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Tommy, who joined us for some NHSE filming last month, has shared his story with the Canal & River Trust. He said: "If you are facing mental health battles, I would say, don't give up. There is help out there and the canal is a great place to start by volunteering and practising mindfulness techniques with nature around you." You can read his full story here.
The work of Lock50, where Tommy volunteers, was featured in NHSE's filming of social prescribing in Greater Manchester alongside examples in Salford and Stockport. Lock50 offers something different to Rochdale patients, using green and blue space to improve mental health, seeing a huge difference in people's lives and transforming the canal into a safer, nicer place to be. You can watch the film here.
Louise has also shared her story. She said her anxiety and depression took her to a ‘very dark place’ in recent years but she talks about how the support of social prescribers has helped her feel much brighter. You can read her story in the MEN.
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Are you interested to know how the natural environment can help your client’s mental health?
As part of Greater Manchester’s Nature for Health programme, RHS Bridgewater is hosting green social prescribing taster sessions for Link Workers. The sessions are designed to give Link Workers, and other Social Prescribers, a better idea of what green social prescribing can look like. You will take on hands on activities such as cultivating a garden, working with natural materials, and appreciating the Wellbeing Garden. This is a great way to learn what green social prescribing has to offer, the benefits that can be gained, as well as learning more about the programme and how to get involved.
The sessions are taking place on the following dates: 26 April, 24 May, 23 June, 28 July, 23 August, 29 September and 25 October at 10:30-15:30, and the venue is RHS Bridgewater in Salford. There is no cost for attending this session, other than making your own travel arrangements. Each session has capacity for 12 people, places will be allocated on a first come first served basis.
To register, please visit Eventbrite
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In March 2021 the Greater Manchester Independent Inequalities Commission recommended that Greater Manchester should:
Create a Community Wealth Hub to support and grow co-operatives, mutuals, social and community enterprises, staffed by people from the co-operative and community sector who understand the market.
It will be important that any Community Wealth Hub should be developed and co-designed with the people and organisations who might benefit from or provide services to the Hub.
A six-month co-design process has begun and Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) now want to hear thoughts on the proposals.
You can read more here.
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Research conducted between the Mental Health Foundation and the London School of Economics reveals that mental health problems cost the UK economy £117.9 billion per year.
Behind this shocking figure are real people’s lives; people who cannot go about their lives and go to work, those who are caring for loved ones without proper support, or people feeling the effects of stigma and discrimination.
Improving mental health is often dismissed as being too expensive or unrealistic. However, Mental Health Foundation findings show that the opposite is true and the Foundation is calling on the government to tackle mental health inequalities by investing in communities that need it the most. 'By focusing on prevention, we can reduce both economic and personal costs, and support more people to live mentally healthy lives. Rather than waiting for people to become unwell, governments and decision-makers should commit to policies that promote good mental health. This should include investment in community programmes that empower everyone, especially people at higher risk, to live well.'
You can read the report here.
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New evidence reviews by National Academy for Social Prescribing academic partners suggest that social prescribing can have a wide range of positive outcomes, reduce pressure on primary care and save costs for the NHS.
The evidence summaries focus on research into outcomes, economic impact, funding models, and who is and isn't accessing social prescribing. You can read the briefings here.
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The latest MoVE project findings have been published in the report 'Communities are doing it for themselves: Lessons from the mutual aid experience'.
The report is based upon a series of interviews and focus groups carried out with mutual aid groups last year, as well as a workshop in February which brought the groups back together to revisit the findings in light of more recent pandemic and policy developments. , Person and Community Centred Approaches team lead, Zoe Porter, was interviewed as a local mutual aid organiser.
It contains key lessons and recommendations for local authorities, VCSE organisations and national policy makers. You can read more on the Enabling Social Action website.
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The principle behind direct payments is that people can have choice and control over the care and support they are entitled to. In some places, people's lived experience of taking and managing a direct payment is falling short of the intentions enshrined by policy in the Care Act. A Think Local Act Personal report addresses how to make them work better - Read more here.
