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The Autumn 2013 edition of Environmental Health Scotland, the REHIS Journal, can be accessed by Members by clicking on the link Autumn Journal 2013   

REHIS Conference 2014

 The Council of the Institute has agreed that this year’s annual conference will be held at the Royal College of Surgeons’ Edinburgh in Edinburgh on 7 and 8 May. The Annual Conference is the principal Environmental Health event to take place in Scotland and provides an opportunity to reflect on current and future approaches to protecting and improving the health and well-being of the Scottish people and to renew friendships and make new ones. See the attached flyer for more information. 

ROY EMERSON AWARD – INAUGURAL ESSAY COMPETITION

Students who are affiliated with IFEH Member Countries or our Academic Association members are invited to submit a 2000-2500 Word Essay and accompanying power-point presentation.

ESSAY TITLE: “The Climate Change Challenge”… engaging the Environmental HealthPractitioner

See attached document for more information and visit the IFEH website for full details – www.ifeh.org

The adverts for these two key senior posts can be accessed via the recruitment portal on the home page of the website.

If you would like further information on these posts please don’t hesitate to contact me at tb@.

Tom Bell

Chief Executive

The deadline for 2013  CPD submissions is 31 January 2014. Please note: The CPD Regulations require the submission of corroborating evidence of participation in all CPD activities

Members can keep an electronic record of their CPD activities on the website.This can be achieved by clicking on “My account” and then on “My CPD Entries” and by following the relevant links.Information entered here will be transferred onto a REHIS CPD form which can be downloaded as a pdf file and then printed. Adobe Reader is required for this task.Download it at http://get.adobe.com/reader/

The completed list of CPD activities can then be printed out and sent to REHIS along with the required corroborating evidence for all CPD activities.

Members who wish to complete the CPD card manually can download a blank copy which is available in the Members’ area of the website.

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.

A new Joint Award, between Albion Environmental Limited (AEL) and REHIS, was signed off by Alasdair Meldrum (AEL) and Tom Bell (REHIS) in Edinburgh on Thursday 5 December this year.

This Joint Award “Training in the Waste and Resource Sector” aims to provide course candidates with background knowledge in the environmental legislation which affects the sector.

The waste and resource management sector includes all individuals, businesses and organisations involved in reuse, recycling and recovery of resources.

The award covers two courses:

An Introduction to Waste Management Legislation – This one-day course is designed to provide candidates with a basic understanding of the legislation relating to the waste and resource sector. It is aimed at supervisors and staff who have some responsibility for ensuring compliance with environmental legislation.

Working with Waste Management Legislation – This two-day course is designed to provide candidates with the necessary level of understanding of the legislation to allow them to identify, implement and comply with the waste management legislation relevant to their organisation.

These courses add a new dimension to the existing suite of REHIS Joint Awards and I commend Alasdair and Graham for all their endeavours in developing the courses from a what was a ‘good idea’ to the high quality accredited training experience now available to workers in the waste and resource management sector. Tom Bell, Chief Executive.

For further details contact Graham Walker, Director of Training at REHIS, 19 Torphichen Street, Edinburgh EH3 8HX or by telephone on 0131 229 2968 or by email at gw@

The photographs taken at the Annual Award Ceremony on 14 November are now available for viewing and downloading, click on the link Annual Award Ceremony 2013
The presentations given at the Environmental Health Update on 15 November are available for viewing and downloading, click on the link Environmental Health Update presentations 

The VTEC/E.coli O157 Action Plan 2013-2017 has been published this morning and is available on the Scottish Government website.

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2013/11/8897

By way of background, in 2010 Scottish Ministers decided to convene a multidisciplinary VTEC/E. coli O157 Action Group. The Group’s main remit has been to produce an Action Plan for Scotland.  The Group brought together all relevant agencies with expertise and regulatory responsibilities in controlling potential sources of human infection.  The Action Plan aims to reduce the number of infections with VTEC/E. coli O157 through 86 recommendations attributed to key agencies.  The Action Group adopted a new approach, using a systematic logical framework to describe each stage in the pathways of transmission of the organism from animal to human case. This has provided strategic direction for the wide range of key partners to collaborate on the implementation of practical recommendations that aim to reduce the risk of infection based on current evidence of effectiveness. It also provides a comprehensive framework that will be used by the Action Plan Group to monitor compliance with and effectiveness of interventions to control VTEC/E. coli O157.

These recommendations have been accepted by Scottish Ministers which now fall on the Scottish Government to carry out, and we are looking to the other agencies involved to ensure that consistent and effective action is taken to deliver those actions for which they are responsible.  There are recommendations within the Action Plan which require input and action from your organisation and the Scottish Government is seeking your co-operation to deliver these in conjunction with the VTEC/E.coli O157 Action Group.

Should you wish to discuss further please contact Simon Cuthbert-Kerr, Health Protection Team, Scottish Government – simon.cuthbert-kerr@scotland.gsi.gov.uk.

The Environmental Health Update is a free to members CPD training event and precedes the Institute’s Annual General Meeting which will be held on the afternoon of Friday 15 November 2013 at 2.00pm at the Apex International Hotel, 31-35 Grassmarket, Edinburgh, EH1 2HS

The Annual General Meeting is a Members only event.

See the attached document for more information,a programme and a registration form.

EDPHiS has been working closely with and supporting the Good Places, Better Health (GPBH) initiative of the Scottish Government

It was thought that some members may be interested in reports from EDPHiS, which was part of the Scottish Government’s Good Places Better Health initiative.  They can be found by clicking on this link, www.edphis.org.uk

Louise Rennick

Environment & Health Project Manager

NHS Health Scotland

Tel: 0141 414 2749

Louise.rennick@nhs.net

www.healthscotland.com

It gives me great pleasure to announce that the Institute has appointed Linda Kain to the position of Director of Professional Development and Jackie McCabe to the position of Director of Training. Linda and Jackie were selected from a very strong group of applicants and will take up their posts early in the New Year. To ensure a smooth hand-over they will work with present incumbents Robert Howe and Graham Walker for a few weeks before Robert and Graham retire at the end of March.

Linda Kain is a Chartered Environmental Health Officer, a graduate Food Scientist with 13 years experience in the public sector and 14 years experience in the food industry. She is a member of the REHIS Council and currently works as an Environmental Health Officer for Dumfries and Galloway Council and South Lanarkshire Council.

Jackie McCabe is a Chartered Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. She holds an HND in Hotel Catering and Institutional Management and range of technical qualifications. She is also a REHIS Food Hygiene and Health & Safety at Work Course Presenter. Jackie is currently the Training Manager with C J Lang and Son Ltd, Dundee.

I take this opportunity to thank all applicants for their interest in working for the Institute and to all those who assisted in the recruitment process.

Colin Wallace

Senior Vice-President and Chairman of the Management Committee