Welcome to the May Network Newsletter!

Welcome to May's edition of the newsletter which as always brings together news, stories and events relevant to the Network. 

Thanks to everyone who attended our second annual conference yesterday. I hope you all enjoyed the day and catching up with each other.  We will be sharing the key messages and photos from the Conference shortly. 

The Scottish Community Link Worker Network is the national network, developed and facilitated by Voluntary Health Scotland for primary care community link working in Scotland.

Please visit our webpage for the latest blogs, reports and information about the Network. And don't forget to follow us on Twitter @ScotCLWnetwork

Events, Workshops and Training

Scottish CLW Network Events

'Unlocking your entitlements' workshop - 12 June 2024
The Network has partnered up with Age Scotland to offer a workshop which focuses on benefits for older people. Many older people do not claim the benefits to which they are entitled. This workshop will explain more about the benefits available and how to access them.  Go to our events page for more information.

Sixth knowledge exchange - key messages
At our sixth Network knowledge exchange last month, we heard great presentations from GamCare, The Stroke Association and Sight Scotland Veterans  You can now download their presentations and read the key messages.

Other Events, Training and Resources

Cross Party Group on Health Inequalities - 4 June 2024
Join VHS for the next meeting of the CPG on Health Inequalities which will take place online from 6-7.30. Find out more and book your place

The Network and NHS Scotland Conference - 10 June 2024
Roisin will be attending the NHS Scotland Conference 2024 'Planning for the Future: Delivering Health and Care Services through Innovation and Collaboration' where as part of the poster exhibition, she will present Voluntary Health Scotland and the Network's recent research report Essential Connections which looked into the range and scope of community link worker programmes in Scotland.

Movement for Health Conference - 18 June 2024
The Movement for Health is holding its first ever conference on 18 June in Glasgow. Movement for Health is a coalition of Scotland's leading health charities. It works to support and inspire those with long-term health conditions to become more active in a way that works for them and their health condition. You can find out more and sign up here

International Social Prescribing Conference - 19 and 20 June 2024
The 5th International Social Prescribing Conference will take place on 19 and 20 June at the University of Westminster. Find out more information and see the programme

Overcoming Challenges in Money Guidance event - 20 June 2024
The Money Guiders' Network will be hosting a roundtable event; a peer-support session to discuss challenges in supporting the diverse needs of service users, providing practical money guidance, and self-management. For more information and to book a place, click here.

Health Inequalities in Scotland: State of the Nation - 17 September 2024
The event will bring together Scotland’s leading public health voices to share innovation, make connections and explore the practical steps that can be taken to address many of the challenges being faced.  A copy of the full draft agenda can be found online here.

Save the date: VHS Annual Conference - 23 October 2024
The VHS annual conference, 'Scotland's Vital Health Sector' will take place on Wednesday 23 October at Dynamic Earth Edinburgh. More information will follow soon, but save the date for now!

Equal Partners in Care - new training resource
The Equal Partners in Care update is well underway with new e-learning modules and resources now live on their Turas page. These materials are suitable for the health and social care workforce, to help them best understand their roles and responsibilities to unpaid carers.  The e-learning modules capture the key messages of identifying, including and supporting unpaid carers, with real life carers' experiences captured  via film, audio and quotes.

Evaluation Support Scotland: evaluating prevention resource
Many third sector organisations provide support or run services that prevent bad things happening to people.  However, prevention is hard to evaluate. Evaluation Support Scotland (ESS) works with third sector organisations and funders so that they can measure and explain their impact.  Find out more

Online training for intergenerational practice
Generations Working Together have a range of online courses that take you through all aspects of intergenerational training. They include everything from understanding the core principles of intergenerational work, how to develop sustainable programmes and evidence their impact, to ageism and creating intergenerational spaces in the community. Find out more

Eat Well, Age Well training
Scottish charity Food Train wants to raise awareness of malnutrition and how it affects older people in Scotland. They offer free training to increase awareness of the signs, symptoms and causes, and support available to those working with older people who may be at risk. Find more information and register for training here.

