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Belfast Telegraph
19-05-2025
- General
- Belfast Telegraph
RNLI volunteers attend two separate incidents rescuing one person
Bangor RNLI rescued one person after attending two separate call outs on Sunday after a kite surfer got into difficulty and a speed boat sank. Volunteers of the Bangor lifeboat attended the first incident following a page from the Belfast Coastguard at 8.49am. It followed reports of a kite surfer in difficulty in Ballyholme Bay. They launched their lifeboat Ruby Robinson at 9am. On arrival they found the kite surfer in the water 'quite exhausted and unable to remount his board.' The crew brought the kite surfer onboard and retrieved his equipment from the water. The lifeboat crew liaised with HM Coastguard before bringing the the surfer ashore, where he was handed over to the care of the Coastguard shore team. Bangor lifeboat helm James Gillespie said: 'We had a good outcome this morning and thanks to the member of the public who alerted us about the kite surfer in trouble. "We would recommend that it is always better to kite with another person and never to ride out further than you can swim back.' Jason and Vicky Clarke, relatives of the late Denis Filby who donated the lifeboat, welcomed the newly named Ruby Robinson back to the station. "It was great that Jason and Vicky saw their uncles legacy at work and witnessed the valuable contribution Ruby Robinson is making to Belfast Lough,' added Mr Gillespie. At 4.39pm on Sunday volunteers received a second call for assistance. It followed reports of an 18ft speedboat taking on water off Crawfordsburn Beach. After getting to the scene volunteers discovered the speedboat underwater. The single occupant of the boat had managed to make it unaided to the shore and was assisted by the HM Coastguard shore team. They were then transferred into the hands of the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service for shock treatment. It is not clear what had caused the boat to take on water and eventually sink. News Catch Up - Monday 19 May Lifeboat helm Gavin Mitchell assessed the situation and since the boat was not causing any obstruction to marine traffic or environmental harm it was decided that the boat was unrecoverable. Following the call out Mr Mitchell said: 'Always wear a lifejacket and always have a means for calling for help and ensure you know how to use it.'
Edinburgh Live
29-04-2025
- Business
- Edinburgh Live
Edinburgh school catchment and moving Gaelic unit under review at council debate
Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info Plans for the future of Gaelic education in Edinburgh are to be discussed this week. The Education, Children and Families committee will meet on Thursday as the number of applications for places at the city's only Gaelic primary school doubles in a year, and plans for a standalone secondary school stalled. Gaelic education for secondary school pupils is currently available at James Gillespie's High School - which is also seeing a rise in the number of pupils enrolled. A number of options, including exploring a catchment change, introduction of timetabling efficiencies, internal reconfiguration of existing accommodation or, if possible, additional accommodation, have all been highlighted in the meeting agenda. Plans to offer an annex unit at Liberton High School were previously ruled out and it was decided there was no budget in the capital programme to deliver a Gaelic Medium Education (GME) secondary school. Parents previously criticised plans for the provision at the new Liberton High School due to its location from the primary school and a more central site being required. Councillors agreed and a statutory consultation was paused. The main report states: "Engagement with the GME community on all aspects of GME education has continued through the Edinburgh Gaelic Collaborative Forum and in line with the specific action on demand for GME in the Gaelic Language Plan. "However, in relation to the provision of new GME primary and secondary schools, there remains no fundamental change to the update provided in 2022. Monitoring of the primary and secondary school rolls continues, and demand is currently able to be accommodated in existing provision or by introducing the rising rolls options highlighted above. "There remains no specific capital budget allocated to the provision of GME infrastructure and therefore no detailed project work can progress. The situation with potential site availability for a new GME secondary school remains as has been reported to Committee in 2022. "Following the request by Committee on 3 September 2024 to report the potential of the Police Headquarters at Fettes as a site, direct communication with the Scottish Government and Police Scotland has reconfirmed this site would not be available to the Council for the provision of a GME secondary school." In terms of next steps, the monitoring of school rolls for GME and recruitment of school staff will continue and the council will engage with the Scottish Government, the Gaelic community in Edinburgh and other stakeholders to consider the best way forward. Councillor Steve Burgess, Greens education spokesperson, said: "Greens strongly support the growth of Gaelic in the Capital, so we very much welcome any positive steps towards developing a robust strategy around the expansion of Gaelic Medium Education, which has now been stalled for years. "But the challenge is how to grow Gaelic with only one primary school, that looks to be bursting at the seams, and no dedicated high school for Gaelic, whereas Glasgow has several Gaelic primary schools and a high school. "The council needs to be working proactively with the Gaelic community in Edinburgh to rapidly produce a meaningful way forward for the growth of Gaelic in the Capital, and I would then hope and expect that the SNP Scottish Government would support this as they promised to in their last Holyrood election manifesto."
