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National Self Care WeekCommunications Information
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Self Care Week is an annual national awareness week that focuses on embedding support for self care across communities, families and generations. Each year there is a different theme for the campaign and for 2013, our theme is:
Self care for life – Take Control
What is Self Care Week 2013?
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Theme: Self care for life – Take Control
We want to inspire people to take control of their health and ultimately take control of their life. By becoming more health literate, we hope people will understand how to look after their health for life, taking care of their own minor ailments, managing more serious conditions and choosing healthy options that will impact positively on people’s physical health as well as their mental wellbeing and self esteem.
The aim for Self Care Week 2013
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The Department of Health handed over organisation of Self Care Week to the Self Care Forum in 2011, and for two years it was a joint initiative. This year, NHS England will be a partner organisation.
The Self Care Forum is the leading UK organisation dedicated to helping people help themselves by embedding self care into everyday life so that it becomes a life long habit.
Who is involved in Self Care Week?
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The Self Care Forum‘s target audience is the NHS, voluntary and private sector organisations that are already communicating with people and carers responsible for managing minor ailments and long-term conditions. We see these organisations, as well as Patient Participation Groups (PPGs) as important partners in promoting and disseminating the messages of Self Care Week.
Who is our Target Audience?
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As the organisers of Self Care Week, we hope to support you by providing national tools, messages and encouragement to help run local initiatives that target your own audiences under an overarching, national Self Care Week banner. In previous years, these local initiatives have included alcohol awareness, weight control, school education, minor ailment and long-term condition management. We hope this year’s theme of Self Care for Life – Take Control is broad enough to allow you to promote self care messages to all your target groups no matter what age or gender. We have specifically created it so that it is totally inclusive and gives you the flexibility to add self care messages with a physical as well as mental health focus.
Supporting you to get involved
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We have devised a bank of key messages to help with your campaign. These are mostly themed around Self care for Life – Take
Control with a physical and mental health focus.Some messages centre around careful use of health services. It is widely acknowledged that self care not only empowers the individual, it also lessens demand on the NHS. Pressures on the NHS are rising as a result of high demand and fiscal challenges that mean now, more than ever, people have to be supported to look after their own health, and their family’s health better. NHS Costs: GP consultation £43 / A&E Treatment £112 / District Nurse visit
£39
Self Care Week Key Messages
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What are the key messages?Mind Physical / Life Your NHS
Get connected online, via mobile, with neighbours and your community
Take control, know how to look after your health and your family’s health
Use health services but don’t abuse health services
Be responsible for your own health and mental wellbeing – take control
Your health, your life, your future – stay healthy, your choice!
By looking after your health today, the NHS will be there for you tomorrow
Take control of your mind, body and soul – don’t sweat the small stuff!
A 30 minute walk a day, keeps the hospital bed at bay!
Self care for you, yours and your NHS
Be mindful of your health, self and happiness!
Do yourself a favour – choose the healthy option!
Don’t misuse your NHS – make sure it’s still around when you really need it
Take control of your health, be in control of your life
Self care is not no care Choose well and get the right care at the right time
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This is a good time to raise awareness of what people can be doing to take care of themselves better, particularly those with long-term conditions. The time leading up to the winter months can prepare and inform the whole population at a time when seasonal illness tends be more prolific. The Week fits with existing national initiatives, including the National Pharmacy Association’s ‘Ask your
Pharmacist Week’ (4-11 Nov) and the European Antibiotic Awareness
Day (18 Nov), which makes the link with self care support for colds and flu. See slide 18 for a list of initiatives.
Why run Self Care Week Now?
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The Self Care Forum will provide a generic communications toolkit, including the national campaign tools, resources and messaging, for local organisations to develop their own approaches to promote self care initiatives.
The Self Care Forum’s website (www.selfcareforum.org) will act as a portal to promote a range of freely available Self Care Week information and resources, including web buttons, banners, posters and public-facing leaflets with Self Care Week messages. Post-campaign, the website will also act as a channel for local evaluation and success measures.
What is the role of the Self Care Forum?
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Local organisations are encouraged to use the range of national resources freely available from the DH and Self Care Forum websites and adapt them to fit what they are doing locally to promote support for self care.
It is hoped that local organisations and stakeholders will proactively look for opportunities to bring local self care activities and existing initiatives together and promote and run them under the national Self Care Week banner. This will enable local communities to target their own groups and maximise their own initiatives.
What is the role of my organisation?
