Mersey Care FT highly commended in Community or Primary Care Services Redesign category at 2018 HSJ Awards

ON 21 November 2018, the awards ceremony for the HSJ Awards 2018 was held at the Intercontinental London, The O2 where Mersey Care FT was highly commended in the Community or Primary Care Services Redesign; North/Midlands/East category in recognition for their Personality Disorder Hub project. The HSJ Awards are the world's largest healthcare awards programme featuring 1,500 entrants across 26 categories. After being announced as a finalist in early September following a rigorous short listing process, Mersey Care FT presented to a judging panel of senior and influential figures from the health sector who made the final decision.

HSJ editor Alastair McLellan said:- "Congratulations to Mersey Care FT on being highly commended in the Community or Primary Care Services Redesign; North/Midlands/East category. In this historic year for the NHS we were inundated with applications demonstrating continued determination to deliver first class healthcare, harnessing the latest innovations while ensuring value for money. Mersey Care FT impressed our judging panel with evidence of their enduring commitment to excellence in healthcare. I hope that Mersey Care FT will be a source of inspiration for teams across the country as they seek to innovate and improve service provision. The HSJ Awards continue to be the gold standard awards programme in healthcare and I'm confident this recognition will be a tremendous boost to everyone at Mersey Care FT."

The 2018 HSJ Awards come as the NHS marks its 70th Birthday, celebrating those who continue to innovate and drive forward improvements in healthcare, delivering quality outcomes for patients, while ensuring the best in value and effectiveness. GRI (previously known as de Poel health+care) are the headline sponsor of this acknowledged annual benchmark of healthcare excellence. The full list of winners for the 2018 HSJ Awards can be found online now.

Official launch of a new housing development in Liverpool

A new ₤6.1m housing development in Wavertree, designed for customers looking to rent in Liverpool, launched with a sod cutting ceremony to mark the official start of construction work on site. Nuvu Wavertree is a 48 home development which is being developed by Your Housing Group, 1 of the largest housing providers in the UK, with more than 28,000 homes across North West, Yorkshire and the Midlands, in partnership with MCI Developments.

Steve Fensom, chief operating Officer at Your Housing Group, Councillor Lynnie Hinnigan, deputy mayor of Liverpool and cabinet member for housing at Liverpool City Council and Alex Wood, managing director at MCI Developments attended an official sod cutting ceremony to launch building work.

The development, near Edington Street, by Wavertree Technology Park, will offer 10 1 bedroom apartments and 38 2 and 3 bedroom homes, which are due to be completed by June 2019 and will be available to rent through Nuvu Living, Your Housing Group's rental brand.

The site was originally acquired by Homes England who undertook initial de-risking works by assembling a technical pack and securing outline planning before bringing the site to market.

Lorraine Donnelly, development director at Your Housing Group, said:- "This contemporary rental development sees us making another firm commitment to investing in Liverpool. We want to continue to develop clean, modern homes suitable for local people, from single customers, to families. We believe that renting a home is a lifestyle choice and offering high quality homes in great locations is paramount. This site is expected to be popular because of its proximity to the M62 and Wavertree Technology Park and Edge Hill railway stations, offering services to Liverpool or Manchester."

Councillor Lynnie Hinnigan, deputy mayor of Liverpool and cabinet member for housing at Liverpool City Council, said:- "This new development will help alleviate the lack of new homes for rent in Wavertree and boost the local community by creating new construction jobs, developing contemporary new housing stock and improving the local area."

For more information or to make an enquiry please visit:- NUVULiving.Co.UK or call:- 01925 592290.

Cuts to School Support Staff could leave vulnerable children in the North West at risk

SCHOOL Support Staff regularly go home worried about pupils' welfare, safety and emotional state after discussing issues such as grooming, gangs, domestic violence, bullying, loneliness, and sexual abuse with them, according to a survey released by UNISON. The research suggests that across the North West 25% of School Support Staff involved in children's welfare go home worried every day having spoken to pupils about the issues that trouble them both inside and outside of School.

88% of Support Staff told UNISON they'd gone home worried about pupils after talking to them. Issues of concern can range from parents splitting up, family bereavement, self-harm, and sibling rivalry, to family members falling ill, the misuse of alcohol or drugs at home, and having a parent in prison.

The survey, of more than 400 School Support Staff involved in children's welfare (including teaching assistants, learning mentors and welfare Officers) is released to coincide with Stars in our Schools day, UNISON's annual celebration of non-teaching staff and the valuable work they do.

Support Staff responding to the survey said that they felt the contributions they made in School helped pupils to feel safer (86%), and supported their learning in the classroom (93%). 61% also said they thought their work helped pupils feel less isolated, and 44% that it improved their attendance.

Their work with children also meant improved behaviour in the classroom; cited by 80% of Support Staff who responded; and decreased workloads for teachers (67%).

