Our stories
Caring together means people can be cared for in their own home
Last year, the Valens Primary Care Network (PCN) - a group of GP practices covering Ashington, Cramlington, Morpeth and Seaton Valley - launched a new approach to looking after frail people that enabled them to be cared for in the community.
Evidence suggests that the frailest patients will use hospital services in the last few years of their life and that access to a multi-skilled team approach improves outcomes and can help people be supported in their own homes.
Watch the film from Claire Tasker, the clinical neighbourhood matron for the Valens PCN and district nursing sister Lisa Brown, as they explain the project and talk about how it has made a difference for patients.
Caring together means supporting our young people to live happier and healthier lives
Children and young people aged between 11 and 25 years in Northumberland can access a free online service to support their mental health and wellbeing. The service, called Kooth, supports mental health at an early stage before problems escalate. The service has been especially important during the pandemic with increasing evidence that young people in the North East are struggling with sleep, sadness and loneliness. Kooth provides online counselling with qualified counsellors available through an online chat service and requires no waiting lists, referrals or thresholds.
Listen to what young people have to say about the service in this short film.
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Northumberland CCG, Northumbria Healthcare, Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust and the County Council have also been working together to reduce waiting times and improve support for young people needing mental health support.
With national trailblazer ‘pilot’ funding, mental health support teams have been recruited to work with young people in schools in Blyth and Hexham and more recently in Ashington and Bedlington. The teams, named ‘Be You’ by young people in Northumberland, aim to support children with mild to moderate mental health needs.
As part of the project a new website has been launched making it easier than ever for children and young people in Northumberland to access support remotely.
This pilot is part of a number of schemes across the county to speed up access to mental health support which have been hailed as a national example of best practice for their collaborative approach.
Waiting times have also reduced with around 90 per cent of young people now being seen within four weeks of their referral for mental health support.
New technology helping GPs identify and manage skin lesions
Northumberland, North Tyneside and Newcastle Gateshead clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) have purchased innovative dermatoscopes that allow GPs to send high-quality images of suspicious skin lesions to consultant dermatologists for assessment.
For those patients where the skin lesion doesn’t need further investigation, it can avoid unnecessary travel to hospital and supported reductions in waiting times.
By attaching a dermatoscope to a smart phone, GPs and their colleagues can take a magnified image of a skin lesion. This is then attached to an e-referral which is vetted by a consultant at Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust's dermatology department. After a clincial review, the department then invites those who need to be seen by a clinician to a day surgery or an outpatient clinic. The images of the skin lesion can be taken by administration staff, clinicians or health care assistants within the GP practice.
The initiative has been vital during the Covid-19 pandemic when there was reduced space in hospital waiting rooms (due to social distancing) and less travelling.
Working together to support children and young people with special educational needs and/or a disability
The Northumberland County Council Special Education Needs and Disability (SEND) service provides information about what support is available in Northumberland for children and young people aged 0- 25 years with special education needs and or a disability (SEND) and their families. It’s a collaboration across health, care and education that gives advice and guidance on all aspects of their lives whether that’s health, social care, transport or education.
Since March 2020, when the country experienced its first lockdown period, the local authority continued to support them whilst also keeping them safe. Within two weeks the team had received all the information required from schools and settings for those children and young people with Educational Health Care Plans (EHCP) so they could make sure that schools were working with children and families, but also allowing the team to understand how they could support those who were wishing to learn from home.
Where face-to-face learning or support from our specialist teaching teams and educational psychologists could not take place due to restrictions and safety measures, a virtual offer was made. Additional mental health and wellbeing resources were shared with Northumberland families. Schools and other settings also received regular support during the pandemic from both educational and specialist teams where needed.
To find out more visit: www.northumberland.gov.uk/localoffer
"I can’t thank the team enough for everything they have done. I have been really impressed that everything has kept going through lockdown, I have still been receiving phone calls and the process has happened much quicker than I thought it would!"
Caring together
to energise Blyth
The ‘Energising Blyth’ programme which includes the Heart of Blyth project, sought views from residents about what ‘healthier lives’ means to them.
A community conversation took place with local residents and business owners in Blyth as well as Northumberland County Council, Northumbria Police, Community and Voluntary Action Blyth Valley, other community groups and voluntary sector organisations.
The information is now being used to develop a 'Heart of Blyth' plan ready to be presented, along with 11 other areas in England, to national judges at the Health Foundation where five areas will be selected for up to £300,000 of funding to bring their plans to life later this year.
Working together to support wellbeing and mental health across Northumberland
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Mental Health Concern and NHS Northumberland Clinical Commissioning Group have joined forces to offer extra mental health support for those living in the Northumberland.
People from Northumberland are being asked to help develop a 'Recovery College' which will provide learning experiences, mutual support and access to activities to help prevent peoples’ mental health issues from getting worse.
The college won’t be housed in a building, but activity will instead be coordinated, across the area, by five groups of people based in North Northumberland, Tynedale, Morpeth, the Cramlington, Bedlington and Seaton Valley area and in the Blyth and Ashington area.
These five groups will work with anyone who wants to get involved to develop the programme of activities to support peoples’ mental wellbeing – by suggesting activities that have helped them in the past or by running sessions. Examples of what other recovery colleges offer include yoga, mindfulness, music sessions, creative writing, stress management, how to manage anxiety and emotional awareness.
Emma Fynan, who runs Yogacell and has supported the Northumberland Recovery College since November last year, said: “It feels great to be part of something that is making a real difference to peoples’ lives. What the college does is help remove barriers to people accessing activities in local communities that will support them, which is just fantastic!
Kate O’Brien, NHS Northumberland CCG’s senior head of commissioning for child health, learning disabilities and mental health, said: “This is such an exciting partnership and addition to mental health services in Northumberland. The special and powerful thing about the recovery college is that it will be developed and delivered by people who really understand mental health illness through lived experience.
Adam Crampsie, chief executive at Mental Health Concern, said: “We’re here to provide activities and interest groups that people are passionate about, so we encourage anyone who would like to get involved to make suggestions about what might help their wellbeing. Northumberland Recovery College is yours – this is your opportunity to shape it!”