Rushcliffe dementia event a huge success!

The Dementia and Carers Roadshow took place on Thursday 3 April at Rushcliffe Arena on Rugby Road in West Bridgford offering a variety of local support to help improve the lives of carers and people living with dementia.

Delivered by the Rushcliffe Dementia Action Network (RDAN) in partnership with Rushcliffe Borough Council (RBC) and Rushcliffe Primary Care Network, the event provides support for people living with dementia, their families, and for all carers.

The event had a full marketplace, with exhibitors including:

• Alzheimer’s Society
• Rushcliffe Community Voluntary Service 
• Carer Advice and Support 
• Social Prescribers
• Age UK Notts 
• Legal advice 
• Benefits advice 
• Local Police Team 
• Health and Wellbeing information 
• NHS Talking Therapies

Attendees also had the opportunity to take part in free workshops throughout the day with no booking required. The sessions covered information on how to avoid scams and fraud, as well as setting up Lasting Powers of Attorney and Mental Capacity Advice and a Dementia Friends information session.

South Notts Dementia Link Worker Gwynneth Owen said: “The event is  a fantastic opportunity to bring together people living with dementia, their carers, and the wider community, offering support, advice and free engaging taster activities.

“Our goal is to raise awareness of what is available locally and ensure everyone affected by dementia feels supported and included. With a variety of interactive sessions and expert-led workshops, we hope to provide valuable resources and meaningful connections that make a real difference.”

Find out more about what support is available for people living with dementia on the Rushcliffe PCN website.

South Notts Older and Wiser guide rolled out across the patch!

A guide dedicated to supporting older people in South Nottinghamshire with their health and wellbeing has been rolled out across health and care settings in South Nottinghamshire.

The guide was the brainchild of local GP Caroline White, who over the last 18 months has been supported by the Phoenix Programme to develop and write it, latterly with help from the South Nottinghamshire Place-Based Partnership.

She says: “I created this resource to support colleagues across health and care in South Nottinghamshire in their care of older people. It has been carefully written in patient friendly language and has lots of information focusing on maintaining health and independence in older age, seeking support and care planning.

“The content in the booklet has been co-produced with patient groups, community and hospital colleagues and I am delighted that I am now able to share it more widely.”

This guide is now available at GP practices and other community settings in South Nottinghamshire, but you can also download it below.

https://healthandcarenotts.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/FINAL-Older-and-wiser-5.pdf

Gedling and Hucknall Dementia Directory launched

A local directory providing support for those living with dementia in the Gedling and Hucknall area has been created by South Nottinghamshire partners.

The directory provides information about local activities and support groups, including Memory Cafes as well as key information on practical support around benefits and entitlements and support specifically for carers.

Download it here

Jumping into the new year with Arnold mental wellbeing events

The Arnold Integrated Neighbourhood Working teams jumped into 2025, with a number of events and activities designed to support local people with their mental health and wellbeing. Here’s a round-up of some of the great activities that have been happening…

Joyful January

Around thirty people joined the Joyful January event at Arnold Methodist Church. The day included activities such as seated Boccia, a general knowledge quiz, and circus skills.  Refreshments were provided and the Nottingham Rock Choir provided entertainment. Attendees reported that they felt more connected and aware of support services and would welcome future events like this!

Jumpstart January

The event was held at the Killisick Community Centre and was incredibly well attended with approximately 80- people attending, with around 45-50 children (including around 16-20 teenagers between 12 – 16 years of age.  BBC Radio Nottingham also attended the day and spoke to children and parents about the event, the link to which can be found here: Verity Cowley – Laurie Dyche sits in (24/01/2025) – BBC Sounds.  The clip starts at around the 1:55.00 mark on the timeline and lasts for approx. 4 mins. 

