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Image of two young people, one holding an umbrella over the other

Have your say on support for children and young people

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North East and North Cumbria NHS Integrated Care Board and Northumberland County Council are looking at how to strengthen support for children and young people with emotional wellbeing and mental health needs.

Northumberland’s Emotional Wellbeing and Mental Health Strategy for Children and Young People 2022-25 sets out how this will be achieved.

The aim of the strategy is to give children, young people and their families the confidence that they are receiving the best support possible.

Have your say on the strategy by completing this short survey. Closes 4 February.

Northumberland Pharmacy Services

How do you use your local pharmacy?

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We’re working with Northumberland County Council to assess pharmacy services in the county.

Most of us use pharmacy services at some time or another. By telling us how you and your family use these services you can help make improvements for everyone in your community. What you tell us about how you use your local pharmacy will help the council to write a local Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment, which will help to ensure that your local pharmacy provides the service you need both now and in the future.

You can give us your feedback by completing the online questionnaire, Easy Read version, or get in touch to ask for a postal copy with freepost return.   If you’d prefer to tell us your experiences over the phone please call us on: 03332 408468.

The closing date for leaving feedback is 20 May.

You can also call in and see us at one of our events listed below where you can tell us about using pharmacy services, leave feedback on any NHS or social care service you’ve used, or find out more about local services and support through our Signposting and Information Service.

 

April Events – no appointment needed, just call by and speak to one of our friendly team.

  • Morrisons Blyth NE24 1ES: Tuesday 5 April, 10am – 12.30pm – Find us in our gazebo outside Morrisons
  • The Hub, Manor Walks Cramlington NE23 6US: Wednesday 6 April, 11am – 1pm – Here to Hear drop-in
  • Morpeth Market NE61 1NS: Wednesday 6 April, 10am – 12.30pm
  • Hexham Market NE46 1XQ: Tuesday 12 April, 10am – 12.30pm – stop by to share your experiences
  • Berwick Voluntary Forum TD15 1NG: Wednesday 13 April, 10am – 12pm – Here to Hear drop-in
  • Alnwick Fishmarket NE66 1HS: Thursday 14 April, 10am – 12.30pm – call in to leave feedback
  • Blyth Buffalo Centre NE24 1LL: Tuesday 19 April, 9.45am – 11.45am – Here to Hear drop-in
  • Haltwhistle Leisure Centre NE49 9DP: Thursday 21 April, 11am – 1pm – Here to Hear drop-in
  • Prudhoe Community Hub NE42 5AA: Tuesday 26 April, 10am – 3pm – Part of Prudhoe Community
    Partnership’s Healthy Prudhoe Week.
  • Vision Northumberland (formerly NCBA) Morpeth NE61 1TD: Wednesday 27 April, 11am – 1pm –
    Here to Hear drop-in

International Women’s Day 2021

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International Women’s Day takes place on Monday 8 March and this year’s theme is “Choose to Challenge”. The theme focuses on the idea that we can choose to challenge and call out gender stereotypes and bias, and we can choose to seek out and celebrate women’s achievements to collectively create an inclusive world. From challenge comes change.

To celebrate International Women’s Day, Northumberland County Council asked Healthwatch Northumberland to create a short video on this year’s theme which will be part of a live streamed event on the day.

Our Project Coordinator, Derry Nugent, talks about some of the health inequalities and bias that women face. For example, did you know coronary heart disease kills twice as many women as breast cancer in the UK? However due to a common misconception that heart disease is a man’s disease, women face inequalities in awareness, diagnosis, treatment and care following a heart attack.

Hear what Derry has to say on the video below, along with Stephanie Edusei, Chief Executive of St Oswald’s Hospice, and Fareeha Usman, Founder and CEO of Being Woman.

Watch the video here

If you would like to know more about the issues raised in the video, you can read more at the sources below:

British Medical Journal

British Heart Foundation

Mental Health Task Force

Carers Northumberland logo

New service for young carers

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A new service to support young carers has been commissioned by Northumberland County Council. Carers Northumberland, the local support service for adult carers will be leading on the project.

Anne-Marie Johnstone has been appointed as the Young Carers Support Worker for Northumberland and will be working with other youth and young people’s services across the county to provide individual tailored support for young carers.

The aims of the project are to ensure that children and young people have the support they need to learn, develop, and thrive, to enjoy positive childhoods and to achieve their full potential.

The service uses a whole family approach, which ensures that both children and parents are able to get the support they need, at the right time. By identifying problems early, different services can work more closely together to help prevent a family’s needs escalating and requiring further intervention at a later date.

All young carers will have an assessment of their needs which identifies the level of caring and how this is impacting on their life. A plan will then be developed with the young carer and their family to help support them and enable the young carer to access the same life opportunities as their peers.

Young carers referred to the project will also have access to a Young Carers Active Northumberland card for use in the county’s leisure centres, and a small grants scheme which will offer financial support to young carers to take a break from their caring responsibilities.

Anyone who is working with a family or young person in a caring role who you think could benefit from this project can make a referral here.

If you are a young carer yourself you can find out about the support available here.

Events

Pharmacist

Tell us how you use your local pharmacy: Blyth

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Come and see us in our gazebo outside Morrisons in Blyth! We’re working with Northumberland County Council to assess pharmacy services in the county and want to hear from you.

Most of us use pharmacy services at some time or another. By telling us how you and your family use these services you can help make improvements for everyone in your community.

What you tell us about how you use your local pharmacy will help the council to write a local Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment, which will help to ensure that your local pharmacy provides the service you need both now and in the future.

You can also leave feedback about any NHS or social care service you’ve used, or ask a question about local services and support. We’ll have some great giveaways to hand out too.

Or tell us about using pharmacies online: bit.ly/PharmacyNorthumberland2022

 

Leave feedback on any NHS or social care service you’ve used in the last 12 months

Public Coronavirus Question Time

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Health and council leaders in Northumberland are to host their first ever online coronavirus public question time.
While case numbers have steadied, they’re still too high in the county, and following the recent introduction of a national lockdown, leaders will be answering residents’ questions on Wednesday 18 November, at 5pm.
The panel for Wednesday’s broadcast will include:
  • Cllr Glen Sanderson, Leader of the Council
  • Liz Morgan , Director of Public Health
  • Daljit Lally, Chief Executive
The broadcast, the first of its kind in the region, will look at the current Covid-19 picture in Northumberland, what the national lockdown means for the county, and answer queries or concerns people have.
People can submit their questions to the council via a simple online form 
While council and health bosses might not be able to answer every question, the aim is for the public broadcast to become a regular event and cover the most commonly-asked issues.
Residents will be able to watch the broadcast live on the council’s Facebook page 
Council Leader Glen Sanderson said: “We know the impact this pandemic has had on all our lives and the hard work everyone has put in to stay safe and drive numbers down.
“People have already made huge sacrifices, and many feel exhausted by the strain that it has caused. We have a duty to support our communities to continue all their hard work to get infections under control, and we’re in a good position to build on that.
“The situation is changing almost daily so this is a great opportunity to find out the very latest information from a number of experts, as well as hearing about some of the questions that affect you and your communities – whether you work in, live in or visit our county.
“We know this public question time approach has been well-received in other parts of the country and we’d really encourage people to let us know questions they might have which we can address during our first broadcast.”