Healthwatch Northumberland feedback report February 2024

What you told us February 2024

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Health and social care feedback Northumberland February 2024

In February there were three main areas of concern, with roughly equal amounts of feedback about difficulty getting an appointment with a GP or a dentist, and the distance to travel and lengthy waiting lists to be seen at hospitals.

There were also a good proportion of positive comments about the good standards of care received from GPs and hospitals.

What did we get up to?

In addition to our usual Here to Hear sessions, we did a number of one-off sessions across the county.Some of these were to support our health visiting services project and we heard from parents and carers at Bellingham Family Hub and Haltwhistle Hub. Other sessions were an opportunity for us to join existing events, such as the CarersNorthumberland group meeting, the Thriving Together network event in Berwick and the Longhoughton Health and Wellbeing event.

We also were commissioned to hear from the residents of Coquetdale about potential changes to primary care services including the use of a mobile health unit.

We held two online sessions this month, from the British Liver Trust and Coping with Cancer. The Coping with Cancer talk was rescheduled from January when we experienced technical issues. The cancer event was very well attended, with more guests than had signed up for the original session.

Find out more in our February 2024 feedback report

 

Debra Carers Northumberland

Caring for carers: Debra’s story

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Debra Blakey is the Chief Executive Officer of Carers Northumberland and one of our organisational board members. Debra has been on the board for six years, providing invaluable experience and insight. Debra spoke to us about the work of Carers Northumberland and the important relationship with Healthwatch Northumberland.

Debra says “Carers Northumberland is a charity that aims to improve the lives of unpaid carers in the county. We support unpaid carers of all ages, including adult carers of adults, young carers (aged under 18 years) and parent carers (caring for someone who is under 18 years with additional needs). Unpaid carers sometimes don’t see themselves as carers, as they are often a husband, wife, mother, father, brother, sister, neighbour, or friend, but they are providing vital support to someone who would struggle to manage without their help.

We offer advice, information and support to our 7000+ registered carers. We do this in a variety of ways, including via our telephone information line, carer groups, workshops and training, benefits and financial support, grants to enable carers to take a break from caring, support to navigate social care and health provision, plus trips, events, and activities.

I have worked for Carers Northumberland since 2008 (almost as long as it’s been going!) when I joined as an Administration Officer, and I’ve been in the role of Chief Executive Officer since 2018. I have a degree in Criminology and worked in both private organisations and for Northumbria Police before starting in the voluntary sector at Carers Northumberland. I am passionate about making a difference to people’s lives and having worked for a charity for over 15 years I couldn’t see myself working in any other type of organisation now.

I enjoy reading, going out to eat, and love visiting new places. I’m also a keen runner (well I run so that I can enjoy eating cake) and I believe in the benefits of exercise for mental wellbeing. I actually think I enjoy how good I feel about myself after a run more than the actual run itself.

Probably the achievement I am most proud of is securing funding to pilot a Young Carer Support Service to run alongside our existing service for adult carers.  We launched the service in 2020 during a global pandemic, but it has gone from strength to strength, and we are now working very closely with schools in the county to raise awareness of young carers in education to encourage early identification and provide tailored support.

Carers Northumberland has been an organisational board member of Healthwatch Northumberland since its inception, which highlights how valuable our relationship is. Both organisations are striving to improve the health and social care landscape for service users, patients and their families and carers and we have collaborated on several major pieces of work over the past ten years. Being able to feed the views of carers into Healthwatch Northumberland ensures that the carer voice is heard by key decision-makers in the county is invaluable.“

Carers Northumberland supports all carers of all ages and can be contacted by telephone: 01670 320025, email: info@carersnorthumberland.org.uk or visit the website.

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.

Health and social care report October 2023

What you told us: October 2023

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Health and social care feedback Northumberland October 2023

This month the biggest issue, apart from difficulties getting an appointment at GP practices, has been poor communication by services. This is around prescriptions in particular, and the communication between patient, GP practice and pharmacy. There have also been communication issues with other services either not communicating with the patient or with each other, which has adversely affected the patient.

