City of York Council is supporting this year’s Alcohol Awareness Week which is taking place from 17 to 23 November with a theme of “Facing our alcohol problem; Taking back our health and high streets.”
Poisoning from e-cigarettes on the rise
City of York Council is urging people to take more care with e-cigarettes due to a reported increase in nicotine poisoning.
Results published in Public Health England’s (PHE) annual report on the National Poisons Information Service shows there has been an increase in calls on nicotine poisoning associated with personal vapourisers (e-cigarettes).
New oral health guidance for York
New oral health guidance recently published by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) makes recommendations to improve the oral health for York’s residents.
The guidance is available at http://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/PH55
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Mental health provision off the York Council agenda
Another important policy area change has been shelved by the Council.
Its forward programme of decisions included an item on the joint procurement of some mental health services in partnership with the NHS.
The Council said that the report would present a proposal to jointly commission “some of our mental health provision with the Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), and include these services currently provided by CYC within the mental health tender that the CCG will be releasing in November 2014. This will include having a pooled budget arrangement and transferring affected staff to the organisation of the successful tender bidder”.
After being postponed on two occasions, the proposal has now been dropped without explanation.
NB. The Liberal Democrats announced last month new polices aimed at increasing the priority given to addressing mental health needs. They included guarantees on waiting times.
Castlegate closure to be challenged
Opposition parties on the York Council have called in for reconsideration a plan to close the Castlegate youth advice and help centre.
The meeting will take place on 31st October and the reports can be read by clicking here
The Castlegate centre provides information, support and counselling for young people aged between 16-25 in York,
Probably the main issue concerns the proposal to transfer some youth advice services to West Offices.
It is difficult to think of a less suitable location.
The building can be intimidating, reception arrangements busy (see article above) and occasionally chaotic – despite the best endeavours of staff.
It is also noisy because of the atrium design.
The Council may wish to move the service to a more affordable location but West Offices would be a poor choice.
York’s Health Needs Assessed
York’s Health and Wellbeing Board’s Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) website is now live and the city’s residents are being asked to comment on its content.
It is the responsibility of the Health and Wellbeing Board in York to undertake this needs assessment.
In York this work is a shared responsibility between City of York Council and Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group.
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“10 minute shake up” comes to York
Change4Life and Disney are partnering on a major new campaign – 10 Minute Shake Up – to help encourage the city’s children to get active this summer.
The 10 Minute Shake Up campaign uses a bit of Disney magic to inspire children to reach the recommended 60 minutes of physical activity per day, with fun, manageable 10 minute bursts of exercise with an aim of getting children across the country moving for an extra 100 million minutes this summer.
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Healthcare public meeting
Patients and members of the public are invited to NHS Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group’s (CCG’s) next Patient and Public Engagement Forum in York.
Full details as follows:
Where: Friargate Meeting House, Friargate, York, YO1 9RL
When: Wednesday 9 July, 6pm
The event is an invitation for patients and members of the public to be part of the conversation with the CCG and local authority representatives about Health and Social Care service delivery with a particular focus on urgent care in the area.
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Food inspection scores for York care homes revealed
Details of the scores given to 5 care homes in the York area have been published.
Each home received a score of between 0 and 2 (the lower the score the worse the result).
Details for each can be downloaded by clicking the name of the home
Barstow House (Rating 1)
Meadowfields (Rating 2)
Somerset House (Rating 2)
Lamal Beeches (Rating 2)
Red Lodge (Rating 1)
Scores for the (vast majority) of homes that scored over 2 have not been listed by the Council.
Swim Britain launched at Energise
David Williams and Kerianne Payne
Energise is encouraging York residents to get back in the water this summer for British Gas SwimBritain 2014.
Supported by a host of big-name swimmers including fellow London 2012 medallists Ellie Simmonds, Michael Jamieson, Rebecca Adlington, Keri Anne Payne and comedian David Walliams, SwimBritain is a series of fun team relays that are taking place this September which hopes to inspire 500,000 people across Britain to swim more regularly – and get fit!
Swimmers can take the challenge in 2 ways.
SwimBritain1000 is a four-person relay where each team member swims 250m four times around a specially-designed course in a dedicated 50m pool.
SwimBritain500 is a shorter distance where team members use the same course, swimming half the distance (125m four times) and the nearest participating venue to York is Ponds Ford in Sheffield.
Rebecca Adlington, who retired from competitive swimming at the age of 23 last year as Britain’s most successful swimmer, said: “I may have retired from professional swimming but I will always love being in the water and a challenge like British Gas SwimBritain is brilliant as it’s really inclusive – not just for professional swimmers. Swimming offers everyone a full range of health and fitness benefits so the more people we can encourage to swim regularly, the better. It’s a full body workout without any stress on the joints. A gentle half hour swim can burn up to 200 calories, so I’d love to see as many people as possible joining in and giving SwimBritain a go.”
Swimfit at Energise costs £3.85 for adults with a York Card and £4.80 without. There is no need to book in advance.
Registrations are now open. For further information on venues, how to sign up your team and get training plans and tips, visit swimbritain.co.uk/challenge