After a long, hard fight, the COVID picture is improving. 12 months on from the start of our fight against Coronavirus we are continuing to see a much-improved situation across the county. Thank you to everyone – but we must remain cautious and vigilant
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This year’s World Autism Awareness Week ran from 29th March – 4th April. It was an opportunity to think about the society we want to live in when we leave Covid-19 lockdown – and the small things we can all do to make it work better for autistic children, adults and their families.
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Engaging Communities Solutions (ECS) is working in partnership with Diabetes UK to understand how patients have been affected by the use of telephone or online consultations with their GP practice or other Primary Care service.
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The easing of the national lockdown and the vaccination programme gives us all hope that we will return to normal one day. The last 12 months have been difficult for all of us, and we have had to adapt, none more so than the amazing doctors, nurses and care staff on the front line.
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Gill Valentine, one of our Advocacy Managers gives us an insight into what a typical day is like for her.
“My name is Gill Valentine and I currently manage the advocacy service at Healthwatch Halton as well as delivering an active case load. We currently provide statutory advocacy services for clients residing in Halton. The advocacy service is a small team and is made up of two full-time advocates (one of whom is me) and two part-time advocates.
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Healthwatch England looked at ease of public accessing GP appointments and how appointments were delivered during Covid-19 Lockdown. As a result, ECS have joined forces with Healthwatch England to conduct a study into digital exclusion in Primary Care Services across our nine Healthwatch services.
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The way health and social care services operate has been affected by coronavirus (COVID-19) with non-urgent treatment postponed, face-to-face appointments reduced and homes and services limiting public access.
However, the work of our local Healthwatch teams has not stopped and our staff are working hard to find new and innovative ways of making sure people can continue to share their experiences of health and social care issues so we can make their voices heard.
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We want to say thank you for your continued support throughout this difficult year. We have been very fortunate to remain busy throughout the pandemic.
We all wish you a safe and happy Christmas, during the holiday season, our thoughts turn gratefully to those who have made our success possible. It is in this spirit that we say thank you and send best wishes for the holidays and New Year.
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ECS has been an accredited real Living Wage employer for a number of years now. The real Living Wage is an independently set hourly rate of pay, calculated according to the basic costs of living. It is currently set at £9.50 an hour for employees across the UK. It is updated annually, and employers pay it on a voluntary basis.
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This year marks the third annual advocacy awareness week and this year more than ever it seems fitting to be spending a dedicated week focusing on raising awareness of the power and impact of independent advocacy in people’s lives. Every day our independent advocates play a vital role in ensuring people have their rights upheld and their feelings and wishes heard.
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This week is National Inclusion Week, a national event designed to celebrate diversity and explore new ways to make all aspects of community life as inclusive as possible. Running from September 28th-October 4th, 2020 it was created by Inclusive Employers and aims to raise awareness of inclusion in the workplace.
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We are pleased to reproduce this article from Healthwatch England which looks at how we can communicate better with hearing loss, especially as a result of the restrictions that have been in place as a result of Covid-19.
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At ECS our advocacy services help people with mental health issues make their views heard and break down the prejudice they can encounter. This is part of our commitment to involve service users in how mental health services are designed and delivered at both a national and local level.
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Engaging communities Solutions (ECS), has achieved the leading UK Govt endorsed Security industry certification – Cyber Essentials certification – awarded after a rigorous technical review of our company’s security processes, platform and successfully providing evidence and demonstrating our security compliance against different risk and threat vulnerabilities.
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We are delighted, as a CIC to have made a donation to Staffordshire Women’s Aid, who have been providing domestic and sexual violence services and support to Women and their Children since 1976. They provide an incredibly important service, that includes: a 24-hour helpline, refuge accommodation, 1 to 1 emotional support and counselling.
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This project, with the University of Birmingham, is looking at the effectiveness and impact of different partnering arrangements, including mergers of trusts to provider networks in primary care settings.
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There are continuing concerns about some NHS providers such as hospitals. These are often reported in the media where examples of poor patient care may have been due to clinical errors, negligence, staff shortages, poor leadership, and a lack of infrastructure.
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As one of the largest market providers of local Healthwatch in England, we at ECS recognise the importance of doing all that we can to combat health inequalities, especially following the events in the US and news here about the disproportionate impact COVID-19 has had on people from Black, Asian, and Ethnic Minority communities.
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Engaging Communities Solutions (ECS) delivers many Healthwatch services across the country and our local teams of dedicated staff are taking the opportunity right now to say a big thank you to our local Volunteers.
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