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As Sally Percival steps down as Co-Chair of the National Co-production Advisory Group after 12 years, Think Local Act Personal asked her to tell them what’s changed, and what she’s learnt from her experience.
Read the blog here.
The Integration White Paper sets out measures to make integrated health and social care a universal reality for everyone across England regardless of their condition and of where they live: Health and social care integration: joining up care for people, places and populations
The NHS Confederation has created a summary: The integration white paper: what you need to know | NHS Confederation
Coalition for Personalised Care Co-Chair, Kim Ryley, has reflected on the White Paper in a blog which welcomes a more compassionate approach to holistic, person-centred care and support, and giving greater influence to the voice of lived experience in the design, delivery and management of integrated services. However, Kim also highlights a number of concerns, not least workforce shortages, long-term funding issues, a lack of consideration of the wider determinants of health and more faith being placed in structural solutions than the time and processes needed to build trusting relationships which change attitudes and behaviours. You can read the full article here.
This rapid review of the evidence across key priority areas including mental health, maternal and neonatal health and digital access to healthcare found stark inequalities across the areas under investigation, demonstrating that inequalities are not isolated but rooted in structural, interpersonal and institutional racism throughout the NHS.
The report was covered in an exclusive report in The Guardian: Radical action needed to tackle racial health inequality in NHS, says damning report
You can read the review here.
Across England today – depending on where we live and how well-off we are – there are differences of up to ten years in how long we can expect to live and more than 17 years in the time we get in good health without a disabling illness.
The latest data from the Centre for Ageing Better shows a sharp increase in pensioner poverty, meaning that almost 1 in 5 people of pension age, are now living in poverty.
The State of Ageing 2022 looks at data from a wide range of sources such as the English Housing Survey, the GP Patient survey, the Health Survey for England and the Community Life Survey, as well as a host of official statistics like the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Ultimately it shows that the experience of being older in England is getting considerably worse for many. The data demonstrates the huge challenges facing the government’s levelling up ambitions to reduce inequalities across England as well as its stated commitment to increase healthy life expectancy by five years.
You can read the report here.
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Documentation has been published that supports the General Practice contract arrangements in 2022/23. This includes the new Network Contract Directed Enhanced Service (DES), associated guidance and FAQs and new guidance on the service specification for Personalised Care.
This includes the following targets relating to Personalised Care:
By 30 September 2022, a PCN must ensure all clinical staff complete the Personalised Care Institute’s 30-min e-learning refresher training for Shared Decision Making conversations.
By 30 September 2022, as part of a broader social prescribing service, a PCN and commissioner must jointly work with stakeholders including local authority commissioners, VCSE partners and local clinical leaders, to design, agree and put in place a targeted programme to proactively offer and improve access to social prescribing to an identified cohort with unmet needs. This plan must take into account views of people with lived experience
By 31 March 2024, a PCN must have worked with other PCNs, their commissioner and local partners, to implement digitally enabled personalised care and support planning for care home residents.
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Please share this free 'Introduction to Social Prescribing' training with colleagues and contacts. You just need to register for a free Personalised Care Institute account to access the session - a presentation is available now and a webinar recording will be uploaded shortly.
The webinar was delivered by colleagues from Greater Manchester social prescribing teams and explained what social prescribing is and how it applies to different roles. You can access the training here.
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Hear about how people who describe themselves as having learning difficulties have used co-production to deliver support for other people with learning difficulties. And hear how important that support was during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Access the SCIE recording here.
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Are you a middle or senior leader with a passion for embedding personalised care into your system? Do you want to lead change in co-production with citizens? The Leadership for Empowered Communities and Personalised Care programme is a completely co-produced and co-facilitated programme run by a team of national experts, made up of specialists in leadership development, co-production, community development and personalised care - many of whom have lived experience. Taking place May - November 2022. For more information and to apply by 3 May please click here.
