Student Volunteering Week 2022

Student Volunteering Week 2022

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Student Volunteering Week 2022 takes place this February. It celebrates the benefits volunteering can bring, including improving student wellbeing, developing employment prospects and the chance to contribute to community life.

The past year has seen our wonderful student volunteers rise to the challenge of the pandemic by being flexible in their approach and generous with their knowledge on virtual platforms. They helped us to develop new techniques for engaging with young people online, came up with the idea for sharing our favourite local walks #HWNlandWalks on Instagram, made wellbeing calls on behalf of Northumberland County Blind Association and promoted our work to other young people.

Two of our student volunteers have now moved on to university, and we are delighted to have welcomed three more student volunteers to our growing team.

We asked some of our student volunteers to tell us why they volunteer with us and what the experience has meant to them.

Communication Support Volunteer Molly who joined the team recently says “I decided to volunteer as it’s a great opportunity to meet new people and to gain that sense of accomplishment when you help others. I feel like now being a volunteer with Healthwatch Northumberland I can give something back to my community. I would recommend volunteering to other students as it has enabled me to step outside of my comfort zone and I’ve already gained more self-confidence.”

Leah joined us in 2019 and she told us “I have thoroughly enjoyed volunteering for Healthwatch Northumberland over the past couple of years. Most of my time here has been in lockdown, meaning I haven’t been able to be in the office or help with some of the things I would have normally. However, this has meant that I have had the opportunity to engage in activities and help out with things I wouldn’t have otherwise, such as carrying out welfare calls on behalf of Northumberland County Blind Association, or helping with social media and running quizzes on the Instagram page. I would definitely recommend volunteering to anyone considering it. It has been so rewarding for me over the last couple of years; I learnt about so many organisations that I had no idea about, and have met some amazing people.”

Volunteer Jess is going to work with as a Community Engagement Volunteer. She says “I recommend volunteering with Healthwatch Northumberland to experience a working environment that isn’t school related, to help you be that little better.”

We say a big thank you to all of our volunteers for their help and support over the last 12 months.

Find out more about how you could get involved at our Volunteering Page.

Blyth Women's Centre

Spotlight on…Anxious Minds

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As part of our information and signposting service, we’re shining a spotlight on organisations offering all kinds of support to people in Northumberland.

Anxious Minds is a charity which provides mental health support to people across the North East. Services on offer include support for children and adults, support for veterans and their families, women-only support, addiction support, help into employment or training, outdoor therapy and suicide prevention.

Their Blyth Women’s Centre (The Liberty Centre) is there to support local women and girls and empower them to achieve their full potential. The Centre provides a wide range of services to help women to overcome the challenges they are facing. This could be domestic abuse, the need to develop new skills, lack of self-esteem or self-confidence and isolation.

There are free support groups on offer for anxiety, grief and loss, drop-in friendship groups, SMART Recovery (for addiction) and arts & crafts.

Watch this short video about Blyth Women’s Centre.

To find out more email: blythwomen@anxiousminds.co.uk or call: 01670 946 188.

More information about all Anxious Minds services can be found at their website.

GP services in Northumberland

Tell us about using GP Services

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We are helping the NHS in our area to find out more about your experiences of using GP services in Northumberland. We’d like to know which healthcare professional at your GP practice you prefer to see, how quickly you would like to be seen and how far you would be willing to travel for an appointment.

We’d also like to know if weekend and evening appointments are useful to you and if you prefer a telephone or video consultation or a face to face appointment with your GP, nurse or other healthcare professional at your surgery.

Your views are really important as they will be used in decisions about any future changes to the way people access GP services in Northumberland.

You can , over the phone by calling 03332 408468 or texting 07413 385275 for a callback, or ask us for a postal copy with freepost return.

There is the chance to enter a prize draw to win a £100, £50 or £25 High Street voucher as a thank you for sharing your thoughts. Please leave your views or send any paper copies back to us by Friday 25 February 2022.

