SOME of North Ayrshire’s health care staff are looking out for those who are in need this Christmas.

NHS Ayrshire & Arran’s Health Records team have been busy organising and collecting toys, food and clothes to spread some festive cheer to children and families over Christmas.

Organiser, Allyce Truesdale, a Health Records Clerk at University Hospital Crosshouse, and her colleagues, Fiona Compton and Cheryl Bruce, asked NHS staff to donate food, clothes and toys so they could be delivered to children across Ayrshire.

Allyce said: “I would like to thank all the staff who took time to donate items.

“We have had a phenomenal response to the appeal.

“The items donated will be delivered to charity organisations across Ayrshire this week, so the children and families will get them in time for Christmas.”

Child poverty in Scotland had risen even before the coronavirus pandemic, government statistics published at the beginning of the year have shown.

Figures published in March revealed that 26 per cent of children in Scotland were in poverty in 2019-20, up from 23 per cent in 2018-19 and 24 per cent in 2017-18.

Low income families across Scotland will benefit from a £160 uplift payment to be made before Christmas as part of a Scottish Government commitment to tackling child poverty.

Commenting recently on the income boost, Social Justice Secretary Shona Robison, said: “We are determined to build a better future for Scotland’s children.”