Coping with Cancer in Hexham

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Coping with Cancer is a local charity which supports and enables cancer sufferers to live with and beyond their diagnosis and treatment. It provides emotional, mental, social and physical support.

The team recently had an open day at our site on Burn Lane in Hexham, to launch the new range of one to one personal appointments for care and support for anyone affected by a cancer diagnosis. They were pleased to meet new people and get them booked on to some of the free therapy sessions provided including counselling, acupuncture and complimentary therapy sessions.

Millie, who is a specialist cancer therapist, will be working from our site every Tuesday and at Hexham General Hospital every Friday from January 2022.

If you have been affected by cancer directly or with a loved one and want some support, please contact Coping with Cancer: 0192 2502026.

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AGM and Annual Report 2020/21

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Thank you to everyone who attended our 31st AGM on 8 December.

The event, which took place online again this year, included a review of the year by Director, Liz Prudhoe. She outlined how Adapt (NE) responded to the pandemic, running services differently and working with community groups to support people who needed it during lockdowns. Core services such as Advocacy, Healthwatch Northumberland and the Living Well Coordination Service continued to be delivered with staff working mostly from home. Transport services were stood down but we were able to help some individuals who were unable to get Patient Transport to hospital appointments.

An overview of the Living Well Coordination Service was given by Team Leader, Tania Thomas. She talked about how the service has helped individuals across West Northumberland during the pandemic and how they made calls to over 1400 people who were classed as clinically extremely vulnerable.

Our Chair, Lorraine Hershon, thanked Liz and all the staff for the work over what was a different and difficult year, and said Adapt (NE) is in a secure position going forward.

You can read more in our Annual Report 2020-21

 

 

 

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Adapt (NE) AGM 2021: you’re invited

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If you use, or are interested in any of our services, please join us at our AGM 2021 where we will be reviewing our work over the last 12 months. We will also be hearing from Tania Thomas of the West Northumberland Living Well Coordination Service. She will be letting us know how the service has made a difference to people in the area since it started in January 2020.

The AGM will take place on Wednesday 8 December from 11.00am and will be online again this year.

To register your place please email: generaloffice@adapt-tynedale.org.uk and we will sent you the Zoom link to join.

This event has now passed.

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Bereavement Cafe

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Tynedale Hospice at Home has launched its brand new Bereavement Café, starting at 10.30am on Thursday 2 September at Hexham Community Centre.
The café is open to anyone who has been bereaved and offers a safe and welcoming space to share stories and connect with others in the local community who have also experienced the death of someone close to them.
Booking isn’t required; you can drop in as and when you wish. For more information please contact the Family Support Team at Tynedale Hospice on 01434 600384.
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Living Well Coordination Service

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We began delivering the West Northumberland Living Well Coordination Service in January 2020, in partnership with West Northumberland Primary Care Network. The service, also called ‘social prescribing’ in other areas of the country, has been hugely successful, having contacted over 1650 people over the last 12 months and helping people to address aspects of their lives that may be having an impact on their health and wellbeing.

Providing a non-clinical service, Living Well Coordinators help people with non-medical and social issues such as emotional wellbeing, housing, financial resilience and benefits, employment and skills, healthy lifestyles, family issues and loneliness. Coordinators can link people to community groups, activities and support services local to them, while providing a supportive and non-judgemental ear.

Since the start of the pandemic the service has seen a large number of people referred for issues around emotional wellbeing. Lockdowns and restrictions have exacerbated mental health problems, and some have found it hard to cope with bereavement due to the impact of Covid-19 on hospital and care home visiting and funeral arrangements. There was also an increase in referrals around housing and financial issues.

Lead Living Well Coordinator Tania Thomas says “We had to quickly adapt during the lockdown and find ways of supporting people where physical services were not available. We have helped many clients access counselling and mental health services since the start of the pandemic, supported them to claim benefits and hardship funds, access telephone befriending services, gardening projects and volunteering opportunities. We have also received referrals for a number of people struggling with carer fatigue as the services they were using previously stopped running or were no longer able to provide face-to-face support.”

To be referred to the Living Well Coordination Service speak to any member of your GP practice team (Living Well Coordinators do not have access to medical records) and from 1 April you will be able to self-refer to the service.

 

This short animation from the Healthy London Partnership explains more about social prescribing.

See more at the Living Well Coordination Service page

 

 

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Keeping People Connected

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Northumberland Independent Advocacy Service is happy to announce that it is running a project called Keeping People Connected. The aim of the project, which was first delivered by People First at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, is to support people with learning disabilities and/or autism who have no other access to support from family or other agencies, to link with local services during lockdown.

We are able to run this service until 31 March 2021, thanks to funding from NHS Northumberland Clinical Comissioning Group. We welcome referrals for Keeping People Connected for people who have a learning disability, learning difficulty or autism who qualify for and would benefit from independent telephone support from experienced, friendly and specialist professionals to gain access to services throughout the county.

The organisations involved will help people to:

  • Understand what ‘staying at home’ or ‘staying alert’ means
  • Understand the guidance on how to stay safe and not catch the virus, who to contact and where to go
  • Understand and treat any symptoms and illness they might have and generally look after themselves in this difficult time
  • Decide what immediate support they might need e.g. getting food or medication, knowing how to ask for help in an emergency
  • Know where to access more support services and connect to local groups
  • Feel supported, by staying in touch on an ongoing basis, if needed
  • Solve problems if things go wrong
  • Get help from other services where needed

If you would like to make a referral please complete the General Advocacy Referral Form or contact us by telephone: 01434 600599 (select the advocacy option) to discuss the support required.

This service is no longer available.

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