Dear all,

After what has felt like the longest month of the year, recovering from the Christmas and New Year festivities, dark nights and storms Isha and Joceyln dominating the news, it feels like somewhat light relief to finally now be in February!

The last four weeks have been extremely challenging for our health and care system with the ongoing industrial action and our hospitals, ambulance service and primary care providers all being very busy. It can feel relentless, but what gets us through it is the commitment from our partners to work together, sharing resources and the dedication from our workforce to keep on going to provide the highest standards of care for the people of Greater Manchester, so thank you to you all.

Yesterday (1 February) was Time to Talk Day. Kofi Josephs, a professional basketball player from Salford, has teamed up with NHS Greater Manchester in a powerful new video, which uses his experience to destigmatise mental health. I urge you all to watch Kofi’s story and there’s more information below about how you can support the Shining a Light on Suicide campaign.

Take care and enjoy the lighter nights heading our way, spring is coming!

Best wishes,

Paul

Paul Dennett

Chair, Greater Manchester Integrated Care Partnership Board

Councillor John Merry

Prior to embarking upon a political career Councillor Merry attended Liverpool Polytechnic achieving a Degree in Law and followed with a career in retail management, which included running his own second-hand bookshop.

Councillor Merry was elected to represent Broughton in 1990 and was elected to the position of Leader of Salford City Council in May 2003. He was awarded the CBE in 2009 for Services to Local Government. He was appointed to the position of Deputy City Mayor in May 2016. Within the LGA he is currently a member of the City Regions Board. In December 2019 he was elected as Chair of the Key Cities Group.

Outside politics he enjoys listening to music, playing chess, walking, reading, watching cricket and football.

We are seeing an increase in cases of measles, with outbreaks detected in the West Midlands and London. This has been declared as a national incident. Further outbreaks of measles are expected to spread to other towns and cities unless urgent action is taken to increase measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccination uptake in areas at greatest risk, and the GM Integrated Care Partnership is rapidly working on plans to reduce transmission for our city-region.

The free MMR vaccine is a safe and effective way of protecting against measles, as well as mumps and rubella. It’s important for parents to take up the offer of MMR vaccination for their children when offered at one year of age, and as a pre-school booster at three years, four months of age. If children and young adults have missed these vaccinations in the past, it’s important to take up the vaccine now from GPs, particularly in light of the recent cases.

Check your child’s Red Book to see if they’ve received MMR vaccinations as scheduled or check with your GP surgery if you’re unsure. Most healthy adults will have developed some immunity to measles but can still receive two doses of the vaccine from their GP too.

Anyone with symptoms is also being advised to stay at home and phone their GP or NHS 111 for advice. Measles symptoms to be aware of include:

• high fever
• sore, red, watery eyes
• coughing
• aching and feeling generally unwell
• a blotchy red brown rash, which usually appears after the initial symptoms.

On Friday, 19 January NHS Greater Manchester welcomed NHS chief executive, Amanda Pritchard, to the city-region. Amanda was visiting multiple NHS and community sites across Greater Manchester to see for herself the great services on offer, as well as the initiatives that are taking place to improve health and care access for all.

This included visiting Healthlands Village care home, run by and part of the Federation of Jewish Services, to find out how they are making the most of having different professionals based in the same location to take a joint approach to planning care for individuals. Including residential and nursing care, supporting their religious needs, providing a safe place to play and learn for children with special needs, and social work.

Amanda also visited Ancoats Urban Village Medical Practice and New Islington Medical Practice, who are leading examples of what can be done to ensure everyone gets the clinical help they need, such as those facing homelessness.

Amanda Pritchard, NHS chief executive, said: “It has been an absolute pleasure to meet so many people who are making such a positive impact for the people of Greater Manchester. The services I’ve seen today are great examples of the NHS working hand in glove with local authorities as well as voluntary and community groups to design and deliver seamless services which genuinely meet the needs of the populations they serve, and help them to live healthier and more independent lives.”

