Category Archives: Health

New Advocacy Service

AdvocacyHambleton and Richmondshire Advocacy are coming together with Selby, Harrogate and Craven Advocacy offices to form North Yorkshire Advocacy.  Advocacy services will reach more vulnerable clients across these areas through home visits and appointments.

North Yorkshire Advocacy has secured a three year grant from The Big Lottery to support people across these areas struggling under the strains of managing modern day demands of mail and finance.  The project will train local volunteers to work with clients, to enable people to ultimately manage their finances, preventing debt, financial abuse and ill health due to stress.   Continue reading →

Help with the activities of daily living at the click of a mouse!

NYCC images3FL8716SFrom time-to-time, we can all find that things aren’t quite as easy as they used to be. Sometimes, it’s difficult to reach something on the top shelf in a cupboard, or pick something up which has fallen on the floor. Or perhaps you’ve had difficulty opening those pesky packets containing your medication ….. help is at hand!    Continue reading →

Fill your social calendar with events prescribed by your GP

Health matters appleFollowing concerns about the increase in social isolation and loneliness in communities, GPs are being encouraged to prescribe trips to lunch clubs and museums as part of new measures to tackle the problem.  Read and view more from the BBC There is also evidence that learning basic computer and internet skills can reduce loneliness.

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NHS – Alert! Update on the care.data project

NHS – Alert!
NHS care.data scheme

NHS care.data scheme

The government has announced that the implementation of its care.data project has been postponed until the Autumn, following concerns expressed by the Royal Colleges, charities, private companies, patients and the British Medical Association that there has been inadequate public notification and that many people do not understand the implications of the scheme. There are concerns that NHS England has failed to inform patients about how the data collected will be used, and by whom, which could undermine patients’ confidence in the NHS. Nor has the right to opt-out of the scheme been publicised adequately. Continue reading →

GPs to send care.data ‘opt-out’ letters

NHS care.data scheme

NHS care.data scheme

Following the Government’s decision to run a pilot scheme with 500 GP practices this Autumn, the Chair of the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) announced that a pilot study involving the extraction of patients’ medical records from 100 GP practices will start in the autumn. GPs continue to express their concern about the lack of of patient awareness of the care.data project. GPs involved the pilot study have therefore decided to send out ‘opt-out’ letters to their patients in order to ensure that they can make an informed decision about whether or not they wish to have their medical records made available for possible purchase by academics and commercial enterprises.

To follow the progress on care.data, please view the previous blogs on this page and also the Government survey article on the ‘Have your say’ webpage. Closing date August 8th.