebrating the year off of my sentence and that I could be released on curfew tag within weeks. Our sentences are still manifestly excessive, of course. The real injustice is not their length but that citizens engaging in nonviolent civil resistance are incarcerated by a legal system that outlaws consideration of the deep wrongs that compel their action. The 1,000 people who sat silently on the road and stayed there for 90 minutes, despite pressure from the police to move, are in my view the catalysts for the reduction in sentences. My thanks goes out to them; we must never underestimate the power of such collective action. That night I reread Martin Luther King Jr's letter from a Birmingham jail. I quote: 'Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.' In these rapidly shifting sands of global instability, compassion and care are being stripped away. Injustice is increasing. We cannot let this happen. The names of inmates Tina, Ava and Mina have been changed to protect their identities. Additional reporting by Matthew Taylor
Daily Mirror
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Coronation Street's Tina O'Brien dating millionaire with Manchester United links
The Coronation Street actress split from husband Adam Crofts earlier this year, and prior to that, she had a daughter with her former co-star Ryan Thomas. Tina O'Brien's new boyfriend has been revealed as a millionaire who has links to Manchester United. The Coronation Street actress, 41, was married to personal trainer Adam Crofts but just four months on from their split, she has been linked to a design guru who has worked for footballer Paul Pogba. Adam Fadle, 38, refurbished the sports star's luxury home in Cheshire shortly after he signed for his team, and his home appears as part of a portfolio on the Panoramic Properties website. A description on the website reads: "Panoramic Properties Limited was founded in 2010 by Adam Fadlé and has grown over the years into an award-winning interior design studio. "Originally graduating with a degree in architecture, Adam specialised in the luxury interior design sector, where his passion and creative flair came into its own. 'Continuing to build on the company's success over the years and push the boundaries in design, Panoramic Properties is now proudly recognised internationally as one of the leading design studios in the industry. "High end interior design has always been at the heart of Panoramic Properties. Our team of talented designers work with both end clients and developers to produce world class homes." According to insiders, Tina, who was married to the original Adam for six years and has a son with him, had simply fallen "out of love" with her husband and "fallen in love" with another man of the same name. Speaking to the Sun, they added: "Tina looked totally mad for Adam and they couldn't keep their hands off each other." Friends also claimed Tina had "grew apart" from her ex, Adam, who she had met in 2011. 'Tina and Adam are on good terms, they're still close and are committed to being a family, even if they're not together," a source claimed. Tina was cast as Sarah Platt on Coronation Street in 1999, and saw the character through numerous storylines including her infamous teenager pregnancy and her mother Gail Platt's marriage to serial killer Richard Hillman. She quit the serial in 2007 and had small stints in Waterloo Road and Call the Midwife but ultimately returned to her signature role in 2015, and has remained on-screen ever since. During her first stint, Tina struck up a relationship with co-star Ryan Thomas, who played her character's then-boyfriend Jason Grimshaw, and they went on to have daughter Scarlett, 16, together. But they called it quits in 2009 after six years together, and Ryan went on to have Roman, five, and three-year-old Lilah with TOWIE's Lucy Mecklenburgh, to whom he is engaged. However, Tina and Ryan were far from co-parenting blissfully by 2022, when the actress reportedly smashed Ryan's Range Rover wing mirror with a baseball bat after the pair became embroiled in a furious row. The alleged incident occurred in March 2022 when Tina stepped out of a friend's party to confront Ryan as he arrived on the scene. It's alleged that subsequently, his Range Rover was targeted with a baseball bat, leading to scratched paintwork and a "smashed off" wing mirror.
