NHSLothian

issue 23 : March 2013

westlothianchcp.org.uk receives on average 3,000 hits a month. Help us keep it up to date and promote it.Email updates to fiona.duffy@westlothian.gov.uk

A Day in the Life of... pg 2

2020 Vision pg 2

New befriending service pg 3

Well done Shena pg 4

this issue...

A recently published national report has shown that the dental health of Primary 1 children in Lothian continues to improve and exceeds the national target for this age group. In West Lothian 66 per cent of Primary 1 children have no obvious decay (exceeding the target of 60 per cent).

This improvement has been assisted over the years by the distribution of free toothbrushes and toothpaste to pre-school children. However it is thought that the rapid improvement seen between 2008 and 2010 can be attributed to the Childsmile fluoride varnishing programme.

Childsmile is a national programme designed to improve the oral health of children in Scotland and reduce inequalities both in dental health and in access to dental services. All general dental practitioners (GDP) and salaried dentists should be offering participation in Childsmile and it is hoped that the combined effort of the nursery/school programme and primary care dentists will see oral health inequalities within Lothian close further.

Clinical Director for the Salaried Primary Care Dental Service, Robert Naysmith, said “I am delighted in the improvement in the oral health of very young children since 2008. This means that fewer children are suffering with pain and discomfort from decayed teeth. With the support of GDPs in the community we look forward to further improvement by the next survey in 2014.”

Contact: vanessa.strong@nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk

At the other end of the age spectrum the oral health of older people in care homes has been improved by the Lifesmile programme which aims to improve the oral health of older people by providing a comprehensive training programme for carers of dependent older people in care homes.

Lifesmile operates in approximately 60 care homes across Lothian and a small number of care homes for adults with learning disabilities living in the community. Training is also offered to personal carers who provide care one to one in residents’ own homes. All care homes should have an arrangement with a local dentist, either an independent general dental practitioner, or a dentist from the CHCP dental service, so that their residents receive regular dental care.

Scottish Government funding has been secured to enable expansion of the Lifesmile programme to all care homes for frail older people and adults with special care needs by the end of March 2014.

Contact: jackie.helanor@nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk

Smiles all round

New strategies for carers A new strategy for carer support is being developed in West Lothian and will cover the period up until 2015. The strategy has been produced locally by a group consisting of representatives of carers, Carers of West Lothian, NHS West Lothian and West Lothian Council and reflects genuine partnership working.

The aim of the strategy is: • to recognise the contribution carers

make to the community • that they are valued as equal partners

in care • that they are supported and

empowered to manage their caring responsibilities with confidence and in good health and

• to have a life of their own outside of the caring role.

There are separate strategies for adults and young carers, each with clear action plans detailing current and planned support services for carers and they are well laid out and easy to follow. The strategies can be downloaded from West Lothian Council’s website www.westlothian.gov.uk/social_health/1350/ and Carers of West Lothian’s website www.carers-westlothian.com

The consultation period, which started in December, ended on 4 March. However if you are interested and have not seen the draft strategies please contact Carers of West Lothian as soon as possible to arrange to read and comment on them if you wish.

For more information please contact Carers of West Lothian on 01506 771750 or email : office@carers-westlothian.com

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contact usWest Life is published three times a year and made available to all CHCP employees. We welcome your feedback on anything covered in this issue and suggestions for future issues. Please contact info@westlothianchcp.org.uk

The next deadline for copy is 01 June 2010

New falls education programme

Support for Carers aged 50+Carers of West Lothian has also just launched an exciting new service for people aged fifty and over, looking after someone for the first time or experiencing changes in their caring role. Through this service they can offer a free carers information booklet and quarterly newsletter, one to one support, signposting, access to carers advocacy and counselling, support groups and carers training, holistic therapies and recreational activities. For a copy of the free information booklet and newsletter or for more information, contact 01506 771750 or email office@carers-westlothian.com.

launchKeep well is a national anticipatory care project that aims to reduce health inequalities by offering a health check to people aged 45 to 64 to identify those at risk of preventable, serious ill health. The focus is on reducing heart disease and stroke and its main risk factors such as blood pressure, cholesterol, smoking and diabetes.

The Keep well project also provides an enhanced service through Keep well outreach workers. Outreach service supports GP Practices providing one to one support encompassing a complex range of health and social support issues, as well as providing information and/or supporting engagement with a range of services.

The project is aimed at individuals in target populations and is being extended to five GP practices in West Lothian.

The launch of the project will be held in Livingston on 18 March.

