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Life After Stroke Campaign

2012-06-06T00:00:00

We want all people affected by stroke to be able to access:

- health services that provide the best possible treatment and care
- social care that is fair and effective
- support that keeps survivors and their families out of poverty
- high quality stroke services in every area
- more effective stroke prevention.

The Life After Stroke campaign challenges the barriers standing in the way of recovery. Your help is vital:

1. Join the stroke movement
2. Share the Struggling to recover report
3. Tweet your support using #Lifeafterstroke

Go to http://www.stroke.org.uk/campaigns to join the campaign

South Tyneside CCG’s Commissioning Plan is now accessible via the following link:

2012-06-06T00:00:00

With the ongoing commitment to improve the care of people with LTCs who are progressing towards the latter stage of life Dr Nixon is working on a number of proposals. In line with the End of Life strategy towards people choosing where to end their last days of life and elderly people in care homes, advanced care planning is to be spread across as many patients as possible. The hopes of aligning a care home (whether residential or nursing) to a GP practice is being worked through for more proactive care and the start of an improved in hours and out of hours palliative care will address many issues, including better care of dementia as a patient progresses towards the end of life.

http://www.southtynesideccg.nhs.uk/our-priorities/

A survey for people with epilepsy about their medication

2012-06-06T00:00:00

The Epilepsy Society has been working with The School of Pharmacy to develop a survey for people with epilepsy about their medications. The survey aims to understand the experiences of people with epilepsy who take anti-epileptic drugs: why they do (or do not) take their medications, how they feel about their medication, and whether anything helps, or hinders, them taking medication.

Epilepsy Society hopes, through this survey, to better understand how people with epilepsy feel and think about their medications, and to find ways in which to help support individuals with 'taking the tablets'.

The survey can be accessed through Epilepsy Society's website

www.epilepsysociety.org.uk/targetingseizures

Printed copies are available from the Epilepsy Society by calling
01494 601 392

Have you got a personal health budget – do you want one?

2012-06-05T00:00:00

Recently, peoplehub picked up the rein to host the online forum for people with a personal health budget on its new website, www.peoplehub.org.uk The peoplehub network aims to connect people with direct experience of personal health budgets, empower them with clear and accurate information and provide an opportunity for their voices to be heard. The forum, previously on NHS Choices, is a virtual space where people with a personal health budget (or who are interested in having one), their families and carers can talk about their experiences, ask questions and support each other. The forum is the first part of the peoplehub website to go live, with new content coming soon.

Peoplehub Understanding Personal Health Budget on its new website, www.peoplehub.org.uk The peoplehub network aims to connect people with direct

Government response to the Public Accounts Committee Report

2012-06-04T00:00:00

The government has now published their response to the Public Accounts Committee recommendations on improving neurological services, including services for people with Parkinson's. The Neurological Alliance, Parkinson's UK, along with the MS Society and MND Association have been working with the National Audit Office and Public Accounts Committee to explain the ongoing issues with neurological services, and detail how these services could be improved.
We were very disappointed by the Department of Health's (DH) response. We felt that their response failed to address the real problems highlighted by the Public Accounts Committee. In particular, a key issue with neurological services has been a lack of national coordination. However, the DH's rejection of a National Clinical Lead and emphasis on hands-off monitoring and direction demonstrates they do not recognise this specific problem in neurological services, nor are motivated to address it.
The Neurological Alliance is now considering how we can ensure these vital issues are addressed in government policy, given this reaction from the Department of Health.

>> Public Accounts Committee Report

Parkinson’s launch UK research study

2012-04-16T00:00:00

Newcastle and Carlisle are two of 31 centres taking part in a UK study "Tracking Parkinson's" which will for instance look at blood indicators as tools to aid diagnosis. This study aims to recruit 3,000 volunteers - people recently diagnosed with Parkinson's (in the last three years) and those aged under the age of 50 at diagnosis, and their brothers and sisters - to take part in clinical study.
To find out more about how to take part in Tracking Parkinson's call our freephone helpline 0808 800 0303, or visit www.parkinsons.org.uk/tracking for full details.