This piece of work has now finished.

To keep up to date with all of our work and how you can get involved, sign up to our monthly newsletter.

Because We All Care

‘Because We All Care’ – tell us what you think about services

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Healthwatch England has launched #BecauseWeAllCare with the Care Quality Commission to help improve care by encouraging everyone to share their experiences of health and social care services.

Public feedback helps spot what is working well and what could be better. With services working to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and deal with a backlog of care, people’s views have never been more important.

New research from the Care Quality Commission highlights the impact lockdown measures have had on the wellbeing of people who use care services:

  • Nearly three-quarters of carers (73%) say that the COVID-19 lockdown restrictions have impacted on the mental health of the person they care for.
  • Over half (56%) of carers say that the COVID-19 lockdown restrictions have impacted on the dignity and independence of the person they care for.

The research also found that throughout the pandemic, care was most commonly impacted by:

  • Increased waiting times for appointments and procedures (49%)
  • A lack of resources and equipment (24%)

With just 17% of people in England expecting services to improve in the next 12 months, we are calling for you to feedback on the services you use as a crucial way to improve their quality.

Sir Robert Francis QC, Chair of Healthwatch England, said:

“Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, public feedback has played an important part in helping the NHS and social care services spot and respond to issues caused by the virus.

“As we continue to live with the pandemic, the NHS continues to face huge pressures across the whole system. NHS staff are grappling with many difficulties, including increased COVID demands, while trying to tackle the backlog in elective care and diagnostics that the pandemic had made so much worse.

“It is important that this is managed as well as possible, to make sure that the risks and distress to patients are minimised. That’s why it is vital people have the opportunity to share their views and experiences of care whether they have needed treatment for COVID-19 or other illnesses. Their feedback will help services understand both key national and local issues and the steps they can take to serve patients better.”

So, if you’ve recently used a GP, dentist, hospital or other care service, let us know your experience and help improve care for everyone.

Share your story

Rothbury home care

New scheme for NHS care in Rothbury

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Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is developing a new flexible care service for patients in Rothbury that will see community treatment, NHS beds and much needed residential care for people in the area.

The trust has created a new strategic partnership with a third-party care provider People First Care which will allow the NHS to deliver a flexible number of beds to meet the needs of patients in Rothbury, while continuing to provide extra support for people’s health and care needs in their own home.

As part of the scheme Northumbria will commit to taking NHS beds within this facility – with numbers moving up and down flexibly to meet patient needs – which aligns with initial work in other parts of Northumberland and North Tyneside.

Under the plans People First Care will operate a 12-15 bed unit for people needing respite care, rehabilitation services, longer-term recuperation or end of life care. This facility will be supported by a wider team of district nurses, GPs and nurse practitioners.

Northumbria Chief Executive Sir James Mackey said “This is a really exciting development and I’m pleased that we’re able to announce these plans after so much hard work. The last two years have been incredibly challenging for all health and care services but it’s very rewarding to see the end result.

“The trust has been working incredibly hard to develop our ambition for hospital care in Rothbury but like every organisation in the health and care sector our focus for the past two years has been on managing the covid19 pandemic. While much work has already been done this has disrupted some of our planning but also taught us valuable lessons on the flexibility we need to cope with future challenges.

“We believe this model not only delivers the right level of NHS care, but also adds much-needed additional residential care home beds for the community. We’re confident that this unique and innovative approach can be a real success in Rothbury and we are committed to making it work.

“We know that much more NHS care should be delivered to people in their own homes where they are most comfortable and better able to recover. In the covid-era we’re also aware of the benefits of reducing the risks of spreading infections and creating unnecessary contacts for vulnerable, older patients.

“Our priority at all times has been to offer the best care to everyone in the area and it’s increasingly apparent that a flexible approach to beds, staffing and patient care is the best solution.

“Our focus is not on the number of hospital beds but how best to deliver care effectively and safely in community settings. The Trust already has a very strong community team supporting people right across the county.”

