Healthwatch Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) Survey

Healthwatch would like to know about waiting times, standard of support and services, as well as ongoing support across the Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire and B&NES areas.

The survey is open until 30 April and can be filled out online here: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/J89P5WR

The findings, comments and themes will be taken forward by Healthwatch Bristol to a meeting with senior CAMHS managers in May

South Gloucestershire Housing Survey: Housing needs for the over 55s

South Gloucestershire is faced with a growing ageing population over the next 5-20 years as life expectancy increases and people from the post-war ‘baby boom’ reach old age. The likelihood of being disabled and receiving care increases with age.

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Personal health budget holders invited to share their experiences

People currently in receipt of a personal health budgets or integrated personal budget (combining health and social care funding) will be able to share their experiences of a personal health budget in a survey being run by NHS England. Open until 31st April, all survey responses will be anonymised and used to help improve how personal health budgets are offered in England.

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Care Support Alliance Survey

Please help the Care and Support Alliance (CSA) in shaping their campaign targeting the Government for a properly funded social care system. The CSA want to hear from carers about your experiences of the social care system. Can you spare 15 minutes to fill in their survey? It will help shape the CSA’s campaign and ensure your voice as a carer is part of the social care reforms.

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Consultation: Deadline for responding to Talking Therapies extended

As some of you will be aware, BNSSG (Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire) Clinical Commissioning Groups are re-designing and re-commissioning talking therapies services. This includes counselling, CBT and group therapy.

Have you accessed talking therapies? Has the person that you care for accessed them? Do you have any views that you would like to feed in?

The deadline for filling out the online survey has now been extended until 15th February.

You can fill this out by clicking here!

Focus Groups for Carers on Talking Therapies

Talking therapies services (otherwise known as Improving Access to Psychological Therapies – IAPT) are being recommissioned and redesigned in Bristol, South Gloucestershire and North Somerset.  IAPT services provide support for adults who are experiencing low mood, anxiety and depression, stress, excessive worry or difficulties controlling emotions. These therapies are sometimes known as ‘talking therapies’.  Typical treatments include cognitive behavioural therapies, mindfulness, counselling, couples therapies, psychodynamic therapy, psychosexual therapy, and group-based support.

We’d like to invite you to attend a focus group so that we can make sure that your views on how these services could be improved, what should be included in the redesign and also, any positive experiences that you or the person you care for have experienced (if any) around talking therapies.

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Lancaster University Dementia Care Survey

Lancaster University is looking for people with previous or current experiences of caring for a person living with dementia. If this is the case for you, your perspectives could help them to identify outcomes that are important for people with dementia who live at home and establish which outcomes should be a priority.

In earlier phases of this study, Lancaster University identified 54 outcomes that are important to key stakeholders (including people living with dementia) and that are used in existing research.

Participation in this survey involves completing two surveys.

  • In the first survey you will be asked to rate how important each outcome is (from the perspective of a person living with dementia). The first survey will close on 8th January 2018.
  • In the second survey, you will be shown how others have scored each outcome and then asked to reconsider your initial rating. It is important to complete both surveys. The second survey will open in the mid to late January 2018.

As a token of appreciation you will be eligible to claim a £10 Amazon voucher from Lancaster University upon completion of both surveys.

Full details are available this information sheet.

If having read this, you are interested in taking part in this study please click on the survey link (now removed).

Lancaster University would like you to initially register using your full name and email address to help track completion of each round, and so they can send you a link to the second survey. Your responses will be anonymous. Upon registration, you will be allocated a unique identifier so that Lancaster University can process all data anonymously.

If you have any questions/ comments about the study /or what is involved, please contact:

Andrew Harding, Research Associate
Tel: 01524 592847
Email: a.harding5@lancaster.ac.uk

Marie Crane, Research Coordinator
Tel: 01524 592976
Email: m.crane@lancaster.ac.uk

Have your say on the re-design and re-commissioning of Improving Access to Psychological Therapies Services

Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) is a programme to support people of all ages who are experiencing low mood, anxiety and depression, stress, excessive worry or difficulties controlling emotions. These therapies are sometimes known as ‘talking therapies’.  Typical treatments include cognitive behavioural therapies, mindfulness, counselling, couples therapies, psychodynamic therapy, psychosexual therapy, and group-based support.

The current contracts for IAPT jointly commissioned between Bristol and South Gloucestershire are delivered through 16 separate contracts as part of the model. Services are commissioned for all ages. Services are commissioned for adults only, with an additional 16-18 year old pathway to adult services.

Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Groups plan to re-design and re-procure a new IAPT service for people in Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire.

Have you say about this process via the following survey here. It is open until 12th January.

Carers Support Centre is planning to organise a focus group for mental health carers. If you are interested in taking part in this, contact Caroline McAleese.

Consultation: AWP Mental Health NHS Trust Five Year Strategy

Do you have comments about mental health services? Avon & Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust is launching a five year strategy and are asking for comments on this. One of the key areas that they are consulting on around this strategy is how they can better support service users and carers. The deadline to comment on this is Friday 22 December.

View the draft strategy here and fill out the online survey here.

Health of carers in Bristol and South Glos at risk

26% of carers in Bristol and 25% of carers in South Gloucestershire have developed their own health conditions since caring. And 50% of carers in Bristol and 46% in South Gloucestershire reported that they had been feeling depressed over the past 12 months. These new figures are from the personal social services survey of adult carers in England and they are higher than the national figures.

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Disabled Children’s Partnership Survey

Carers Trust are part of the Disabled Children’s Partnership (DCP), a coalition of over 30 organisations that have come together to campaign for improved health and social care provision for disabled children and their carers in England. Carers Trust will be campaigning to ensure that parent carers and young carers of disabled children are given access to high quality support when they need it from the health and social care system.

As part of a campaign, which will be launched in June, DCP is conducting a survey to understand more about the day-to-day lives of disabled children and their family carers – be they parent carers or young carers. The ambition is to complete the biggest survey ever undertaken of families with disabled children. All responses will be anonymous and will contribute to an England-wide campaign highlighting the gaps in services for disabled children and their carers.

The survey closes on 12th May so please complete it as soon as possible.

Click here to start the survey