9th June 2023 InfoNOW News

City News and Views Podcast June

Join Kate Bowman, Richard Finch and guests at Radio Tyneside for their monthly look at what’s going on in and around Newcastle. Listen here

Guests include Lai Yee Tsang from Search Newcastle and Rob and David from the Friends of Denton Dene in the West End of the City. Moyra Riseborough drops by with more hints and tips to help with the cost of living crisis.

Plus Richard White from InformationNOW looks ahead to some of the interesting and important things that are happening throughout June.

Read more on InformationNOW about Later Life Audio and Radio Co-op

Adult social care job opportunities

Closing date 9 to 15 June 2023

Newcastle City Council’s Active Inclusion Service is seeking to appoint two Homelessness Prevention Officers to its statutory homelessness and housing advice service.
Newcastle city council’s Adult social care are seeking to appoint post-discharge social worker, reablement officer and business finance officer roles.

See the Hospital post discharge social worker job advert here
See the reablement officer job advert here
See the homelessness prevention officer job advert here
See the business finance officer job advert here

Read more about careers at Newcastle City council 

Refugee Week 2023

19th to 25th June

Refugee Week is a celebration of refugees’ contributions to art, culture and society. The theme for Refugee Week 2023 is ‘Compassion’, and hopes to create a world where everyone can be more connected by being compassionate towards others.

Monday 19 June 1:30 to 3:30pm

The Multaka project are sharing their highlights of the Discovery museum in multiple languages for Refugee week.

Tuesday 20 June 11am to 4pm for Activities. 5 to 6pm and 7:30 to 8:30pm for the meals

Curious monkey Theatre will offer storytelling and tea in their colourful caravan from their arriving group and street table football with West End Refugee service. This is followed by the chance to join for 2 special meals and performances from their Arriving group at Magic Hat cafe.

Wednesday 21 June 10am to 6pm

Baltic centre for contemporary art are holding an exhibition of works from clients on the NE RISE programme. There will also be Yoga, papercrafts and hand massages and more

Wednesday 21 to 24 June 

Sanctuary Songs, an arts Festival of Creativity is at Newcastle University with art-making sessions, creative workshops, storytelling in different languages, and exhibitions of visual art and photographs

Thursday 22 June 10am to 12pm

Newcastle city of sanctuary will be launching the new Council of Sanctuary Strategy at their Newcastle sanctuary forum. The forum is a space for people to come together to explore and learn about issues related to migration.

Find more Refugee Week events on InformationNOW 

Hi Vis fortnight

Hi Vis Fortnight celebrates all things related to accessible libraries and reading, and to raise awareness about the services that are on offer for people with a vision or print impairment

Reading Sight have a reading sight resource pack to support libraries or volunteer led reading organisations
FInd out more about accessible services for visually impaired people
on Newcastle councils website.

Read more on InformationNOW about Sight Loss and Visual Impairments

Marie Curie – not just end of life care

Outpatients, family members and carers can use the Marie Curie service for support, therapies, benefits advice and much more.

People who have a diagnosis that is life limiting, palliative or terminal can be referred to Marie Curie for help and support. Based in Newcastle the Outpatients Centre has:

• gym
• kitchen
• clinical therapy room
• physiotherapist, occupational therapist, nurses, social workers, cognitive behavioural therapists, counsellors,
• respite care to allow carers to have a break
• cognitive stimulation therapy for people with dementia

They run a range of support groups and activities including:

• art therapy
• separate drop in sessions for men and women with coffee, cake and bacon butties
• mindfulness
• Carers support group
• Sons and Daughters support group
• Look good, feel good pamper session
• Life café

Read more on InformationNOW about Marie Curie Newcastle

New food pantry launching in Arthurs Hill

Do you live or work in Arthurs Hill? The Newcastle Community Pantry needs your help!
The Newcastle Community Pantry is a social supermarket set up to help people on low incomes save money on shopping. Members pay a subscription of £5 when they visit one of the pop-up pantries. In return they can choose a selection of items such as fresh fruit and vegetables, dairy items, tinned items plus other essential household items.

