Shine a light on coeliac

Shine a light on coeliac

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Monday 10 May 2021 sees the start of Coeliac Awareness Week, led by Coeliac UK, with the message ‘#ShineALightOnCoeliac’.

As part of this, our Engagement Officer Helen Brown, shares her experiences of Coeliac disease, since being recently diagnosed with the condition.

Helen says “I was diagnosed with coeliac disease only a few months before the start of the Covid-19 pandemic after several months of suffering gastro-intestinal symptoms. This year I am writing about my experience to play a part in raising awareness of the condition, as Coeliac UK estimates that around half a million people in the UK are living with undiagnosed coeliac disease.

“Coeliac disease is a condition where the body’s immune system attacks its own tissues when you eat gluten. This causes damage to the lining of the gut and means the body cannot properly absorb nutrients. Coeliac UK estimates that it takes an average of 13 years for diagnosis as symptoms are so wide-ranging and are similar to other conditions such as IBS. I count myself lucky that my GP was proactive in requesting blood tests; I know the outcome for others is not as positive.

“After diagnosis I was told the only treatment for the disease is to adhere to a life-long gluten free diet, but I did not realise exactly what this entailed. It is not just a case that ‘you can’t eat bread or cakes’ as a friend so delicately put it. As well as substituting breads, flours, pasta and sweet treats for gluten free counterparts (many of which do not taste that great!) gluten is an unexpected ingredient in so many foods from sauces to soups to crisps and chocolate. There is also the worry of cross-contamination when preparing food including a need for separate butters and toasters at home.

“These things, alongside the reduced enjoyment of eating out/getting takeaways – no longer having the ability to be spontaneous when choosing venues, having substandard/limited food choices, feeling anxious about possible cross-contamination, or having to explain your condition to restaurant staff you have never met – made the first several months after my diagnosis quite an unhappy time.

“As time has gone on and my symptoms have improved, managing my condition has got easier. My gastroenterologist and dietician have been great and lockdown in some ways has helped as we have had significantly more time to experiment with cooking and baking gluten free recipes at home and the choice to eat out has been vastly reduced.”

Ceoliac UK’s #ShineALightOnCoeliac campaign this year recognises the issues Helen talks about. The chance to get together with family and friends makes summer seem brighter but for many people with coeliac disease, particularly children and young people, trusting others to provide gluten free food can cause feelings of worry and exclusion.

Further information on the campaign can be found at CoeliacUK. Alongside activities and awareness raising there’s also lots of support and information for the gluten free community and an online tool to encourage diagnosis.

If you have coeliac disease and would like to share your experience of healthcare services in the diagnosis and management of your condition, please get in touch.

 

Vaccination Centre for Hexham

Vaccination Centre for Hexham

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A seventh large vaccination centre for the region will open at Hexham Mart on Thursday 13 May 2021.

Take-up of the Covid-19 vaccine has been exceptionally strong – 19 out of 20 people aged 50 and over have already chosen to take up the offer, and the number of people from ethnic minority backgrounds coming forward has more than tripled over the last two months.

Now the programme has moved to Priority Group 10, the NHS is asking those aged 40 and over to come forward for their vaccine.

The seventh large vaccination centre for the region in Hexham joins the six large vaccination centres which are at Newcastle’s Centre for Life, the NHS Nightingale Hospital North East, Sunderland, the Arnison Centre, Durham, Darlington Arena, The Riverside Stadium at Middlesbrough and the Auction Mart at Penrith.

These large centres operate in conjunction with local vaccination services run by groups of GPs working together in Primary Care Networks PCNs) and services offered by some community pharmacies.

The Hexham vaccination centre will be called ‘Hexham Mart Vaccination Centre’ and is based at Hexham Mart, Tyne Green, Hexham, Northumberland NE46 3SG.  People are invited to attend large vaccination centres and community pharmacy locations by the National Booking Service which is run by NHS England. Patients are being asked not to contact their GP.

The staffing and volunteers for the centre are in place, ready to see up to 800 people a day, vaccine supply permitting.

The decision to open a large new vaccination centre in Hexham was made in conjunction with local NHS partners so that the West Northumberland PCN, which has delivered over 60,000 vaccinations so far, could return to providing core GP services for local patients including those whose needs may not have been met so far during the pandemic.

West Northumberland PCN will continue to deliver vaccinations for their most vulnerable patients in Priority Groups 1-9, including over 27,000 second doses still to be given to those patients.

