Volunteers from Northamptonshire’s Maternity Voice Partnership and Healthwatch Northamptonshire conducted a virtual '15 Steps Visit' of the labour and postnatal wards at Northampton General Hospital and Kettering General Hospital on 30 June 2020 (The 15 Steps Challenge focuses on seeing care through a patient or carer’s eyes, and exploring their first impressions).
The visits took place in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic when there were a number of restrictions in place across the country and in hospitals. It was decided that the safest way to conduct the visits was using cameras to record the visits remotely, to both ensure the safety of volunteers and staff that were conducting the visit and also not put any extra pressure on the hospitals. This was the first time that Healthwatch Northamptonshire or either hospital had conducted a 15 Steps visit in this way.
We are concerned about the pain and distress caused by the exam results confusion and the challenges this creates for the health and wellbeing of many young people and their families in Northamptonshire.
The exam results process is always stressful and there is inevitably disappointment as well as jubilation. However, this year the process has been particularly difficult. For some young people this will result in additional pressure that can affect their physical and/or mental health as they grapple with planning for their futures during a time of unprecedented uncertainty.
Read more on our website, including where you can go for support.
Two volunteers from Young Healthwatch Northamptonshire have written letters that reflect on the Coronavirus pandemic and the impact that it has had. One has been written to their 10-year-old self and one to themself in 10 years time.
These letters were written to help them process what is currently going on at the moment and to help adults understand some of the issues facing young people.
The letters detail worries around GCSE and A level results and what the future holds for them as well as how the world for young people has changed so dramatically.
We are pleased to welcome Sheila White back to the Healthwatch Northamptonshire Board.
Sheila has a background in teaching and education and was her husband's Carer for twenty plus years. She has been involved in PPI (Patient and Public Involvement) since January 2004, first of all with Patient and Public Involvement Forums then Local Involvement Forums and latterly Healthwatch Northamptonshire and is currently also the Secretary of her GP Surgery Patient Participation Group, Vice Chair of East Northants Locality Patient Engagement Group and represent East Northants at the Clinical Commissioning Group and the GP Locality Board. She is also a Stakeholder Governor at Kettering General Foundation Trust Hospital (KGH) for Healthwatch and a Patient Representative on the KGH Safeguarding Steering Group and Patient Experience Steering Group. With another Healthwatch volunteer, Sheila has undertaken the 15 Steps Challenge Ward Audits at KGH for several years.
Our Annual Meeting is coming up on the 29 October. Look out for more details in our next newsletter.
Residents of Northampton, Corby, Kettering and Wellingborough are being urged to take action as the number of cases has risen above the national rate. We need to work together to avoid a local lockdown. Find all the latest guidance here, including leaflets and videos in other languages.
At the beginning of July the government started to publish additional COVID-19 testing data, meaning that the daily data from community testing is now available at local level as well as from testing in health and care settings. Northamptonshire’s Public Health team are now publishing more of this data to help local residents have a better understanding of the local picture of COVID-19 cases. The data shows COVID-19 cases in local communities within boroughs and districts, each with a minimum population of 5,000 residents and are identifiable to residents as areas within larger towns or villages.
If you have symptoms of coronavirus or you’ve been in close contact with someone who has had symptoms, please self-isolate and get tested as soon as you can.
Northamptonshire County Council Public Health team are amongst the first areas in the country to take on local contact tracing responsibilities, which launched 19 August.
Luton, Leicester and Blackburn are already successfully carrying out local contact tracing measures and Northamptonshire proactively sought to take on this responsibility in response to a recent increase in cases to ensure as many COVID-19 cases are followed up as possible.
At the moment, most contact tracing is carried out by the national NHS Test and Trace team, but new arrangements in Northamptonshire mean that if the national team fails to make contact with a positive case after 24 hours, the case will be passed on to the local team to follow up.
The new arrangement means that if the NHS national Test and Trace team has been unable to contact you within 24 hours, your case will be passed to the Northamptonshire team who will continue to reach out to you.
The local post COVID-19 Patient information pack has been developed to help patients who have had COVID-19 to recover and manage their symptoms following COVID-19.
Evidence shows that a significant proportion of post COVID-19 patients are likely to have significant ongoing health problems, notably breathing difficulties, tiredness and cough, reduced muscle function, reduced ability to undertake physical activity and psychological symptoms such as PTSD and reduced mood status.
Inside the pack there are lots of practical tips to aid recovery more quickly including exercises to help with breathlessness, how to manage your cough and advice about who to contact if you need support while you get back on your feet.
NHS Breast Screening services have been affected by a range of clinical and operational impacts due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Local breast screening services took the decision to reschedule appointments and invitations for tests to a later date.
Guidance has been issued to services on phase 1 of restoration and recovery to ensure that women who are high risk, have screened positive, whose results were not processed or who were invited but not screened, are invited and have their screening pathway completed. Following this, people who were delayed an invitation will be invited for screening.
What can you expect when you’re discharged from hospital?: The usual processes the NHS follows to discharge you from hospital have changed during the coronavirus pandemic. Here’s what you can expect when it’s time to leave hospital.
What you need to know when visiting a care home (new guidance for COVID-19): The arrival of COVID-19 has meant that a number of restrictions have been placed on care homes to prevent the spread of infection and ensure the health and safety of both care workers and its residents. As the rate of infection is decreasing across the country, these restrictions are being lifted however a number of changes will be put in place to keep you and your loved ones safe.