They will soon be launching at NU Castle Community Foundation and will be open to people who live in the Arthurs Hill area of the city. They would like to hear from people in the area about what the food offer should be and also to help raise awareness of the pantry.

If you’d like to find out more and inform what the pantry looks like please contact: [email protected]

Read more on InformationNOW about Newcastle community pantry

Outer West GP Patient Participation Event

Wednesday 21 June 5pm

Are you registered at one of these GP practices?
Denton Park Medical Group
Denton Turret Medical Centre
Newburn Surgery
Parkway Medical Group
Throckley Primary Care Centre
Westerhope Medical Group

If you do, you are invited to a Patient Participation Event On 21 June
At West Denton Community Centre This is a drop-in event to find out more about what your GP practice can offer you to help your wellbeing. You can register your interest in attending the drop in by completing this survey

TechNExt Festival

19 to 23 June 2023

Taking place over five days, a mixture of community-designed and led fringe events events will be hosted right across the region showcasing the very best tech opportunities and talent that the North East has to offer.

• TechNExt Festival Fringe will support more than 30 events hosted by other organisations taking place across the North East throughout the festival week.

22 June 12:30 to 6pm

TechNExt Tech Talent Live, is a  free, drop in event is for anyone keen to learn more about technology careers, opportunities and community initiatives in the North East at Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art

Read more about TechNExt on their website

Opportunities For Action

Outer West Neighbourhood event

 Tuesday 18 Jul 2023 Time: 1.00 pm – 3.00 pm

This Newcastle Neighbourhoods: Outer West Network Event is a network for people contributing to the wellbeing of people living in the Outer West of Newcastle upon Tyne.

All practitioners across the health, social care, voluntary, community, and social enterprise sectors, housing, sport, leisure, uniformed services are welcome to attend.

Find out more and book a space on InformatioNOW

Putting principles into practice: Engaging with diverse communities

Wednesday 12 July 10am to 12pm

VONNE and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Clinical Research Network North East and North Cumbria partners are hosting an event focused on involving communities in health and wellbeing research. Communities and community organisations play a key role in shaping health and wellbeing research that really matters, and they want to support more VCSE organisations and the research community in the region to work successfully in partnership.

They invite you to join them to learn about a national set of principles to guide community engagement. At this event they will utilise our collective experience and expertise to build on this to co-create a guide to support sustainable, mutually beneficial VCSE research partnerships in our region. All experience is valuable to the event whether or not you have been involved in health and wellbeing research.

To register your interest attending, please sign up via Eventbrite

Places for this event will be limited.

Demystifying health & wellbeing research and evaluation workshop

Monday 26 June 10am to 12:30pm

VONNE and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Clinical Research Network North East and North Cumbria
ARC would like to invite you to a free introductory workshop focused on health & wellbeing research and evaluation; what it is, why it’s important and the main approaches used in practice.

The event will be facilitated by Greta Brunskill, Research Partnerships Coordinator at VONNE and Katie Thomson and Matthew Breckons, researchers from Newcastle University and the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration for North East & North Cumbria, this session will also provide opportunities to discuss your own research and evaluation ideas.

Book your place here

Read more on InformationNOW about Having your say about health and care services

Consultations

Share your views on urgent care services in Newcastle

Have your say about urgent care services in Newcastle by taking part in 1 of 6 in person or online interactive conversation with your local NHS.

Urgent care is for when you need medical help today, but it’s not an emergency suitable for 999 or A&E. Newcastle has three Urgent Treatment Centres, at Ponteland Road, Molineux Street in Byker, and Westgate Road (which is temporarily closed).

In addition to these centres, patients also get urgent care support from NHS 111 (online and by phone), GP practices, pharmacists and services based at the Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI) such as the minor injuries unit.

