In this issue:

• Cost of living survey
• Minds Matter
• Tameside Adult Social Care strategy
• Community Hive celebration
• National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR)
• COVID-19

If you have feedback about these topics, or any recent experiences about health or care services you think we should know about, give Healthwatch Tameside a call on 0161 667 2526. Or email info@healthwatchtameside.co.uk

If you want to give us your feedback via one of our surveys, please go to www.healthwatchtameside.co.uk/share-your-views

Thank you.

Cost of living survey

For our next project, we are working with Action Together. We want to find out what effect the increased cost of living is having on local people’s health and wellbeing.

We know poverty is a lonely and isolating situation. We want to show that this isn’t affecting a few people, it is real. It has a long term impact on how people are living their lives. This affects health and wellbeing (both physical health and mental health).

We have a new survey, which can be completed:

• Online at www.healthwatchtameside.co.uk/share-your-views
• On paper - with a FREEPOST envelope to return it
• Over the phone - give us a call on 0161 667 2526, leave a message, and we will call you back

Please help us with this work, by completing the survey.

We will share the anonymised findings with local partners. The information will be used, alongside other feedback, to plan future services for the local population.

For more information see www.healthwatchtameside.co.uk/news/2023-03-13/cost-living-survey

Minds Matter

Minds Matter is for anyone who lives in Tameside or Glossop, or whose GP surgery is based there. If you’re experiencing everyday issues that are affecting your mental wellbeing, they can help you manage and overcome difficulties in relation to work, housing, family and money worries and more.

Find out more on their website at www.thebiglifegroup.com/service/mindsmatter/

Information about online help can be found on their Facebook page www.facebook.com/MindsMatterTG

Tameside Adult Social Care strategy

Tameside Adult Social Care have used learnings from individual assessment processes, specific focus groups, engagement events, surveys, partnership boards, complaints, and more to inform the focus for the future Adult Social Care Strategy. This survey is to check back that they have captured what is important to you, and to gather your views on adopting an Adult Social Care vision for Tameside.

To find out more, and to complete the survey, have a look at the Tameside Council Big Conversation page at www.tameside.gov.uk/tbc/liveconsultation
The survey will close on the 21^st April 2023.

Community Hive celebration

The community hive was launched one year ago, and a celebration of it's first birthday is taking place on Thursday 16 March.

For details of the event, and how to book a place, see www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/tameside-community-hive-celebration-tog-mind-tickets-516738056437

For more information about the Hive, have a look at www.togmind.org/youth-in-mind/community-hive

National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR)

NIHR committees recommend which health and social care research projects they should fund or prioritise. A range of professionals and public members sit on the committees. These groups assess research proposals and briefs that describe a potential area of research. The proposals can cover a wide range of health and social care issues and challenges. They all aim to benefit patients and improve services.
People who join committees as public members have the key task of bringing a patient and public perspective to the discussions.

NIHR runs an annual recruitment campaign, usually in the spring.

For more information about applying to be a committee member, see www.nihr.ac.uk/patients-carers-and-the-public/i-want-to-help-with-research/become-a-public-committee-member.htm

COVID-19

For more information, and to see who is eligible for vaccination, see www.tameside.gov.uk/covidvaccine (includes information about flu vaccination) and www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/coronavirus-vaccination/book-coronavirus-vaccination/

A leaflet has been produced for adults with suspected or confirmed coronavirus who have not been admitted to hospital. You can read it at www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/wp-content/uploads/sites/52/2020/12/C1634-suspected-Coronavirus-important-information-to-keep-you-safe-at-home-V8_210422.pdf

For people with symptoms of respiratory illness, including COVID-19, there is information about what to do here www.gov.uk/guidance/people-with-symptoms-of-a-respiratory-infection-including-covid-19