Health & Wellbeing

Two care homes in Edgbaston have joined forces to launch a free guide to support people whose loved ones have been diagnosed with dementia ahead of Dementia Action Week.

A poll of 2,000 adults carried out by Care UK, which operates Metchley Manor and Edgbaston Manor, found over a third of British adults (35%) have many questions about dementia – but do not know how to get the answers.

NHS trusts in Birmingham have paid out more than £77 million in damages due to failings leading to cerebral palsy – new figures revealed to specialist clinical negligence law firm Lime Solicitors have shown.

A freedom of information request submitted to NHS Resolution showed that between the financial years 2010/11 and 2020/21, Birmingham Women’s and Children’s, University Hospitals Birmingham and Sandwell & West Birmingham Hospitals NHS trusts settled a total of 27 clinical negligence claims related to the lifelong condition, paying out more than £77 million in damages – an average of £2.8 million per case – and £12 million in legal fees.

DKMS is urging people in Birmingham to register as blood stem cell donors to help give a second chance at life for someone with blood cancer. The charity continues to feel the aftershocks of the pandemic which devastatingly impacted the number of people signing-up. Lifesaving registrations in Birmingham have fallen by 63% compared to 2020.

People are being encouraged to talk more openly about feelings of loneliness ahead of this year’s Mental Health Awareness Week – and to take simple steps to help themselves, and others who may be lonely.

The theme of this year’s Mental Health Foundation campaign, taking place between 9 and 15 May, is loneliness and John Denley, Wolverhampton's Director of Public Health, said: "Loneliness is affecting more and more people and has had a huge impact on our physical and mental health during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The number of people living with atrial fibrillation (AF) – a dangerous heart rhythm condition and a major cause of stroke – has increased by 72 per cent in England over the last two decades, according to research funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and published today in The Lancet Regional Health – Europe.

An outpouring of support, including a phenomenal one-off donation from a local family has helped an Acorns Children’s Hospice fundraising appeal reach an impressive £105,645.26 in just a few weeks.                                    

The Room to Grow Appeal, launched by Acorns in February, aims to raise £750,000 towards significant improvements at Acorns in the Black Country, Walsall, and has seen the local community dig deep towards their local hospice.

Midlands Air Ambulance Charity has prevented more than 12,200kg of textiles going to landfill in the last 12 months thanks to donations of unwanted quality goods from the local community.

Sales of goods within the charity’s six shops, including its Walsall and West Bromwich stores, helped fund 260 air ambulance and critical care car missions, saving countless lives.

Ambassadors for a Birmingham charity are challenging themselves to walk 500 miles in May to give more people the gift of independence. Demand for support from advocacy charities like CASBA is at an all-time high.

They work with citizens with Learning Disabilities, who are one of the groups to have been worst affected by the pandemic and associated problems.

Five new Chief Officers have been announced for the new Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Board (ICB), set to be established in July 2022. Over recent weeks, an extensive recruitment process has been underway to establish a new Executive Team to lead Birmingham and Solihull’s Integrated Care System (ICS), which aims to make the city and borough ‘the healthiest place to live and work, driving equity in life chances and health outcomes for everyone’.

New data from the UK’s largest ever attitudinal survey towards allergies, conducted by Allergy UK, the leading patient charity for people living with allergic disease, found that over half (53%) of people living with allergies in the UK regularly avoid social situations due to their allergy.

The attitudinal survey, towards allergies, sought to gauge the attitudes and sentiment towards allergy sufferers, uncovered previously overlooked psychological impacts experienced by those living with allergies of all kinds.

Residents at two care homes in Edgbaston, in Birmingham, have been revisiting their favourite hobbies and shared their skills with the younger generation.

Residents at Care UK’s Metchley Manor, on Church Road, and Edgbaston Manor, on Speedwell Road, have been stepping back in time to enjoy painting and singing as part of a nationwide initiative – Long Lost Hobbies.

Community organisations have been thanked for their work to improve the emotional wellbeing of children and young people in Wolverhampton through the city’s HeadStart programme.

Gazebo, Positive Participation, WV10 and YMCA were all commissioned at the beginning of the City of Wolverhampton Council’s National Lottery-funded programme to deliver mental health and emotional wellbeing support to 10–16 year-olds in four areas of the city.

SLT (Sandwell Leisure Trust) has once again been awarded the highest possible accolade in the internationally-renowned Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) 2022 Health and Safety Awards.

The Black Country-based charity - which still runs nine leisure facilities for Sandwell Council across the borough - has landed the coveted Order of Distinction (for 16 consecutive annual Gold Awards) and is the only Leisure Trust nationwide to ever achieve this distinction.

A team of university researchers across the West Midlands have discovered BMI (body mass index) is unfit for purpose to predict major health conditions.

Alan Nevill, Research Professor in the Faculty of Education Health and Wellbeing at the University of Wolverhampton has been working in collaboration with colleagues Michael J. Duncan and Tony Myers to identify an alternative method to predict cardiometabolic risk after finding BMI is unfit for purpose of predicting health risks such as Diabetes.

Fundraisers are being invited to enjoy a magical evening this June as St Giles Hospice's much-loved Solstice Walk returns with a brand new 'enchanted' theme.

With the event having been cancelled for the last two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Enchanted Solstice Walk is back in the streets of Lichfield on Saturday, 18th June – with a new location, a new 10k route and an earlier start time of 8pm. The previously women-only event also now welcomes families, friends, men and children to celebrate together.

People learned the experiences of those living with dementia by joining a special virtual reality (VR) training session in Wolverhampton.

Public sector staff, healthcare workers, faith representatives and system leaders took part in the Virtual Reality Dementia Training Tour, which was hosted by the Black Country and West Birmingham Clinical Commissioning Group and the City of Wolverhampton Council at the Guru Nanak Temple in Wednesfield.