Public Health
Argyll and Bute Council · 1 February 2023
Back to Mid Argyll, Kintyre and the Islands Area Community Planning Group — 1 February 2023 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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1 Argyll & Bute Community Planning Partnership Area Meetings Date: January 2022 Partner update – Public Health The paper provides an update on ongoing wellbeing and prevention activity overseen and delivered by the HSCP Public Health Team in Argyll and Bute. Living Well self-management grant funding 2022/2023 In November 2022 Argyll & Bute HSCP launched year 4 of the Living Well (Self- Management) community capacity building fund, which was open to Third Sector organisations who deliver services/support to adults over the age of 18 living in Argyll and Bute. Applications were invited from third sector organisations that can support the HSCP to deliver on the Living Well Strategy. In 2022/2023, the fund was keen to attract projects that had a particular focus on • Supporting volunteer wellbeing. • Reducing isolation and improving community networks. • Supporting healthy weight or access/cost around food via sustainable food programmes in our communities. The Living Well steering group is delighted to announce that the following groups will receive grant funding from this programme: • Argyll and Bute Citizens Advice Bureau • Hope Kitchen • Argyll Wellbeing Hub • Jean's Bothy • Dochas Carers Centre • eXp Dunoon • Kintyre Link Club Community Link Working The Argyll and Bute Community Link Working service is commissioned by Argyll and Bute HSCP and delivered by 3rd sector organisation We Are With You. Community Link Workers can be accessed through referral from 14 GP practices across Argyll and Bute. The service addresses inequalities by being accessible to those living in the areas of Argyll and Bute that experience the most socioeconomic deprivation.
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2 Community Link Workers recognise that social issues such as debt, relationships, employment and loneliness affect people’s health and wellbeing, and will connect people to sources of support or resources within their community. The service has been developed in line with the modernisation and expansion of services delivered in GP practices, resulting in multidisciplinary teams working together to support people holistically and improve outcomes for patients. The Community Link Working service continues to receive positive feedback and an increasing number of referrals. Over the first 6 months of the service, 240 referrals were received, with 85% of people who completed wellbeing scale at Entry and Exit reported increased well-being scores. The CLWs use a variety of approaches to support people to make changes to their health and wellbeing. This may include signposting, sharing information, referral, or direct support with self-management techniques such as relaxation strategies. 98% of those who completed a satisfaction survey strongly agreed/agreed that they had received the right support from the link worker. “My link worker has been an absolute huge support to me when I needed. I don’t know how I would have coped without her.” “I definitely feel that having the link worker support me and help me find the correct resources has made a huge difference and achieved so much. I am very grateful for the time, effort and compassion that was shown to me and I feel like a lot of people would really benefit from the same experience I had.” Further information can be found at: https://www.wearewithyou.org.uk/what-we- do/community-links/ or via email at argyllandbutecommunitylinks@wearewithyou.org.uk Health Improvement website The Argyll and Bute Health Improvement team has launched a new website with information about the Living Well strategy and the wider health improvement work. The website can be accessed via: https://www.ablivingwell.org/. The website contains information about the work of the Living Well Networks. The Living Well Networks (LWNs) are for people with an interest in building healthy communities. They provide an opportunity for people to come together to find out what issues matter to local communities; to plan activities and events together; and to network with individuals, services and organisations with an interest in improving health. The networks have allocated co-ordination time funded by the Argyll and Bute HSCP. The website also has information about health improvement work relating to Type 2 Diabetes, self-management, emotional/mental wellbeing, suicide prevention, and smoking cessation. Resources such as such as Public Health Annual Reports and electronic versions of leaflets can be found here: https://www.ablivingwell.org/resources-publications. This includes the updated Small Changes Big Differences leaflet, which contains useful self-management information for a range of health behaviours, including where to
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3 find further support https://www.ablivingwell.org/s/small-changes-big-difference- booklet_updated-Aug-22.pdf Screening The Argyll and Bute Health Improvement Team have been raising awareness about the importance of health screening, particularly Bowel and Cervical. Since November 2022, outreach work with many community and third sector organisations has been ongoing, to raise awareness and have access to accurate information. The team plan to deliver training on how to raise the issue of health screening for community- based organisations and offer further support. In addition to the community work, The Smoke Free Advisers will also start to introduce health screening, where appropriate, when offering their smoking cessation service. Encouraging the conversation of health screening can reduce misconceptions, provide accurate information, and reduce fears and anxieties. Bowel screening is done to help find cancer early, when it can be cured. In Scotland, people aged 50 to 74 will be invited for bowel screening every 2 years. If you’re 75 or over, you can still take a bowel screening test every 2 years. However, you’ll need to request a new test kit each time as the Scottish Bowel Screening Centre won't routinely send you one, ordering a new kit can be done on https://www.nhsinform.scot/healthy-living/screening/bowel/request-a-bowel- screening-test-kit/ Cervical screening is routinely offered to anyone with a cervix in Scotland between the ages of 25 and 64 is usually every 5 years. Testing for HPV is an effective way of identifying those at risk of developing cervical cancer. More information can be found on https://www.nhsinform.scot/healthy-living/screening/cervical/cervical-screening- smear-test . In addition to this if anything seems unusual for you, or you have any signs or symptoms that you are concerned about, the advice is to contact your GP to arrange an appointment. Further information on all the NHS Screening Programmes can be found at NHS Inform Screening | NHS inform Screening information for the transgender / non binary community can be found at Transgender screening in Scotland | NHS inform REPORT AUTHOR AND CONTACT Author Names: Sam Campbell, (Interim Health Improvement Principal); Laura Stephenson and Jenny Dryden (Health Improvement Leads) Email nhsh.abhealthimprovement@nhs.scot