Health and social care recruitment event planned at Coventry Univeristy (CU) Scarborough

Humber, Coast and Vale’s Excellence Centre is hosting a recruitment event aimed at people with aspirations of working in health and social care.

The event will be held at CU Scarborough on Thursday 7 November between 2pm and 6pm.

Attendees will be given the opportunity to find out more about the wide range of jobs and careers that are available in Scarborough and Ryedale and across the wider Humber, Coast and Vale region.

Local health and social care employers will be attending the event – supported by NHS Scarborough and Ryedale Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) – to provide information on current vacancies and training programmes within their organisations.

Margaret Wilson, Project Manager at Humber Coast and Vale Excellence Centre, said: “I think this is a brilliant opportunity for people who want to work in health and social care but don’t know where to start.

“It is a chance to learn about the broad range of job opportunities across Humber, Coast and Vale including mental health services, learning disability services, community services, healthy lifestyle and addiction services as well as a number of apprenticeship opportunities.

“There are lots of different jobs in health and social care so there is sure to be something for everyone whether you want to work in a hospital or residential home or in the community.”

Working in health and social care, you could be supporting someone with a physical or learning disability, someone with a mental health condition or someone who is frail or elderly.

The event is open to everyone, whatever your level of experience. Visit: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/could-you-care-health-and-social-care-recruitment-event-tickets-76421598057 to book your place.

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Local NHS Trusts and Clinical Commissioning Groups have partnered with CU Scarborough to introduce two new mental health nursing courses

Local mental health Trust, Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust (TEWV) has worked with CU Scarborough – part of the Coventry University Group, York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and NHS Scarborough and Ryedale CCG to introduce a Registered Mental Health Nursing course and Nursing Associate course.

The first students on the Nursing Associate course will start in January 2020, while the Mental Health Nursing course began in September.

It is hoped that the new courses will bring a welcome boost to the number of people choosing to work in local NHS mental health services.

The three-year BSc degree programmes will allow students to practice nursing in a range of in-patient and community settings, leading them to achieve registered nursing status with the Nursing and Midwifery Council.

There are 15 spaces available on the Nursing Associate course, and TEWV will be offering students on both courses a range of placements in its services, as well as offering apprenticeships on both programmes to a number of its existing staff.

The apprenticeships will allow Trust staff to obtain valuable skills, whilst remaining in employment throughout their studies, which in turn supports the Trust to retain valued staff.

Elizabeth Moody, Director of Nursing and Governance for TEWV, said: “The work was led by the Trust’s Professional Nursing and Education team, who already successfully work in partnership with a number of other Universities across the wider Trust area.

“We hope that the new partnership with CU Scarborough will bring a welcome boost to mental health nursing across the local area, with students choosing to continue their careers in the Trust once they have completed their studies.”

Emily Harrison, Course Lead for Nursing at CU Scarborough, said: “We were so pleased to welcome our first students onto our Mental Health Nursing course in September, and we’re also looking forward to the first students starting our Nursing Associate course in January.

“Mental health is such an important aspect of people’s wellbeing, and we need to make sure we have enough qualified nurses to take care of people who may be struggling. These courses will give students the skills they need to be able to do that.

“We are proud to be playing our part in training the next generation of mental health nurses to help patients in Scarborough and the wider area.”

Dr Peter Billingsley, Mental Health Lead for the three Clinical Commissioning Groups in North Yorkshire, said: “It is terrific that we now have general and mental health nurse training places available in Scarborough – it will go a long way towards addressing some of the recruitment challenges we face and is great news for the local economy.

“It’s important we support efforts to develop a local workforce with roots already in our community who will want to serve this area when they have completed their training.

“We are confident that many of the students who undertake this training will want to continue living and working in Scarborough and Ryedale, which is great news and will mean employers are not having to look further afield to fill vacancies.”

A programme for Learning Disability Nursing has also been approved and it is hoped that this will commence in the next academic year.

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New online mental health support for young people in North Yorkshire

Young people aged 11-18 in Scarborough and Ryedale and across North Yorkshire can now access Kooth, a website offering free online counselling and emotional wellbeing support.

Kooth (www.kooth.com), from digital mental health provider XenZone, gives
young people instant access to emotional and wellbeing advice and support whenever
and whenever they need it. It incorporates self-help articles and online tools
such as a mood tracker, as well as professional online therapy and moderated
peer-to-peer forums.

The Kooth service has been
commissioned by local mental health provider Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS
Foundation Trust (TEWV) as part of its commitment to provide early mental
health guidance and support through digital provision.

The service is accredited by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and provides a safe environment where young people can chat anonymously and in confidence with qualified counsellors, who are online from noon until 10pm on weekdays and from 6pm until 10pm, 365 days a year.

Young people can register on
Kooth without having to provide personal details such as their name or address.
It provides a safe and non-judgemental place for them to talk, connect and chat
with others and know they are not alone.

Chris Davis, TEWV head of service for children and young people, said: “Digital technology is a daily part of people’s lives now, especially for children and young people. They expect to be able to go online to get instant access the help and support they need. Being able to have a presence online to provide advice and guidance to young people in our area is essential in helping drive forward mental health provision.

“We have commissioned the
Kooth service to complement our existing care provision. The online counsellors
are fully qualified and experienced and where necessary will signpost children
and young people to wider support available, as well as having the ability, when
information is provided to them, to refer them directly on to our services if
needed.”