What did we get up to?

October was a busy month with an increased number of one-off sessions and events on top of our regular Here to Hear events. We were at Choppington Disability Group’s AGM, Blyth Wellbeing event, Silver Sunday and Mental Health Celebration event (also in Blyth), and Alnwick Garden’s Wellness event, all of which have been well attended and have enabled us to speak to many more people than usual.
Our AGM and listening event at East Bedlington Community Centre was well-attended and we received lots of positive feedback from guests.

This month’s online session on self-harm from Battle Scars was very popular, with our highest ever attendance since we began these sessions.

We ran an online campaign asking people to tell us what they think about their local pharmacy which generated a lot of feedback, almost exclusively positive, with many glowing references to Allendale
Pharmacy. This meant that for the first time since we started the monthly reports in July 2022, we received more positive feedback than negative.

Find out more in our October 2023 feedback report

Health and social care feedback July 2023

What you told us: July 2023

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Health and social care feedback Northumberland July 2023

In July the top issues we heard about were difficulties getting GP appointments and finding an NHS dentist. You also told us that some pharmacies were providing incomplete prescriptions. We did however, hear some positive feedback for the service received at dental appointments.

This month as well as attending our usual Here to Hear sessions to hear from the general public, we attended specific targeted groups to get feedback from people we don’t hear from as often.

We hosted our regular online Care Home forum and at our monthly online session we heard from Dr Charles Shepherd of the ME Association who spoke about Long Covid. The session was very well attended – watch the recording of Dr. Shepherd’s presentation.

Read more in our ‘at-a-glance’ report below.

Healthwatch Northumberland report July 2023

health and social care feedback Northumberland May 2023

What you told us: May 23

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Health and social care feedback Northumberland May 2023

During May you told us about the difficulties you were having ordering and getting hold of prescription medicine. We also heard from a number of people that they were still having issues booking a GP appointment. Poor service in local hospitals was another theme from feedback this month.

This month we spent time listening to customers of Lloyds Pharmacy in Sainsbury’s Cramlington, about the impact of the planned closure of the pharmacy this summer. We visited the pharmacy, which is the only 100 hours per week pharmacy in Cramlington, at different times of the day and week, to speak to customers and the wider community, to see what effect the closure would have on local people and other pharmacies in the area. We also provided an online feedback form and heard from 230 people.

As well as our regular Here to Hear drop-in sessions in Berwick, Blyth, Prudhoe, Morpeth and Bedlington, we attended events which included Prudhoe Health Week, the Fishermen’s Mission SeaFit event in Amble and the Choppington Disability Group monthly session.

Read our short report below to find out more.

Healthwatch Northumberland report May 2023

Eye care pathways in Northumberland

Eye care pathways Northumberland

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Eye care pathways in Northumberland – do they really work and how could they be improved?

In Northumberland, as across England as a whole, growing numbers of people are living with sight loss or impairment. This is likely to increase further as people live longer since a good deal of vision impairment is related to the ageing process. The estimated number of people living with sight loss in Northumberland is 13,500 (4% of the county’s population) which is higher than the national average and this is estimated to rise to 5% of the county’s population by 2032.

Consequently, vision rehabilitation services are considered key to prevention, supporting independence, and reducing demand for health and social care services.

The total estimated indirect cost of sight loss in Northumberland is over £32million. In 2020-2021 people in Northumberland living with sight loss and a wider audience told Vision Northumberland that some people in the county experience unfair barriers to accessing registration and low vision/rehabilitation services, that the eye care pathway in Northumberland was flawed, and that people did not know what services were available to them.

People stressed the importance of:

  • Support close to home rather than travelling to Newcastle
  • Support that focuses on the health and wellbeing impacts of sight loss such as depression, social isolation and loneliness
  • Good support from officers such as Eye Clinic Liaison Officers, low vision specialists and rehabilitation officers
  • Joined up working and effective signposting between services
  • Developing the necessary skills to live with sight loss and maintain independence
  • Access to comprehensive assessments that balance different aspects of a person’s life
  • Health and social care professionals who are compassionate, understand the challenges of sight loss, and have knowledge of visual rehabilitation services and support
  • Accessible information and advice especially in GP services

This report, funded by Healthwatch Northumberland, follows up on that work asking the key questions:

What challenges do people with sight loss in Northumberland experience when accessing registration and low vision/rehabilitation services as outlined in the Care Act 2014?
Does the eye care pathway really work in Northumberland and how could it be improved?