The Guardian
08-02-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
No bulk billing GPs found in 10% of federal electorates for standard consultations, survey says
An adult without concessions would not be able to find a bulk billing GP in 10% of electorates, according to a new report. Online healthcare directory Cleanbill on Sunday released an electorate breakdown of its third annual Blue Report based on a survey of 6,925 general practices carried out during October 2024. The Blue Report, published earlier in January, found for new adult patients without a concession card, four out of five GPs will charge a gap fee. Cleanbill collects its information, according to its founder, James Gillespie, by compiling a list of general practices nationally, which they call to ensure they are an operating GP clinic, ask if they bulk bill adult patients and, if not, what out-of-pocket fees they charge. Data managers then check that information against what is stated on clinics' websites and repeat calls until they can ensure consistent information. When it comes to what is happening across the 151 commonwealth electoral divisions, Cleanbill was unable to find any available bulk billing clinics for adult patients in 15 electorates, compared to four in its first report in 2023. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email Those 15 electorates were Bass (Tasmania), Boothby (South Australia), Braddon (Tasmania), Brisbane (Queensland), Clark (Tasmania), Fairfax (Queensland), Franklin (Tasmania), Jagajaga (Victoria), Kingston (SA), Lyne (New South Wales), Lyons (Tasmania), Mayo (SA), Newcastle (NSW), Shortland (NSW) and Swan (Western Australia). The report found there were still 12 electorates with bulk billing rates exceeding 50%, of which nine were located in western Sydney. While some electorates have gained bulk billing clinics since 2023, Cleanbill found the majority (86.7%) had fewer with an average drop of 13.7% in the two-year period. The electorate of Burt in WA experienced the greatest decrease in bulk billing rates from 61% in 2022-23, dropping to 6.5% in 2024-25, followed by Gorton in Victoria, dropping from 64% to 15% in the same period. Gilmore in NSW experienced the largest increase in bulk billing clinics, from 10.9% in 2022-23 to 23.5% in 2024-25, followed by Cowper (NSW), which rose from 2.6% to 13.5%, in the same period. Cleanbill found the electorate of Chifley in NSW had the greatest decrease in average out-of-pocket costs, from $50.25 in 2022-23 to $22.92 in 2024-25, followed by Parramatta in NSW, from $56.85 to $35.70 in the same period. Meanwhile, Watson (NSW) saw the largest increase in average out-of-pocket costs, going from $24.54 in 2022-23 to $36.52 in 2024-25, followed by Wide Bay in Queensland, rising from $39.67 to $49.71 in the same period. Dr Christopher Harrison from the Menzies Centre for Health Policy and Economics at the University of Sydney said Cleanbill's results were based on patients not covered by the incentives the government introduced in 2023, which increased the amount that GPs receive when they bulk bill children and concession card holders. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion 'This likely explains why the government can point to a well-documented increase in bulk billing rates overall, while at the same time Cleanbill finds that it has become increasingly difficult for an adult who does not have a concession card to find a GP practice that will bulk bill them. These two results are not contradictory,' Harrison said. There are likely existing patients already on a practice's books who are and will continue to be bulk billed, as well as cases where a patient with financial difficulties could be bulk billed based on GP discretion, he pointed out. 'These data do highlight a growing issue within our healthcare system. A sustainable way to incentivise GPs to bulk bill this patient group needs to be found,' Harrison said. The health minister, Mark Butler, said 'official data shows our record investment to strengthen Medicare has stopped the freefall in bulk billing that was created under the Coalition Government. 'After we tripled the bulk billing incentive for GPs, bulk billing has started rising again in every state and territory – delivering an additional 5.8m free visits to the GP in just 13 months,' Butler said. Nationally, 77.2% of all GP visits were bulk billed in November 2024, an increase of 1.6% from October, before the investment took effect, he said. The president of the Australian Medical Association (AMA), Dr Danielle McMullen, said the Cleanbill report provided a 'limited' snapshot of GP billing practice. 'The Productivity Commission's authoritative report on government services tells a much clearer story – commonwealth spending per person on general practice has declined since 2018/19, and more patients are delaying GP visits due to cost.' The president of the peak body for general practitioners, Dr Michael Wright, said: 'All Australians need affordable access to a GP who knows them. With a federal election fast approaching, we should be seeing bold commitments from all political parties to achieve this.'