Winter Wellbeing Festival

The event took place at the Mapperley Community Centre and included support from partners around fuel, benefits, activity, employment, fire safety and mental health. Attendees were also treated to some music, courtesy of a volunteer who came to sing/play guitar. Lots of people joined in a singalong and had an opportunity to try the djembe drums.  Hot soup and refreshments were provided for a sit-down talk at the tables and attendees found useful information and enjoyed some light-hearted entertainment.

To find out about future activities and events in Arnold, please email: nnicb-nn.arnoldinw@nhs.net

‘Ey-Up’ Eastwood!

Verity Cowley from BBC Radio Nottingham ran her breakfast show live from the library in Eastwood on 21 January and it was a fantastic opportunity to highlight the amazing groups and work going on in the community to improve the lives of local residents.

A campaign in Sweden was set up to boost moods and tackle loneliness with a ‘hello’. BBC Radio Nottingham thought it would be a great idea to get around the county and say it, like only Notts can.

Simply saying ‘Ey Up’ to each other, can be a way of reaching out and making someone’s day brighter.

Yvonne Gregory, Community Development Officer for Rushcliffe Community Voluntary Service (RCVS) spoke about how the Integrated Neighbourhood project in Eastwood is also working to combat loneliness and isolation. Local councils, health and social care, community groups and voluntary sector organisations are working together with communities to find ways to improve the health and wellbeing of local people.

The library team spoke about how it has become a hub for the community, having regular activities and events that bring everyone together. This includes coffee mornings, rattle and roll sessions for parents and children, plus scrabble and crafting groups. They also use the library as an opportunity to highlight community groups, voluntary groups and societies in Eastwood.

Elaine Cooper, Transformation Manager for NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire, spoke about what Eastwood means to her and how she finds it to be a really welcoming community, with a strong sense of community.

They are building on that with the Integrated Neighbourhood project, which has included the set-up and promotion of lots of local groups, with the hope to make residents proud of their town.

One of the groups the show highlighted was the Eastwood People’s Initiative voluntary group. They provide food parcels, household items, toiletries and clothing. They create food, people can come and sit together, and they can raise other issues and then help can be offered. They also have an outreach project and deliver a hot meal to those who can’t get out.

Men in sheds was another group covered on the programme. The group supports men who may have retired and are missing that comradeship and banter. It provides a place to meet friends, do something with their hands, chat and laugh.

Linda from the Tackling Loneliness group spoke about how she introduces people to groups and goes along with them to make sure they feel comfortable.

One group is called Elderberry’s who meet at Greasley every Friday. Linda was speaking to a lady at the group who goes every week and that’s the only conversation she has all week. If someone said hello or ey up to her it could be the only person who has spoken to her all week, so it can mean a lot.

They also spoke about the highly successful dementia café in Eastwood. It was set up in May 2017 as there was no local support for patients with dementia and their carers. They meet once a week in Eastwood and once a month at the pub. They play family fortunes and a sing along, bowling twice a month and each month a trip out somewhere. They are now at 100 members and have to create a waiting list to join.

It was a really successful morning in Eastwood, with a real buzz in the library and a brilliant opportunity to show the fantastic progress of the Integrated Neighbourhood project and the amazing offer of groups and support for the local community.

You can listen to the radio show here (starts at 3:16) Verity Cowley – 21/01/2025 – BBC Sounds

Get involved with your community in Cotgrave

Launched in November 2023, the Cotgrave Integrated Neighbourhood Working Project aims to bring people together to better support the health and wellbeing of residents and make improvements to, and create opportunities in, the community.

This way of working has also been rolled out to other areas to as part of the work of South Nottinghamshire Place-Based Partnership.

The project involves local people, community and voluntary sector groups, and organisations like the NHS and local council working together for a happier, healthier Cotgrave. Since it was launched, young people’s groups and long-term conditions groups have been established in the town, and the current priorities are:

• Empowering young people
• Providing accessible information about ‘what’s on in Cotgrave’
• Health focus on cardio-vascular disease

And it’s been in the news recently, with the BBC Radio Nottingham Breakfast show visiting Cotgrave over a week in January as part of its ‘Ey Up’ campaign to highlight some of the great work and activities happening in the area through this joined-up way of working.

