He’s amazing, but it may be a while before his grandparents hold him for the first time
– Education expert Keir Bloomer
After a tough year as frontline hospital workers, Caroline and Pete Hutchison are enjoying a wellearned rest, following the arrival of their baby son.
The couple, who live in Newport, Fife, welcomed 9lb 2oz Fraser on February 5. “He’s just amazing,” NHS physiotherapist Caroline said. “It’s all been a bit of a blur since we got home but we’re just enjoying our little bubble. “Because of the restrictions, there’s no pressure. We don’t need to be anywhere or do anything. We’re not allowed any visitors. “It’s been a nice start to life as a family of three so far.” However it does mean Fraser has yet to meet both sets of grandparents, with Pete’s parents in Aberdeen and Caroline’s mum and dad in Northern Ireland. “We just love Fraser and want to show him off,” Caroline, 32, said. “But it’s going to be a while before he meets his relatives. “Fraser might not be a tiny baby anymore by the time his grandparents have their first hold of their first grandchild and that makes us really sad.” Caroline and Pete, a trauma and orthopaedic registrar at Ninewells, were prepared for the
eventuality and bought Caroline’s parents an ipad for Christmas so they could at least meet the baby virtually. “They aren’t very technically aware but they have mastered it well enough to meet Fraser and that’s better than not seeing him at all,” Caroline said. Caroline and Pete, 33, found out they were expecting not long after lockdown hit last March. And the pregnancy got off to a bit of a rocky start when Caroline’s appendix ruptured 14 weeks in and she had to undergo emergency surgery.
“It was a scary time wondering if everything would work out with the pregnancy and if I would get bad news when I was on my own as Pete was only allowed to visit for an hour a day and had to book in.
“But apart from that, everything was good. Named birthing partners were allowed to come to scans so Pete was with me for those and able to be with me in labour and for five hours a day after Fraser was born. “Although there were fewer midwife appointments, the maternity team have been fantastic.” With the baby here safely, the couple say their biggest parental challenge now is finding things to fit Fraser. “He outgrew newborn size on the first day, so we need to get him some bigger clothes,” Caroline laughed.
The pandemic has heaped even more pressure on Scotland’s army of young carers, support charities fear.
The Carers Trust Scotland warns 45% of young carers and 68% of young adult carers have admitted their mental health has worsened because of the additional stress linked to lockdown.
The charity’s survey revealed 58% of 12 to 17-year-old respondents said their education was suffering while 42% of carers aged 18 to 25 felt they were “unable to take a break” from caring responsibilities, which it fears is leading to isolation.
Ruth Williams is one of the many teenagers struggling to juggle schoolwork and friendships in the midst of lockdown – but the 15-yearold has the added responsibility of helping to care for her dad.
As one of Scotland’s 29,000 young carers, Ruth helps her mum, Rachel, 47, with tasks around the house, while providing essential support for her dad, Arwel, 43, who requires the use of a wheelchair.
“It can be
difficult to juggle everything at times, especially since I’ve been doing school from home,” says Ruth, who lives with her parents and younger brother in Bathgate, West Lothian.
“If there’s not a set deadline, I’m more likely to procrastinate. Then later, when I could be doing schoolwork, I’m helping my mum around the house.
“A lot of what I do is general chores so my mum doesn’t have to do everything, as well as caring for my dad, so I feel sometimes I’m in quite a fortunate position compared to most.”
Ruth, who is part of the Carers Trust Young Carer Advisory Group, knows how hard it has been to keep in contact with friends. She says: “My dad has been shielding, so I was worried about catching the virus, especially when we went back to school. There were quite a few cases at school.” With public services under increasing pressure during the pandemic, even more people have taken on a caring role in the past year, with the number of carers in Scotland rising from an estimated 690,000 to more than 1.1 million.
Last month, local carer centres received a £750,000 funding boost from the Scottish Government, which Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said would, “ensure more unpaid carers can benefit from a much-needed break and emotional support”.
There is no reason why ministers should wait to publish the report, particularly because the entire process has been stage-managed by ministers, according to Keir Bloomer, a former director of education who was a key architect of the Curriculum for Excellence.
He said: “If you commission an outside organisation to look at and report on the operation of one of your policies it should not be set up in a way which gives you an opportunity to comment on and alter what the report says. That is less than objective.”
Dr Bloomer, chairman of the Education Committee of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, was interviewed by the OECD as part of its probe, but when he later submitted written evidence it was rejected. He added: “I was interviewed by OECD for an hour but when the Royal Society of Edinburgh put in written comments to OECD they did not accept them. We were simply told, initially by the Scottish Government on behalf of the OECD, which is slightly suspicious, that they were not in the business of receiving written submissions. “It’s difficult to avoid the conclusion that the Scottish Government has stage managed this in a way that has prevented OECD actually finding out what opinion in Scotland, especially among the education community, actually is.”