Community News: Mental Health Consultation to Start

A 12-week public consultation on proposals to redesign specialist mental health services for adults and older people experiencing severe or long term mental ill-health is to start on Tuesday (6 March).

The consultation relates to services available to a population of 480,000 people across Eastern Cheshire, South Cheshire and Vale Royal. Specialist mental health support is provided for approximately 7,000 adults and older people each year in these areas. 95 per cent of that care is provided in the community.

Dr Ian Hulme, GP with Meadowside Medical Centre in Congleton and clinical lead for mental health at NHS Eastern Cheshire CCG, said: “We are proposing a redesign of these services to significantly improve mental health support, with a focus on early prevention and more choice. 

"User and carer feedback, along with recent clinical audit recommendations and inspections, told us that some things in these services work well but that other things need to change for the better.

“One service user told us that they ‘deserve to thrive, not just survive’ and I, together with clinical colleagues across Eastern Cheshire, South Cheshire and Vale Royal, are united in our view that this proposed model of care will support people with specialist mental health
needs to do just that.”

Dr Teresa Strefford, clinical director for commissioning, NHS South Cheshire CCG and NHS Vale Royal CCG, said: “Most people can be supported very effectively in the community with the right range of services. 95 per cent of the 7,000 people we currently support with specialist mental health needs receive that care in the community and we want to improve it.

“The new model of care we are proposing would provide new services so that there is better access for people to help keep them well and active in the community. It would also provide much greater choice of services for those in, or at risk of, crisis, and support people with dementia and those who care for them to stay in their own surroundings.”

Dr Anushta Sivananthan, consultant psychiatrist with Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, added: “People have told us they want more personalised care, more support in the local community, and one point of contact for crisis care. They also want a choice of support in different places – for example, at home, in a drop-in centre or in a crisis bed and that they don’t want to be in hospital unless it’s absolutely necessary.

“We value the feedback we have already received and we now ask service users, carers and the general public to get involved with this public consultation and help us shape better services for the future.”

The consultation runs from 6 March 2018 to 29 May 2018 and no decision will be made until after the consultation findings have been fully considered. Any new service arrangements would be introduced gradually into 2019.

For more information, visit easterncheshireccg.nhs.uk where the online survey and details of the public events are published.

Out & About: It's Been Full Steam Ahead for Christmas All Week This Week!

Volunteer of the Year: Steve Bebe
RedShift Radio's Production Manager

I am writing this on Monday morning, looking out at a stunning landscape, trees covered in inches of snow with the sun glistening. I have decided to have a snow-day and enjoy the view from my warm house while I plough through lots of catch-up computer jobs. Topping up the bird feeders and having a snowball fight with my snow-loving dog Jasper will be my only reason to leave the house today!

Wingate Winter Wonderland

On Saturday Michael-John took one of his Dad's donkeys to the Wingate Centre Christmas Fair which was lovely, Betty enjoyed meeting lots of children and having her photo taken dozens of times! Ann, the other donkey was being a little madam and wouldn’t get in the trailer … hopefully they will both be feeling more festive this Sunday as we will be taking them to St Mary’s Church in Nantwich for the nativity service.

Acton Christmas Tree Festival

I have decorated two trees as part of the Christmas Tree Festival at St Mary’s in Acton; one for RedShift and one for my Tropic skincare business. The latter is covered in Hawaiian garlands rather than tinsel, but it works! Please do pop up to Acton Church and enjoy the trees, they look (and smell) stunning!

Tatton Yule Yomp

On Sunday I crawled up to Knutsford for the Tatton Yule Yomp, an event organised by Stewart Bailey from Hibberts Solicitors, and one for which we have provided the PA Kit for the last six years. Initially it was a really hairy drive from Burland but by the time we approached Middlewich the snow seemed to disperse and upon arriving at Tatton, we had nothing more than a light dusting of the white stuff. The cold weather certainly didn’t put off the 1,500 Tatton Yule Yompers who came dressed for the festive 10km dash through the park.

Nantwich Round Table Float

I will be out with the Round Table Float on Friday night in Nantwich, so if you see us please bring out the port and mince pies! On Saturday our friend Chris Meredith will be leading Santa around Wychwood Park and I know both evenings are in need of some extra volunteers. Please call me on 01270 440 750 if you can help from about 5.30 - 9pm on either Friday or Saturday.

