National Self Care Awareness Week, 15-21 November 2010
What is Self Care Week 2010?
A national awareness week which aims to get people “Learning to live well” by taking control of their own health and wellbeing by finding out about the information and support that already exists to help them self care. This years Week is building on the success of the first Self Care Week in 2009.What is Self Care?
Self care includes the actions people take every day in order to stay fit and maintain good physical and mental health, meet their social and psychological needs, prevents illness or accidents, and care more effectively for minor ailments and long term conditions. People living with a long term condition can benefit enormously from being supported to self care. They can live longer, suffer less pain, anxiety, depression and fatigue, have a better quality of life and be more active and independent.Why hold another Self Care Week?
Self Care Week 2009 was such a success last year and feedback showed that people were keen to run another awareness Week. Many organisations felt it was a great way to raise the profile of the services they offer to people to help them look after their own health and wellbeing.How Self Care can help you
- Self Care is about taking control of your own health and well being
- Self Care is how you treat minor ailments, take medicines and seek help when you need it as well as keeping fit and healthy.
- Learning to look after your health is a good thing – puts you in control, improves your quality of life and helps you live more healthily
- Your local pharmacist can give you help and advice about your health and well being, and about treating minor ailments, particularly if you have a long term condition
- Arrange a Self Care for You course in your workplace. Employees can learn how to take control of their health and wellbeing by following the NHS developed course, which has demonstrated benefits for both employer and employee.
Contact us for further information.
Too many visit GPs with minor ailments
16 March 2010, BBC News Health correspondent Adam Brimelow reports on minor ailment costs to NHS budgets.Too many people are going to see their GP with minor problems, such as coughs and colds, a group of doctors and health campaigners says.
The report by the "Self-Care Campaign" says common ailments account for nearly one fifth of GPs' workload.
It says the cost to the health service across the UK is nearly £2bn a year.
Self Care Week 9-15 November 2009
The NHS has run the first national Self Care Week to raise awareness of the improvements everyone can make to their health by taking a more active role in their own health and wellbeing. Self Care Week ran from 9-15 November 2009.
All of our lives can be improved by taking better care of ourselves, whether by taking regular exercise or managing a long term health condition. Self Care Week aims to:
- Raise awareness of self care and how it can help everyone, not just those with long term and chronic conditions
- Encourage people to use the range of information and resources to help them to self care including the NHS Choices website
- Explain how care planning and new technology can assist people with self care
- Encourage patients with long term conditions to discuss a personal care plan with their GP or nurse
Encouraging patients to be involved in managing their own care does not mean they will receive less support from the NHS. One of the aims of Self Care Week is to raise awareness of Personalised Care Plans and to encourage everyone with a long term condition to discuss making a plan with their GP or nurse. This ensures patients have discussed what matters to them together with the support and services available to them and have a record of the decisions made about their care.
Health Minister Ann Keen said:
As a nurse I’ve seen the difference it makes to patients’ wellbeing when they are well informed and involved in decisions about their care. I would encourage everyone who has a long term health condition to speak to their GP or nurse to make sure they have all the support they need and agree a Personalised Care Plan.
Self Care Week isn’t just for people with health conditions. The NHS is holding events around the country with information on how to make lifestyle changes and help people take better care of themselves and families.
Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson, 11-time gold medal Paralympic champion said:
Having lived with Spina Bifida for most of my life, I know just how important it is to have the confidence, support and knowledge to manage a condition and not let it manage you.
I hope that Self Care Week encourages people to take control of their health and wellbeing with the support of their healthcare professional and begin to self care. This is a real opportunity for patients, carers and healthcare professionals to focus on the important issue of self care for people living with a long term condition.
Equality, Diversity and Community Cohesion Programme
2009 has seen development of the new 'Training for Difference' resource for Sangini, a Sunderland based Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) women’s organisation. The Equality, Diversity and Community Cohesion programme was piloted with Sunderland Teaching Primary Care Trust, Equality & Diversity Trainers. Participants left the one day Train the Trainer course with a training pack and resources to enable them to cascade the training in a half day session to their staff teams.
The training has received positive feedback and I will be working with Sangini in 2010 to build upon the pilot phase and role the programme out across the North East.
Quote from an NHS Manager course participant:
If you or your organisation are interested in finding out more about this initiative or would like to participate in equality and diversity training, please contact me for further details.“We all enjoyed it very much indeed and the day was the right mixture of information, interaction and challenges. It felt a very professional approach to what can be a complex area and thank you again for giving us the opportunity.”
Christine Hamilton
Disability, Society and the Law
Christine has been developing accredited training programmes around equality, diversity and disability for D’ArtE, a Sunderland based disability organisation covering the North East of England. The programmes are accredited through the Open College Network North East Region and the National Open College Network. These programmes will be delivered from October 2009 and include:
- OCNNER Level 2 - 1 Credit – DDA The Safety Net – 1 day course
- NOCN QCF Level 2 – 3 Credits – Understanding Disability, Society and the Law – 2 day course
I will be assisting D’ArtE in the delivery of these programmes and in 2010 will be developing a Level 4 ‘Managing Equality and Diversity’ programme.
Please contact us for more information on any of the above programmes.