New campaign urges York residents to become Dementia Friends

City of York Council is urging residents and businesses across the city to support the new Dementia Friends campaign.

Dementia is arguably the biggest health crisis facing the UK1: there are currently 665,065 people in England who have dementia2 and an estimated twenty-one million people in England have a close friend or family member with dementia8– because they live with or care for someone who has dementia.

In York it is thought there are 2,725 people currently living with dementia and this is expected to rise to 3,209 by 2020.

The campaign, launched by Public Health England and Alzheimer’s Society, is encouraging people in York to become a Dementia Friend by watching a short interactive video online to increase their understanding of the disease and implementing their experience on a daily basis. A number of businesses with shops in York have already signed up to the campaign and will be encouraging their employees to become Dementia Friends, including Marks & Spencer, Lloyds Bank and Superdrug.

Paul Edmondson-Jones, Director of Health and Wellbeing, City of York Council, said: “One in three of us over the age of 654 will develop dementia, an incredibly high statistic. But people with dementia can live well, and it is the responsibility of the rest of the community to help them do so.

“It is only by personally understanding the issues that people living with dementia face, can we fully appreciate the challenges they have to overcome on a day-to-day basis. By participating in the short information session to become a Dementia Friend, you are playing crucial role in helping us take one step closer to creating a dementia-friendly society.”

The campaign aims to create a network of one million Dementia Friends across England by 2015. As part of the campaign, adverts will appear on TV and online from 7 May 2014.

For further information on the campaign and how to become a Dementia Friend, please visit http://www.dementiafriends.org.uk/

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York Council staff absence through stress hits record high

The proportion of sickness absences recorded by Council employees, because of stress related issues, reached a record high during the last financial year.

21.8% of absences were put done to stress compared to a previous high of 19.5% seen in 2010/11

Dates	Days Lost/FTE (all)	Days Lost/FTE (stress)	% of absence days lost because of stress
01/04/2009-31/03/2010	8.98	1.74	19.38
01/04/2010-31/03/2011	10.48	2.04	19.51
01/04/2011-31/03/2012	8.56	1.22	14.25
01/04/2012-31/03/2013	8.63	1.68	19.47
1/04/1013-31/03/2014	9.15	1.99	21.79

Overall the number of sickness days per employee has also risen to 9.2%

The Council has not yet commented on the worrying trend

Enjoy Farm Visits Safely

City of York Council’s Public Health Team has worked with Public Health England (PHE) to produce a factsheet that is being sent to all schools and Children’s Centres in York offering advice on good hand hygiene when visiting farm attractions.

All of the bacteria that can cause illnesses, including Salmonella and E. coli, live in the gut of the animals so people can get infected within the farm setting mainly in two ways – either by touching animals in the petting and feeding areas or by coming into contact with animal droppings on contaminated surfaces around the farm.

These harmful bacteria can get accidentally passed to your mouth by putting hands on faces or fingers in mouths before washing them thoroughly.

It only takes a small number of the bacteria to cause infection.

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Child health in York better than average.

Public Health England have released Child Health Profiles for City of York Council, which provide a snapshot of child health in the city.

The key findings from the report show that the health and wellbeing of children in York is generally better than the England average and that children and young people under the age of 20 make up 21.7% of the city’s population.

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Tomorrow (Wednesday) is No Smoking Day

12th March is no smoking day and residents are being encouraged to think before they smoke in front of their children.

Figures released recently by the British Lung Foundation (BLF) show around185,000 children between the ages of 11-15 in England are exposed to potentially toxic concentrations of second-hand smoke in their family car every day or most days.[1] That’s the equivalent of more than 6,100 classrooms full of children[2]]

Dr Paul Edmondson-Jones, Director of Health and Wellbeing at City of York Council said: “These figures demonstrate that children being exposed to second-hand smoke when travelling in a car is still a big problem and we would encourage people to use No Smoking Day as an opportunity to think about stopping smoking in front of their children and quitting altogether. Children are more vulnerable to the dangers of second-hand smoke compared to adults due to their faster breathing, smaller lungs and less developed immune systems.”

The North Yorkshire NHS Stop Smoking Service currently has the following weekly sessions in York:

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Lung cancer initiative

City of York Council is backing the Be Clear on Cancer campaign, aimed at increasing awareness of the symptoms of lung cancer, which has been considered so successful it is being repeated.

The Public Health England campaign first ran nationally throughout England in May – July 2012. Recent data found that around 700 extra people were diagnosed with lung cancer in these months when compared to the same period in the previous year. Approximately 400 more people were diagnosed at an early stage, and around 300 more patients had surgery, giving them the best chance of prolonged survival.

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Health advice at York’s libraries

Free sessions called ‘Using the NHS online’ have been arranged in March at three of York’s libraries and everyone taking part will have a chance of winning an Amazon Kindle Fire.

Explore Tang Hall, Explore Acomb and Explore York Libraries will each be hosting one hour sessions for York residents who have little or no internet experience. The session will show them how to find out more information on the internet, using the NHS websites as an example.

The sessions will take place as follows:

Explore Acomb Library Learning Centre
Thursday 27 March, 5.30pm and 6.30pm
Telephone 01904 552651 to book.

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