Earlier in the year, North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board (NENC ICB) started a listening exercise, using a survey and contact with local groups and organisations to start gathering people’s thoughts and views about urgent care services.

Having already heard from over 1200 people, including both patients and NHS staff, the ICB we are holding a series of six events

The events take place at:

• Brunswick Methodist Church NE1 7BJ, Wednesday 14 June 1.30 – 3.30pm
• Walker Activity Dome NE6 3BR, Saturday 17 June 10.30am – 12.30pm
• Newcastle City Library NE1 8AX, Monday 19 June 1.30 – 3.30pm
• Riverside Community Health Project NE4 8XS, Wednesday 21 June 6 – 8pm

• Online on Friday 16 June 1.30 – 3.30pm
• Online on Tuesday 20 June 2 – 4pm (co-hosted with Healthwatch Newcastle)

You can see the events and book a place on informationNOW or visit their website.

Read more on Having your say about health and care services on InformationNOW

Whats important to you about Friendships and Relationships event

Skills for People hosted the What’s Important To You? consultation event on behalf of Collaborative Newcastle Learning Disability Partnership last year. (The Partnership is made up of the NHS, local government, universities, charities and local communities in Newcastle)

The event identified the 4 most important priorities for people:

1. Relationships and community
2. Jobs
3. Money
4. Being safe

The first follow up event is about Relationships and friends, and is for people from Newcastle who have a learning disability, family carers, service providers and representatives from health and social care. They want to hear from you about what you need and what Collaborative Newcastle Learning Disability Partnership can do to make this happen

Read more and book a space on InformationNOW

The LGBT+ Fed North East Befriending Service Survey

The LGBT+ Federation North East are looking for peoples views about trialling a befriending service for LGBT+ people who are isolated. You can share your views on how the service may operate by completing the survey using this link

Read more about the North East LGBT + Federation on their website

Connected Voice: Digital Inclusion in Gateshead

Connected Voice – Health Equity is working on a digital inclusion project in Gateshead in partnership with the NHS, Gateshead Council, VCSEs, researchers, and tech firms.

to better understand digital inclusion and accessibility they have a survey for organisations and groups to complete: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/DigitalInclusionGateshead
Connected Voice would like to set up a Digital Inclusion Network in future and invite organisations that work in Gateshead to be part of it and shape it in ways that make Gateshead more digitally-included and accessible, and therefore a more equitable place to live.
If you’d like to get in touch or know a Gateshead organisation who may be interested, please contact Alessandra Mondin at
[email protected]

For support with digital exclusion in Newcastle read more on InformationNOW about Get online Newcastle

Spotlight on

Bike Week 100

5-11 June 2023

This week is the 100th annual Bike Week, marking a century of celebrating everyday cycling for everyone.

Watbike run a programme of weekly rides and organised trips around the North East which are open to everyone

The Breeze Network can help you find a bike to ride, get some basic training and join other women who just want to enjoy a safe, local bike ride.

The Cycle Hub is a bike café and workshop on Newcastle Quayside. They host a range of activities from group rides, cycle classes and refresher training to shows and events.

Trusted Bikes CIC can assess and repair your bike for a small donation and you can meet them at a number of community venues across Tyne and wear.

Greening Wingrove’s Bike garden at Nuns Moor park is a community hub and green space, with lots of bike related activities. It is open 10am-3pm to use and they also accept private bookings

SusTrans have lots of information on the national cycle network  to help you enjoy walking, wheeling, cycling and exploring outdoors.

Recyke y’ Bike is a charity that accepts donated bikes and refurbishes them for re-sale.

Newcastle City council Bikeability provide accredited Bikeability Cycle Training provider and deliver National Standard cycle training in Newcastle to both children and adults at schools and community venues

Read more on InformationNOW about Cycling and other fitness activities 

Cue Band wearable device for Parkinson’s patients

A team of researchers from Northumbria University have received funding from Parkinson’s UK to create a device which tackles the automatic swallowing response. This symptom, which people with Parkinson’s can experience, causes pooling of saliva that results in drooling or choking.
The ‘Cue band’ device is worn on the wrist like a smart watch and connected to a smartphone app; allowing it to be pre-programmed to vibrate at scheduled times to prompt the patient to swallow.

