Tobacco specialist midwife Christine Bassett has helped countless expectant mothers in Tameside give up smoking.
Her first-hand experience has taught her just how hard it can be to quit smoking even when faced with something as life changing as a new baby.
Christine has taken the time to share her expertise with us and explain why the Greater Manchester Smokefree Pregnancy programme is so vital.
The efforts being made to help mums-to-be give up smoking were recently recognised by public health minister Jo Churchill when she visited Tameside in February. The minister met with midwives and other health and community figures who are helping local people become exsmokers.
Greater Manchester has seen the rate of women who smoke at the time of birth fall from 12.8% in 2017 to 11.7% in 2018. That’s twice as fast as the national average.
And figures for the latest quarter have shown another big fall in Greater Manchester, bringing us to within 0.3% of the national average.
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A new service for women with gynaecological cancer means survival rates in Greater Manchester – while already some of the best in the country – will continue to improve.
A joint development between Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust and The Christie NHS Foundation Trust has seen two teams of gynaecological cancer surgeons join forces to create the largest single gynaecological surgical cancer team in the UK.
In the new service, gynaecological oncology teams are working together to plan care for patients and ensure that all patients have access to the widest range of treatment options, advanced technologies like robotic surgery and access to clinical trials wherever possible.
We’re starting a conversation across Greater Manchester to capture people’s experiences of living with a diagnosis of dementia.
We want to hear about the care and support you’ve received, would like to receive, and what’s made a difference to you. By joining the conversation you can help us to improve local services and make Greater Manchester the best place to live with a diagnosis of dementia.
We’re running a series of workshops across Greater Manchester in March. These are for people living with dementia and those caring for someone who has dementia.
Find out more about the workshops on the Dementia United website.
If you can’t attend a workshop event but would still like to take part there are short online surveys.
Appeal for real-life stories about flu
Have you or anyone in your family ever had a serious bout of flu? We are looking for real-life stories to encourage people to get their flu vaccination in preparation for the next campaign in September.
Every year thousands of people young and old across Greater Manchester are floored by flu. Even in less serious cases flu is far worse than a bad cold and takes a couple of weeks to recover from.
And for small children, people with other health conditions like asthma or diabetes, people aged over 65 and pregnant women it can be even worse, leading to hospitalisation and in extreme cases death.
Flu can be prevented by a vaccination that’s free for a lot of people. To encourage more people to have it next year and protect themselves and everyone around them we want to hear from anyone who has been affected by flu in the past.
It could be:
- That your child picked up flu from nursery or school and it spread to the rest of the family
- That flu affected your family or someone you care for over the Christmas period, or ruined another special occasion
- That you or a family member caught flu and experienced complications that led you/them to be hospitalised
- That you’ve suffered from flu in the past and now make sure you have your vaccination every year.
As a thank you for taking the time to speak to us we are offering a £75 high street voucher, or a £75 charity donation, for every story used in the campaign.
Interested in telling your flu story? Contact Nicola Appleby, nicola.appleby@nhs.net, at the earliest opportunity for further details.
The end of winter may be in sight, but we’d like to share the story of a remarkable school girl who took it upon herself to promote the flu vaccine to her classmates, friends and family.
Nine-year-old Kate Cooper Jones wrote to Manchester Health & Care Commissioning to let them know what she’d been up to and share her colourful artwork.
Read on to find out what inspired Kate and the difference she made to those closest to her.
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 No Smoking Day is set to take place on 11 March. So, if you’re a smoker it’s an ideal time to stop.
We all know smoking is harmful to our health. But did you know smoking kills 1 in 2 long-term smokers?
In Greater Manchester alone 4,500 adults will die this year from a smoking related death.
That’s 4,500 too many.
But the good news is stopping smoking is the single best thing a smoker can do for their health. And it’s never too late to quit.
If you’re concerned about coronavirus, or you just want some more information — make sure you’re getting it from a reputable source. Visit the NHS website for all the latest updates.
Help prevent coronavirus spreading: Wash your hands more than usual, for 20 seconds with soap and water, or use hand sanitiser. Especially when you get home or into work, blow your nose, sneeze or cough, or eat and handle food.
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