Kooth is operated by XenZone, digital mental health provider. Elaine Bousfield, the organisation’s founder said: “It’s so important that young people can access support when they need it with none of the stigma they may feel is sometimes attached to seeking help. We look forward to integrating Kooth with local services, to help support more young people with their mental wellbeing at the time of need.”

Kooth is now available in more than 120 Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) areas, and in 2018 saw more than 1,700 log-ins every day. For further information visit www.kooth.com.

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New funding for mental health crisis services in North Yorkshire

Mental health services have received a boost in funding across North Yorkshire to provide local people with additional crisis services and alternative places of safety.

Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys (TEWV) NHS Foundation services has received over half a million pounds worth of funding from local clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to help reduce the impact of mental health crisis on both individuals in crisis and wider services, such as the police, ambulance and accident and emergency.

The funding will allow the Trust to maintain specialist 24/7 telephone assessment and crisis support, as well as expanding existing out of hours crisis cafes in York and Scarborough and introducing new crisis cafes in Northallerton, Harrogate and a mental health first aid response into Selby.

Crisis cafes are generally open on an evening and offer people aged 16 and over a safe and comfortable place to go to receive support when they are in distress. The cafes are supported by trained nurses and support staff who have mental health first aid training, whilst also being linked to local crisis and crisis resolution home treatment teams, so café staff can access a specialist response if needed.

The Trust’s existing crisis cafes, The Haven in York and Scarborough Crisis Café, have been operating since October and August 2018 respectively. Both have been exceptionally beneficial for local people, helping over 200 people a week to access information and support around crisis prevention, as well as signposting them to and facilitating access to other relevant and appropriate services, agencies and activities.

Commenting on the boost Liz Herring, head of adult mental health services for TEWV in North Yorkshire, said “This funding is excellent news for local people. We will be able to further meet people’s needs, particularly on an evening, which we know can be a challenging time. It not only allows us to invest in crisis café’s, which offer valuable out of hours support and advice, but it also means that we can develop our 24 hour crisis telephone line to further improve the response that we can provide to people.”

Helen Embleton, urgent care pathways lead said: “We’re delighted to have received NHS transformation funding. This will help us to deliver a responsive crisis service that meets key requirements set out in the NHS Long Term Plan.

“Extending the support available to people before and during a mental health emergency will help to make sure individuals receive the right care, from the right people, in the right place at the right time.

“Over the last couple of years, crisis services across TEWV have been focussing on delivering quality improvements that enhance collaborative and patient centred care. This has involved increasing multiagency working, improving access and pathways into services and increasing patient, carer and family involvement. Extensive work has also been undertaken to reduce police sections and unnecessary attendance at accident and emergency departments.

“We have worked closely with local partners including clinical commissioning groups, NHS England, the police, voluntary sector and ambulance services to secure this funding and are excited at the new and innovative plans in place to develop a ‘fit for the future’ crisis service that meets the diverse needs of the people we support.”

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Partnership nominated for leadership award

The Humber, Coast and Vale Health and Care Partnership has been shortlisted for a national award in recognition of the strength of its joint working to improve mental health outcomes for its population.

The Humber, Coast and Vale Mental Health Partnership has been shortlisted for the Health Services Journal (HSJ) Award for “System Leadership Initiative of the Year”. The HSJ judging panel, made up of a diverse range of influential figures within the healthcare community, has shortlisted the Partnership despite the tough competition from hundreds of excellent applicants.

The Award recognises the progress made since the Partnership was established to improve mental health services by working together. The Mental Health Partnership has achieved many successes by bringing together all the organisations that are responsible for commissioning (“buying”) and providing mental health services across our region to put in place care that is seamless and built around the needs of individuals regardless of which organisation is responsible for each element of that person’s care.

The Partnership’s many successes include the development of specialist mental health services for new and expectant mothers across the region and the launch of the Every Mum Matters campaign; ensuring more people are treated closer to home by significantly reducing the number of patients in “out of area” placements; developing and securing funding for a Partnership-wide suicide prevention strategy and securing over £1 million additional funding to support people with enduring mental health problems into employment.

Michele Moran, Chair of the Humber, Coast and Vale Mental Health Partnership Board and Chief Executive, Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We are overjoyed to have been shortlisted for another HSJ award. Being nominated for this award highlights the fantastic work that our staff members carry out to transform and improve mental health services, in an area stretching across Northern Lincolnshire, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, York and Scarborough. As a partnership we have achieved a number of notable successes through collaborative working between partners and this is something that we are all proud of. To be nominated is an amazing achievement in itself and, as always, we would like to thank all of our patients, stakeholders, our staff, and those working in close partnership across Humber, Coast and Vale. This is about working together to make a difference for our communities.”

Stephen Eames, Independent Chair for the Humber, Coast and Vale Health and Care Partnership, said: “This is fantastic news and a testament to the hard work and commitment of local leaders. This
is well-earned recognition for the cutting-edge work the Mental Health Partnership is doing, which is improving peoples’ lives across Humber, Coast and Vale.”

The full list of nominees for the 2019 HSJ awards can be found here. Winners will be announced at the 2019 HSJ awards ceremony, which is due to be held in London on 6 November 2019.

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