Mary Flemming has been appointed as the new permanent Chief Executive for Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust (WWL) and brings a vast amount of experience to the role, having held several NHS senior leadership roles over the years and is a compassionate and inclusive leader who will take WWL from strength to strength.

The national childhood immunisation campaign has now launched and is a joint initiative between NHS organisations, UK Health Scrutiny Agency and the Department of Health and Social Care. It aims to address falling rates in immunisations, and ensure children are best protected against all preventable diseases.

Although this is a national campaign there is some targeted work taking place in Greater Manchester because of particularly low uptake.

Last month, Well Pharmacy and Stalybridge Primary Care Network (PCN) hosted a mobile health clinic van pop up in Mossley, Stalybridge. The van pitched up for four days opposite Pike Medical Practice.

A pharmacist and a pharmacy assistant were present each day and offered blood pressure checks. They were joined by the PCN who carried out wider health checks and supported health promotion for the population, ensuring that they made every contact count.

A huge well done to the team who completed 126 blood pressure checks. Several people were found to have high blood pressure and were eligible to have a 24 hour blood pressure monitor fitted or referred to their surgery to have medication reviews. Locals shared that they were happy to have this service in their local area.

Jenna McLaren, Area Operations Manager for Well Pharmacy, said: “This was an excellent opportunity for both Well Pharmacy and the PCN to collaborate, and shows that we can support each other in providing the best care to our communities.”

This pop up event showcased our primary care blueprint in action. We are actively working to prevent the risk of ill health by encouraging collaboration at a local and community level and supporting individuals to protect, maintain and improve their mental and physical health and wellbeing. By detecting illness at an early stage, health care professionals can help patients manage their condition to reduce the risk of progression.

An exciting launch event for Live Well - Greater Manchester's movement for community-led health and wellbeing - brought together more than 250 people.

Everyone from politicians to funders were in attendance, along with GM social justice and action networks, leisure centres and museums. All 10 local authorities were represented, as were hospitals and medical practices.

At the centre of it all were voluntary, community and faith groups, social enterprises and grassroots initiatives that are building health in communities, every day.

Read more about the Live Well launch event. 

Live Well event: Growing community wealth, ownership and opportunity to tackle health and wellbeing inequalities

You are invited to join the Live Well event: Growing community wealth, ownership and opportunity to tackle health and wellbeing inequalities, on Tuesday 21 May. This event invites people and organisations growing community-led wealth and ownership, funders doing things differently, and commissioners from different sectors to:

Spring can be a busy time of year. With longer days, lots of bank holidays and better weather - there’s lots to do.

The spring 2024 phase of our on-going Get To Know Where To Go campaign toolkit includes newsletter articles and social media, covering a number of themes, including promoting NHS 111, repeat prescriptions, pharmacy opening times, preparing for common illnesses, urgent care services including helplines for dental, eyecare and mental health

It also contains materials for the upcoming bank holidays, when health services come under more pressure, urging people to be well prepared so they can find the help they may need quickly and have more time for bank holiday fun.

You can get involved by downloading the toolkit from our website and sharing the information on your socials media, newsletters and within your communities.

You can also reshare our content from our social media channels:

• Facebook - @NHSGreaterManchester or @GreaterManchesterICP
• X (formerly Twitter) - @NHS_GM
• Instagram - @nhs_gm

The toolkit and assets can be downloaded from the campaigns page on the NHS GM website. If you are experiencing any issues accessing files, or if you have any questions, please email gmhscp.gm-campaigns@nhs.net.

NHS Greater Manchester has commissioned life-saving online training to support those who are concerned that an autistic person they know may be at risk of suicide.

There can be a variety of contributory factors that increase suicide risk for autistic people. The aim of this training is to give people the confidence and skills to talk to an autistic person they believe may be thinking of suicide.

Zero Suicide Alliance developed the training with the help of a steering group of more than 200 people, and is for anyone who cares for, works with or has a personal and professional relationship with an autistic person.

The training includes the possible warning signs to look for which may show a person is at risk of suicide, how to have a life-saving conversation – including what language to use, what support you can signpost people to and even includes videos based on the real experiences of autistic people to help guide you through.

You can find out more and access the training via the Zero Suicide Alliance website.

To mark the 40th anniversary of national No Smoking Day on 13 March, colleagues at NHS GM and Bolton Council spent the morning at University Collegiate School in Bolton with Hits Radio talking to pupils about the risks of smoking, youth vaping, and finding out what they thought about the Government's plans for a Smokefree Generation.

The year 10 and 12 health students also had a masterclass in script writing and got to experience making their own radio adverts with Hits Radio presenter Mike Toolan. The workshops are part of a series of events being ran across Greater Manchester to engage with young people about the risks of smoking and youth vaping to support the latest Make Smoking History campaign, 'What Will You Miss'.

Building strong connections during the first two years of a baby’s life makes them feel loved and secure, laying the foundations for their future mental health and happiness.

Looking, listening, and warmly responding to a baby makes a big difference. To interpret cues and build strong connections with a baby, parents and carers can mirror a baby’s reactions, comfort them, play face-to-face and let them take breaks when they need it.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has recently launched a new Better Health Start for Life – If They Could Tell You campaign, which aims to support parents to build a strong bond with their baby.

For tips and advice on building your relationship with your baby visit the Start for Life website or visit your local Family Hub to find out more.

High blood pressure is the largest known single modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD) which can lead to heart attacks, strokes and dementia. CVD causes one in four deaths in England - around one death every four minutes - and is a leading cause of disability.

As the condition usually has no symptoms, it is estimated that 4.2 million people in England have undiagnosed high blood pressure. The only way to know if you have high blood pressure is to get a blood pressure test, which is a free, simple, non-invasive procedure.

We are advising everyone in Greater Manchester, aged 40 and over, to get a free blood pressure check at their local participating pharmacy, without needing to book in advance.

People can find a pharmacy that offers free blood pressure checks near them by searching “pharmacy blood pressure check” or by visiting the NHS website.

Verity Morton is a Senior Programme Development Lead for Health Innovation Manchester, leading on the delivery of health and social care innovation adoption and spread programmes.

In this blog post, she tells us about her work with Greater Manchester stakeholders to reduce harm from medicines.

The second phase of Transport for Greater Manchester's bus franchising programme is now live – bringing bus services in Oldham, Rochdale and parts of Bury, Salford and north Manchester into the Bee Network.

Passengers will benefit from new and better buses, as well as more frequent services and better connections.

Travellers can now use the new journey planner to plan trips and the new bus tracker allows customers to see where their bus is on a map. There are also plans to make it easier for passengers to report crime and anti-social behaviour on the network to police.

A night transport pilot is also planned for later this year and will see bus services run at least every hour connecting Leigh, Bolton, Salford and Manchester.

This year’s Greater Manchester Cancer Conference takes place on Tuesday 14 May and Wednesday 15 May at the Hilton Manchester Deansgate. Speakers will include Dame Cally Palmer, National Cancer Director for NHS England, Dr Manisha Kumar, Chief Medical Officer for NHS Greater Manchester, and Rob Bellingham, Chief Officer for Population and Health Inequalities, NHS Greater Manchester.

Find out what’s on the exciting agenda and register for your tickets on Eventbrite.