For more information contact Elaine Leslie 01506 771871 or Gill Cottrell 01506 281003.

Carers of West Lothian, the voluntary organisation providing information and support to unpaid carers in West Lothian, has been awarded funding to run a new falls education programme.The programme will benefit people with a progressive neurological disorder (such as Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s, Motor Neurone and Huntington’s Disease) and their unpaid carers.

People suffering from this type of condition generally have poorer mobility and balance in comparison to others. As a result they are more likely to fall, inevitably leading to a worsening of their abilities.

The programme will run over a 14-month period and will cover different topics, led by an expert in that field. Topics will include managing specific aspects of their condition, sleep, stress, activity, time management, communication skills, mindfulness, managing relapse and forward planning.

The programme will also teach people how to improve life with their condition through low impact, gentle exercise delivered by a qualified Tai Chi Instructor.

Carers of West Lothian will work in partnership with the Falls Prevention Co-ordinator and CHCP professional staff in the delivery of the programme.

New CHCP Enquiry Line telephone number: 01506 282930

For further information or if you wish to make a referral to the programme, please contact Sharan Glendinning, Development Worker (Carer Training), Carers of West Lothian on 01506 771750 or Kirstie Stenhouse, Falls Co-ordinator, CHCP on 01506 771768.

newsletter for staff working in CHCP

For more information about the CHCP go to www.westlothianchcp.org.uk

A day in the life of a Children’s Rights Officer Who? Janis Watson Children’s Rights Officer

A day in the life of a Children’s Rights Officer is wide and varied. My role is to provide advocacy and support for young people who are looked after at home and away from home. When working with young people I explain what their rights are and give them my contact details so they can text or phone me when they need my help.

On arrival at work I check phone messages and emails as it is important to contact young people as soon as I can if they have left me a message. Once I have done this I leave the office to meet a young person at her school to go over the details she has told me previously, as I have been cited to attend court to give her views regarding contact with her Dad. I leave there and drive to Fife for a LAC (Looked After Children) review for a young person at a residential school.

On leaving the school, I receive a phone call from a young person who is upset about something that has happened at school. I arrange to visit the next day.

I return to the Civic Centre and take a phone call from a parent who is at the end of her tether about a court decision regarding her son. I arrange to visit her son to speak to him about the situation and see how I can help.

In the afternoon, I attend a Children’s Hearing with a young person who has

asked for my support at the Hearing. Once this is finished I contact a social worker who has a young person who would like to attend the Having Your Say group. There are three of these groups, which run every three weeks for young people age 6-10 years, 10-12 years, and 12-16 years. I arrange to visit the young person at home to explain more about what happens at the groups.

I then prepare for the Having Your Say group that night and contact the staff who support me with the group to check all arrangements are in place. Once the night is over on the way home I think about the young people I have met that day and I am full of admiration for the way they cope with some of the difficulties they experience.

The best part about this job is the amazing young people I meet. We have a laugh, we talk and most importantly seeing the young person’s face when a decision goes their way.

Welcome to my day!

NHS Scotland has a 2020 vision with the aim that

everyone will live longer, healthier lives at home

or in a homely setting. This will be delivered in a

healthcare system that is integrated with social

care, focusing on prevention, anticipation and

supported self-management. At the heart of the

vision are quality improvements and the pursuit

of the NHS Scotland Quality Ambitions of safe,

effective and person-centred care.

Achieving this 2020 Healthcare Vision will mean

changing how services are delivered, with staff

doing different things in different ways and

with new skills. To make this vision a reality NHS

Scotland is developing a 2020 Workforce Vision

that will look at how things are done now and

what needs to be strengthened or changed. To

shape the NHS Scotland 2020 Workforce Vision

we need to hear from people who make up that

workforce.

Over the coming months some will get the

opportunity to input through facilitated

conversations. However to make sure your voice

gets heard you can take part and feedback your

views through the online forum at:

www.workforcevision.scot.nhs.uk

The 2020 Workforce Vision will be published in

June 2013. It will be the start of a conversation

about what is needed to deliver high quality

sustainable healthcare for the people of Scotland

for the future.

CHCP Health staff can also access the website via

the banner on the front page of NHS Lothian’s

intranet at: http://intranet.lothian.scot.nhs.uk/

nhslothian/Pages/default.aspx

New Horizon Guide 2013

The latest edition of the New Horizon Guide is now available.

Aimed at the 60+ age group, the Guide is a handy booklet

online and in print, which provides information on a range of services from travel and transport to networking groups and safety in the home.