The Greater Manchester Primary Care Summit 2024 will take place on Thursday 21 March, 2024.

The event is for primary care providers and wider health and care partners who are involved in delivery of the GM Primary Care Blueprint, which is our five-year plan for primary care across the city region.

The blueprint has been developed jointly by NHS Greater Manchester and Greater Manchester Primary Care Provider Board (PCB), which brings together the four primary care disciplines of community pharmacy, dentistry, general practice and optometry.

The face-to-face event will be held at The Village Hotel Ashton, Ashton-Under-Lyne, and offers a chance to network with primary care colleagues, share best practice and provide feedback on working as part of an Integrated Care System, as well as an opportunity to discuss and share feedback on the key priorities for delivery identified in the blueprint.

If you work in primary care or your work is directly involved in the blueprint, you can reserve your place below.

An estimated 6,286 people in Greater Manchester are thought to be living with HIV, and 5% of those are unaware of their positive status. National HIV Testing Week (5-11 February) promotes regular testing among the most affected population groups in England to reduce the number of people living with undiagnosed HIV and those diagnosed late.

There has been a 60% reduction in new HIV diagnoses in Greater Manchester (GM) between 2014 - 2022. The city region is exceeding the UNAIDs (Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS) 95-95-95 targets - with 95% of people living with HIV knowing their status, 97% of those diagnosed being on treatment and 97% of those on treatment having an undetectable viral load.

This is thanks to implementing the Fast-Track Cities Initiative, committing to achieve the UNAIDS targets, and Greater Manchester’s 'HIVe population health transformation programme' which saw the roll out of routine HIV testing at Manchester and Salford Emergency Departments.

However, over a third of people (39%) were diagnosed with HIV at a late stage in GM between 2020-22. That's an increase from 34% in 2018-20. Late diagnosis increases the impact on people’s lives, the risk of onward transmission as well as the cost of treatment.

Increased HIV testing opportunities are being offered across GM in addition to emergency department routine testing including to help people get diagnosed early:

• Home test kits: Residents of Manchester, Trafford, and Salford can also order a ‘Home RAPID HIV Tests’, providing results in 1 minute. Book or order a HIV test: www.thebha.org.uk/hivtesting
• LGBT Greater Manchester residents can order a Home HIV and STI testing kit or attend an appointment for a RAPID HIV test. Book or order a HIV test: www.lgbt.foundation/testing
• View the calendar of increased testing opportunities taking place this National HIV Testing Week

For HIV Testing Week resources, please visit: National HIV Testing Week 2024 | Trello

Two members of staff from Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (WWL) have been shortlisted for an award, in recognition of their work with members of the Armed Forces, Veterans and their families.

Leanne Cobham, Armed Forces Healthcare Lead and Interim Lead for Patient Experience and Engagement (pictured right), has been nominated in the Armed Forces Advocate of the Year 2024 category of the Celebrating Forces Families (CFF) Awards, alongside colleague and Armed Forces Healthcare Navigator, Joanne Lee (pictured left).

Leanne, who has also been named in the Social Media Influencer category, has played a huge role in introducing schemes such as the Armed Forces Guaranteed Interview Scheme which gives Veterans and their families the chance to interview for roles at WWL when they meet the required job criteria.

Her nomination for Social Media Influencer of the year also reflects Leanne’s drive to raise the profile of the support WWL offers to the Armed Forces Community, and in the last 12 months her posts have reached over 600,000 people.

Joanne has been praised following her success in helping a 98-year-old patient and World War II Veteran replace his missing medals – as well as a trip for him to visit Normandy for the D Day 80th Anniversary - Joanne was also surprised to be nominated for an award.

Leanne and Joanne will find out if they have won their awards at a celebrity-presented awards evening in London on 28 April.

A new social media toolkit is now available to promote the latest Story of Hope from the NHS GM Shining a Light on Suicide campaign. This has been produced to mark Time To Talk Day (Thursday 1 February).

