Copy

September 2020

Welcome to our newsletter. Please forward this on to anyone who may be interested in health and social care in Northamptonshire

Healthwatch Northamptonshire Annual and Board meeting

In keeping with coronavirus safety measures our annual meeting will be held virtually via Zoom on Thursday 29 October, 11am to 12.30pm.

You’ll hear about our work from last year from our Chair, Dr David N Jones, such as our working with Northamptonshire Health and Care Partnership about the ‘Big Ideas’ for local implementation of the NHS Long Term Plan, our ‘Enter and view’ visits to local mental health services and our ‘15 Steps’ visits to hospitals and many more activities made possible by the hard work of our volunteers on projects that inform change and make a difference.

Healthwatch Project Manager and Young Healthwatch Lead, Esther Stimpson, will also talk about Young Healthwatch and their annual report. We will also share our work plans for this year.
Find out more

Meet the Board: David N Jones

Continuing with our 'meet the board' series, meet our Chair, David, who will be presenting Healthwatch Northamptonshire's Annual Meeting. David is a Registered Social Worker who specialised in child protection for ten years following qualification in 1974, working for most of that time with the NSPCC, before moving into a series of national and international roles in social work, social services and children’s services. He was General Secretary of the British Association of Social Workers (1985-1994) and has held senior positions in the former qualifications board for social work and social care (CCETSW), the Department of Health, Department for Children Schools and Families, the Audit Commission, Commission for Social Care Inspection and Ofsted. He was the Independent Chair of the Adult and Children Safeguarding Boards in Leicester 2010-2016 and was national Chair of the Association of LSCB Chairs for two years. David has always worked in multi-professional environments and advocates the value of partnership working.
Find out more about other members of our board

Healthwatch Northamptonshire's important role at Kettering General Hospital

Healthwatch Northamptonshire has an important role to play for both staff and patients at KGH. Sheila White, a nominated governor at KGH and Healthwatch Northamptonshire Board member, has written the eighth in a series of pieces in the Northamptonshire Telegraph about the governors and what they do.
Read more

Northampton Borough and Corby Borough removed from the Government watch list

Each week the Government reviews its weekly watch list depending on the prevalence of the Coronavirus in local authority areas. There are three levels of escalation on the watch list, starting with; ‘areas of concern,’ ‘areas of enhanced support’ and the highest, ‘areas of intervention.’ Each category enables different levels of specialist expertise and resource to be released to support local authorities.

The removal of Northampton and Corby from the Government watch list this week is the result of a continuous partnership effort and significant hard work from the public, from local authorities, businesses and partners across both boroughs. Vigilance must be urged though, as cases rise nationally and the winter flu season approaches, the hard work that has been done to get to this point must not stop.
Read more

Coronavirus testing in Northamptonshire

There is a national shortage of coronavirus testing slots due to high demand and limited capacity in the laboratories that process the tests. Please only try to book a test if you have coronavirus symptoms: new, continuous cough/high temperature/loss or change in sense of smell or taste. The test MUST be booked in advance at nhs.uk/coronavirus or by calling 119.
Find out more

Share your views about the spread of coronavirus locally

​Northamptonshire County Council (NCC), and all their partners who are working together on the coronavirus pandemic, want to hear from members of our communities.

They want to gather feedback to understand your views on the spread of coronavirus in the county and to identify what might be helping or stopping people from following guidance. They will ask you about getting tested, about social distancing (keeping 2 metres apart) and self-isolation (staying at home if you have symptoms or a positive test) so that they can identify ways of making all of these things easier for residents.

Have your say by completing the online questionnaire.

The survey closes at midnight on 5 October 2020.
Share your views

Are you age 18 - 29? Public Health Northants needs your help

Public Health Northants needs the help of all young adults (18-29) living in Northants to complete a short survey about what you are doing to keep yourself and others safe from Coronavirus and how you find the latest info on the virus. It will take five minutes to complete and will help Public Health Northants to make sure you get the advice you need to stay safe. All responses are anonymous and will be used to shape future health messages.
Take the survey

New NHS COVID-19 app

The NHS COVID-19 app has been launched to help notify users if they have come into contact with someone who tests positive for COVID-19.

