Date: 30th June 2020

Subject: Rural Health & Wellbeing

Chair: Cllr Roger Phillips, Herefordshire Council

- To download the agenda for this meeting click here

Presenters:

• Garry Jones (Chief Executive at Support Staffordshire)

  “The voluntary health and care sector – a Staffordshire perspective before and during Covid-19!”

  - Download the presentation here

• Brian Wilson (Director and Research Consultant at Rural England CIC)

  “Creating a Rural Proofing Health Toolkit”

  - Download the presentation here

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• Martin Cutbill (Director at Alertacall)

  “How innovative daily contact is reducing social isolation and promoting wellbeing for older people”

  - Download the presentation here
  

Learning Outcomes:

3 Examples of Good Practice

• Support Staffordshire – Liaison between County Council and Voluntary Sector and County Council (COVID-19) emergency hotline as ‘safety net’. https://www.supportstaffordshire.org.uk/
• Online Rural Health Proofing Toolkit – Will be launched later in the year. They are looking for a social services case study or others wanting to test the toolkit. Please contact [email protected] for more information.
• Alertacall – Individuals no longer need to wear an alarm which they are not keen to do but can check in daily via various methods. They have control over their amount of digital and human contact. www.alertacall.com

5 Key Learning Points

• Need Best Practice on supported access to technology (to prevent ‘re-inventing the wheel’.
• How do we retain new community of volunteers that have emerged during the pandemic?
• Services are linked – better designed housing policies can help the aging population and improve health and preventative services.
• Different levels of support provided – from the first layer of ‘neighbourliness’ all the way through to the County Council support helpline, with people accessing services at lower levels, it ensures that there is capacity at the County Council to help those in greatest need.
• FUNDING! How can Councils continue to deliver their social care services and support services to rural populations when funding for rural authorities is so much less than that provided to urban areas.

Future Issues to Consider

• Children’s health in rural areas.
• Concept of a ‘Digital Nurse’, or ‘Digital Healthcare Visitor’.
• Topol Review - https://topol.hee.nhs.uk/
• This includes recommendations to ensure the NHS is a world leader in using digital technology to benefit patients.

- The above learning outcomes can be downloaded here

? The attendance & apologies for this seminar can be downloaded here