Cllr Steven Bridgett, County Councillor for Rothbury says “We have been waiting for a sustainable health and care bed solution for Rothbury for some years and I am pleased that the model outlined to me today is progressing with a view that this will be opened in the Spring.

“I have been in regular contact with the Trust and feel that they have listened to the concerns of the residents of Rothbury & Coquetdale and developed a solution that not only deals with the need for flexible healthcare beds but also adds to this a wider care solution that has been missing from this community for some years. Our focus is now on delivering this.”

Katie Scott, Coordinator of the Save Rothbury Community Hospital Campaign Team, said “Since the closure of the ward, we have fought for an integrated facility with GP surgery, step-up, step-down, end-of-life, and respite beds. In April 2017 we produced our ‘Coquetdale Cares – the Community’s Vision’. We have worked tirelessly to keep the health needs of our community in the minds of the NHS. The proposal that we have seen today looks like it is our vision, but with ‘a cherry on the top’!

“The team are delighted that residential care is at last coming to our community. We welcome the proposal and hope that the new facilities will be available very soon. We would also like to thank the community for the continuing dialogue, which has enabled us to report regularly to the NHS on real suffering and real need. Our only regret is that so many people, including Maurice Cole, a key member of the Campaign Team, did not live to benefit from the proposed new facilities at Rothbury Community Hospital.”

It is hoped the new model will be up and running by spring/summer 2022 and Northumbria will work with Northumberland Clinical Commissioning Group to finalise the proposal as soon as possible to ensure there is minimal delay in getting the service up and running.

Care home visiting

Care home forum

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We are holding another public online forum via Zoom for anyone who would like to share their recent experiences of visiting loved ones in care homes.

The forum will take place on Monday 7 February, from 10am to 11.30am.

At our previous forums we have heard how visiting restrictions in care homes have affected people living there and their relatives, people’s experiences of other ways of keeping in touch during Covid-19 and discussed things ‘we wish we had known’ when our loved ones moved into care homes to help us produce some future guidance to support others going through similar experiences.

Those who attended the previous forums said that it helped to give them a voice and it was helpful to meet with other people in a similar situation. It was agreed that the group would continue to meet once every three months to discuss any issues or concerns. The minutes from the last meeting can be found below.

Minutes from care home forum – 8 November 2021

We would like to hear from you about your recent experiences of visiting your loved ones in care homes in Northumberland, how you have kept in touch during any Covid-19 outbreaks and your experiences of visiting as an ‘essential care giver’.

We would also like to explore further ideas to shape our guidance to support others whose loved ones may be moving or have recently moved to a care home.

If you would like to register for our forum please contact Helen Brown by email: helenb@healthwatchnorthumberland.co.uk or call us on 03332 408468 (option 3). Once registered, we will send you the Zoom link before the event.

If you can’t make the forum but would like to tell us your story, or would rather speak to one of our team in confidence please get in touch.

Dentistry

Dentistry myth busting

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Healthwatch teams across the North East have seen a significant increase in concerns around patients getting to see their local dentist. This is also a big problem across the rest of the country.

These concerns have been made worse by some common myths and misunderstandings around how dentist practices work. Here, we take a look at some of those myths.

1. ‘Registering’ at a practice

‘I saw my dentist a few years ago and now they say they can’t see me on the NHS. Aren’t I registered?’

Dental practices are set up within the NHS in a completely different way to GP practices so there is no formal patient registration within dentistry.

A patient is only ‘registered’ with a practice while undergoing treatment. So, you are free to approach any NHS dentist for treatment at any time.

2. They only want to work with private patients

‘My dentist said they could not see me on the NHS but offered me a private consultation.’

There is no formal patient registration within dentistry – NHS dental practices are commissioned to deliver a number of Units of Dental Activity (UDA) which they spread out over the year.

The number of UDAs used per day will depend on the treatment needs of the patients who contact the practice, for example, simple treatments like fillings and extractions equate to 3 UDAs, more complex treatment like crowns and bridges: 12 UDAs.