The research team are now looking for Parkinson’s patients to take part in a trial of the device. They are aiming to recruit up to 3,000 people who will be provided with a free Cue Band and given advice on how to use it.

If you have been diagnosed with Parkinson’s and would like to take part or know of someone who may benefit from the trial, please download the Cue Band app, and join the study.

Find out more about the Cue Band.

Read more on InformationNOW about Parkinsons

Small Charity Week

Small charity week raises awareness of the hundreds and thousands of small charities that, every day, make a huge difference to people in their local and regional communities. Theres many events online and throughout the UK such as:

Monday 19 June
Small Charities Week: Introduction to charity film-making

Tuesday 20 June
Wise up to Ageism 

Wednesday 21 June
What role could the Charity Commission play in supporting small charities?

Thursday 22 June
Webinar on recruiting and supporting disabled staff and volunteers

Friday 23 June
Small charity financial planning and stability 

Find more Small Charity Week Events on the small charity week website

Research and Reports

Carers week 2023 Report

The theme for Carers Week 2023 is Recognising and supporting carers in the community. Research carried out by YouGov on behalf of Carers week charities highlights the lack of recognition of being a carer.

• Polling shows 73% of people who currently provide unpaid care, or have provided care in the past, have never identified as or called themselves a carer
• 8 million people who have provided unpaid care have also seen their health and wellbeing suffer
• 46% said they missed out on financial support as a result of not knowing they were a carer, and 35% missed out on practical support.

You can read a summary on Carers Trust or View the full Carers Week 2023 report here

Addressing barriers to working with the VCSE sector in integrated care systems

A report from the Kings Fund commissioned by the NHS England Voluntary Partnerships Team provides an overview of the key actions required to tackle barriers and challenges to better partnership working between integrated care systems (ICS) and the voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector.

You can read a summary of the Actions to support partnerships report or View the full report here

What’s important to you report

Skills for People held an event hosted by collaborative Newcastle to hear from local people with a learning disability (and those supporting them) about what is important to them and what everday barriers they face.

The views and ideas shared on the day will form the basis of a plan for the city, to make it the best place to live for people with a learning disability. Local people with personal experience, and those who work in health and care organisations will work together on the priorities identified by local people.

The initial report from this event is available to read now.

Download the report here

Resources

Intercultural dementia care resources

The number of people living with dementia from an ethnic minority background is expected to double by 2026 in England. NHS England and Alzheimers Europe have created a set of new resource  will help raise awareness of the challenges people from ethnic minority communities face when accessing dementia care and help narrow the health inequalities gap.

This new set of resources includes:
•    The new NHSE and Alzheimer Europe guide on intercultural dementia care – for health and care professionals: https://www.alzheimer-europe.org/sites/default/files/2023-05/intercultural-dementia-care-guide.pdf
•    A new NHSE and Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych) e-learning module – for health and care professionals: https://elearninghub.rcpsych.ac.uk/products/NHSE_Dementia
•    Two new culturally competent activity booklets for use in care settings; one tailored for South Asian communities and one tailored to Black Caribbean/African communities – for health and care professionals

 Read more on informationNOW about dementia

North East Nature Toolkit

The Natural History society of Northumberland have produced their free, Young North East Nature Toolkit, contains numerous fun activities for young naturalists to discover and explore, from nature journaling, going on outdoor adventures to getting creative with maps.

Download the Toolkit from google drive here 

NSAB Newcastle Safeguarding E-learning

The Newcastle Safeguarding Adults Board (NSAB) and Newcastle Safeguarding Children Partnership (NSCP) offer safeguarding e-learning. People who work or volunteer with children or adults in Newcastle can access the following courses, free of charge:

• Safeguarding Adults Level 1
• Safeguarding Children Level 1
• Safeguarding Children Level 2
• Mental Capacity Act Basic Awareness
• Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards

All the above courses assess learner competency at the end and are certificated.

