Julia Mulligan, Police and Crime Commissioner for North Yorkshire is appealing for volunteers to become Independent Custody Visitors. These visitors play a vital role in monitoring the welfare of those held in custody and ensuring an open and accountable police service. The role involves making unannounced visits to detainees in police stations, talking with them and checking on the conditions in which they are held and submitting a report of the findings.
If you are interested, read more.
Across the country recently, there has been a lot of discussion about how useful 15 minute visits are, as part of a care package. If someone is also having other visits to provide care throughout the day, then the short 15 minute visits can be a useful means of checking that someone is safe or providing a drink or medication, if required. But how satisfying are they for the individual? Certainly, it is a very short time if someone requires more than a drink or check, particularly if there is no other interaction with people during the day. What are your thoughts on this? Here is a link to interesting article about this topic.
NHS care.data scheme
More than half of the general public still has not heard of the Government’s project of sharing patients’ medical records and making them available for purchase. This was revealed by an IPSOS MORI poll commissioned by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. The survey also found that over half of the general public was against an opt-out policy.
This coincides with the result of a vote by doctors, at the British Medical Association conference in Harrogate, in favour of an opt-in policy. In part, the results of the vote could put pressure on the Government to make a concerted effort to educate the public about the care.data scheme, having failed to do so thus far.
For further details, please read the posts below.
The Friendship Circle is a new venture which aims to provide a meeting place for people to develop new friendships. So, if you’re new to Harrogate and don’t know anyone yet, or would like to meet new people, why not join us in the meeting hall at West Park United Reform Church. Click friendship circle flyer for further details.
Members of the Forum had a great time at the Chairman’s Tea Party at the Majestic Hotel on May 15th. The party, hosted by Councillor Bernard Bateman, Chairman of the North Yorkshire County Council, was to celebrate his year in office and work with local voluntary organisations.
Dementia Friends have received increasing publicity recently ….. perhaps you’ve seen the television advertisements. The project was started by the Alzheimer’s Society and is supported by NYCC. The project aims to increase the public’s awareness of dementia and highlights how individuals can help people suffering from dementia to live well. To find out more, visit one of the Alzheimer’s Society drop-ins at Harrogate library or watch and interact with this on-line video.
Today the Forum had a stall in the foyer of Harrogate hospital to publicise the activities of the Forum. Even though people were either rushing to appointments or to beat the parking charges, many of them did stop to show an interest. It was great to meet them all and welcome them to our next meeting on May 29th (see ‘Forum events’ page).
Our next publicity event was on April 23rd at the HealthWatch Event at the Crown Hotel in Harrogate 10am – 4pm. Thank you for coming and see us!
Harrogate and District CCG has issued a warning about a hoax e-mail, which patients might receive. The e-mail, which appears to come from the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE), suggests that the patient might have been diagnosed with cancer following a blood test. Anyone receiving the e-mail is advised to delete it and not open any links or attachments associated with it. Meanwhile NICE is endeavouring to stop the e-mail.
Good news for people who are struggling to pay their fuel bills. RWE nPower has launched a new warmth scheme called ‘Health through Warmth’.
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The Air Ambulance Service charity has issued a warning about a scam involving fraudulent collectors who are requesting donations via scam leaflets. The leaflets advertise a company called ‘Air Ambulance Service’, which is not linked to the charity.