Healthwatch Derbyshire are currently conducting a piece of work around  digital health appointment. During the Covid pandemic there has been a significant rise in the use of digital services in place of face-to-face services, such as telephone appointments, video consultations, text messaging and others. Healthwatch aims to highlight where virtual appointments may not have met the needs of patients and help to provide understanding for the reasons why people had not engaged with services in a virtual format.

Do you live in Chesterfield?

Do you work or study in Chesterfield?

Do you care about Chesterfield?

Your Life, Your Chesterfield is a fun and interactive way to get together to talk about the big things and the little things, what we love about our lives and what we don’t, what we value about Chesterfield and what could be better.   It’s absolutely free to attend.  

What’s important to us all in Chesterfield? It could be about… 

• Our connections with family, friends, neighbours  
• Our health and the way we feel in body and in mind 
• How we use local services 
• Our home 
• Our street 
• Our community 
• Our work 
• Our town 

If you join us, you can be sure that:

1. Everyone’s life experiences count .
2. Everyone will have a chance to say their thing in the way they want to say it  .
3. Everyone will be respectful – in what they say and how they listen  

We’ll be walking a path together: this event is the first of several opportunities for us to talk together about what matters in our lives.  

Who are we and why are we doing this? 

We are a partnership of organisations working together to support communities in Chesterfield.  We want to build bridges between people, communities and services, so we can shape Chesterfield together in a more joined up way. 

When is it?

The first session is repeated – you can choose your preferred date:
Tuesday   8^th September 10.30am-12.30pm   OR
Thursday 17^th September 12.30pm-2.30pm 

Click here for full info & booking

Funding Talk: Fat Beehive Foundation
 
Thursday, August 20, 2020 from 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM
 
The Fat Beehive Foundation Grant for Digital Services
 

Improving your digital presence can be transformational, but it’s really tough to secure funding in this area. The Fat Beehive Foundation exists to change that, offering small grants of up to £2,500 to charities with a turnover of less than £1 million.
Come and find out more about what they fund and how to apply.

Book via Eventbrite HERE

Find out more about The Fat Beehive Foundation and the funding they offer by visiting their website HERE

Dr Louise Merriman, Clinical Lead for Cancer for NHS Derby and Derbyshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) joins health professionals from across the country in the call to action following a decrease in people visiting their GP with cancer concerns in the wake of Covid-19.

Latest county figures show ‘two week wait’ referrals – requests from GPs for an urgent hospital appointment for a patient who has symptoms that might indicate cancer – are now at around 85% of pre-Covid level.

Dr Merriman, a partner GP at Springs Medical Centre, Clowne, said it is vital everyone with cancer concerns seeks advice as soon as possible as delays in diagnosis and treatment can affect the outcomes for patients.

She said: “Do not hesitate to contact your GP is you have any worries about symptoms associated with cancer.

“The NHS website has a detailed section you can check at www.nhs.uk/conditions/cancer/symptoms/ but signs to look out for include the sudden appearance of a lump, blood in your urine, a change to your usual bowel habits or unexplained weight loss.

“If you have any of these, contact your GP immediately.”

To reduce the risk of cancers not being diagnosed and treated as quickly as they would have been prior to Covid-19, the CCG is working with NHS health care providers to:

• Make sure patients are aware they should contact their GP if they have any concerns or symptoms so they can be referred and screened.
• Give patients rapid access to diagnosis by working with the county’s hospitals to support them with their plans to manage cases while Covid-19 measures continue.

Dr Merriman added: “We really appreciate the support of the public in protecting the NHS while we all fight Covid-19, but the NHS is – and always has been – open for business.

“Nobody should risk their health because they feel like they don’t want to take up valuable appointment time.

“And if you’re worried about visiting your practice because of the risks of contracting Covid-19 you should know that stringent infection and prevention control measures are in place to keep patients and staff safe and well.

“We’re continuing to work with all our frontline partners to make sure patients are seen quickly, and that those receiving a cancer diagnosis get the best course of treatment for them, to support their quality of life and lead to recovery wherever possible.”

Derbyshire Bordeline Personality Disorder Support Group run support groups in Chesterfield, Ilkeston, Swadlincote and Matlock, discussing all aspects of BPD for both those with the condition and those supporting someone with BPD.

Click HERE to read their latest newsletter.

Sue Wheatcroft, group coordinator, has written a blog for Rethink Mental Illness in which she explains what it is like living with BPD, and what impact the Covid-19 pandemic can have on the way we all look at the condition. Read it here: https://www.rethink.org/news-and-stories/blogs/2020/08/bpd-covid-19-and-me/

Action for Happiness create monthly calendars packed with actions you can take to help create a happier and kinder world. This Altruistic August Calendar has daily actions for August2020 to take one kind act per day.

You can download the Alturistic August Calendar HERE.

You can sign up to receive monthly calendars and there are also other language versions available too: https://www.actionforhappiness.org/altruistic-august