Volunteer with Healthwatch Northumberland

We have some fantastic volunteering opportunities for 2024 at Healthwatch Northumberland.
As health and social care champion for people in Northumberland who use these services, you can help us improve care by making sure NHS leaders and other decision-makers hear the views and experiences of residents.

As a Healthwatch Northumberland volunteer you can:
  • Volunteer as much or as little time as you want
  • Make a difference to NHS health and social care in your community
  • Improve your own health and wellbeing
  • Develop your skills and knowledge
  • Add valuable experience to your CV and increase your employability
  • Meet new people and be part of a supportive team
  • Be involved in something positive!

What can you choose to get involved in?

  • Listening to local people’s views and experiences of health and care services
  • Signposting people to local services and support groups
  • Carrying out public surveys
  • Being the eyes and ears of local communities
  • Mystery shopping
  • Administration support
  • Proofreading
  • Research support and report writing
  • Communications and digital support

Volunteering with Healthwatch Northumberland is flexible – you can offer as much or as little time as you wish, either on a regular or one-off basis. Some volunteering work can even be done from home in your own time. You won’t have to work alone and no experience is necessary. You will be well supported, working as part of a friendly team. We welcome anyone with or without relevant experience – training will be provided.It won’t cost you anything but time! Appropriate expenses, including travel costs, will be paid.

For more information visit the Healthwatch Northumberland website.

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AGM 2023 and Annual Report

Thank you to everyone who came along to our AGM 2023 on 24 November. We were joined by cafe customers and transport passengers, along with our board members and representatives of local organisations. Director Liz Prudhoe gave an overview of the year across all areas of operation, including Healthwatch Northumberland, advocacy, transport, Cafe @ Burn Lane and Social Prescribing Services. She said “We are happy to be able to continue providing services that align with our values and aims of improving the quality of life for local people.”

Liz also spoke about the plans for developing community cafe, Cafe @ Burn Lane, which may include extra provision for local groups outside of usual opening hours. Keep an eye on the website and our social media for more details.

Chair of the Adapt (NE) Board, Lorraine Hershon said that Adapt continues to go from strength to strength, and she thanked all of Adapt’s members, customers and supporters, saying that without them Adapt wouldn’t exist.

Read Adapt (NE)’s Annual Report for 2022/23.

Pictured are left to right: Lorraine Hershon, Chair, Liz Prudhoe, Director, and Annie Bishop, Vice Chair

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Join us for our AGM 2023!

Friday 24 November, 11.00am – 12.30pm

Please join us for our annual meeting, which this year will take place on Friday 24 November, here at our site on Burn Lane, Hexham.

We will be giving an overview of our work over the past 12 months and our plans for the coming year, particularly our community cafe. We’d like to know your thoughts on the cafe and a short questionnaire is now available in the cafe for you to tell us what you think.

If you would like to attend the AGM please call us on 01434 600599 (option 1) to register for your free place.

This event has now passed.

 

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Information event, Hexham

Are you neurodivergent?

Join us for an information event, Adapt (NE), Burn Lane, Hexham Ne46 3HN

Wednesday 20 September, 11.00am – 1.30pm

It can be a confusing world when you’re trying to get the support, service or activities you need at the right time and the right place. For example, you may have been taught how to live on a budget at school aged 15 but what about when you actually need it at aged 27?

There is no one easy place to get up to date information, or to work out what’s out there, and we want to make this happen! We also want to offer people the chance to meet up in person locally to help work out what they want and need. We want to share information about fun, leisure and social opportunities too.

Come and join us! Meet other neurodivergent people and help work out how to close the gaps around information and support in Northumberland.

Lunch will be provided and travel costs reinbursed.

This event has now passed.

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Healthwatch Northumberland AGM 2023

Wednesday 18 October 2023, at East Bedlington Community Centre.

The Healthwatch Northumberland AGM is for anyone who lives or works in the county and has an interest in NHS and social care.

Hear about the work of our local health and social care champion over the last 12 months, plans for the coming year, and how you can get involved. You can also hear from those providing services here in Northumberland.

This free event will start at 10am and end at 12pm when you can stay for a light lunch and a chance to chat to the Healthwatch Northumberland team and other guests.

Healthwatch Northumberland has been delivered by Adapt (NE) since 2013. Read more about the services on offer and how you can share your feedback on the NHS and social care services you and your family have used on the Healthwatch Northumberland website

This event has now passed.

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Join us at our AGM 2022/23

Wednesday 18 January 2023, 11.00am – 12.00pm

We invite you to join us at our AGM on Wednesday 18 January 2023, to hear about the work of Adapt (NE) over the last 12 months.

The meeting will take place online via Zoom, starting at 11am.

If you would like to attend please register in advance. You can do this by calling the office on: 01434 600599 (option 1) or by email to: generaloffice@adapt-tynedale.org.uk and we’ll send you the link to join.

We hope to see you there.

This event has now passed.

 

 

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Organisations join forces to improve learning disabilities support

Thanks to NHS Charities Together, Newcastle Hospitals Charity and County Durham Community Foundation, local organisations have received funding of £183,000 from the Covid-19 Community Partnership Grants Programme (North East and North Cumbria). This will enable Your Voice Counts, LD:NorthEast, Skills for People and Adapt (NE), together with support from Inclusion North and Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust, to work in partnership to share their knowledge and develop an equitable model of support for people with learning disabilities across the area.

Dave Woolley, CEO of Your Voice Counts, Lead Partner for the project said “We are delighted to be one of just seven projects in the North East to receive funding from NHS Charities Together. We’re very excited to be working together, and to use our shared expertise to fill some of the gaps in services and support that currently exist”.

Each of the organisations will deliver a project that demonstrates a new approach to addressing health inequalities, improving mental health and wellbeing and reducing social isolation. The projects include delivering a programme of courses and workshops to improve mental health, running sports activities to improve physical health and bring people together, working with Primary Care Networks to address barriers to accessing healthcare and working with local groups to build confidence around supporting people with learning disabilities.

They will then work together to share these approaches and support each other to replicate the projects and activities across the wider area so that everyone has access to the same level of community-based support.

Further information about the work of all the organisations involved in this exciting partnership is available at the websites below:

Your Voice Counts

LD: North East

Skills for People

Inclusion North

Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Trust

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Adapt (NE) AGM 2021: you’re invited

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

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

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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