Whilst NHS provision must be available across the practice’s contracted opening hours, demand for NHS treatment may be so great that on any given day, depending on demand and the treatment needs of the patients who contact them, they could have used up all their NHS appointments when a patient rings.

They may, therefore, offer a private option to patients as an alternative, as they will have separate NHS and private appointment books, with separate clinical staff time allocated accordingly.

In line with national guidance all dental practices are required to prioritise patients based on clinical need and urgency into their available NHS appointments – this is called Triage. It is therefore important when you contact the practice that you fully explain the nature of your dental problem so that a clinical assessment can be undertaken to determine how quickly you need to be seen.

3. They are not doing routine work such as check-ups or scale and polish on the NHS

‘It’s impossible to get a routine check-up despite the fact I’ve not had one for over a year.’

All practices are currently working to national standard operating procedures which means that they have to prioritise patients based on clinical need and urgency. Therefore, their ability to take on patients for routine treatment such as check-ups is likely to be limited with the reduced capacity they are able to deliver, because of infection prevention control guidance.

However, if you have healthy teeth and gums, a routine check-up may not be needed for up to two years between appointments.

4. They are not doing emergency appointments.

‘I broke my tooth, but my dentist wouldn’t take me as an emergency appointment to fix it.’

Lost fillings, crowns or bridges, broken teeth or braces are not usually deemed to be clinically urgent, which means you may need to wait a little longer for an appointment.

Access to NHS urgent dental appointments is based on an individual clinical assessment of need. It is therefore important that you fully explain the nature of your dental problem to the practice or NHS 111 when you call, so they can correctly triage you.

 

Download the Dentistry Myth Busters PDF

If you have any further concerns about a dental service in your area, please visit the dental section of the NHS website where you can find further advice and an official complaints procedure.

Northumberland Advice Survey

Have your say on advice services

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The Public Health Team at Northumberland County Council is interested to know what the people of Northumberland want and need from advice services. It wants to understand what is working well and what needs to change in its Northumberland Advice Survey.
What are advice services?
In Northumberland there are a number of different charities and organisations that give advice to residents. The survey is interested in advice given about Benefits (eligibility, claims, sanctions and appeals) and Debt Management, plus a range of other areas including: welfare, work, housing, family, law and courts, immigration, healthcare, consumer rights, pension guidance and witness support.
Why is the council doing this survey?
Good advice matters, but what people need and the way that they access it may vary.
The Public Health Team want to know what you think is important, so that future services are what you want andwill use. They are interested in your views even if you have never used advice services. This information will be used by the Public Health Team in Northumberland County Council to try and ensure that they are meeting the needs of all residents.
Leave your thoughts and experiences of finding advice – including our signposting and information service here at Healthwatch Northumberland – by the end of January and help shape local services

Help develop NHS Northumbria website

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Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is redeveloping its website and would like to invite you to get involved and offer your feedback.

An ‘end user focus group’ is being held at 11.00am on 11 January via Teams, so you can dial in from the comfort of your own home.

The session will be led by the website developers and the discussion will be based around designs and navigation, to gain a better understanding of user experience and how information should be prioritised.

If you are interested in taking part please contact laura.keen2@northumbria-healthcare.nhs.uk.

CNTW autism

Is CNTW NHS Trust Autistic Friendly?

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Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust provides a range of mental health, learning disability and neurological care services across the north of England.

The Trust wants to know if it is an autistic friendly organisation.

A questionnaire has been developed by staff and service users with the help of autistic people.

This questionnaire let’s you to give their thoughts as to whether the Trust is an autistic friendly organisation and what you think works well or what could be better.

Anyone can complete the questionnaire.

Please leave your views by 31 December 2021.

If you would like help to complete the questionnaire, please contact the Patient and Carer Involvement Service at:
Involvement@cntw.nhs.uk.

 

Tell us your experience of any NHS or social care service you have used recently