The NHS COVID-19 app is part of our large scale coronavirus (COVID-19) testing and contact tracing programme. The app has been launched to help notify users if they have come into contact with someone who tests positive for COVID-19. Downloading the app is the simplest way to help protect those we love.
Find out more

An update on the restarting of NHS dental services in the Midlands

The NHS Dental Services in the Midlands has sent us a new update about the restarting of dental services in the Midlands. The advice for people seeking NHS dental care is as follows:

People should continue to contact their local dental surgery by phone for advice on dental care and treatment. Out of surgery hours patients should contact NHS 111. Patients are still expected to pay normal dental charges (unless exempt) but should not be charged extra. NHS patients should not be told that they can only access care privately. In some cases you may have to wait longer than normal for an appointment for treatment (particularly for AGP procedures) as dentists will be prioritising the most urgent cases.

If you do not have a regular dentist or have not recently accessed NHS Dental care then please contact NHS 111. It is often quicker and easier to use the online system rather than phoning. You will then be directed to a dental practice who can assess you by phone and if needed you will be offered face to face care at a practice with capacity to see you. This may be an urgent dental centre.

Anyone who feels unwell or has any Covid-19 symptoms or is self-isolating following contact from NHS Test and Trace should not visit their normal surgery even if they have a confirmed appointment. It is important for patients to be honest about whether they are symptomatic or have been asked to self-isolate. Dedicated urgent dental centres continue to operate where symptomatic or self-isolating patients needing urgent care can be seen and treated.
Read more

Building a Better KGH

Kettering General Hospital has started on a major programme to secure new investment in their buildings that enables them to improve services and benefit patients and the wider health and social care system. They have received provisional funding of £46M to build a new Urgent Care Hub (UCH) to replace the current A&E department and have been selected as one of 21 NHS Trusts eligible to apply for government funding to improve the buildings and estate as part of the Health Infrastructure Plan (known as HIP2).
 

They want to hear from you!

On Monday 28 September KGH held their first online public engagement events to start to gather views from local people on what is important to them about their local hospital and the services it provides. The event was recorded and they hope to upload it to their website soon. In the meantime, you can take a look at the presentations on their website.
 

Join their Public Reference Group

As they proceed with the hospital redevelopment there will be key points at which KGH will be seeking the views and inputs of local people on issues such as wayfinding, car parking and travel plans for example. If you would like to get more involved and receive updates on progress please express your interest by emailing kgh-tr.hip2publicreference@nhs.net.
Find out more

Kettering General Hospital - Recent News

Successful project providing mum's with continuity of care extended

A successful project to provide mums-to-be with complete continuity of care with midwives they know throughout pregnancy, birth and after care is being expanded. The Eden Continuity of Care Team was launched in July last year and consisted of six midwives who looked after 210 pregnant women from the Lakeside Practice in Corby. The service is now being expanded, from September 1, to cover the whole of Corby with the creation of two new teams – Diamond and Ruby.
Read more

Miriam's donation saved Ollie's life - support Organ Donation Week

Nicola and David Lee’s daughter Miriam, a student at Brooke Weston Academy, died aged 17 of a sudden and totally unexpected cardiac arrest in 2016. Her parents knew that Miriam believed in organ donation and therefore had no hesitation in enabling the donation in the midst of their family’s tragedy. As a result Miriam’s liver, kidneys and pancreas went on to save, or significantly improve, the lives of four people.

Miriam’s mum Nicola, from Kettering, is now a member of Kettering General Hospital’s Organ and Tissue Donation Committee and during national Organ Donation Week (September 7-13) worked with the committee to campaign for greater awareness of the importance of donation.

England moved to an opt-out system for organ donation with the introduction of Max and Keira’s law, on May 20 this year – although families are still involved and must consent before donation goes ahead.
Read more

Revamp of two wards and improve dementia care

Kettering General Hospital has completed the first stage of a significant refurbishment of two of its wards to make them more suitable for older people and patients living with dementia. The two wards – Lamport and Twywell – are being upgraded with new colour schemes, floors, artificial skylights, and a wild flower mural scheme to run across both wards.
Read more

Apologies to outpatients

Covid-19 has brought challenges to KGH's outpatient capacity – because their clinics both on and off-site must now be socially distanced and as a result have less capacity. Over the last few months they have been rearranging a significantly large volume of face-to-face outpatient appointments and we are therefore asking patients to bear with them.

