Newcastle hospitals CQC report

Newcastle Hospitals CQC report: our response

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The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has published two new reports into services at Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (NUTH) following a series of inspections in June, July and September 2023. The CQC has reduced the NUTH overall rating from ‘outstanding’ to ‘requires improvement’. Within this, the ‘caring’ domain is rated as ‘good’ and the ‘well-led’ domain is rated as ‘inadequate’.

Read the full reports.

In response to the CQC reports, Healthwatch Newcastle, Healthwatch Northumberland, Healthwatch North Tyneside and Healthwatch Gateshead have come together to make the following joint response:

We are obviously disappointed to see these findings about a provider of key services to people in Newcastle, Northumberland, North Tyneside and Gateshead. We know residents and patients will have questions and concerns too.

We are reassured that the CQC findings around caring is rated ‘good’.

We welcome the robust approach taken by the CQC and the clear expectations of NUTH set out in these reports.

We encourage NUTH to take an open, transparent and accessible approach to its work to further investigate and improve its services. This will help rebuild patients’ and residents’ confidence in NUTH.

We will be seeking assurances from NUTH’s leadership that appropriate measures are being put in place to tackle the issues identified by these reports and are encouraged by the approaches taken by NUTH’s new leadership so far.

We have encouraged NUTH to quickly involve service users, families and carers as well as staff teams in its service improvement activities and we have offered our support in doing this. We are meeting with NUTH in the next few weeks to agree how we can all work together to make things better.

If local people want to share their views now, or in the future, your local Healthwatch is here to hear your views on local health and care services. This will help ensure that any changes meet people’s needs now or in the future.

 

Please get in touch if you want to share your views.

Find contact details of other local Healthwatch.

 

 

 

 

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Health visiting services Northumberland

Experiences of health visiting services

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What is your experience of health visiting services?

All families expecting a baby or with children aged 0-5 years are offered a universal health visiting service. In Northumberland this is delivered by Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust (HDFT)

We want to hear about your experiences of using the health visiting service. This will only take around 10-15 minutes of your time.

In this survey, we’ll ask you about your experiences including what has worked well and what has not worked so well. We will use your feedback to report to the NHS anonymously on what is working and help identify how to improve care for parents and carers. Everything you tell us will be stored securely and we won’t identify you in our report.

Tell us about your experiences of health visiting services

Closes Sunday 18 February 2024.

For more information about maternity and parenting services and support in Northumberland visit our Maternity and Parenting webpage or get in touch.

Berwick veterans warm hub

Berwick Veterans’ Warm Hub

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The Veterans’ Warm Hub meets on the last Wednesday of every month at the Berwick Voluntary Centre. This free session is open to ex-British Forces to enjoy a warm drink in a relaxed atmosphere and meet other veterans. The Warm Hub can also signpost to other organisations for support and there is free WIFI access available.

The Veterans’ Warm Hub meets on the last Wednesday of the month, with the next one on Wednesday 31 January 2024,10am-12pm at the Berwick Voluntary Centre, Tweed Street. To find out more contact North Northumberland Voluntary Forum by email: bvforum@hotmail.co.uk or call: 01289 304 141.

Vision Northumberland drop-in Cafe @ Burn Lane

Vision Northumberland drop-in event

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Cafe @ Burn Lane, Hexham

Wednesday 31 January 2024 10am – 12pm

  • Do you need the TV volume turned up high?
  • Can you no longer read your favourite book?
  • Are you missing parts of conversations?
  • Unable to read labels when you go shopping?

Call in to meet the Vision Northumberland team at this free drop-in, and and see how they can assist you with your vision and hearing loss. Find out more about the equipment, support and activities on offer to people living in Northumberland. For more details call Vision Northumberland on 01670 514316.

Online event - British Liver Trust

Online event – British Liver Trust

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Online event – British Liver Trust

Join us for our next free lunchtime event where we will hear from Louise Parker from the British Liver Trust.

Louise will talk to us about the UK liver disease crisis and why we need to raise awareness. She will also talk about the three preventable risk factors, tips on how to ‘Love your Liver’ and information about the free support available for anyone affected by a liver condition.

This event has now passed

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Care homes forum Northumberland

Care homes forum

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Care homes forum Northumberland

Tuesday 20 February, 10am – 11am via Zoom

If you have a relative living in a care home or have used respite care, join our forum to meet others with similar experiences. Whether you would like to share your own experiences or just listen to others for information and support, this small informal group is open to relatives and professionals.

To register for a space or give feedback outside the forum please email: info@healthwatchnorthumberland.co.uk or call us on 03332 408468.

See what we discussed at previous care home forums

December 2023 feedback

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Health and social care feedback Northumberland December 2023

This month we received an equal number of positive and negative comments about the quality of GP services. Where people had a less happy experience, this was mainly difficulty getting an appointment or about poor service. People are still finding it very difficult to get an appointment with an NHS dentist, including having to travel outside of the area.

What did we get up to?

We attended our usual Here to Hear drop-in sessions and also a one-off session at Cramlington Hub. As part of our work on health visiting services, we went to Wentworth Leisure Centre to speak to parents and carers about their experiences. We also attended Northumberland County Council’s Family Hubs sessions in Alnwick, Blyth, Berwick and Hadston as part of this work.

The online session in December was from the NECA team who spoke about gambling awareness and support in the region.

Our new cost of living information booklet was distributed to organisations, venues and groups across the county. The booklet is a free resource which we have produced as part of our Signposting and Information Service.

Find out more in our December 2023 feedback report.

We’re recruiting for board members!

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We’re looking for board members to help steer the direction of our work. We need people from all of our communities and with different skills and experiences to join our board.

Are you:

  • Aware of current health and social care issues, particularly for people with mental ill health, learning disabilities or people who aren’t being listened to?
  • Good at communicating and listening to people from a wide range of backgrounds and with different experiences?
  • Able to use evidence from service users and research to make impartial, practical judgements?
  • Experienced in setting goals and able to monitor how Healthwatch Northumberland achieves its goals?
  • Experienced in working effectively in a collective decision-making group, board or committee?
  • Committed to working in an impartial and independent way to achieve improvements in health and social care services for service users, carers and the public?

Not everyone will have all the knowledge or experiences listed here, so the board operates as a team, blending together what individuals bring.

Board member positions are voluntary and unpaid and reasonable travel expenses are paid. The board meets four times a year.

Would you like to know more? Read our board member information pack.

How do I apply and what happens then?

Please complete the application form using the Person Specification to tell us about you and why you want to join us. We will use this to decide who to offer an interview.

All applications must be received by 9am on 7 February 2024.

Please note that we may close submissions earlier than this date if we receive a large number of applications.

If a written application is not appropriate for you, an interview-only assessment may be carried out. Please contact Derry Nugent at derryn@healthwatchnorthumberland.co.uk

Invitations to interview will be emailed to shortlisted candidates. The interviews will be held during February/March 2024.

Board member information pack

Board member information pack easy read

This vacancy is now closed.

Online event - Coping with Cancer

Online event – Time to talk about cancer

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Friday 16 February 2024, 1pm – 2pm

Join us to hear from Maggie Bailey from Coping with Cancer North East who will talk about some of the myths around cancer.

She will also provide information on the care and support available in Northumberland through Coping with Cancer and other services.

There will be a chance to ask questions after the presentation.

This session is suitable for anyone who would like to know more about cancer and the support available, both professionals and members of the public.

This event has now passed.

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