News
Check here for the latest news and updates, which we'll add below. For a monthly summary of what's happening, take a look at our e-bulletins and sign up to receive our e-bulletin direct to your email every month!
Annual report highlights how our work is helping improve local services
Around 60 people joined us at Spennymoor Leisure Centre on 26 June for our annual meeting, which saw the launch of our annual report for April 2018-...
Helping GPs to help you
A checklist to help GPs make their services more accessible and responsive is being sent to all GP practices across County Durham – based on the...
Speedy referrals vital for the wellbeing of those living with dementia
A speedy diagnosis, and being able to access specialist support quickly, makes a great difference to the wellbeing of people with dementia and their...
"Speed-dating" and speeches at our annual meeting
Spennymoor Leisure Centre was the venue for our annual meeting on 27 June 2018, with breakfast, speeches, surveys and “speed dating” sessions the order of the day. More than 50 people joined us from public and voluntary sector health and social care organisations , along with volunteers and members...
Do you think mental health services are working?
When we asked you what you’d like us to work on next, you told us mental health services were one of your biggest priorities – and now we want to know more! Effective, timely support is vital to help people with mental health problems manage their conditions. Recent governments have promised to...
New data rules mean you need to tell us if you’d like to stay in touch
There’s always something happening in health and social care, so each month we produce an e-newsletter to help you stay up-to-date. It comes direct to your inbox with news of our own work plus local events, initiatives and chances to have your say on services. As you might already know, data...
Come to our annual meeting
On Wednesday 27 June we will be hosting our annual meeting at Spennymoor Leisure Centre and we'd love to see you there. It's a great opportunity to find out more about the work we are doing and to meet our team. The meeting will run from 9am-11am so this year we will also be providing breakfast!...
Cervical screening - your feedback
Earlier this year we asked women in County Durham to share their experiences of cervical screening (smear tests) with us. Our aim was to identify ways the screening programme could be improved to encourage more women to take part, as currently around one in four women don’t attend when invited...
What should we do next? This is what you said...
Throughout February and March, we asked you to decide the health and social care services we focus on in our work this year by rating six options in order of priority. More than 600 people took part in the vote, either online, by post or by speaking to one of our roving volunteers. The votes have...
Learning from women’s experiences of breast screening
According to recent figures, almost one in four women in County Durham do not attend breast screening when invited to do so. Regular breast screening can help identify breast cancer early – and the earlier the condition is found, the better the chances of surviving it. So, we’ve been trying to find...
Offering GP's an independent view on services
GP practices are the frontline of health services, so it’s important they work well for everyone who needs them. That’s why we’re offering all GP practices in County Durham the opportunity for us to visit them and speak to patients independently about how they find their services. The idea is to...
Getting results for stroke patients in service shake-up
We’re pleased to announce that the local clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) have accepted all the recommendations we made in our recent report about the design of new stroke services. This report was based on the views of more than 150 service users and family members and so this should help...
Help us reduce barriers to cervical screening
It is estimated that cervical screening (smear tests) prevents up to 75% of cervical cancers from developing* - however, 1 in 4 women aged 25-64 don’t attend for screening when they are invited. A recent survey suggests reasons for not attending nationally include embarrassment about body shape and...
Easy-read health check letter launched for people with learning disabilities
Young people and adults with learning disabilities who need more health support are entitled to an annual health check. However, accessing services isn’t always easy, so we’ve been working with service users, the region’s CCGs and Durham County Council to reduce barriers to people having these...