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There are many ways you can support Self Care Week. To get a flavour of the type of activities organisations have been involved with previously, please visit the Self Care Week 2012 review at: http://www.selfcareforum.org/events/self-care-week-review/
A lack of resource should not be a barrier to involvement, the next slides gives suggestions on what you can do to start your own campaign.
We hope that you will get involved and make Self Care Week YOUR
Self Care Week
How can I participate in SCW?
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Join in - a few ideas
Limited resource
Ensure your Chief Executive is aware of
activity
Link to other organisations’ self care
initiatives
Post details on internal and public-facing websites
Mention Self Care Week 2013 in presentations and
speeches
Moderate resource
Publish articles in public and staff facing
newsletters and websites
Tailor, print off and display posters in patient/staff
areas
Run awareness sessions for patients to talk to
nurses about managing their condition; involve
PPGs
Create resources for local journalists
Extensive resource
Team up with local voluntary sector
specialists on awareness raising activity
Launch a self care initiative such as a cough/cold and flu
campaign aimed at the general public and those
vulnerable to these viruses and invite local
media along
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A range of free resources and information is available to download from the DH and Self Care Forum websites, including:Web buttonsBannerMaster presentation slideSample articleRange of free public-facing leaflets Go to www.selfcareforum.org
Where can I download the resources?
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We plan to review the impact of SCW and hope you will do the same. If you aren’t able to commission an agency to carry out research into the campaign’s impact on patients and staff, here are other suggestions on low cost evaluations: Use an online survey provider such as SurveyMonkey to ask target audiences how the campaign has impacted on the local community.Search the internet for local campaign press coverage. Keep track of the number of posters, leaflets, etc that have been distributed. Monitor take up of any services/ initiatives launched. For online content, find out the number of page views and click through. Please share your evaluations with us by emailing
Will it make a difference?
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Here are some of the organisations that we know of who are committed to participating in the campaign:
Who is getting involved in SCW?
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Organisation Self Care initiative DateNational Eczema Society National Eczema Week September 14 – 22nd Working Families National Work Life Week September 23 – 27th World Heart Federation World Heart Day September 24th Department of Health Stoptober October 1-31st
United Nations International Day of Older Persons October 1st
Harvey Ross Ball World Smile Day October 4th Backcare Backcare Awareness Week October 7 – 11th World Health Organisation World Mental Health Day October 10th National Osteoporosis Society World Osteoporosis Day October 20th
North West Strategic Health Authority Choose Well winter campaign October 29th International Federation of Psoriasis Associations
World Psoriasis Day October 29th
Community Hygiene Concern National Bug Busting Day October 31st
Roy Castle Foundation Lung Cancer Awareness Month November 1-30thBritish Dental Health Foundation Mouth Cancer Action Month November 1-30th
Pancreatic Cancer Action Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month
November 1-30th
Movember Movember – Men’s Health Awareness Month
November 1-30th
Psoriasis Association Psoriasis Awareness Week November 1-7th
National Pharmacy Association Ask your Pharmacist Week November 4 -11th International Stress Management Association National Stress Awareness Day November 6th World Kindness Movement World Kindness Day November 13th Self Care Forum Self Care Week November 18 – 24th Allergy UK Indoor Allergy Week November 11 – 17th British Lung Foundation World COPD Awareness Day November 14th
International Diabetes Federation World Diabetes Day November 14thDepartment of Health/European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention
Antibiotic Awareness Day November 18th
Alcohol Concern Alcohol Awareness Week November 19-25th
Diary dates: other self care initiatives
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Self Care Week Action PlanWhat will we do? When will we do it? Who will do it? Cost implication?Determine what key messages will be used from Self Care Week
Review existing health promotion initiatives to see if these fall under self care
Relaunch existing initiatives under Self Care Week banner
Identify a key need in the local community and create new Self Care Week initiative to tackle
Post Self Care Week online button or banner on websites
Link to other organisations’ self care initiatives that meet local health needs
Include Self Care Week in presentations and speeches
Publish articles in public and staff facing newsletters
Distribute posters and leaflets
Run an awareness session
Create local media resources and tailor, e.g. how many A&E visits are for minor ailments
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We very much hope you will support SCW 2013 and we would
be interested to know what you are doing so that we can
share this with others involved. Your details will be included
in one of our SCW newsletter that is circulated to like minded
people with an interest in forwarding the reach of self care.
Please send details to [email protected]
What are you doing?