r 7 e 1 t 0 t 2

e

l

s

w

e

My Health, Our Future - Progress so far. P2

N

Our Strategy 2017-

2020

g

n

i We put feet in focus! Our Strategy 2017-2020

Find out more on P4 Are you on board? P3 r

p Tell us how you feel about any NHS or social care service in Su olk - It has never been more important. You can rate and review services on our website.

S www.healthwatchsu olk.co.uk/services

Spring edition P2 2017

My Health, Our Future

We recently ran a pilot project at the to talk about their views on mental health Thomas Gainsborough School in Sudbury, and wellbeing and about how their school through which we gave over 400 young could improve its approach to maintaining people the opportunity to share feedback the wellbeing of young people. about mental health support in . We are working closely with eight schools. Following this, we launched “My Health, They are: Our Future”. The aim will be to obtain the views of young people and their teachers • about mental health and wellbeing • Mildenhall College support in school and at home. • Academy • This is an important piece of work • because it is a part of something called • The Suffolk Children and Young People’s • in Haverhill Emotional Wellbeing Plan 2020, which • in will determine the availability of future support for young people and families. In addition, we hold a place on our local Pupils will be offered the opportunity Health & Wellbeing Board; the most to take part in an interactive survey important decision making body when that has been designed with the help of it comes to our health and care. National other pupils and teachers. By taking part, guidance offers schools the opportunity pupils will explore their perceptions of to raise concerns and share good practice mental health and wellbeing, assess their with these Boards, through Healthwatch. current understanding of how they look after themselves (coping), and how they Progress so far… interact with those who may be suffering from poor mental health. My Health, Our Future will give pupils and teachers across Suffolk the opportunity A second survey will capture the views of teachers about the emotional wellbeing of pupils in their school, and their views on the general availability of support in Suffolk. It will also seek to discover how well the current curriculum engages pupils on the subject of mental health.

Talk to us about Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services in Suffolk: Visit www.healthwatchsuffolk.co.uk/services and search for “CAMHS”. P3 Our Strategy 2017-2020

most important areas for you and your community.

To share your views, please complete our survey. We will use what you tell us to shape our strategy and our implementation plan. The link is: www.surveymonkey.com/r/HWSStrategy

Our strategy: This survey will close on 30th April 2017. Are you on board? Andy Yacoub (Chief Executive of We are pleased to publish our draft Healthwatch Suffolk) strategy for the next three years. Alongside documents like our annual “In drafting our strategy, we have based report and Communications and our intentions for the next three years Engagement strategy, it tells you how we on our conversations with local people intend to work to make a difference to but also on intelligence available to us local services. This includes the issues from within our national network and the that we will focus on and the factors that Suffolk health and care system. We know influence our decision making. from our work, and that of other local Healthwatch, that focusing on specific Our focus is on shaping all local health areas offers us the best opportunity and care services but, to do the job to make a genuine difference to local well, we must decide on some specific care and makes best use of our limited priorities. Here are six areas that we resources. propose to work on over the next three years, in addition to our core work and “Our intention going forward is to both functions. We have based these on increase our membership and involve feedback from local people, national members to a greater degree in our work. Local Healthwatch priorities and local This is important because implementing NHS and care planning. our strategy cannot happen without the help and support of our staff team, 1. Mental health and wellbeing volunteers and members.” 2. Children and Young People 3. Sustainability and Transformation Please get in touch if you have any in health and social care questions or to request alternative formats of the documents. Call 4. Primary care (e.g. GPs and dental 01449 703949 or email info@ services etc) healthwatchsuffolk.co.uk. 5. Social care (including care/nursing homes and home care services) 6. Co-production Click to download For them to be effective, our priorities our draft strategy must be shaped by you. We need to know that the things we have chosen are the Spring edition Diabetic FootCare P4 2017

We’re putting feet in focus with the launch of our latest report. We worked closely with a leading clinician to explore the views of local patients about their experiences of accessing diabetic foot care in the county.

Figures from Diabetes UK indicate that over 100 diabetes-related foot amputations occur every week in and that patients are not always aware that having the disease increases their risk.

Key findings:

• 32% of the respondents said they were not told about their risk of developing a diabetic foot problem during their last appointment. • 43% of respondents were not told what they should do if a problem had developed. • 28% of respondents said they were not told how to look after their feet.

An early outcome will see patients across the East of England receiving a new information card. It will include information about what to look for and who to contact if the patient has concerns about the health of their feet.

It is clear that people are receiving good care in the county but there is room to improve, particularly with regard to keeping people involved in their care and informed of their foot health risk. It is also important to help people to understand how they can best manage and look after their health as early intervention is linked to the best possible outcomes.

We hope the findings will be used to improve services in Suffolk. Our report includes a number of recommendations and we will ask health leaders to respond formally in due course. For more information about this work please visit www.healthwatchsuffolk.co.uk/news/feetinfocus/ P5 Suffolk Lives MATTER!