The Hexham Mart Vaccination Centre will provide a local option for residents of West Northumberland eligible for a first dose (those aged 18-49 years) alongside several community pharmacy sites which will be available to book via the National Booking Service.

Eligible people receive a letter or text message and are invited to book either online or by calling 119 free of charge between 7am and 11pm – only people invited to book can do so.

There are currently five community pharmacy sites across Northumberland with more sites being added to the National Booking Service across the region so people in Northumberland can access different locations.

The National Booking Service will now show appointments for Hexham Mart and community pharmacies, but not for appointments that are offered by existing vaccination services run by GPs in primary care networks.

NHS Northumberland CCG has also commissioned a Roving Vaccination Service which will continue to target patients across the county’s most rural and isolated communities. This range of services will help to ensure that anybody who wants to receive a vaccine can do so and that nobody is left behind by the programme.

While vaccine supply can be ‘bumpy’, people should not be worried. There is enough vaccine supply to make sure that everyone who wants to have a vaccination can do so.

Professor Neil Watson, Chief Operating Officer for the NHS Covid Vaccination Programme for the North East and North Cumbria, said “The NHS continues to deliver, with over 2.2 million vaccines having been given in our region alone, which is a phenomenal amount and something to be very proud of.”

I’d like to thank our fantastic teams who remain focussed on delivering excellent care and our patients who keep coming forward in large numbers to make sure they are vaccinated and protected from this awful virus.”

This seventh large vaccination centre for the region allows us to carry on this great work with the over 40-year-old age group, so we can get back to a sense of normality as quickly as we can.”

Rachel Mitcheson, Service Director Transformation and Integrated Care, NHS Northumberland Clinical Commissioning Group said “West Northumberland Primary Care Network has done a phenomenal job and we thank everyone who has been involved in this exceptional effort.”

“It’s right that primary care in the west of the county focus on recovery of local primary care health services impacted as a result of the pandemic, including continuing to deliver second doses to priority groups 1-9.”

Latest Covid-19 Information

Mental Health Awareness Week 2021

Mental Health Awareness Week 2021

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Mental Health Awareness Week runs from 10-16 May and this year’s theme is ‘Nature’.

There are two main aims of this week. Firstly, to inspire more people to connect with nature, noticing the impact that this connection can have on our mental health. Secondly, to convince decision makers at all levels that access to and quality of nature is a mental health and social justice issue as well as an environmental one.

Read more about Mental Health Awareness Week 2021

If you would like some inspiration of where you can enjoy nature in Northumberland take a look at the links below:

Northumberland Country Parks and Visitor Centres

Northumberland National Park

If you are looking for support with your mental health we have a dedicated page on our website to point you in the right direction of local mental health services, useful information, self-help leaflets and apps – find mental health support.

Parent Workshops

Parent Workshops

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Online Parenting Workshops from Escape Family Support

Escape Family Support is running some parenting workshops, for parents with children between the ages of 9 -18 years of age. All workshops take place on Fridays between 10am and 12pm.

If you are interested in attending or would like further information, contact Angie Turnbull on 07812983611 or email: angie.turnbull@escapefamilysupport.org.uk. Please book as soon as possible as places are limited. If you need support to get online to access the workshop the team can help.

Workshops

14th May 2021 – Understanding why my child misbehaves
• Understand children’s behavior
• Discuss and list the needs we all have
• Identify the needs a child is trying to meet with a certain behavior
• Distinguish what is acceptable/unacceptable behavior
• Practice challenging unacceptable behavior, paying attention to feelings and underlying needs

21st May 2021 – Promoting positive behaviour
• Understanding influences on children’s behaviour
• To gain knowledge of positive parenting
• Encouraging and developing skills in our children
Setting goals for change

28th May 2021 – Managing misbehaviour
• Learning new strategies to promote positive parenting
• Using a behaviour chart/contract
• Gain knowledge of strategies to manage misbehaviour
• Understand the purpose of challenging difficult behaviour

4th June 2021 – Sibling rivalry
• To look at parent’s relationship with their siblings when they were children
• To discuss what causes conflict with their children
• To understand the impact this has on the family
• To work together for a way forward

11th June 2021 – Creating confident children
• To gain an understanding of self esteem
• To discuss low self-esteem and high self-esteem
• To gain an understanding of low and high self-esteem
• To look at how parenting has changed over the past twenty years

18th June 2021 – Setting boundaries
• To explore why we need boundaries for our children/teenagers
• To encourage parents to look at boundaries they had as a child
• To look at setting boundaries at different ages
• To discuss children/teenagers need rules to be safe

25th June 2021 – Parenting a teenager
• To reflect over parents’ teenage years
• To understand how it has changed for our teenagers today
• To understand changes from a child to a teenager
• To gain an understanding of where to go for support for parents and teenagers

Visit our Children and Young People’s Health Information Page

Singing for the Brain

Singing for the Brain

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Alzheimer’s Society Northumberland is running virtual singing sessions for people in the early to moderate stages of dementia and their carers.

