People in Kendal feedback their health and wellbeing needs

People living in Kendal had the opportunity to discuss their health and wellbeing needs coming out of lockdown when the HARRI (Health, Advice, Recovery, Resilience, Information) engagement vehicle visited the town. The majority of people fed back that they enjoyed activities such as walking in the countryside, mindfulness, meditation and yoga.

They also said they would like to see:

·         better access to GPs including face-to-face appointments

·         a blood donation centre

·         outside exercise parks and more activities including bowling

·         a long COVID clinic

·         drop-in wellbeing clinics.

All feedback has been shared with relevant Partners and will tie into the Bay Health and Care Partners Population Health team’s work around Community Conversations. The Population Health team is working with health and care colleagues, city councils and the voluntary sector to carry out Community Conversations with people in Lancaster, Barrow and South Lakeland to gather meaningful feedback which will help to shape recommendations and inform plans for local services.

Hasan Sidat, Senior Operational Manager for Recovery and Resilience, Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust, said:

“The aim of the HARRI van is to go out into communities and listen to what matters to people and offer advice, support and signposting. Kendal has been one of the busiest days we’ve seen so far from our visits to Cumbria and we’ve had some valuable feedback from the community which we have shared with relevant partners. It was amazing to see all our Partners working together to make the event happen.”

Claire Niebieski, Population Health Manager for Bay Health and Care Partners, said:

“The HARRI van is a fantastic opportunity for our local communities to have a voice and share what is important to them. This valuable feedback from our community in Kendal will help to shape recommendations and inform local plans for services in the area.”

Visitors also had the opportunity to see the Kendal Integrated Care Community (ICC) team for general health advice and blood pressure checks and the Innovation Agency carried out 50 atrial fibrillation checks. Colleagues from Kendal Primary Care Network (PCN) talked to people about the five ways to wellbeing, offering simple advice and signposting to services and St John’s Hospice was on hand to offer people bereavement support.

Cara Stride, Development Lead for Kendal ICC, said:

“The event was such a success and we engaged with so many people about their health and wellbeing needs post lockdown and their general health.We gave out 50 goodie bags which were donated from Cumbria County Council and had a wealth of information from Partners and we also gave out fruit to people which was donated from Morrisons. I want to thank all of our Partners who came along to support.”

The following organisations were involved on the day: Kendal ICC, Innovation Agency; Carer Support South Lakes; The Lighthouse Community Mental Health Hub; Social Prescriber Link Workers from Kendal PCN; Health and Wellbeing Coaches from Cumbria County Council; Active Cumbria; COVID Recovery Team from University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust and The Well Communities.​​​