Yet, despite the obvious benefits that Support Staff involved in children's welfare can bring to distressed pupils and the smooth running of Schools, 32% reported that their Schools had made cuts to staff carrying out pastoral roles over the past year.

Cutbacks to other parts of public services are also being felt in Schools. As they try to support pupil welfare, Support Staff said they had referred cases to social services (42%), 34% had involved mental health services, and 18% the Police. But 35% had noticed a decrease in the availability of support services beyond School.

Despite the range and depth of issues experienced by pupils, 58% of the School Support Staff who responded said they didn't have the time, space or privacy to talk to children. This is despite 27% regularly working up to 6 unpaid hours a week, the equivalent of almost an extra day.

Commenting on the results, UNISON head of education Jon Richards said:- "School Support Staff are true stars in our Schools, they do a lot more than they sometimes get the credit for. They support children through the toughest of times, so it's only fair their huge contribution is celebrated. Support Staff clearly have a huge and positive influence on children's and young people's lives. It's no surprise that they are seen as trusted adults that pupils can talk to in confidence. Schools simply couldn't run smoothly, and the achievements of pupils would be significantly reduced, without the efforts of these dedicated staff. Having the right type of emotional support in place at the right time ensures problems don't escalate into crises. But cuts pose a huge risk to Schools and pupils. The government must properly fund Schools so there's always the time and space for children to feel listened to and helped."

Up and down the country, Schools have hold Stars in our Schools events including:- breakfasts, award ceremonies, and afternoon teas, to celebrate the invaluable work of their Support Staff.

Minister calls on businesses in the North West to reveal how many disabled staff they employ

THE Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work, Sarah Newton urges large employers to build more inclusive workforces as 10,000 businesses sign up to the Disability Confident Scheme; including 1,290 in the North West.  Large companies should reveal the numbers of disabled people they employ, the Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work Sarah Newton urged this week as part of a drive to build a more inclusive society.  With around a 5th of the working age population living with a disability or health condition, the government has launched a new framework to encourage businesses to report how many of their staff have a disability or health condition.  The voluntary framework, created in partnership with employers and charities, will also call on businesses to set out how they are currently supporting their disabled employees. This comes as Transparity is confirmed as the 10,000th business to sign up to the flagship Disability Confident scheme, which marks its second anniversary this month. The scheme focuses on the role employers play in ensuring disabled people are recruited, retained and supported in their careers. The latest employment figures show that over ½ of disabled people are now in work, with almost a 1,000,000 more disabled people in the workplace over the last 5 years. On Thursday, 22 November 2018, the Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work Sarah Newton hosted a roundtable at Downing Street with leading businesses, including Barclays, Channel 4 and KPMG, and disabled employees to discuss accessible employment and what more companies can do to build inclusive workforces.

The Prime Minister, Theresa May, said:- "I am committed to creating a society where we empower disabled people, celebrate their talents, and enable them to achieve their hopes for the future. And we've taken steps in the right direction with almost a million more disabled people in work over the last five years, and 10,000 businesses having signed up to the Disability Confident scheme. But the disability employment gap is still too wide. I call on employers in every sector to take an honest look at how many disabled people they employ. I ask them to look at the support they are offering and how accessible their workplaces are so everyone can be given the chance to reach their full potential at work."

Alongside this, the Access to Work scheme already in place helps to pay for support in the workplace to ensure someone's disability or health condition doesn't hold them back; providing up to ₤57,200, per person, per year. The Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work has confirmed 19 projects will receive a share of the ₤3.9 million Work and Health Challenge Fund to support people with disabilities and mental health conditions. The successful projects will enable people to stay in work by helping them to manage their conditions themselves and making it easier to access advice and support about what jobs they are most suited to. The Access to Work scheme and the Work and Health Challenge Fund are the latest in a series of Government measures, which form part of a 10 year strategy to get 1,000,000 more disabled people in work by 2027.

Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work, Sarah Newton, said:- "Employers across the country this month have joined us in celebrating and promoting inclusive workforces as we mark Disability Confident's anniversary and embraced the hashtag #IAmConfident to empower people to talk openly about a disability or health condition. Our voluntary reporting framework builds on our longstanding commitment to companies to help them in supporting their staff at all levels to create more inclusive workforces as we set out to achieve our ambition of 1,000,000 more disabled people in work by 2027."

Welcoming the announcement, Scope Director of Policy and Research, Anna Bird, said:- "This is a watershed moment; we will only be able to tackle disability unemployment if we understand the scale of the problem. We frequently hear from disabled people about difficulties they face; from negative attitudes and inaccessible recruitment processes, to inflexible workplaces and difficulties getting adjustments. Data on disability is crucial for employers to understand what action they need to take to recruit and retain disabled people. The Government must ensure that this information shapes future approaches to increasing disability employment. This will be vital in realising the ambition to get one million more disabled people into work by 2027."