Christmas Parties

It’s been a week of Christmas parties, with the annual festive networking event hosted by the South Cheshire Chamber and sponsored by Rookery Hall again last Friday: always a great event. On Saturday night, MJ and I enjoyed the 41-Club Christmas party and I even coped with sitting next to Dave Birchall all evening (he dared me to mention him in my article!)

Last Wednesday we hosted our RedShift Christmas Jumper party and our guests of honour were the Kilimanjaro Walkers who helped to raise funds for our youth activities. The evening was completely organised by five of our young volunteers, Orlanda, Harvey, Daniel, Ben and Lauren and they did a superb job. We enjoyed a quiz, buffet, awards and competitions and it was lovely to see my fellow walkers again.   

Volunteer of the Week

I presented some of our volunteers with awards and this week, my Volunteer of the Week has to go to our “Volunteer of the Year” the fabulous Steve Bebe. Steve splits his time between RedShift as our Production Manager and the NeuroMuscular Centre in Winsford and I for one, couldn’t do without him. Steve is always a breath of fresh air. His (occasionally dodgy) humour and positive attitude always makes me smile and it's fabulous knowing that I can rely on him to manage our playout system, that he has pretty much taught himself how to use.

Steve often logs in remotely from home to fix problems and beavers away editing our shows and interviews so we can sell one of our great products, an AudioCast. This is an edited interview where Steve will removes guests um’s and er’s to help them sound as confident, clear and concise as possible. This is a really popular service for our local businesses and charities to use on their websites.

Hungerford Academy on the Radio

My final shout-out (and photo) of the week goes to the lovely children from Hungerford Academy who joined me in the studio for a Junior School Run taster session, kindly paid for as part of the Baker Wynne & Wilson community grant we received for our youth activities.

The children were superb. All nine of them were squished into the studio and spoke clearly and politely about a broad range of topics. We even had them all playing their ukuleles. Please do have a listen here to the AudioCast of the show.

This article appeared in Crewe Chronicle on 13th December 2017.  Please look out for my "Out and About" page each week in the Crewe Chronicle. For more information about any of the items in this article, please email us here at RedShift or call us on 01270 440 750. 

Etsy Christmas Artisan Market Proves a Hit in Nantwich

Biddmead's lovely wreaths

More than 65 local craftspeople join together to provide a range of unusual gift items at Reaseheath College 

The second Christmas Artisan Market came to Reaseheath College today. Despite the drizzle, within the first hour more than 500 people had passed through the doors with almost 2000 visitors by the end of the day.

I had a sneak preview before the doors opened to the public, and was astonished at the selection of beautifully crafted items on display.

Dawn from DesignWand

I was welcomed by a warming glass of mulled wine and caught up with Christine Taylor, the Captain of Etsy South Cheshire, the organiser of today's market and owner of Lilac Sprig. 

Christine had recently been a guest on RedShift Radio, where she was interviewed by Steve Bebe about the Christmas Market. Listen to the interview here.

Today, Christine explained that there were more than 65 stands to visit, selling everything from wooden goods, jewellery, papercrafts, leather items, knitted and crocheted goodies to children's clothes, paintings, beads, craft supplies, cards and even dog treats, all of it crafted by local makers from the South Cheshire area.

After chatting to Christine, I made my way round the stalls in the first two areas, chatting to some of the stallholders as I went. The Homemade Haven was a particular favourite, with Zoe Mayson selling lots of cute items including clothes peg fridge magnets, tiny little stickers, pencil rolls and button items. I managed to nab a couple of stocking fillers from here!

Moonsalt Jewellery's gorgeous range

Sarah Jane's Moonsalt Jewellery was stunning. She handcrafts bohemian jewels inspired by nature and the sea. I was particularly smitten with a silver ring with a dark turquoise abalone shell in a teardrop shape.

Tara Cork - Perch Upholstery

Another favourite of the day was Perch Upholstery. Tara Cork's fabulous designs include my soon-to-try latest hobby: arm knitting! For those of you who haven't heard of it, you use massively thick yarn and (obviously) your arms as needles. I was totally inspired by her footstools and plantpots using some gorgeous "vegan" yarn (what used to be called acrylic, in the olden days!).  I absolutely can't wait to give this a go. 