Singing for the Brain sessions use singing to bring people with dementia together in a friendly and stimulating activity using Zoom to connect with others. The activity has moved online due to the current pandemic.

Singing for the Brain is based around the principles of music therapy and singing. In between songs the group chats and reminisce about the songs and what they meant to them. The sessions are run by experienced leaders and volunteers along with the support of a member of staff.

The sessions are open to all Northumberland residents and take place online via Zoom on the first and third Wednesday of every month from 2.00pm to 3.00pm.

Upcoming dates

  • 5 May
  • 19 May
  • 2 June
  • 16 June
  • 7 July
  • 21 July

If you would like to attend, email: northumberland@alzheimers.org.uk or call: 01670 813 255 for the Zoom link and joining instructions.

Home care services project

Home care services project

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Home care services in Northumberland – help people to share their experience

We are looking for someone to carry out a focused project which will gather the experiences of people who receive paid for home care services in the county. The document below sets out the rationale and application process for those interested in carrying out this work.

The project fee is £5,000 and the deadline for applications is 17 May 2021. The work is to be carried out from mid-June to September 2021.

For an informal pre application discussion please contact Derry Nugent, Project Coordinator Healthwatch Northumberland, email: derryn@healthwatchnorthumberland.co.uk or call: 07590 880016.

Contract purpose and focus

In 2018/19 Healthwatch Northumberland worked with Carers Northumberland to gather the experiences of people using home care services and that of their family carers. It was led by a group of family carers in the Coquet Valley where, at the time, there were major challenges in providing home care services. Northumberland County Council Adult Social Care managers welcomed the final report and they said they would be interested to hear from people in other areas of the county. This project will gather those experiences.

The pandemic has given further reason to revisit the study. A recent national report by the National Institute for Health Research highlighted that people receiving paid for care and people who were providing unpaid care (carers) were having to make decisions about continuing with paid for care and using other services during the pandemic based on the risks involved in different people entering their homes and
lack of PPE.

Respondents to the Carers Northumberland Annual Survey also reported a reduction in home care and enabling services during the pandemic. Overall we want to know what has worked well and people would like to see happen to services in the future.

Full details: Understanding the experience of people using Home Care Services in Northumberland Project

 

 

Care home visits: public forum

Care home visits: public forum

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At our previous forums we have heard how visiting restrictions in care homes have affected people living there and their relatives. We have also heard about other ways people have been keeping in touch during Covid-19 and experiences of the changes to allow one or two designated visitors for in-person visits. We have also heard from representatives at Public Health and Northumberland County Council on the visiting guidance for care homes.

At our next forum on Friday 4 June at 10.30am we’d like to hear about your experiences now we are two months into the changes in visiting policy. We would also like to hear your feedback on preparing for you and your loved ones to have visits outside of the care home.

We will also be sharing the results of our recent online surveys for care home staff and relatives/friends of those living in care homes and looking at the next steps for this feedback moving forward.

If you would like to register for the event please contact Helen Brown at: helenb@healthwatchnorthumberland.co.uk or call us on 03332 408468.

If you cannot come along but have a question you would like an answer to, send it to us and we will ask it for you.

More on care home visiting guidance

New Support Group for Berwick

New Support Group for Berwick

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Without Limits began following a conversation between Janey Dixon, a registered paramedic and Lorna Chappell, a Link Worker. Having suffered two strokes Janey found that she could no longer work on the frontline and overnight life as she knew it was over. She was 52. What followed could only be understood by someone who has suffered a similar experience. In a thousand ways, life was harder and the reality of her situation and the process of adjustment took its toll on Janey. What shocked her the most perhaps, was the realisation that there was absolutely no provision, once the six weeks of support had ended, for people like her who had been through a catastrophic health event while still of working age.