Government e-petition

2012-06-13T00:00:00

ME North East Chairman, Philip Burns has lodged a petition on the government calling for a stop to discrimination by ESA against people with long-term medical conditions such as ME.

e-petitions are an easy, personal way for you to influence government and Parliament in the UK. You can create an e-petition about anything that the government is responsible for and if it gets at least 100,000 signatures, it will be considered for debate in the House of Commons. You can find more information about how the House of Commons deals with e-petitions on the Backbench Business Committee website: www.parliament.uk/bbcom

Please support ME North East by simply following the link http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk and type ESA into the search box.

The petition is open until March 2013.

Chase Park Music Festival returns for 2012!!

2012-06-20T00:00:00

A major music festival aimed at including people of all abilities will be returning to the North-East this summer for a third consecutive year.

The hugely successful Chase Park Music Festival, which is the biggest open air event of its kind in the UK, is a collaboration between Whickham Villa and the Percy Hedley Foundation.

The organisers, along with the UKs leading Music Development Agency Generator, will work with disabled people to plan, promote and participate in the festival, that in 2012 has its finest line-up to date.

To sign up for FREE tickets please head over to www.whickhamvilla.co.uk and if you would like to find a bit more about the festival hit http://www.chaseparkfest.com/index.html

Public Meeting - NHS Gateshead Clinical Commissioning

2012-06-25T00:00:00

NHS Gateshead Clinical Commissioning Group is working with NHS South of
Tyne and Wear (on behalf of Gateshead Primary Care Trust) to deliver improved urgent and emergency care services for the people of Gateshead.

Our aim is to provide universal access to high quality urgent and emergency care services 24/7, so that whatever the need, whatever the location, people get the best care, from the best person, in the best place at the best time. In order to deliver this vision, we need to make a number of changes to the way we deliver these services in Gateshead.

The Department of Health defines urgent and emergency care as the range of healthcare services available to people who need medical advice, diagnosis and/or treatment quickly and unexpectedly. This includes for example, accident and emergency and walk-in services.
A key part of this work will be the relocation of the Gateshead walk-in service from Bensham Hospital to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Gateshead, where it will be delivered as part of an integrated urgent and emergency care service, alongside the Accident and Emergency Department (A&E).

Please find the Public meeting dates and times below:

17 July from 12.30pm
Gateshead Old Town Hall
West Street
Gateshead
NE8 1HE

17 August from 9.30am
Birtley Leisure Centre
Durham Road
Birtley
DH3 2TB

3 September from 4.30pm
St Chad's Community Project
21 Liddell Terrace
Bensham
Gateshead
NE8 1YN

Collecting evidence – What difference do MS Specialist Nurses make?

2012-07-25T00:00:00

In April 2012, the MS Trust launched a project called Generating Evidence in Multiple Sclerosis Services. This project will support MS nurse teams to evaluate their services over the course of a year, to the end of March 2013. Two of our region's MS Nurses are involved in the project. Jane and Miriam work for Northumbria Healthcare and will be keeping the Neurosciences Network and North of Tyne Neuro Forum up to date.

The ‘Best Practice in…’ Series

2012-10-08T00:00:00

Back by popular demand! Starting Thursday 25th October 2012 and the last Thursday of the month after that, speakers from the Association of Chartered Physiotherapists Interested in Neurology (ACPIN) are giving an hour's talk on current best practice in a variety of neurological conditions.

These events are being held at various locations throughout the North East from 4.30 - 5.30pm.The programme will run as follows:

25th October 2012 - Motor Neurone Disease: Sue Gavaghan at James Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough.

29th November 2012 - Management of the Acute Neuro-Surgical Patient: Penny Maddock at Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle.

31st January 2013 - Stroke from a Physio Perspective: TBA

28th February 2013 at 5pm - The Bobath Concept: its place in contemporary neuro rehabilitation: Paul Johnson at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Gateshead.

28th March 2013 - Functional Disorders: Jason Price, Neuro Psychologist atJames Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough.

The events are FREE to ACPIN members, £5 to non-ACPIN members
To join ACPIN please visit www.acpin.net

For more information or to confirm your attendance at any of the events, please email: northernacpin@hotmail.co.uk

Rehabilitation Reference Centre

2012-08-09T00:00:00

NHS staff in the North East now have access to a REHABILITATION REFERENCE CENTRE, an evidence based point of care clinical reference tool. International in scope, it is a valuable on line database for staff and students in the area of physiotherapy and occupational therapy.

For information please see flyer attached.