Author: Peacock Carter

This free to members event precedes the Institute’s Annual General Meeting which will be held on the afternoon of 18 November 2010 at the same venue. This event will be held at the Apex International Hotel, 31-35 Grassmarket, Edinburgh, EH1 2HS. There are still a few places available.Bookings should be made on the attached form which should be returned to REHIS, 19 Torphichen Street, Edinburgh, EH3 8HX. The non-member delegate fee is £50.00. Refreshments and a light buffet lunch will be provided. For further information please contact us on 0131 229 2968 or by email at contact@

The President, members of Council and members of staff at REHIS wish everyone in the Scottish and international environmental health community a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Professor Hugh Pennington, the 2010 recipient of the REHIS Meritorious Endeavours in Environmental Health Award, was presented with a silver medal by Rod House the Institute’s President at the Institute’s 2010 Annual Award Ceremony in Edinburgh. On receipt of his award Prof. Pennington addressed the audience of award winners, their families and invited guests and told them that the award ‘…. makes me immensely proud. To be recognised in this way by REHIS, an organisation that has been at the forefront and front line of public health work in Scotland for well over a century, is a career highlight for me.’

Professor Pennington was Professor of Bacteriology at the University of Aberdeen from 1979 to 2003 and is now Emeritus. In 1996-97 he chaired an Expert Group established by the Secretary of State for Scotland to make recommendations after the 1996 Central Scotland E.coli O157 outbreak and he chaired the Public Inquiry into the 2005 South Wales E.coli O157 outbreak which reported to the First Minister for Wales in 2009. Professor Pennington has enhanced Scotland’s international reputation as a leader in standards for environmental health and has served to inspire environmental health professionals across the country. This award recognises Professor Pennington’s contribution as a microbiologist to the protection of public health in Scotland over many years, his support of the Institute’s objectives and his support for the important role that the Environmental Health Profession plays in the improvement and protection of public health in Scotland. Professor Pennington is indeed a worthy recipient.

Tom Bell

Chief Executive

Alistair Thomson has been installed as the REHIS President for the coming year. Rod House, who stood down as President, handed over of the Chain of Office at the Institute’s Annual General Meeting on 18 November in Edinburgh. The first meeting of the new Council takes place on Saturday 4 December.

Earlier this month Glasgow City Council, The Scottish Government, Glasgow 2014, Environmental Protection UK (EPUK) and A Games Legacy for Glasgow hosted the Environment and Sustainability Conference at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre. The key topics discussed were sustainability throughout the Games, Games-time and the legacy of Glasgow 2014. The launch of the Sustainability DVD, the Glasgow City Council Sustainability Plan and the official consultation of the Strategic Environmental Assessment also took place. The sustainability plan and the consultation are all downloadable from this website. The excellent presentations made at the conference are downloadable from the EPUK website http://www.environmental-protection.org.uk/events/details/?id=2584.

The REHIS Health and Safety Update and Food Update Courses were presented in the Holiday Inn Edinburgh Hotel, Edinburgh during October.  These events proved to be as popular as ever with over 110 delegates participating over both days. The Health and Safety Course covered Emerging Issues from the HSE, LPG Bulk Tank Inspections, Gas Safety, FAI associated with adventure activities, Noise at Work and Respiratory Protective Equipment . The Food Update Course, presented in partnership with the Food Standards Agency Scotland as  part of the Agency’s Low Cost Training Initiative covered presentations on defending food and drink followed by a workshop on Threat Assessment Critical Control Points, an update from the Food Standards Agency, presentations on Novel Foods, the FSA Foodborne Disease Strategy and a focus on listeria . REHIS takes this opportunity to thank the course presenters, session chairmen, partner organisations and, of course, the delegates for their active participation.

Scotland is more motivated to turn knowledge into action

Over the past 12 years, Scotland has seen clear improvements in health knowledge, motivation and behavior, with many more people actively striving for better long-term health. A report, which analysed data collated by the Health Education Population Survey (HEPS) from 1996 to 2007, has been produced by NHS Health Scotland, Scotland’s national agency for improving health – Know, Feel, Do? Health behaviour change in Scotland, 1996 to 2007 – assessed the direction and extent of change in adult health behaviour, knowledge and motivation across three health topics: smoking, physical activity and healthy eating. In addition, the findings for each topic were combined to assess overall progress in health improvement in the period 1996 to 2007.

See the report at http://www.scotpho.org.uk/home/Publications/scotphoreports/pub_HEPS.asp

The Scottish Government has launched the Scottish Air Quality Discussion Forum as part of the Scottish Air Quality Database and Website.

The forum has been developed to increase awareness of air quality in Scotland and facilitate discussion in relation to newly released guidance, articles, studies, conferences and seminars. It is targeted at individuals and organisations with an interest in environmental protection, health, spatial planning and transport planning in Scotland. The forum will be updated periodically by the site administrator when relevant new material is identified. However, it is hoped that as the forum continues to develop, members of the forum will contribute to this process and upload appropriate comments and links whenever these arise.