In partnership with the GP Link Workers, RuralUs and the North Northumberland Voluntary Forum and with funding from the National Lottery Community Fund, Without Limits is ready to welcome new members. Based in Berwick but open to everyone from all over North Northumberland, and with the focus firmly on living life to its fullest, this new support group is open to 35-65 year olds following a life altering health event or diagnosis. There will be opportunities to link up via Zoom and chat on the phones initially. As soon as restrictions allow, the group will all be able to get together and enjoy walks, regular guest speakers, trips out for meals, social gatherings, music events and theatre nights, all chosen and planned by the members themselves. The group is also looking for volunteers who have experience of living with a life altering illness either through supporting others or personally.

If you or anyone you know may benefit from being part of Without Limits or would like more information call 0787 918 4693, email  janey.dixon.withoutlimits@gmail.com or visit the Facebook page.

 

Find details of other support groups and services across the region

Covid-19 vaccination pop-up pilot launched in Northumberland

Covid-19 vaccination pop-up pilot launched in Northumberland

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People in Northumberland are soon to benefit from new pop-up Covid-19 vaccination clinics.

As part of its commitment to reducing health inequalities in the county, NHS Northumberland Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has been working with the Cramlington Seaton Valley Primary Care Network (PCN) to set up a Roving Vaccination Service. This will see vaccines safely transported to people in the most rural parts of Northumberland as well as minority groups including Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities, those affected by homelessness and residents from a BAME background.

A transit van has been specifically modified and customised to help ensure that residents in remote communities and hard to reach groups are not left behind in the vaccination programme.

Already more than 200,000 doses of the vaccine have been administered to Northumberland residents and, thanks to the CCG’s partnership working with the PCN and Northumberland Fire and Rescue, another 100 received their first dose of the vaccine at the pop-up clinic at Bellingham Fire Station in Hexham on Thursday 15 April.

The vaccination team will be led by a team of healthcare staff from the Village Surgery in Cramlington, which includes a community paramedic, two practice nurses and a healthcare assistant. They will be supported by an admin team from the same practice, who will provide a vital support service to this clinic as they have done so far within the local vaccine sites.

Vaccinating from the pop-up clinic is Paula Jamieson, senior practice nurse from the Village Surgery in Cramlington. Paula said, “This new service provides people who live out in our most rural communities in Northumberland, who may find it difficult to travel to a large vaccination centre or their more local vaccination site, more choice as to where they can get vaccinated.

“Northumberland has a really unique geography with a diverse and disparate population and we’ve worked in collaboration with lots of different organisations to find the best and most practicable solutions to roll out Covid-19 vaccines. Piloting our pop-up vaccination service demonstrates this and also shows our commitment to ensuring as many people in Northumberland as possible are protected from Covid-19.”

Richard Hay, Head of Planning and Operations at the CCG said, “We have never seen a vaccination programme on this scale before and our teams in primary care have been working flat out to get the vaccine into as many people’s arms as possible whilst following the national roll-out guidance from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JVCI) and have done a phenomenal job so far.

“We understand the uniqueness of Northumberland and we’ve had to overcome some big challenges with this roll-out. For example, the distance people have been expected to travel to attend a large vaccination centre.

“The introduction of the Roving Vaccination Service will make sure no-one is left behind. It’s a fantastic example of our local GPs working in collaboration across the county to deliver innovative services for the benefit of residents.”

Residents are being reminded not to contact their GP practice to seek a vaccination appointment from their practice or the Roving Vaccination Service. Practices will contact people when it is the right time – no one will be missed. People are also being reminded not to turn up too early for their appointments.

Find out more about the Covid-19 vaccination programme here

Getting out and about

Getting out and about

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We’re making plans to get back out in local communities as soon as it is safe to do so this summer. Our role as independent champion for people who use NHS and social care services involves listening to people from all over the county about their views and experiences of using services such as GPs, dentists, hospitals, mental health services, care homes, pharmacies and NHS 111.

We have done this in lots of ways during the pandemic but speaking directly to people in communities across Northumberland is a big part of what we do. We are now planning how we can get back on the road when government guidelines allow.

Can you tell us how you would feel about us coming along to a venue near you – outside – by answering a few questions? Your feedback will help us make decisions about we work this summer. Thank you.

 

 

Getting back on the road

Part of our role here at Healthwatch Northumberland is getting out and about to communities across the county, to hear people's views and experiences of using NHS and social care services.

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