They understand that this large-scale rearrangement of appointments is creating frustration and delay for their patients and apologise to all those affected. They are working as quickly as possible to ensure all appointments are rebooked. If you have a condition which needs urgent attention please see your GP – they are still continuing with emergency work as a key priority.
Read more

NGH Blood taking unit introduces online booking system

Patients wanting to book blood taking appointments and Northampton General Hospital can now use an online booking process to manage their appointments. 

Following a change in the appointment system due to COVID and feedback from patients, the team have developed a new system to make booking appointments easier. Appointments for adult, special and paediatric blood tests can all now be booked online here
Read more

Northampton General Hospital main entrance building works underway

Northampton General Hospital has started building work on a new hospital entrance to provide staff, patients and visitors a more welcoming reception area.

The new space, located at the current South Entrance of the site, will be complemented by the introduction of popular high-street brands including Costa Coffee, Subway®, Stock Shop and M&S Simply Food store.

You can view a walkthrough of what the new entrance will look like here.
Read more

Community Health and Wellbeing Services consulation

Public Health Northamptonshire wants to understand what services are needed to support people to improve their health and wellbeing, and in particular to meet the needs of those who are most vulnerable, to see if they have access to the right types of services and if services need to be delivered in different ways to address these needs.

This is to inform development of a community based approach to enable people across the county to improve their health and wellbeing, through working with local communities.

The consultation closes on 6 October.
Find out more and share your views

Library service updates - Coronavirus

Following Government guidance libraries are now able to reopen. The normal range of activities will not be possible at this stage of reopening and customers visiting the library may find they need to wait outside to be assisted by staff.

The Government has extended the policy on the mandatory wearing of face coverings in public places in England to include public libraries.

The following libraries are open with reduced opening hours: Brackley Library, Brixworth Library, Daventry Library, Duston Library, Hunsbury Library, Irthlingborough Library, Kettering Library, Northamptonshire Central Library, Oundle Library, Rushden Library, Towcester Library, Wellingborough Library, Weston Favell Library.
Find out more

Wheelchair and Orthotics Survey

NHS Northamptonshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) Wheelchair and Orthotics contracts are due to come to an end at the end of September 2021. To assist with the development of the new service specification NHS Northamptonshire CCG would like to ask stakeholders their views.

They would like to know what people who use these services would like to see in the new specification, what is important to them, what could potentially improve these services and any other suggestions.

If you are a service user or a referrer to these services and would like to provide feedback you can do so here.
Find out more

Update your first aid kit with the new My Health and Care Directory smartphone app

People across Northamptonshire can now benefit from quick and easy access to the latest information about local health and care services – thanks to the launch of a brand new smartphone app.

My Health and Care Directory, available now to download for free, lists more than 3,000 NHS, social care and community services across Northamptonshire, from late-night pharmacies, dental surgeries and urgent care facilities to mental health services, support for people with long-term conditions and wellbeing services run by the voluntary sector.

All you need to use the directory is a Northamptonshire postcode and there’s no requirement to log in or register. Simply select the local service you require to access a range of useful information at a glance, including opening hours, contact information, a summary of the services provided and details of how to access them.

The directory can also be searched via the website.
Access the app

Age UK Northamptonshire reopens lifeline day care centre in Kettering

Age UK Northamptonshire has reopened day care in Kettering to help the county’s most vulnerable. The centre, based at Rockingham Road Baptist Church, Rockingham Rd, NN16 9JA, is open Monday – Friday to offer a lifeline to socially isolated and lonely older people.

The Kettering centre is open 10am – 3pm, Monday to Friday welcoming twelve clients each day. With the additional safety measures in place, clients can enjoy a full programme of activity such as carpet bowls, floor dominos, skittles, arts and craft, bingo and music. A nutritious two-course lunch is provided as well as refreshments throughout the day. The price of transport, a full day of professional care, activities and lunch is £45 per person or £33 per person without transport.
Find out more about Age UK in Northamptonshire

Northamptonshire Carers Awards 2020 Winners Announced

The 2020 Carers Awards took place on 24 September. As in previous years, they were hosted by BBC Radio Northampton’s Martin Heath however the usual venue was replaced by a virtual Zoom celebration.