New campaign aims to prevent suicide in Suffolk.

Following the launch of the countywide suicide prevention strategy Suffolk Lives Matter in October 2016, Public Health Suffolk and its partners have launched a new campaign aiming to raise awareness of support available in the county and encouraging greater discussion of suicide. signed up to the Men’s Health Forum’s

‘Beat Stress’ service, offering discreet The campaign invites pledges by support via an online email service individuals, businesses and organisations with a guaranteed response from a to become ‘Suffolk Life Savers’ by making health professional within 48 hours. commitments to support the campaign.

Each pledge will be followed up with an The first phase of the campaign information pack containing campaign will focus on men aged 40-60, who posters, pull-out cards and other represent of the groups at greatest supporting information. We have also risk.

Are you prepared to be a Suffolk Life Saver and potentially make a real difference to people’s lives? Sign up and find out more at www.healthysuffolk. org.uk/suffolklivesmatter Spring edition We’re engaging in a practice near you..... P6 2017

We’re engaging in a practice near you... Suffolk Primary Care is a new partnership of GP practices that has been formed to manage increased demand on services and challenges regarding the recruitment of clinical staff. GP practices involved include:

• Brandon Medical Practice • Howard House Surgery • Orchard House Surgery • Combs Ford Surgery • Stowhealth • Deben Road Surgery • Leiston Surgery • Walton Surgery • Debenham Group Practice • Norwich Road Surgery • Haven Health Surgery • Oakfield Surgery

Our Community Development Team have been talking to patients in the surgeries concerned to raise awareness. We have also asked patients about concerns they may have or changes they would like the new partnership to make to the way services are provided.

The partnership aims to help the sustainability of GP services by improving access to GP services. it also hopes to share best practice and reduce the time spent by doctors on administration.

For more information, please contact your local surgery.

Working with the Suffolk Local Our team of Community Development Pharmaceutical Committee Officers is working closely with the Our team have also supported LPC to deliver training to the Health the Suffolk Local Pharmaceutical Champions. The information sessions Committee (LPC) in training its Health include details about Healthwatch Champions. Suffolk and the importance of encouraging local communities to Healthy Living Pharmacies (HLPs) have share their experiences with us. It is skilled teams that proactively support our hope that the training will assist people to improve their health and Pharmacy staff to better signpost wellbeing. In each HLP there is at least people who have concerns about local one Health Champion who is trained services. to provide customers with health and wellbeing advice. Look out for one of our comment cards in a Healthy Living Pharmacy near you! Follow us on Instagram @HealthwatchSuffolk

P7 Enter and View

Our visits to local services can improve people’s care...

We can visit (announced or unannounced) premises where publicly funded care is provided to people in Suffolk. We assess service quality using the views of residents/patients and their carers. Read more on our website: www.healthwatchsuffolk.co.uk/about-us/ enterandview

Our latest report is about Melford Court Care Home in Long Melford. Here are some of our key observations:

• The building did not present as homely. • At the time of the visit there were few signs of residents being engaged in any worthwhile activity. • Staff on duty appeared dedicated to their work and treated the residents with care, dignity and respect. • The home is clean, well maintained and odour free. • Hourly checks are made on residents who do not wish to leave their rooms and these are recorded at the time.

The provider has told us that it will make a number of improvements including a review of temperature, signage and internal lighting within the home. It has also addressed our concern that some areas had no alarm call system for staff or resident use. We also noticed that an electric cable to a food trolley was frayed and this has been addressed by the management.

We need your views… Are you, a friend or relative receiving care in the county? Please share your experiences with us. We will use them to guide our Enter and View work and also to improve local services.

You can rate and review the care provided by any health or social care service by visiting our Feedback Centre (www.healthwatchsuffolk.co.uk/services). Alternatively, send us your comments to [email protected] or contact us on 01449 703949 if you have any questions.

See the full list of reports All enter and view reports are available to download from our website.

Visit: www.healthwatchsuffolk.co.uk/our-reports-2 Spring edition P8 2017

OPEN THE BAG!

A new campaign launched by NHS Ipswich and East Suffolk and NHS West Suffolk clinical commissioning groups is encouraging people who get prescription medicine to open their prescription bag at the pharmacy counter or in front of the delivery driver, and hand back anything they don’t need.

It is estimated that the cost of wasted medicine annually is £1.3 million in west Suffolk and £2.1 million in east Suffolk, a total of £3.4 million.

Once you’ve taken prescription medicine away from the pharmacy or from the delivery driver, national Department of Health rules mean for safety reasons the medicine cannot be used by anyone else, even if the packet is unopened. If you hand it back straight away it can be dispensed again by the pharmacist, avoiding unnecessary cost and waste.

If you would like this newsletter in another format please contact the office on 01449 703949