To join the forum please complete the registration process at: http://www.scottishairquality.co.uk/forum/

The annual REHIS Trainers’ Seminar took place on the 20^th October in the Trades Hall, Glasgow and, as ever, this proved to be a popular event with 120 trainers attending. The Seminar provided an up-date on developments in the areas of infection control, food safety and health and safety.
The event was chaired by Martin Henry, REHIS Council member for Community Training. The early part of the morning included presentations from Graham Walker, REHIS Director of Training and Craig Cunningham, Health and Safety Manager with the Compass Group. Graham gave an update on REHIS community training issues and Craig delivered a presentation on Risk Management in the 21^st Century. After the break Dr Jacqui McElhiney, Food Standards Agency Scotland, continued with a presentation on the FSA Food-borne Disease Strategy and the morning concluded with a presentation on current food borne disease issues by Dr John Cowden, Consultant Epidemiologist, Health Protection Scotland. After lunch Peter Midgley, Food Standards Agency Scotland gave an update on current issues being dealt with at the Food Standards Agency Scotland and this was followed by a presentation on modern food premises design and construction by Adi Schmidt from Encore Catering .The presentations were very well received by the delegates and the Institute is very grateful to all the presenters and the delegates for their participation in the event.

Congratulations go to one of our newest International Training Centres, Kumasi Polytechnic based in Kumasi, Ghana.

The Polytechnic was recently approved to deliver the REHIS International Elementary Food Hygiene Certificate Course. They ran their first course on 23 August 2010 and all the candidates achieved excellent pass marks in the examination that followed the course.Some of the candidates are pictured with Professor Kofi Aidoo (centre right), a Fellow of the Institute and a presenter of REHIS food safety courses at Glasgow Caledonian University. On his right is Dr Patricia Owusu-Darko, the Centre contact and on his left is Mr K. Agyei, representative of the Rector of Kumasi Polytechnic and next to him is Mr J.Y.B Bennie, Principal Regulatory Officer (Ghana Food & Drug Board) and next to him is Mr F. Engmann, Head of Department of Hotel, Catering and Institutional Management (HCIM) of the Polytechnic. On Patricia’s right is Mr Addai Acheampong, External Examiner for the HCIM course and on his right is Mrs Naana B. Agyemang, Dean of the School of Business.

Professor Aidoo was awarded a PMI2 Partnership Development grant to visit academic institutions in Ghana by the British Council, UK’s international organization for educational opportunities and cultural relations.

The Institute is grateful for the help and support given to REHIS and Kumasi Polytechnic by Professor Kofi Aidoo in setting up the Centre and hope for a long and successful partnership.

Earlier this year The Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland (REHIS), a Founder Member of the International Federation of Environmental Health, celebrated its 135^th birthday and decided to mark the occasion by launching an International Essay Competition for students of Environmental Health across the world.

The aims of the competition were:

• to raise the profile of international environmental health issues
• to encourage student Environmental Health Professionals to consider Environmental Health in a global perspective, and
• to promote the work of the Federation as the global umbrella organisation for environmental health.

The set topic was: How would you raise the profile of environmental health and make its delivery more relevant to government and policy makers over the next five years?

Competition entries were assessed by a panel of distinguished international environmental health academics and the panel has determined that the winning entry was submitted by:

 WINNER

 Claudette Parker-Allotey from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Claudette is photographed being presented with the winner’s award at the 11th World Congress on Environmental Health in Vancouver by Rod House,REHIS President and Bernard Forteath,President of the International Federation of Environmental Health.

 Claudette is a final year undergraduate student at Concordia University College of Alberta on the Environmental Health After-Degree programme.Claudette will receive £500.00 and a personalised certificate and her submission will be published in the winter edition of the REHIS Journal Environmental Health Scotland.

RUNNER-UP

Gwyneth Kerwin from Stoneyburn, West Lothian, Scotland

Gwyneth graduated in June this year from The University of Strathclyde’s BSc (Hons) Environmental Health degree course.

COMMENDED

John O’ Connor from Edenderry, Co. Offaly, Ireland

John is an undergraduate student about to enter the 2^nd year of the Dublin Institute of Technology BSc Environmental Health degree course.

 COMMENDED

 Sammy Wafula Simiyu from Nairobi, Kenya
Sammy is a 3^rd year undergraduate student at the Kenya Medical Training College on the Diploma in Environmental Health Sciences course.

 All entrants will receive a personalised certificate.

 The Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland offers its congratulations to Claudette and takes this opportunity to publicly thank Koos Engelbrecht (South Africa),Barbara Delaney (Ireland),Harold Harvey (Northern Ireland),Tony Grimason (Scotland) and Steve Konkel (USA) for acting as the competition assessors.

Officials from REHIS and the Food Standards Agency Scotland met in Aberdeen recently as part of their ongoing liaison to update each other on developments within their respective organisations; discussions were held on the foodborne disease strategy, food safety enforcement, professional education, training and qualifications and,  the provision of community training courses in food hygiene, HACCP and food and health across Scotland.

 Pictured left to right: Tom Bell, REHIS, Charles Milne, FSAS, Jim Thomson, FSAS, Robert Howe, REHIS, Colin Wallace, REHIS and Graham Walker, REHIS. Also at the meeting but not in the photograph, Peter Midgley, FSAS and Rod House, REHIS