In the meantime, if you need any items of furniture re-upholstering, Tara's your gal! During our chat it transpired that we have a mutual friend for whom she recently undertook a commission to re-upholster a chair. I have actually seen that chair both "before" and "after" so I know first hand what a great job Tara does!

Buttons and Bobbins' unusual pictures

Buttons and Bobbins had some really unusual pictures using buttons and personalisation. I especially liked the family tree picture with big silver buttons representing the parents and smaller ones for the children, all surrounded by green buttons in differing shades.

Katy takes commissions so don't hesitate to get in touch with her if you want something a little bit different for a friend or family member's special occasion.

I was running out of time as I had to be somewhere else at 10am so I rushed

Stuart Gray - SG Leathers

round many of the other stalls but ones of particular note were SG Leathers where Stuart Gray's phenomenal skills were on display handcrafting leather items, Knit 2tog 53 for kids where Carol Facer knits beautiful items for kids, Karen Sutton at My Beaus and Belles who handcrafts beautiful bespoke children's clothing and accessories, AnitasKnitsOnline - another knitter, Anita Whittingham, who also takes commissions and finally Alfie's Hut where Susan Knight handcrafts the most gorgeous homewares using quality wool fabrics including some lovely tartans.

ArtySally's fabulous paintings

Another lovely stall was ArtySally run by the fabulously talented Sally Huntginton. I recently commissioned a picture of one of our chickens from Sally for my partner's birthday and he was exceptionally pleased with it. Sally has an inimitable style: we now want more of her funky paintings in our new extension next year!

Susan from Alfie's Hut (love the name!)

Finally a special mention to Biddmead's (see top picture) where I was sorely tempted to buy a wreath but ended up buying a cute little slate heart. Alison Coverdale is promoting the idea that your front door should never be "undressed", so once Christmas is over and you take down your Christmas wreath, how about buying a spring wreath to put up in its place? Love that idea!

Huge congratulations to Christine and all the Etsy makers who put on a fabulous market today. Roll on next December - I can't wait to make a return journey!

South Cheshire and Vale Royal Patients Urged to Keep Antibiotics Working

Infections becoming resistant to antibiotics - longer term, current treatments will no longer work
With the warning that some infections are becoming more resistant to antibiotic medicines, NHS South Cheshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and NHS Vale Royal CCG want us to know when we should, and shouldn’t be taking them.

As the weather grows colder and winter closes in, many patients will be developing coughs, colds and flu, with some thinking they need antibiotics to treat their illness. However, in most cases they won’t be the best or appropriate way of treating symptoms.

This week (13th-19th November) is World Antibiotic Awareness Week with the theme of seeking advice from a qualified healthcare professional if you think you may need antibiotics.

Dr Fiona McGregor-Smith, GP and Prescribing Lead at the CCGs, said: “It is a common misconception that antibiotics are a cure-all, but the reality is, they just won’t work in the case of a cold or the flu. There are many different types of antibiotics and they work against bacterial infections, not viral infections, such as colds, coughs and flu.

“In recent years, the over-usage of antibiotics has actually led to the development and spread of
bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics. Where people contract infections caused by these antibiotic-resistant bacteria, they will take much longer to get better and in some cases could become seriously ill. Keeping antibiotics effective is everyone’s responsibility and we all need to take care to use them responsibly and keep antibiotics effective for our children and future generations.”
This is a global problem with the World Health Organisation saying that “taking antibiotics when they are not needed accelerates emergence of antibiotic resistance, one of the biggest threats to global health.”

Overuse of antibiotics can cause bacteria to become resistant, meaning current treatments will no longer work. Not all infections can be treated with antibiotics; antibiotics don’t cure viruses like colds and flu.

Only take antibiotics prescribed to you, do not share them with family or friends
Antibiotics are not always the answer. Do not demand antibiotics if your health care professional says you don’t need them.

Always seek the advice of a qualified health care professional when taking antibiotics Dr McGregor-Smith added: “If you have been prescribed antibiotics it’s really important that you finish taking the full course, even if you feel better. If you stop taking an antibiotic part way through a course, the bacteria can become resistant to the antibiotic.”

Your local pharmacist can help advise on the best way to manage minor illnesses including the common cold and flu. Pharmacists provide advice, support, treatment and can signpost patients to the most appropriate healthcare provider if necessary.

Further information about staying well this winter is available at www.nhs.uk/staywell.