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CAHN’s Black health improvement programme (BHIP) informs, assists, and trains care staff and healthcare professionals about African and Caribbean religious beliefs and culture. For further information and to book a training session, please visit https://www.cahn.org.uk/bhip/
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In light of the current war in Ukraine, National Academy of Social Prescribing will be holding a joint webinar with NHS England and Improvement at 1.30-2.30pm, exploring ways to support refugees and good practice. Register here
In 2020, the Greater Manchester Big Mental Wellbeing Conversation was launched to better understand the needs of people across the city-region and hear what they think is most important for their mental wellbeing. It was found that Deaf and disabled people in Greater Manchester (especially those with diagnosed mental health conditions) are less happy, less satisfied with life, feel things are less worthwhile and are more anxious than hearing and non-disabled people.
The Greater Manchester Mental Wellbeing & Disability Report was pulled together in collaboration with Greater Manchester Disabled People's Panel and guided by our Greater Manchester Mental Wellbeing and Disability Task Group, chaired by Rick Burgess. Through direct consultation with Deaf and disabled people across Greater Manchester, the report captures Deaf and disabled people’s perspectives on what good mental wellbeing looks like. It also points to previous work and provides clear recommendations, at individual, community, and GM-levels, on how challenges in improving and maintaining a positive state of mental wellbeing can be overcome.
From 12-1.30pm at the Mechanics Conference Centre, click on the following Eventbrite link to sign up: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/309432560117
Tackling inequalities in outcomes, experience, and access is one of the key purposes of ICSs. This SCIE-hosted webinar for NHS England will explore how ICSs can deliver this ambition and use their new structures and leadership to make a step change in how we address health inequalities.
Book your place here.
This annual event, which focuses on improving good mental health across the nation, is hosted by the Mental Health Foundation.
This year’s theme will explore the impact of loneliness and how we can tackle it, following recent research by the Mental Health Foundation that showed that many people have increasingly been suffering from feelings of isolation and loneliness which has led to harmful consequences. They also discovered an increased demand from the public to see loneliness being addressed as a serious topic requiring urgent action.
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Join a discussion between leaders in social prescribing, culture, health and wellbeing, on referral to heritage and nature programmes for brain health. The GM social prescribing team's Charlotte Leonhardsen is on the panel.
You can find out more and register here.
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If you’d like to see a great example of co-production, join Hidden LIVE's immersive performance that will challenge you to encounter life as a young person struggling with their mental health. This multi-media theatre piece uses imagination and experiences of ‘real people’ and asks you to question what you can do to help. Book your free tickets here: Eventbrite
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NHSEI will be hosting NHS Big Conversation for Improvement, a virtual two-day initiative focused on improvement, to bring people together for a range of interactive discussions, workshops and presentations. This event will provide a space for people to talk through the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, explore continuous improvement opportunities and share fresh insights and ideas on how to promote the improvement of health and care for the benefit of patients, service users and those who care for them.
Register for the event here.
'Social Prescribing and inequalities: critical conversations and practical approaches’, is an online conference organised by University of Salford.
This conference will explore innovative approaches to help reduce health and social inequalities through social prescribing. The conference will help develop practical ideas and strategies which attendees can take away and implement within their own work and infrastructures.
The Person and Community Centred Approaches team's Julie McCarthy will be talking about Live Well, which seeks to build on the region's existing social prescribing offers to invest in resilience and wellbeing of people and communities, providing information and support, and connections into community activities. Dr Jaweeda Idoo is on a panel discussing how we can ensure social prescribing is integrated, localised and works to reduce inequalities. Tickets are available here.
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The event is for people affected by dementia, as well as health and social care staff and commissioners.
From 11am-3.15pm, the event is available to attend in person (priority will be given to people affected by dementia) and to access online.
To register your interest in attending the event and to receive further details please click here
The People and Communities team has created a new twitter account for all things people and community @GMPandC
Please do give us a follow, and tweet our posts, or tag us in the things you're doing (if you haven't already!).
We're looking forward to building a Twitter community.
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We share a Link Worker e-bulletin with practical information and resources from across the region and nationally. If you would like to be added to that distribution list, please email gmhscp.pcca@nhs.net
Thank you for taking the time to read the People and Communities e-bulletin and to those that contribute to the ongoing activity that embeds these approaches across Greater Manchester. If you have anything you would like us to share in future newsletters, please email gmhscp.pcca@nhs.net
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