Northamptonshire County Council and NHS Northamptonshire Clinical Commissioning Group are responsible for commissioning a range of community health and wellbeing services. They are taking a joint approach to reviewing some of the services that they currently commission for children aged 0-19 and in order to support this, they would like to hear about your views and experiences.
There is a separate survey for your young person if you could ask and/or support them to complete this in their own words:
This will provide patients and service users who have existing mental health conditions with access to an NHS-approved digital mindfulness course: ‘Be Mindful’, which offers supportive guided cognitive behaviour therapies which has the potential to improve users’ wellbeing.
COVID-19 has introduced additional stressors to the lives of those with existing mental health conditions and the loss of loss of important support factors such as social support and face-to-face support from healthcare workers. Evidence has shown that this has resulted in increased levels of anxiety, depression, and self-harm.
The Prime Minister has confirmed that Northampton General Hospital will receive £2.9m of £300m allocated to upgrade A&E facilities in 117 trusts across the country.
Northampton General Hospital will use the funding to improve A&E capacity by creating a new, designated children’s A&E facility.
Kettering General Hospital has been given £1m by the Government to spend on upgrading its urgent care facilities ahead of Winter during the Covid-19 pandemic.
At Kettering General Hospital the money will be used to expand its Same Day Emergency Care unit (which sits alongside A&E), and make adjustments to its Paediatric A&E department (now in the hospital’s Foundation Wing) along with other minor works to ensure its emergency care areas meet Government social distancing guidelines.
Kettering General Hospital staff are playing a vital role in a major national trial to see if bio-detection dogs can sniff out coronavirus in humans.
The trial is being led by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) in collaboration with the charity Medical Detection Dogs and Durham University with the first phase funded by the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC).
It will determine whether dogs could be used as a new rapid, non-invasive diagnostic tool for the virus.
This consultation is to gather feedback and hear the views of the public on the proposal to relocate the Peterborough Urgent Treatment Centre and GP Out of Hours Service from the City Care Centre to the Peterborough City Hospital site. This could be relevent to those living in East Northamptonshire.
The closing date for responses is Wednesday 30 September 2020.
The Strong Start team is a group of qualified and experienced early years professionals contracted by Public Health. They work closely with the Health Visiting and Infant Feeding teams across Northamptonshire to support families with babies and young children.
They are working to create a range programmes and information videos virtually which will be available on the Northamptonshire County Council website. They also offer low level family support with sleep, toilet training, behaviour management, speech delay and introducing solids. Families can contact them directly at strongstartteam@northamptonshire.gov.uk or on 07880 136070; or talk to the Northamptonshire Health Visiting Team who can refer you. They also signpost to local services and interventions that can help families with children under five.
Public Health England has launched a national ‘Better Health’ campaign to support individuals to lose weight, while also providing advice and support for quitting smoking, drinking less and looking after their mental health.
COVID-19 has affected the whole country; for almost everyone, life has had to fundamentally change. But it has also prompted many people to reflect and think more seriously about their health.What’s more, extra weight causes fat to build up around vital organs, making it harder for the body to fight against diseases like cancer, heart disease and now COVID-19.
Losing weight can seem an impossible task for some and so, locally, Public Health Northamptonshire is offering support through its Weight Management Service.
Northamptonsire Rights and Equality Council have publised three new videos focusing on pregnancy and maternity discrimination.
There is one focusing on dismissals and rights when threatened with this, another on general issues about being pregnant while working with a focus on working in the COVID-19 crisis and one looking at rights when requesting maternity leave.
TADD urgently need to recruit additional volunteer drivers to help people in South Northants.
As we emerge from lockdown, the NHS is now offering a wider range of hospital and GP appointments, and dentists, opticians, podiatrists and other healthcare providers are back at work. TADD has seen a steady rise in the number of journeys requested and expect this to continue, particularly when the Autumn flu vaccine programme begins.
Drivers need to have access to a car, be available on a regular basis for a minimum of half a day a week and complete a DBS check. Mileage is reimbursed at the HMRC rate and insurance premiums are not affected. Journeys are agreed in accordance with weekly availability and can fit around the school run, working from home or part time employment.
To learn more about volunteering for TADD visit www.towcesterareadoor2door.com or email volunteer@towcesterareadoor2door.co.uk
In our last newsletter, we gave the an old link for the Cooking Good website. Their new website can be found at www.cooking-good.co.uk
Cooking Good aims to help families cook straight-forward family meals and eat good food in order to feel good, learn to cook more nutritious meals on a budget and bring families together around the simple activity of cooking. Based in rural Daventry and South Northants, it was created to focus on helping families to cook simple, tasty and healthy food from scratch.
Your health records contain a type of data called confidential patient information. This data can be used to help with research and planning.
You can choose to stop your confidential patient information being used for research and planning. You can also make a choice for someone else like your children under the age of 13.
Find out more about how the NHS uses data via the link below and you can read an article here from 2018 from Healthwatch England about how people feel about their data being shared by the NHS.
The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) is the regulator for pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and pharmacies in Great Britain. They are recruiting members of the public to join an online public panel to help find out what people think about pharmacy services and about their work.
As a panel member, you will be asked to complete different online activities like completing a survey or reading a short document and answering some questions. For each activity you will receive online Love2Shop voucher codes as a thank you for participating. The amount you receive will depend on the type of activity and how long it takes.
To join the panel, contact laura.oakley@pharmacyregulation.org. They are offering everyone who signs up £5 of vouchers, which you will receive once you complete your first activity.
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