They spent time with the South Notts Place-Based Partnership team to explore some of the fantastic work happening across the project, visiting local groups and services who support the community, including the Cotgrave Community Kitchen and Garden, U3A (University of the 3rd Age), and featured the long-term conditions groups.

Radio Nottingham’s visit only highlighted what we already know – that successful Integrated Neighbourhood Working (INW) happens when local councils, health and social care, community groups and voluntary sector organisations work together with communities to find ways to improve the health and wellbeing of local people.

What we need (and love!) is for more people to get on board. This is a great opportunity for people who live and work in Cotgrave to come together to make change happen. If you want to find out more and get involved with this brilliant work, please contact: nnicb-nn.cotgrave-inw@nhs.net To get the latest on this work and other work happening across Rushcliffe and South Nottinghamshire, you can sign up to the South Notts Place-Based Partnership (PBP) newsletter by emailing: Antonia.smith2@nottshc.nhs.uk.

If you’d like to share your experience for a future article in South Notts News, please email: Antonia.smith2@nottshc.nhs.uk

Partnership launches ‘Take a Partner to Work’ scheme

South Notts Place-Based Partnership has recently set up a scheme called ‘Take a Partner to Work’. The scheme promotes partnership working by supporting colleagues to buddy up and take each other to work for either half or a full day. Colleagues are encouraged to do these sessions two or three times a year with different people from across the partnership.

The premise is simple, you approach a buddy, based on what area of work you would like to learn more about and find a mutually appropriate day. Read the ground rules here.

Recently, Helen Smith, South Notts PBP Programme Director and Gregg Dunning, Interim Group Manager: Community Social Work and Therapy, Adult Social Care and Health Department, buddied up and spent a day visiting each other’s places of work, meeting teams and learning more about what they do. Read all about their experience and reflections here.

Gregg

“When I shadowed Helen, we went to a mental health meeting in the morning, and I was also able to sit in on a one-to-one too. Generally, for me experiencing what Helen is involved in was confirmation that we are on the same page, and it helped to secure the connections of how we work together. It was a really hands on way of learning about someone else’s role. I got a better understanding of the breadth of the things Helen gets involved in, which I hadn’t appreciated before.

“So, this new understanding means that since then, our interactions and communications are easier as I understand Helen’s role and where it fits in with what I do.”

Helen

“I had a day with Gregg and we did a tour of the adult social care teams across South Nottinghamshire. This was great as it helped me understand Gregg’s role and connect with everyone and have some good conversations. What was powerful were the conversations and the passion people had for their work. It reaffirmed the skills and dedication of Gregg’s colleagues and how they work with wider teams to do their best for the people they are supporting.

“It was great to see examples of integrated working, but it also was easy to see the arbitrary barriers that are put in place through our processes and systems. One of the things that struck me was the financial responsibility Gregg and his team managers have for when people need a placement and how if you moved out of Nottinghamshire what that means –  the lack of ability to be pragmatic when the boundaries change.

“Gregg shared some of the procedural stuff he has to do so it was interesting to see how the IT systems work and how the deprivation of liberty process happens. Also, Gregg’s level of responsibility and the authorisation of the direct care of people who are vulnerable.”

Gregg

“I think the take away for me is that it was obvious that the ‘whys’ are the same, the only thing that really matters are the people at the centre of our decisions and our care. We have procedures we have to navigate, and we both reflected that we are on the right track but there is a way to go to get there. If health and social care also joined up a bit more on the funding then hopefully it would help tackle the bureaucracy.”