Kofi Josephs – professional basketball player, now model, entrepreneur, and keynote speaker - has teamed up with NHS Greater Manchester in a powerful new video, which uses his experience to destigmatise mental health. By sharing his Story of Hope, Kofi hopes that mental health becomes “just another thing to talk about”.

The video is available in three different lengths, including shorter versions for use on social media. They can be downloaded from YouTube via the links below:

• Full length
• 60 seconds
• 10 seconds

The toolkit document can be downloaded from the campaigns page on the NHS GM website. It includes suggested social media posts which signpost people to find help and support.

We hope you will support our Shining a Light on Suicide campaign by sharing Kofi’s inspiring story.

Bus drivers in Greater Manchester have been stripping off to produce not one, but two, cheeky calendars for 2024!

The naked calendars featuring Stagecoach Manchester staff will raise money to support breast cancer and prostate cancer charities. Staff hope they’ll also act as a year-long reminder for people to be aware of the signs and symptoms of cancer and to get checked out if they notice something that’s not normal for them.

The men’s calendar, featuring staff from Stockport and Hyde bus depots, is raising money for Prostate Cancer UK. A second women’s calendar is fundraising for the breast cancer charity, Coppa Feel. They held a photoshoot at Manchester Transport Museum with just a few props to preserve their modesty.

If people notice symptoms that could be cancer, they should contact their GP practice and come forward for checks as early as possible so they can get the all-clear or, in some cases, a cancer diagnosis sooner – to give them the best chance of surviving the disease.

Symptoms of breast cancer can include a lump or change in the look, shape or feel of one or both breasts. Prostate cancer symptoms can include difficulty starting to urinate or emptying your bladder. However, most men with early prostate cancer don’t have any signs or symptoms. That’s why it’s important to know your prostate cancer risk. Find out yours by using the Prostate Cancer UK risk checker: https://bit.ly/GMprostateriskchecker.

The calendars are being sold by Stagecoach staff.

Children's Mental Health Week 2024 will take place from 5–11 February 2024. This year's theme is 'My Voice Matters'.

1 in 5 children and young people suffer from mental health illness in any given year. 

Kooth is an online mental health platform for children and young adults. It provides a free, safe and anonymous space for children to talk to a mental health professional. It also has other resources such as forums, activity centres, live counselling and magazines.

There is no referral needed and it's free for anyone Greater Manchester to access. To find out more, visit www.Kooth.com.

You can access resources to support discussions with your teams and children and young people on the Place2Be website.

The Greater Manchester Cancer Awards 2024 are now open for entries. The awards, brought to you by the Greater Manchester Cancer Alliance, honour outstanding work to improve lives and treatment for people affected by cancer in Greater Manchester.

They are open to teams in NHS, research, voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE), and public health/local authority sectors. This recognises the collaborative approach teams take in Greater Manchester to work across organisational boundaries to make things better for patients.

The Alliance is inviting entries from all over Greater Manchester in a number of categories including the Outstanding Care Award and the Greater Manchester Collaboration Award.

Entries close on 16 February and the shortlisted entries will be announced in April. Tickets for the conference can be booked now. The winning entries will be presented at a ceremony at the Hilton Manchester, Deansgate on 14 May 2024.

Greater Manchester Cancer Alliance has recently signed up to the ‘Bee Seen, Get Screened’ pledge, in partnership with Answer Cancer, the Greater Manchester Screening Engagement Programme.

This pledge guarantees that staff will be able to attend cancer screening appointments during work hours, if unable to get an appointment at a different time.

Greater Manchester Cancer Alliance is supporting Answer Cancer’s engagement strategy by raising the profile of health and wellbeing in the workplace and empowering everyone to look after their health.

The ‘Bee Seen – Get Screened’ campaign is raising awareness of the three NHS cancer screening programmes (cervical screening, breast screening and bowel screening) through training, staff sessions and much more.

Answer Cancer works across Greater Manchester discussing cancer and the importance of screening with local communities.

For more information see: www.answercancergm.org.uk/bee-seen