Oriental dragon arrives at Runshaw College

IT was a dragon’s den at Runshaw College this week with a certain oriental visitor on campus.

Students on the Foundation Studies Art & Design course created a unique piece of artwork – a mythical style Chinese dragon as part of the ‘Respect Week’ diversity celebrations.

Simon Wess, a former student of Runshaw College and now visiting artist on the Foundation Art and Design Course worked with Foundation students from the Euxton Lane campus on the project.

Simon, whose work includes several exhibitions including work at Preston’s Harris museum, said:- “I was asked by the enrichment department to create several pieces of artwork to decorate the main entrances throughout the college.

My aim was to produce a dragon which looked fun, alive and had a strong presence. The Foundation students helped to work on the dragon’s head, the most important part of the design.

The project gave the students a greater insight into the amount of time and work that goes into producing artworks on a larger scale and the pressure of meeting very specific deadlines.

It was good to see students getting involved in Respect Week. I’d like to thank everyone for all their hard work, persistence and creative input.”

Kerri McMurray, from Much Hoole, a student at Runshaw’s Euxton Lane campus said:- “It was a good experience to work together in a group and create something big and colourful for public view.

We had a few problems but it was good to have a diverse team of people to overcome them, and 'respect week' was a worthy cause to get involved with within college.

The foundation course at Runshaw is a brilliant year for young artists to find their feet and to find their own discipline and style within art before going on to university. It’s a one off chance to work in a studio with a group of people where everyone knows everyone and everyone gets on.”

To find out more about the Foundation Studies Art & Design BTEC Diploma please call 01772 642040 or log onto www.runshaw.ac.uk/adult.

98.6% rate children's A&E 'good' or 'better'
Report with thanks to Matthew King, Southport and Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust.s

IN a recent survey, it was found that 31% of patients attending the Children's Accident & Emergency department at Ormskirk & District General Hospital do not live in our traditional catchment area of West Lancashire and Southport & Formby.

As a follow-up to this, a questionnaire (based on that performed nationally by the Healthcare Commission) was given to parents or carers when they arrived at the department with their child and 158 were returned. This included questions on where they came from and why they had come to the department, as well as questions on the care their child had received.

The reasons people gave for choosing Ormskirk when it was not their nearest hospital included:-

* They expected a short waiting time

* They were recommended it

* They had been previously

* The new facilities

The questionnaire asked about how they were treated from arrival to discharge, and overall 98.6% of those who answered said they felt the service was either good, very good or excellent with an impressive 63.2% saying it was excellent.

When asked:- "Did you have confidence and trust in the Doctors and Nurses", of the 143 people who answered only 2 said:- "No" and one of these added:- "Though the nurses were good with us".

When asked "How satisfied were you with the treatment" of those who answered, 137 were either satisfied or very satisfied with the treatment the child received, with only one being not satisfied.

Sharryn Gardner, Consultant Paediatrician at the A&E commenting on the results of the questionnaire said, "All of our staff are really pleased that so many people are satisfied with the service we provide and the care we give to local children. We continue to attract more and more people from outside of the immediate area and are delighted by this. We can now use many of the constructive comments to make further improvements, and we continue to welcome any feedback. Initial projections suggested that our unit would see around 16 000 patients per year, this year we expect to see 22 000, and we encourage people to continue to choose to use our service as it goes from strength to strength."

Some of the comments received included:-

"Treatment very quick with all my concerns listened to. All staff from entering to leaving very polite and helpful."

"Always had excellent service."

"Thanks to everyone who helped."

"Courteous and friendly, efficient and informative."

"Very good service, you are a credit to the NHS."

MASSIVE BLOW FOR DISABLED CHILDREN IN NORTH WEST, SAYS NCH

IN response to the Disabled Children (Family Support) Bill not being passed in the House of Commons on 23 Febuary 2007, NCH Director of Children’s Services North West, Paul Moore, says:-

“THIS decision is a massive blow for thousands of disabled children and their families. By being denied the legal right to a short break, too many parents will now not receive the support they desperately need.

Caring for a disabled child can be very challenging making short break support a lifeline. For families who have been struggling to cope today’s decision could mean the difference between their child staying at home or going into unnecessary and expensive residential care, often miles away from home.

Short break support makes a huge difference to families and is also cost-effective. It doesn’t make sense that the Disabled Children (Family Support) Bill has not been passed in the same week the Government announced a package of new support for carers. It is a tragedy that this bill hasn’t been passed.”