If you’d like to share your experience for a future article in South Notts News, please email: Antonia.smith2@nottshc.nhs.uk

Seasons greetings from South Notts Place-Based Partnership

Our Clinical Lead, Dr Jill Langridge, wishes everyone working and living across South Nottinghamshire, a very Happy Christmas in her seasonal message. She also reflects on a busy year for South Notts Place-Based Partnership.  

As we look back over the past year, many of us will feel that it’s never been as tough as it is at the moment. Despite very challenging conditions, the South Nottinghamshire Place-Based Partnership has continued to mature, creating a positive environment in which we have made some significant achievements.

The partnership board took the opportunity earlier this month to reflect as a team, the collective values and skills of the partnership, the highlights of the past year, our hopes for the coming year and the potential challenges that we will face.

One of my highlights has been the fantastic work across Arnold, Cotgrave, Eastwood and Hucknall through our Integrated Neighbourhood Working approach, facilitated by Health Inequalities and and Innovation Investment  (HIIIF) funding and building on the great work in Killisick and Butler’s Hill and Broomhill.

We are seeing strong relationships develop across communities, working together to co-design and implement initiatives to support health and wellbeing and address inequalities. We have been part of some vibrant community events, such as the Healthy Hearts for Hucknall, and the new Long Term Conditions group in Cotgrave. We have seen strong partnership working, for example in Gedling, where organsations have worked together to listen to young people within three youth centres and respond to what they have heard, to support their mental wellbeing.

Work has continued to support our Place-Based Partnership’s priority of Ageing Well. We have supported  the roll out of the ‘Older and Wiser’ booklet, a fantastic resource developed by one of our local GPs. Building on the success of the Rushcliffe dementia project, we are now spreading the  initiative across other areas of South Notts. We are also starting on a journey to support our Integrated Neighbourhood areas to become age-friendly.

This year we celebrated two successes at the ICS Health and Care Awards. Congratulations to the Broxtowe Learning Disability Collaborative and to the Opportunitistic Vaccination Team on very well deserved awards.

South Notts PBP has been working with Public Health colleagues to support the launch of the Building Blocks of Health, a new approach to understanding how our physical, social and economic enviroments can impact on our health and wellbeing. We used the Healthwatch Roadshow in Netherfield to demonstrate how this approach is already benefitting communities in South Notts.

Other highlights include the lauch of the Take a Partner to Work scheme, designed to give each other an insight into each other’s day to day work.

I have deliberatively not mentioned any names in this message. What I see every day is fantastic team working, with each and everyone playing an important role in the partnership. So I want to say a huge thank you to all of you, for your hard work, your dedication and your resilience. I hope that this Christmas is a festive and fun time, and that you all are able to take time to look after yourselves and those close to you.

With best wishes

Jill

To keep up-to-date with everything happening across our partnership, sign up for our newsletter. You can also take a look back at some of our highlights of the year below.

Warm Welcomes – bringing the community together in Beeston

Warm Welcomes are free community spaces open to residents, bringing people together and supporting them.

Harvest Community Haven (HCH) is a black led community interest company that has been set up by the Harvest Chapel International in the Beeston area, serving and supporting the community; from global majority communities, to those who are currently homeless, to students from overseas and to families with children. They also have a weekly community café including a food bank run by the volunteers.

Watch a video about Warm Welcome spaces, which has been created as part of the funding by Rushcliffe Community Voluntary Service to incorporate more physical activity into existing and emerging Warm spaces, to further enhance what is already on offer.

The funding has meant the group have been able to get equipment like hula hoops for the children to become more active during the sessions. Plus being able to deliver dance and seated yoga workshops as part of their community café.

The video shows the positive impact the Harvest Community Centre (HCH) has had on the community. For many people HCH is a supportive and safe space for their families. It’s a truly welcoming environment for everyone and the video captures how much HCH means to everyone involved.

You can hear from people running the group and also directly from service users and how they are benefiting from it and why it is important to them.

One service user said: “It has changed mine and my kid’s life, coming here every Sunday.”

Further information can be found on the ‘Making our Move’ website.

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