In a proactive response to the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s recent decision that all future nurses and midwives will be required to undertake a degree in order to register,  the School of Nursing and Midwifery are changing the nursing and midwifery programmes offered.  Users and carers who have experiences of health care services are warmly invited to influence new nursing degree programmes being developed and introduced by Keele University in 2012.  The events are taking place on Monday 20th September 2010 2-4pm and Wednesday 22nd September 2010 11am-1pm.  If you would like more information, please contact Milly Luxford, Project Administrator either by phone on 01782 556657 or by email at c.luxford@nur.keele.ac.uk or, alternatively, download the information flier by clicking here.

Newcastle-under-Lyme 50+ Forum next meeting is taking place on Tuesday 14th September 2010 from 10.00am - 12.00noon at St Giles’ Church Hall, Church Street, Newcastle-under-Lyme, ST5 1QS.  The theme for the meeting is “Taking care of your future” with representatives from Knights solicitors on the importance of making a will and other legal procedures and Kath Curley, Advocate for people with Dementia from the Beth Johnson Foundation.  If you would like more information, please contact Margaret Coley on 01782 562659.

The Agenda for the Co-ordinating Group meeting to be held on Friday 10th September at 12.15pm is now available.  To download a copy of the agenda, please click here  or, alternatively, please contact the LINk Support Team on 01785 887990 to request a paper copy.

The latest edition of the Staffordshire LINk Bulletin is now available to download by clicking here.  Alternatively, you can request a paper copy by calling the LINk Support Team on 01785 887990.

The Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence are running a series of meetings to provide an update on what they are doing to make the regulation more patient-centred and to listen to your views as your opinion really matters to them.

At the meetings you can:

• Learn what they found in the Performance Review of the health professional regulators this year
• Give your views on two new projects:  Measuring Regulators’ work and How regulators involve patients and the public
• Hear where they have got to with creating a single point of contact for complaints about a health professional
• Work with them to develop their plans to engage with patients and the public.

The meetings are taking place in Manchester, Glasgow, Cardiff, Belfast and London.  All the meetings start at 11.00am and registration opens at 10.30am on the day.  The details for the meeting in Manchester are set out below:

18th October 2010

Room 4/5 Manchester University Staff house Conference Centre, Sackville Street, Manchester, M1 3BB.

To view the programme for these events and find out about the work of CHRE and their expenses policy, please visit their website at http://www.chre.org.uk/public/271/

Places at the meetings are limited and you are encouraged to register early to avoid disappointment.  Registrations for all events close on 1 October 2010.

The first meeting of the Staffordshire LINk Co-ordinating Group is taking place on Friday 10th September 2010 at 12.15pm and will be held in the meeting room at the Community Council of Staffordshire offices based at Friars Mill, Friars Terrace, Stafford.  ST17 4DX (www.staffs.org.uk).  Anyone is welcome to attend the meeting and the agenda will be posted on the website shortly.  Anyone wishing to ask a question of the Co-ordinating Group in respect of an agenda item, should submit their question in writing/email at least 5 calendar days before the meeting to the LINk Support Team.   Time at the end of each meeting will be allocated in order to respond to any questions submitted.

A series of consultation events organised by Regional Voices, a Strategic Partner to the Department of Health, to discuss the implications and impact of the changes proposed in the Health White Paper are taking place in September.  Theses events are for the voluntary and community sector, and patients, service user and carers groups.  Further information and a booking form can be downloaded by clicking here.  The NHS White Paper and consultation documents produced by the Department of Health can be accessed in the Resources: Reports section of the Staffordshire LINk website.  The consultation documents are entitled:

Local Democratic Legitimacy

Transparency in outcomes - a framework for the NHS

Commissioning for Patients

Regulating NHS Providers

A free drop in event is being held a the Postgraduate centre Stafford Hospital, Weston Road, Stafford on Tuesday 27th July from 3.00pm - 7.00pm for anyone interested in finding out more about what social media can do for you and anything you are concerned about.  It is also an opportunity to talk to people who can help you with setting up your own on-line presence on an active Hyperlocal site. 

Will Perrin, a nationally recognised expert on Hyperlocal websites, from “Talk about Local”, and a number of people from successful community websites in Stoke will be giving a presentation at 3.15pm.  Free advice from people who know what tools the internet can offer will also be available.  For more details please contact Diana Smith on 01785 255974 or email at diana.m.smith@talk21.com

Newcastle-under-Lyme 50+ Forum invites you to a Consultation Forum on Thursday 15th July from 7pm - 9pm at St George’s Church Hall, Queen Street, Newcastle-under-Lyme, ST5 2UB.  For more information, please call 01782 562659.

AGM 16th June 2010 from Staffordshire LINk on Vimeo.

The LINk AGM took place on Wednesday 16th June at Stafford and Rural Homes, Stafford.

The event was attended by 39 people including individuals and representatives from the following organisations:

Staffordshire Action for Blind People

Transport and Travel Research

Home Instead Senior Care

Elite

Stoke LINk

Age Concern

Local Authority Overview and Scrutiny Committee and Joint Commissioning Unit.

Presentations were given by Jackie Owen, Interim Director of Staffordshire LINk of the Annual Report and Accounts; Andy Halden, Community Council of Staffordshire of the engagement activities undertaken over the last couple of months and emerging issues; Jackie Owen and Sue Baknak (Host Team) of the work plan themes for priority voting by LINk participants; and Julie Thompson-Edwards (Local Authority) with an update on the procurement process for a new LINk Host organisation.

LINk participants were able to vote for their top 6 priorities from the themes presented using a keypad Activote system or on paper. An on-line poll is also available on the LINk website.

Participants who attended at the AGM were very positive in how the LINk is moving forward and felt that great strides had been made over the last 6 months.