Read the eye care pathways in Northumberland report

Engagement and Volunteering Officer vacancy

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We’re recruiting for an Engagement and Volunteering Officer to join our team!

Hours: 25 hours per week

Contract: Permanent (dependent on funding)

Location: Based in Hexham with travel across Northumberland

Salary: £24,396 pro rata – £16,483 actual for 25 hours. Pay award pending

Benefits: 25 days holiday per year, plus statutory holidays pro rata

 

Healthwatch Northumberland is the independent champion for health and social care across the county.

Health and social care are never far from the news and it’s an area that affects all of us. Come and join us to work as part of a skilled and enthusiastic team, listening to local people and ensuring their voice is heard in how these vital services are planned and delivered.

It’s a busy time. You can make a difference by supporting our current volunteers and encouraging other people to get involved in our work.

Find out more about this role in the Engagement and Volunteering Officer job description.

To apply please complete the online application form.

Closing date for applications is 9.00am Monday 22 May 2023.

Interviews will be on Wednesday 7 June 2023 in Hexham.

If you would like an informal discussion about the role and Healthwatch Northumberland, contact Derry Nugent, Project Coordinator by email derryn@healthwatchnorthumberland.co.uk  or call 07590 880016.

This opportunity has now closed

NHS dentistry in Northumberland

NHS dentistry in Northumberland

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As part of our work on NHS dentistry services in Northumberland, we, along with 29 other Local Healthwatch, made a formal submission to the House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee.  The committee has now published the submissions.

The Chair of the Committee, Conservative MP Steve Brine, was interviewed on the BBC Radio 4 PM programme on 6 March. The item is at 38 minutes in, with reference to Local Healthwatch just after 42 minutes.

In the interview Mr Brine says “We’ve had hundreds of pieces of written evidence from trade bodies, professionals, charities, people working in the profession, but quite a lot of it has been from local Healthwatch and from patients themselves, telling some pretty painful stories of…DIY dentistry…home tooth extractions, people tying shoelaces to teeth…”

At the Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting on 7 March, our Project Coordinator Derry Nugent, urged local elected members to encourage their residents to contact us for issues such as this, which can only be fixed at national level.

NHS dentistry in Northumberland continues to be difficult to access, especially in the Berwick area. If you are in pain and need to see a dentist urgently, please call NHS 111.

Please keep sharing your experiences of NHS dental care, so that we can keep making sure these are heard by those paying for services.

 

loneliness in young people Northumberland

Loneliness in young people

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Loneliness in young people

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has launched its new loneliness in young people campaign activity as part of the Better Health – Every Mind Matters campaign.

The campaign primarily aims to reach 16-34 year olds by continuing to encourage them to ‘lift someone out of loneliness’, knowing that this will likely help their own feelings of loneliness. This is based on recent research that shows that people in this demographic are at higher risk of feeling lonely compared to other age groups, but less likely to seek advice and support.

Remember that feeling lonely is something that all of us can experience at any point and can have a huge impact on our wellbeing.

Sometimes admitting we feel lonely can be hard but it’s important to remember that many others experience feelings of loneliness too, and that this feeling can pass.

It can often feel easier to reach out to someone else who may be feeling lonely and there are plenty of simple, free actions you can take, such as going for a walk, sending someone a text, or inviting someone for a hot drink.

 

Support and information

If you’re feeling lonely this winter, or want advice on helping others feel less lonely, visit the Every Mind matters loneliness webpage 

Take the Mind Plan quiz to get a personalised mental health action plan with practical tips to help you deal with loneliness as well as stress, anxiety, low mood and trouble sleeping.

Find more resources at our young people’s health and information page