Printed copies are being distributed to Social Work Centres, CIS centres, Libraries and GP surgeries. You can download the current version from the website: www.westlothian.gov.uk/newhorizon

Excellent Work

For more information about the CHCP go to www.westlothianchcp.org.uk

Children’s Rights Officer

New befriending service for older people

The aim of the service is to make a positive contribution to the older person’s quality of life, health and sense of wellbeing by offering low level support which will:v Reduce feelings of loneliness and

isolationv Increase feelings of self worthv Promote feelings of connectedness

as well as interaction with the local community

v Support the development of informal support networks.

A range of befriending is offered such as:

TELEPHONE BEFRIENDING - daily ‘good day’ or weekly ‘friendship’ calls to an older person, providing them with social interaction and companionship.

FACE-TO-FACE BEFRIENDING - volunteers provide social companionship on a weekly or fortnightly basis.

Activities could include going to a social club, for a coffee. The aim is to build a trusting relationship doing activities in the local community encouraging the older person to establish their own support network.

GROUP BEFRIENDING - groups are led by staff and supported by volunteers. The activities will be led by the older people themselves and may include outings, arts sessions or going for a meal out.

DRIVING – drivers can help to take older people to meet up with their friends, visit relatives etc, where they find public transport difficult.

Criteria for receiving the serviceUsers of the service need to be aged 65 years plus, resident within West Lothian and deemed to be at increased risk of social isolation and loneliness due to:

v Living distant to families and friendsv Being recently bereavedv Being a carer with an increased risk of

social isolationv Recently leaving hospital and

experiencing a change to abilities v Being geographically remote from

centre populationv Having limited mobility – no access to

car and unable to use public transportv Assessed as being at risk from isolation

and loneliness due to other factors.

All referrals need to come through the CHCP. Those wishing to make a referral, having obtained the consent of the individual concerned, should make a telephone referral to the Befriending Service on 01506 815815.

CHCP (Social Policy) Learning and Development Team have been selected as finalists in COSLA’s annual Excellence Awards, having already won a Silver Award. Their outstanding work in developing a training and development programme for the new Re-ablement and Crisis Care Service has been recognised in the Category ‘Securing a Workforce for the Future’. Finalists are invited to an awards dinner on 7 March when the winners of each category will be announced.

As part of the Reshaping Care for Older People programme, Cyrenians are starting a new project working in partnership with the CHCP to provide an innovative befriending service for older people in West Lothian.

If you wish to discuss anything please feel free to contact the staff team on 01506 815815 for more information or visit the website at www.cyrenians.org.uk

West Life is published three times a

year and made available to all CHCP

employees. We welcome your feedback

on anything covered in this issue and

suggestions for future issues.

Please contact: info@westlothianchcp.org.uk

Well done Shena

Over the past three years Shena has created and delivered

a new service which has had a real impact on the quality of

lives of older people who live in care homes.

This has included the development of a training

programme for care home staff, improving their knowledge

and confidence of dealing with long term conditions to

enable them to deliver higher quality service to residents

and their families.

Congratulations to Shena Brown, respiratory facilitator in the CHCP, who won the prestigious Leading for Quality Award for her work in helping people with chronic lung conditions.

CHCP enquiry line telephone number: 01506 282930

Silver award retainedHealth staff within the CHCP have retained the Healthy Working Lives Silver Award thanks to the dedicated work of the healthy working lives team.

To retain the award the CHCP had to demonstrate that activity promoting health at work had continued throughout the last year. Activity in the CHCP included actions specifically to

n provide staff with health information regularly (by email, West Life, posters etc)

n support staff attendance at work (by regularly monitoring sickness absence levels and implementing the promoting attendance at work policy)

n avoid accidents in the workplace (by monitoring Datix to identify trends and ensure lessons learned are acted upon)

n provide opportunities for physical activity at work (spin class at Strathbrock)n provide opportunities for healthy eating (provide fruit and vegetables at various locations throughout West Lothian)n provide stop smoking support to staffn provide health checks for staff (Body Checkout).

Presentation highlights benefit changes

There are a lot of changes being introduced to the welfare benefits system over the next year as a result of the UK Government’s Welfare Reform Act.

To provide a quick and easy to understand summary of the changes West Lothian Council posted a video on the social media platform You Tube. Confidential help and advice about benefits, debt and money matters is also available from West Lothian Advice Shop, call: 01506 283000 or email: adviceshop@westlothian.gov.uk.

For more information on the changes and to access the video visit: www.westlothian.gov.uk/welfarereform.

Understanding UK welfare reform changesi

The next deadline for copy is 31 May 2013