2020 has seen even more pressure on Carers with the effects of Coronavirus and lockdown. Carers UK estimate that 4.5million people took on a new caring role and many more have been providing care in unprecedented situations, often without the support they previously would have had.

The Carers Awards say a huge ‘thank you’ to all Carers and Young Carers across the county, especially in such a difficult year but they also highlight some amazing achievements worthy of praise.
Read more and see the winners

Weston Favell Project: Public Consultation

Northampton Borough Council has recently appointed consultants Continuum Sport and Leisure to carry out some research regarding the facilities for sport, leisure and health and wellbeing within the Borough of Northampton and on the potential development of facilities in Weston Favell as part of the Health and Wellbeing Hub. The potential development of a Health and Wellbeing Hub is the Council's commitment to ensure your health and wellbeing is at the forefront of its future planning.

This survey should take approximately 10 minutes to complete and your input will help to shape the future of the Weston Favell Health and Wellbeing Hub.

The deadline for completion of this survey is the 9 October.
Share your views

Northampton Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan consultation

As part of the Emergency Active Travel Fund, the County Council sought views on where social distancing measures were required and where people would like to see longer term walking and cycling improvements. Respondents overwhelmingly supported the need for better walking and cycling links in and between urban and rural areas, with a desire for streets to be designed to safely accommodate all road users, whether they choose to walk, cycle, use public transport or drive to work, school or for shopping and leisure activities.

NCC wants your views on the scope of the The draft Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan (LCWIP) for Northampton and its approach, whether you support the measures outlined and if anything needs to change to ensure the Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan for Northampton is aligned with current guidance.

Consultation closes on 23 October.
Read more

Help health and social care services recover from COVID-19 #BecauseWeAllCare

Two-thirds of people in England say they are more likely to act to improve health and social care services since the outbreak of COVID-19. You can help improve care in Northamptonshire by joining our campaign #BecauseWeAllCare.
Share your experiences #BecauseWeAllCare
Read more and share your experiences

Tell Healthwatch your mental health support stories

Each year September 10 is World Suicide Prevention Day, raising awareness of 800,000+ suicides every year globally – one person every 40 seconds.

More recently, people have reported that they have felt isolated, alone and not received much mental health support due to many service closures or restrictions in services since the pandemic. September 10 was World Suicide Prevention Day. Learn more about the day here.

Healthwatch doesn’t have enough information about people’s experiences of support when they are self-harming or feeling suicidal and whether or not services are doing everything possible to support them.

When you take a minute to share your story, you help improve support for everyone by letting services hear what's worked and what could be better.
Find out more

The Eve Appeal tips to help women spot abnormal vaginal bleeding for Gynae Cancer Awareness Month

It's The Eve Appeal’s annual campaign for Gynaecological Cancer Awareness Month and they want to focus on abnormal vaginal bleeding because abnormal vaginal bleeding is a key symptom of three of the five gynaecological cancers: womb, cervical and vaginal, and a less common symptom of ovarian cancer. Whilst the majority of people who experience any abnormal bleeding won’t have cancer, it’s still important to always get anything that is unusual for you checked out by your GP.

They can break AVB into four main types:
  • Bleeding in between periods
  • Bleeding after sex
  • Bleeding after the menopause
  • Bleeding that is much heavier or more painful than what is normal for you
Find out more

Managing Hearing Loss and Tinnitus During Covid-19

Hearing loss is a life-changing condition that affects people 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Research points to the links between hearing loss and increased risk of social isolation, poor mental health, and early cognitive decline.

During these times when so many services are moving online or over the phone, it is key that individuals with hearing loss are able to continue to access services to reduce the risks of further isolation.

Find out about services and help available for those with hearing loss and Tinnitus during Covid-19 and how professionals can communicate better with people with hearing loss.

 

How to communicate better with people with hearing loss

Healthwatch England recently published an article about how to communicate better with people with hearing loss - find out more here.

You can find out more about our previous work on this subject here.
Read more
Facebook
Facebook
Twitter
Twitter
Website
Website
Email
Email
Copyright © 2020 Healthwatch North and West Northamptonshire, All rights reserved.


Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.
Healthwatch Northamptonshire is managed by Connected Together CIC
Registered in England and Wales. Company No: 8496240

We are happy for you to share the news and information contained in the e-newsletter. However, we cannot take responsibility for the accuracy or content of external links and websites.

Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp