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Our community cancer champion and social prescriber Sharon Cope had a great day at the Beacon health and well-being day at Cliffe Castle. The touring 'Beacon' venue was hosting a week of events to celebrate Bradford 25 and the Keighley and Worth Valley Community Partnership along with a network of local community organisations were invited to showcase their services for a day focussed around improving health and wellbeing

Sharon was on hand to talk about the services that WACA offer as well as offering information about local cancer support services and screening programmes.

This week we held a 'men's health' event with People First Keighley and Craven; it was a great afternoon of information sessions, football – and most importantly – vital health checks for members.

Our WACA social prescriber and cancer champion Sharon Cope was joined by Kit from Keighley Healthy Living to carry out the health checks and give the members an opportunity to ask questions about any concerns they may have.

From People First KC:

"Thank you to all who attended today, we had lots of fun. We learned lots of information, made connections with other services and had our health checks.

We know that topics like checking testicles for lumps can be embarrassing, but we hope that we created a safe environment to ask questions and learn more.

The information the attendees got today may save their life. Monthly self checks are so important and we will continue to raise this issue moving forward because as Adrian said, “everyone deserves to have access to information about health”.

The event was also supported by Robbie Moore MP who said:

"Men with learning disabilities are far more likely to experience serious health issues, yet they are less likely to access regular health checks or cancer screenings.

The event was a brilliant example of how we can create a safe environment to give our SEND community the confidence to speak about their health – especially around topics that can often be difficult to talk about, like testicular cancer.

A huge thank you to People First Keighley and Craven for organising such an inclusive session and to Wharfedale, Airedale and Craven Alliance and Keighley Healthy Living for providing health checks and expert support.

People First Keighley and Craven really are a fantastic organisation providing support, guidance and advocacy to help people with learning challenges. I have met with the group on many occasions over the last couple of years and would encourage everyone in our SEND community to get involved

Well done all".

Shamim Akhtar , Social Prescriber at Ling House Medical Centre, facilitated 3 popular diabetes education sessions in the run up to Ramadan.

The sessions were open to all Women, and was based at KAWACC Centre. The sessions included information about the importance of a healthy lifestyle, the risks of diabetes & how to access specialist diabetes support. Attendees reported being more motivated to make lifestyle behavioural changes and are now seeking support with weight management and physical activity.

The attendees were also signposted to further structured diabetes education including NDPP (National Diabetes Prevention Programme), DME (Diabetes Made Easy) and X-Pert.

If you would like a referral into the social prescribing service to find out about support available to help you lose weight or be more active, please complete the short referral form : https://www.wacalliance.co.uk/forms-policies/self-referral-form-to-access-social-prescribing-or-counselling-service-support.html

Our Women's Health Talk series in Ilkley continued last night with a fantastic talk on Nutrition from Beth Hughes Nutrition. The session focussed on how to eat to support your health and wellness through perimenopause, menopause and beyond and was very well received by the women that attended.

The Singing For Lung Health initiative continues into 2025 with the Spring Course, about to start.

Formed in 2022, the Singing for Lung Health initiative supports patients who live with chronic respiratory conditions by offering group sessions at St Johns Church, in Ben Rhydding.

Delivered by respiratory nurse Sophie Wallace and musical co-lead Keely Hodgson from the 'Bring Me Sunshine' musical trio, the programme is supported by WACA.

To read more how the programme has helped patients, visit https://bdcpartnership.co.uk/a-local-singing-initiative-is-supporting-people-one-breath-at-a-time/

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Health and well-being day at The Beacon

Men's health event with People First Keighley and Craven

Ramadan Diabetes Support offered by the WACA Social Prescribing Team

Women's Heath Talk series continues with a talk on Nutrition

New Singing For Lung Health Course about to start

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