Good Life, Good Death Training
In Scotland Good Life, Good Death, Good Grief offers inspiration, training, and resources for those who want to improve the quality of end-of-life experiences in their community. You can find out more information here

Age Scotland 'Body Boosting Bingo' support and training
Age Scotland has launched a new edition of Body Boosting Bingo, their fun game resource that encourages and enables regular strength and balance exercise for older adults.  Body Boosting Bingo is free for older people’s groups and services in Scotland.  Age Scotland is offering a programme of training sessions for the game and can visit communities in Scotland to host games taster sessions.  More information here

Highlights from across the Network

Second Annual Scottish Community Link Worker Network Conference
It was great to see you all yesterday at our second annual conference in Glasgow. Thanks to everyone who travelled from across Scotland and a big shoutout to our wonderful presenters and fantastic exhibitors.  We will be sharing key messages, presentations and photographs on our events page shortly.

Mental Health Awareness Week
Val Shepherd from Inverclyde CLWs recently enjoyed a cold water swim to support Mental Health Awareness week. Hope it wasn't too cold! Hope you were all able to take some time out to do something to look after your wellbeing.

Edinburgh CLW Network
Liz Griffiths from Edinburgh CLW Network has been busy making up packs of children's books for local families (see below), thanks to Our Wee Library

Other News

Public Health Conference calls for a system-level response to Scotland's declining health
Public Health Scotland, the Faculty of Public Health and the Scottish Directors of Public Health Group hosted a new public health conference in Glasgow earlier this month.  With life expectancy in Scotland stalling and health needs set to rise over the next 20 years, the conference agreed to call for a system-level response to reverse declining health in Scotland. 

Diffley Partnership report published
The Diffley Partnership has published a report, commissioned by the NCD Alliance Scotland, exploring public attitudes towards the harms caused by alcohol, tobacco and unhealthy food and drink.

Stroke Association launches campaign to improve access to support
The Stroke Association has launched the Thriving After Stroke campaign calling for better rehabilitation and support services. Their three calls are that every stroke survivor leaves hospital with a personalised rehabilitation plan, has contact information for ongoing support from stroke services and receives a review of progress within six months. 

Extra funding awarded to men's football mental health initiative
The Scottish Government has awarded an additional £100,000 to the Changing Room Extra Time initiative which uses football to promote mental health and wellbeing.

Health and Care Experience Survey results published for 2023-24
The Scottish Government has published national results from the Health and Care Experience Survey 2023-24. The survey asked about peoples’ experiences of accessing and using general practice and other local healthcare services.

Scottish Recovery Network
The Scottish Recovery Network focuses on making mental health recovery real. They bring people, services and organisations across sectors together to create a mental health system that embraces peer support and is powered by lived experience.Their May newsletter is out now and features lots of information on training and resources.

Carer Support Payment extended
The Carer Support Payment will be extended to ten new council areas if regulations laid in parliament are approved, starting with North and South Lanarkshire and Angus on Monday 24 June. From August it will extend to Fife, Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Moray, and North, East and South Ayrshire and be available in the rest of Scotland in November. 

A Scotland that Cares
Following a successful coalition campaign, backed by over 70 organisations, the Scottish Government has proposed a new, dedicated National Outcome on care, which states ‘we are cared for as we need throughout our lives and value all those providing care’. Read more

A public health approach to tackling homelessness
Cyrenians has launched its new three-year strategy, committing to a public health approach in its mission to tackle the causes and consequences of homelessness. Find out more

Antonine Wall consultation open
The Antonine Wall consultation questionnaire is now live. This is a follow-up to in-person public consultations which took place earlier this year and asks for more details about some of the topics that were raised/discussed, which you can read here.  As community link workers, you may have views on a lot of the questions being asked such as activities that should or shouldn't be considered and recommended partner organisations. The consultation closed on 6 June.