IRU - Friday 24th February 2023 | Healthwatch Stockport

Welcome to this week's Information Round-up

This week has been more quiet than last week due to it being half term. We started the week going to Walthew House to 'say hello' and listen to issues people with sensory loss are having accessing their GP, hospitals and dentists. If you would like us to come to your organisation to give a talk, please contact us.

You may have missed these recent articles that we have published since the start of the year.

If you want to receive the IRU link weekly you can sign up here and you will receive an email every week with the link as soon as it is public.

THIS MONDAY!

Healthwatch Stockport Briefing Session: Pharmacy Access with GMLPC

This session, is this Monday 27^th February 2023, 12:30pm till 2:00pm. It will be online via Teams.

This briefing session will be about Pharmacy Access and led by Peter Marks & Karishma Visram from the Greater Manchester Local Pharmaceutical Committee (GMLPC)

Please let us know if you wish to attend by booking online by clicking here or by contacting the office.

About- briefing sessions are online sessions where we invite other organisations to talk about their priorities and if there is anyway Healthwatch can get involved with their work. The sessions are for anyone who is interested in Health and Care in Stockport.

Time is nearly up to have your say on GP Access

We had over 600 responses on our survey on accessing your GP.

Have you had your say? We want to make sure that every voice is heard and let the people of Stockport have their say on accessing their GP.

Take the survey now.

Closing date: Tuesday 28^th February 2023.

Social Care Project: Take Part

We are undertaking a project focused on examples of people not getting the right help when they need social care support.

We are working with other local Healthwatch across the country to do a series of interviews with people, who feel overlooked or underserved by the current social care system. We want to understand the impact this has on your life. We are able to offer each interviewee £100 for up to 10 people.

Read more about the project. If you or you know anyone that would be suitable for this project, please get in touch.

The closing date for applying for this project (Wednesday 1^st March 2023)

'Referrals black hole’ - new findings of people’s experiences of GP referrals

Message from Healthwatch England

One in five people Healthwatch England spoke to with a GP referral for specialist care had bounced back to general practice. This suggests potentially serious issues with referral processes. We are calling for more to be done to understand people’s experience of getting a referral.

[WATCH] Inside our Autistic minds

Since sharing his own autism diagnosis with the world, naturalist and presenter Chris Packham has been flooded with letters and emails from other autistic people, frustrated that their friends, families and co-workers don’t understand them. And in this series, Chris wants to bridge the gap.

Watch now on BBC iPlayer

Cost of living crisis statement by SignHealth

SignHealth are a passionate and caring Deaf-led team working towards a future where there are no barriers to good health and wellbeing for Deaf people, they partner with the NHS and service providers across the country.

An update on Stockport Volunteer Hub

Message from Stockport Volunteer Hub

This is a message to let you know that we are currently experiencing a staff shortage at the Volunteer Hub as Lee (Volunteer Hub Lead) is temporarily out of the office.

The rest of the team are managing the Volunteer Hub in Lee’s absence, however, please be aware there will be a delay in our response. Please do not call or message the Stockport Volunteer Hub number as this is currently not in use.

If you are looking for a volunteer role, in the first instance, please visit the Volunteer Hub website, have a browse of the roles available and apply directly via the relevant organisation.

We have paused the Volunteer Hub Drop-ins at the One Stockport Hub for the moment, we will let you know as soon as these recommence.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused, but please be rest assured that this is a temporary situation and we will let you know as soon as we are back up and running at full capacity again.

Finding a role

The Volunteer Hub website is regularly updated with the latest volunteering opportunities across Stockport.

Volunteering Opportunities

Stockport Moves (sport for social good) Network - 2nd March

Message from Steve Flynn (BOOST)

Just a brief reminder that we are holding our next Stockport Moves (sport for social good) Network meeting on 2nd March at 1pm, Cornerstone.

I’ve you’ve registered then many thanks. If you haven’t then you still have time to do so here:

Register now

Stockport Council updates & One Stockport Celebration Event

Updates from Sarah Burke (Stockport Council)

See documents attached.

Updates from Stockport Council - 22nd February

Download (OCX 32 KB)

One Stockort Celebration Event 23 March - invite

Download (PDF 823 KB)

Read Easy Stockport

Message from Barbara (Read Easy)

Read Easy Stockport now has more trained volunteer Reading Coaches ready to support adults who would like help with reading? Our service is free, confidential and a one-to-one basis.

See the attached for more information

Read Easy Brochure

Download (PDF 2.23 MB)

Pennine Care

Message from Pennine Care

We are recruiting two new non-executive directors - and an associate non-executive director, which offers a development opportunity for someone who may not have held a Board position previously.

We would therefore appreciate you sharing our recruitment microsite link with anyone you know who may be interested: Pennine Care non-exec director recruitment microsite

Public Committee Member Opportunities - NIHR Programmes

Message from Caroline Hillier (NIHR)

The National Institute for Health and Care Research is inviting members of the public to join one of their national and regional committees who are responsible for making funding recommendations in health and social care research.

The committees play an important role in helping us deliver our mission to improve the health and wealth of the nation through research. Through funding by the Department of Health and Social Care, the NIHR enables and delivers world-leading health and social care research that improves people's health and wellbeing, and promotes economic growth.

We are looking for people who have a broad interest in health, social care and actions to improve public health and address health inequalities.

You do not need to have a scientific background to help us shape research! We are looking for people who are able to use their own experiences to improve the research we wish to fund.

The NIHR is committed to promoting equality, diversity and inclusion in all areas of our work. We recognise public contributors may encounter barriers to involvement. We will take steps to ensure we are as accessible and inclusive as possible. We want to increase the diversity of our public contributors and the voices heard in research, and are trying to take positive steps to improve representation in our committees.

For more information about the role and how to apply, visit the NIHR website: Public Committee Member - NIHR Programmes

We would be happy to answer any questions about these opportunities and provide guidance and support on the application process, please contact us by email: publicrecruitment@nihr.ac.uk