Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust

The safeguarding and cared for children teams’ 'Going the Extra Mile' (GEM) award last month went to Liz Spencer, nurse for cared for children in Salford. While working with Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children (UASC), Liz noticed how little the children had when arriving in the UK. To support them, Liz sourced bags with essential items like toiletries and underwear from a charity. These bags are now given to UASC children in Salford at their health appointments. Many thanks to Liz (pictured left) with the associate director for safeguarding and cared for children, Clare Kelly. #NHS #Health

We are proud to be the first NHS Trust in the North West to commit to planting trees on every one of our hospital sites as part of the National Memorial Tree Campaign to remember healthcare workers across the country who have taken their own lives. 🌳 💙 #NHS #MentalHealth

Congratulations to Sotonye Tolofari our consultant urological surgeon at Salford Royal on this shortlisting. 👏

The link between cancer and obesity has long been established and evidence suggests that obesity treatments - including surgery - can play an important role in reducing this risk. However, we don’t yet fully understand the molecular changes and biological mechanisms which underpin these relationships. Now our team at Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust is working with The University of Manchester Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, Imperial College London, and IARC - International Agency for Research on Cancer / World Health Organization on the international PROMINENT programme to shed light on some of these mechanisms. The aim is to identify new routes for future prevention and treatment. The work package on obesity treatments and cancer risk is led nationally by Professor Marc Gunter and Dr Laure Dossus and in Manchester by Professor Emma Crosbie from Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust. Oesophago-Gastric and Bariatric Surgeon Mr Bilal Alkhaffaf is co-supervising PhD student Dr Holly Baker-Rand, who is delivering the local work for this project. Holly has already recruited her first three patients to the study who are scheduled to have bariatric surgery. 

The team at Rochdale promoted Alcohol Awareness Week earlier this month. The theme for this year’s Alcohol Awareness Week was ‘Understanding alcohol harm’. Our Alcohol and Substances team held a mini roadshow on site and across our community locations to support the national campaign, provide information to colleagues and patients and offer advice. Anne Livesey, Operational Lead Hospital, Alcohol and Substances team said: “By opening up conversations about alcohol harm and helping to reduce it, it becomes easier for us all to make more informed choices about our drinking as health harms do not just affect the heavy or dependent drinkers that we often think about. “Alcohol is often perceived as a stress-reliever and an antidote to the daily pressures in this context, and it is easy to overlook or discount the health and social damage caused or contributed to by drinking. We have been promoting a healthier, more balanced approach to alcohol consumption in a fun way through the road show. Over the last decade there has been a huge movement over to zero and low drinks." Thank you to McGuigan Wines and Not Guilty Zero for donating some alcohol-free drinks for the team at Rochdale Infirmary Alcohol Awareness Week stall! The donations allowed the team to show colleagues and patients some healthy alternatives to alcoholic drinks and provide advice on health and wellbeing.

Watch our team on Ward 8 at Fairfield General Hospital explain why they turned part of their ward into a medical unit for people living with dementia. The team ringfenced beds and created an activity room – the results have seen patients happier and going home sooner, while families and carers love the new environment. #NHS #Dementia #Health

Dr Zenas Yiu from our Dermatology Theme has been awarded £1.4 million to look for better ways of using current treatments for people with chronic, long-term skin, joint and gut conditions. He was awarded the funding through a prestigious Clinical Scientist Fellowship from the Medical Research Council. The focus of the project will be immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMIDs), which include conditions affecting the skin (psoriasis, eczema, cutaneous lupus), joints (rheumatoid arthritis, lupus), and the gut (inflammatory bowel disease). These diseases are among the most common chronic conditions in the UK and are estimated to impact almost 7% of the global population. Dr Yiu is a Clinical Senior Lecturer in Dermatology and Pharmacoepidemiology based at The University of Manchester and an Honorary Consultant Dermatologist at Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust. 📰 Read more about the project 👇 https://lnkd.in/ehRr8mZe

We are delighted to see the new all #electric Royal Rover shuttle service in action providing support for our patients, especially those who have limited mobility or don’t have access to their own vehicle. 🚌 🙂 #Green #NHS

If you have bowel problems your GP might ask you to do a bowel cancer screening kit (FIT test) to see if you need other tests for your bowels. Watch this short video to see what to do…. #GMBowelCancer

Bury in bloom. Lovely to see the first stages of this project coming along beautifully at Fairfield General Hospital!