The NSAB and NSCP eLearning page also signposts external e-learning resources covering a wide-range of topics including: County Lines, Modern Slavery, Scams, Counter-Terrorism and Female Genital Mutilation.

Safe Newcastle Abuse Training Programme 2023 to 2024

Safe Newcastle training can help you recognise the signs and indicators of domestic abuse, understand the issues affecting those subjected to it and respond safely and effectively when someone needs our protection, help and support. Safe Newcastle is the Community Safety Partnership for Newcastle upon Tyne

The training programme is primarily aimed at managers, paid staff and volunteers who may come into contact with people subjected to domestic abuse, perpetrators of abuse and / or child victims of domestic abuse.

Download the programme here

Read more about Domestic abuse on InformationNOW

West Start West Middle, West End

13 June, 2023 4:30pm

Celebrate what it means to be from the West-End of Newcastle at this family friendly performance event featuring the best in live local music, poetry, storytelling, discussion and food! Created by the community, for the community and featuring performances from Tahmina Ali and Black Moss.

Read more on InformationNOW about  West Start, West Middle, West End 

North East Ambulance Service Event

10 June, 2023 10am to 3pm

North East Ambulance Service’s Summer 2023 recruitment event, will showcase current vacancies. from their emergency operations centre (EOC) teams to ambulance crews out on the road. You will have the opportunity to find out more about their roles, training, and further education opportunities for clinical and non-clinical staff.

Read more on InformationNOW about North East Ambulance Service – Team NEAS recruitment event

Dementia Information and Advice Group

Tuesday 13 June 2023 10.30 am to 12pm

The Dementia Information and Advice Group provides carers who look after someone with dementia the chance to meet with other carers, get information and have discussions about what support is available, looking after yourself and dealing with the difficult days.

Read more on InformationNOW about Newcastle Carers Dementia Information and Advice group

Older People’s Coffee and Computers Hub Benwell

Wednesday 14 June 2023  10am to 12.30 pm

An opportunity to chat, have coffee, and develop your IT skills.

Read more on InformationNOW about Older People’s Coffee and Computers Hub Benwell

Baby Social (0-12 months)

Thursday 15 June 2023 1pm to 2pm

A friendly and supportive group for parents and babies (up to 12 months old) in Byker

Read more on InformationNOW about Baby Social at St Martins Centre

Updated and New Organisations

JET (Jobs Employment and Training)

JET (Jobs Education and Training) work with ethnic minority communities, asylum seekers, refugees and new migrant communities to help them to find work, improve their skills and settle into life in Newcastle.

Read more on InformationNOW about JET 

Street Paws

Street Paws provides free accessible vet care and kennel provision to homeless people and those in crisis across the UK.

Read more on InformationNOW about Street Paws 

Tyne and Wear citizens

Tyne and Wear citizens is made up of member organisations ( schools, universities, churches, mosques, synagogues, parent groups, health trusts, charities and unions) who are committed to taking action and work together for neighbourhood improvements and campaigns for social justice.

Read more on InformationNOW about Tyne and Wear citizens

North East Drive Mobility

North East Drive Mobility help people with a medical condition or disability that may affect your ability to use a vehicle (as a driver or passenger).

Read more on InformationNOW about North East Drive Mobility

Updated and New Organisations

Ear health

Problems with your ears can be painful and frustrating. Without treatment it can effect your balance and hearing. There are some simple ways to keep your ears healthy.

Read more on InformationNOW about Ear health

Emergency Services

The Emergency Services are there to help you when your life is in danger. In this new article on InformationNOW you can read more about the

• Fire, Police, Ambulance and Coastguard Services
• how to contact emergency services if you are unable to speak

Read the new Emergency Services article in full on InformationNOW 

Last updated: June 16, 2023