Welcome
Welcome to the Health Promotion in Berkshire website
This site brings together news and information on health promotion work and services in Berkshire
NEWS
This is a 'rolling' news page with the most recent item at the top and older items below for reference.
Breast Cancer Awareness for Over-70s
23 Jan 2012
NHS Berkshire is running a campaign from January to March to
raise the awareness of women over the age of 70, to the signs and symptoms
of breast cancer. The
campaign is part of the Department of Health’s Be
Clear On Cancer campaigning
and the National Awareness and Early Diagnosis Initiative (NAEDI).
You can download a document with further information for health professionals here (139KB PDF file).
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It is designed to raise awareness of the signs and symptoms of breast cancer and to encourage people to visit their GP if they notice anything wrong. As a result, this should improve early diagnosis and increase survivorship of those with cancer.
This is important because breast cancer is the most common cancer in England and nearly a third of all new cancers in women are breast cancers. It is common in older women and nationally 1 in 3 women diagnosed with breast cancer are over the age of 70.
Find out more or get involved
Visit the web site for more information and to download the leaflets: www.tvcn.nhs.uk/earlydiagnosis
Email: earlydiagnosis@tvcn.nhs.uk
You are also welcome to contact Helen Blanchard, Project Manager on 01865 857 160 or 07785 335 691 if you would like to find out more.
Free Electric Blanket Checks - Windsor & Maidenhead
18 Jan 2012
The Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service (RBFRS) has teamed up with
the RBWM and is offering FREE electric blanket safety checks for people
in the Windsor & Maidenhead area.
There are three events being held over the next two weeks and people are invited to bring along their electric blankets which will be tested to ensure they meet safety standards. Any blankets that fail the testing will be replaced with a brand new electric blanket - completely free of charge.
The events are 10:30am - 4:00pm:
Friday 27 January |
Windsor Fire Station, St. Mark’s Road, Windsor |
Wednesday 1 February |
Ascot Fire Station, Station Hill, Ascot |
Thursday 2 February |
Maidenhead Fire Station, Bridge Road, Maidenhead |
Also, members of staff from RBFRS’ Risk Reduction team will be on hand to provide general fire safety advice and there will also be the opportunity to sign up for a free Home Fire Safety Check (subject to eligibility).
This is a great opportunity to get your home and appliances checked for safety, and at no cost.
Check Blankets Yourself
Whether you can attend one of the events or not, it is a good idea to check your blankets yourselves on a regular basis, for signs of wear and tear.
Things to look for include:
- Frayed wires
- Blankets only working intermittently
- Extremes of temperature i.e. blankets suddenly getting much hotter than usual
- Singeing of the fabric
- Cables poking through the material
If you find any of these symptoms then you should dispose of the blanket immediately and replace it with a new one.
Award for Health Activists
29 Nov 2011
East Berkshire Health Activist Project coordinator, Shah-Bano Razvi, and the Health Activists have been awarded the Recognition Award by the Thames Valley Cancer Network. It was awarded at the network's 10th conference on 22nd November 2011 at the Oxford Belfry Hotel, Oxfordshire.
This is a great achievement for Shah-Bano and the project team. It was awarded for "Patient/Public Involvement", acknowledging their efforts and approach to contacting all sectors of the community.
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It was given to recognise the work they have done for the Network to promote and raise awareness of lung and bowel cancer signs and symptoms. They promoted the campaign "Early diagnosis saves lives" in March-April across Berkshire East with a focus on Slough.
Background
In 2001 the DOH gave an amount of money to Slough PCT to raise awareness of the risks of CHD in the community. It was then that the H.A. project was started.
Health Activists are people from the local area, who are proactive and have a genuine interest to improve the health of their communities. They are trained to level 2 standards and the training is accredited by the Royal Society of public Health. The course which they go through is “Understands Health Improvement”.
More Information
For more information you can download the press release - 25K PDF file
Or contact Shah-Bano on:
Email: shah-bano.razvi@berkshire.nhs.uk
Tel: 01753 63 6363
Well done Shah-Bano and the Team!
Health Events Calendar 2012
14 Nov 2011
The Resource Service now has a copy of the health events calendar for
the first half of 2012, and it can be downloaded from this site - go to
the Health
Campaigns List 2012 page.
The calendar is collated by the Calderdale Health Improvement Resource Centre. It is published in two parts due to the sheer number of events to be included now.
It gives a lot of detail, including dates, contact numbers, emails and websites.
To Be Confirmed
Several of the campaigns are marked 'Tbc' - To be confirmed. This is because of the current difficult climate which means that some organisations are not sure they will be able to go ahead with their campaigns yet.
So keep checking the page to see if the situation has changed. We will update the version as updates become available.
Promote Choose Well
2 Nov 2011
The Choose Well message is very important. It benefits the patients and the NHS in many ways so it is essential that we are all promoting it during our working day, whether part of the NHS or as an external health worker.
Please do your part in improving treatment and saving time and money by always highlighting 'Choose Well' to your clients, patients and any members of the public you meet.
We all Benefit
When talking about it remember to mention the benefits they will get:
- It will get them better treatment - Going to the right service first ensures seeing the right health professionals with the right experience for their particular problem.
- Quicker treatment - Going to the right service first also avoids time-consuming checking and redirection, and it leaves services free to treat the people that DO require that service.
- Saves money - It will also save them money, avoiding duplicate or extra travel. Also, avoiding unnecessary costs to the NHS will ultimately save money for everyone.
See the Resources News Page - Choose Well for more information on leaflets available from the Resources Service.
Reviewing and Renewing Items
4 Oct 2011
After a bit of a break over the Summer, with limited staffing, the Resource Service Team are all back and working hard again. A large part of their work at the moment is reviewing, deleting and updating the library items.
VHS Tapes
They are particularly looking at the VHS videos. These are being used less and less these days but there is still 1 VHS borrowed for each 2 DVDs.
For more information, and to see how you can help keep the library up
to date, see the Resources
News page - Reviewing