Yes, Prime Minister! Burnham visits Motherwell Campus
Prime Minister Andy Burnham today praised the pioneering work on Brain Health being carried out at New College Lanarkshire.
Mr Burnham made the comments as part of a visit to the college’s Motherwell campus where he met apprentices and other students from a range of disciplines including electrical, joinery, hair and beauty and music.
But it was the college’s pioneering work on Brain Health which was of particular interest for the Prime Minister.
The college has partnered with Alzheimer Scotland’s preventative arm, Brain Health Scotland, to use education to target the 45% of dementias which are preventable or can be delayed.
In the first year of the Brain Health programme around 2000 health and social care students received detailed brain health training as part of their learning.
Dental nursing students at NCL have also become the first in the UK to receive anxiety/stress training to assist patients who may be living with dementia.
The college has developed a unique and diverse portfolio of qualifications from an introduction to brain health to degree level. NCL is now the only educational institution in the UK to offer Brain Health learning provision at every stage from nursery to degree.
NCL’s public health focus comes as it was revealed that healthy life expectancy in North Lanarkshire is just 52, the lowest in the country, and that 90,000 Scots are living with dementia and 1-in-3 Scots are expected to be hit with the condition. Dementia is also the biggest killer of women in the area.
Future development of NCL’s Better Than 52 public health programme will see growth in existing programmes and further developments including a focus on workplace health. This expansion is a direct result of the college receiving support from the Scottish Funding Council’s Public Services Reform initiative.
The Scottish Funding Council support will allow NCL to grow existing programmes along with the development of brain and public health education initiatives within workplaces and local communities. This, in turn, will play a significant role in the Region’s strategy to transform healthy life outcomes across Lanarkshire.
Mr Burnham said he was impressed by the scope of the dementia-prevention and public health work being delivered at the college.
He said: “The emphasis being put on this in the college by asking every student to think about health is such a powerful message to send. We need to do that to tackle health inequalities.
“This is pioneering work which presents an innovative way of getting people to be more aware of the need to support brain health.”
NCL Principal Professor Christopher Moore said: “It was a pleasure to welcome the Prime Minister to NCL and show him what our students and staff are doing. And we were delighted that he took the time to find out more about our work on Brain Health and to congratulate us on our efforts to prevent or delay dementias.
“North Lanarkshire deserves better than 52 years of healthy lives. Teaching people how to protect their brain health isn’t just something we should do, it’s something we have a responsibility to do.
“We are hugely grateful to the Scottish Funding Council’s Public Services Reform initiative for backing our public health work. Their support will allow us to expand and accelerate our brain and public health commitments. “We are also immensely grateful to our outstanding partners Alzheimer Scotland who have provided expertise and guidance throughout.”