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Good afternoon everybody. Um And thank you for bearing with us and I can see that Helen's almost with us. Now. She is here. Uh Helen. Well done. Thank you. What a what a stressful wee time, but just was then particularly pertinent when it comes to selfcare. Um Now, can we hear you come in here? I can't hear you at the moment. Helen. Nothing's coming out of my screen. Let me try and let me try and connect to this. 00, I think coming through now. Ok, I just took the headphones out. I'll just um speak into the computer. We can hear you now, Helen. Thank you so much. Um You just said we can't hear Helen and now we can, which is brilliant. So I am um delighted this afternoon and hey, what a Friday, it's turning out to be for, for, for lots of people in different ways. Um I'm just gonna let Helen catch her breath while I do the, the usual introductions, Helen. So a moment or two here now. So welcome back or welcome to anybody that's new to learn with n this is one of our in conversation sessions which means we run this live, it will be available on demand. Although of course, we'll let it out the first couple of minutes where we were trying desperately to get online and um, and, but the same things will apply and that you can get a certificate afterwards. We would love you to do your evaluation and I will be uploading some of the um, some of the fact sheets that Helen's going to be talking about today from the selfcare forum. So you can go and pick those up straight away. Now, I'm having my own it issues and that my computer doesn't recognize me at all. Uh Well, certainly not my Microsoft office. So I can't open any documents so I can't do that until maybe on Monday. But remember if I put anything else into this platform, it will drop you a note to let you know. So our sessions now is, as I said, the in conversation session. And I can't remember if I said my name, I'm sorry, Kayla Nut nurse founder here at LA with nurses. And I am joined by Helen Donovan and I've known Helen for quite a few years now and I Helen, who will do her own introductions, hopefully. Um So Helen and I have worked on a variety of different projects over the years and I, when I heard more about the self-care forum, I just thought we have to have Helen along to come and talk to us more about it. So, Helen, I wanna say, what's, what's your name and where you're from in my best black voice. So let us know a bit about yourself, first of all, and then we'll dig down further into the selfcare forum. Thanks Michaela. And uh yeah, I'm really delighted that you invited me. I'm so sorry. All the sort of stress of logging in. But yeah, and so, yeah, I'm Helen Donovan. I'm an independent nurse consultant. Um I guess my, my area of expertise, specialist immunization of vaccination. I have to say that and um obviously, selfcare is, is fundamental to immunization of nation because it's a key thing. But I also do a number of other things including working with yourself, with the wonderful C three organization. I also am a queen's nurse and I work with the QN. I and I lead their long COVID network. I also am the chair of Selfcare for a small National charity with a remit to extend and embed the whole concept and idea of selfcare in everyday life and we can get a bit more, but I do lots of different things and uh that's uh that's great and fantastic. Um But fundamentally, I'm a registered nurse, brilliant and, and I think like many nurses, like many of us nowadays is we do wear a lot of hats and, and juggle lots of things. So whether that's different roles, different roles within organizations. Um and I suspect selfcare is important more than ever for um for not just people and patients but for ourselves too. So I'm gonna start the ball rolling with a, with a very wide open question for you, Helen on, on just, just what is meant by self care. Yeah. And it is, it's a really interesting one but we very, very simply have a very clear definition that it's the actions that individuals take for themselves on behalf of or with others. So it could be community spirited in order to, to develop, protect and maintain and improve their health and well being. So it can be everything and then to go behind that, we've also developed what we call the selfcare continuum. So selfcare sends from those everyday actions, which includes brushing your teeth in the morning and in the evening before you go to bed, it includes drinking enough, it includes taking time out for yourself, but it also includes foods, knowing how to look after minor ailments. If you've got a sore throat or a cold or more serious complications, going to see the GP when it's appropriate or going to have a chat with the pharmacist is appropriate. But also then taking care if you do have an underlying long term condition, taking your medication at the right time, taking your asthma inhalers properly, all of those sort of thing or following advice, postoperatively. So if you're having a hip replacement or you've broken your leg following physio advice, all of those sorts of things and the co, the selfcare continuum and it was developed by, um, actually our self-care president, um, GP, Doctor Pete Smith. Uh, it's been around for well, oh, about 15 years. It was in the mid two thousands and it really does encompass self-care. And that, and that sounds so broad and I suspect not everybody realizes it's as broad as that. Maybe they thought, um, oh, it's doing extra things that, you know, that I might need to do to look after myself or make myself better. But actually, it's almost like that basic maintenance across the whole level is what I'm feeling like cleaning your teeth, like keeping hydrated. Um So it's not going up and doing extra things. It's just you can get it. Am I, am I going down the right track of you? You are absolutely right. So, I mean, obviously there's things that we, we all have to do to love our bodies if, if you like to love ourselves, you know, whether that's doing a bit more exercise, eating healthily trying to lose a bit of weight, maybe sleeping, but it's just those day to day things and a lot of people put self alongside self management. And for us, I think self management is part of that continuum. Um, so that's uh monitoring your blood, as I said, or, or, or taking your asthma inhalers or taking your medication more generally on a regular basis. That's the self management, bit of a long term condition. But self-care is that's just part of selfcare. So it's not, you know, we're not asking people to or suggesting that people have to spend all the time doing other things. It's really looking after yourself. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. And so going back to the self care forum then um and I, and I, I'm loving the thought. I love a continuum. I love being able to visualize things in that way. Um What are the aims then? What, what, what, what does the self care forum want to achieve? What? Yeah, what are the aims of the forum? Well, I mean, essentially it is to really get that message through to everybody. And I guess fundamentally we are working with health care professionals and others, but we're working across the piece. So it's not just about health and care, it's it's to do with education. So how can we get into schools to support them? One of our trustees, the love she in has got this wonderful group, she set up called Doctor Me and she goes into schools talking to the Children about how they can look after themselves, obviously family, but also some of the other resources that are out there and, and, and groups that are out there for education, but also working with local authorities, how we can then embed that because you know, inequality in health is a really massive problem, isn't it? And we must see this as a blame thing. This isn't about, you must do at the moment when struggling so much the cost of living and all of the other pressures in life, this shouldn't be about, um you know, the, the responsibility of the individual, everybody has a responsibility. So I think our aim is to really embed that self care continuum, not just for the individuals, but for communities. Um so I can carry on a bit. Sorry, I do. No, do no do. That's, that's what these sessions are about. It's like we just ask occasional questions and then let, let you guys roll on. So go for it. Now. We've been running um what we call Innovation Awards for many years now. And we, we publish these on the website and they really give some really fantastic ideas of what local areas can do in supporting selfcare. And I think they, they, they're the crux of it. So whether it's about expanding local self group and, and I'll come the fact sheets in a bit more detail, but how people can use those fact sheets in a group setting or we've got one example on the website came from President Dr Pete Smith's practice himself and actually showing a reduction in antibiotic use, but probably more important a reduction in people need it feeling that they need to go and see their GP for minor illness. So using those fact sheets in a really productive way in really help helping people to manage their condition um as best they can. So I think there's lots of examples that we have that we've used in the past and that people have written and applied to become self care champions um really showing how this can work in practice. So the fact sheets and I'm going to upload some of those and hopefully once my computer's working and we're just getting a couple of comments that I can, I tell you it on a Friday. Hey, it always happens. Um, we are getting a couple of comments and I think it's coming through that. You're, you, it's a little crackly that the, the audio's breaking up a little, however it's audible and Zoe's put down a little bit better now and I, I think it might be the internet on your side. But, um, but we'll keep going as it's audible. So it's not so much the sound, you know, the, the, the loudness, it's, it's a bit crackly, but I've got good internet connection. So, um, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it's, it's, it's Friday is what we'll put it down to. I think it's Friday and actually what we are hearing from Sarah, it's audible. It's a little crackly but it's audible. So we'll, we'll go with, it could just be you. Exactly Helen. So those fact sheets then, um, and, and I will pop in a moment, uh, in the chat where the selfcare, well, the selfcare forum website is. But, um, tell me a bit more about those fact sheets. So how do they, how do they get developed? What sort of things might they cover the whole ranges and what do you? Yeah. Well, tell me a bit more about those fact sheets. So I think I have to give credit to another one of our um, uh, special advisor to the self care forum is doctor who also the director for, um a health care company. And he developed these um fact sheets. I think they go around 2014. And the idea behind that was very much that they are a tool for healthcare professionals to use with clients patients um to sort of give them something to help them with the selfcare process. Um Now I've got, I'm just going to go on to the website while I'm talking to you. And we've got a whole range of uh fact sheets ranging from back eczema to sore throat. The newest one that we've done is actually on strep a fever. And that, that gives a good example in a way because we were asked by the Ro Ro Pharmaceutical Society to develop this. And it was really as a call from their members who wanted something to back up the conversations that in the pharmacy. So parents coming into the pharmacy worried about stroke and scarlet fever and wanting up. And of course, there is a lot of information online, but this is done in a two page document. So you print it off on two sides of a four And you can give it to or you can give people the link. Um The other latest one is a, a sheet again, that was something that we were asked to work with NHS England on because of the work doing on menopause. And um so they normally come about by an, from an organization. Um Sometimes it comes from just feedback that we get, we haven't got some on this, for example. So I'm sort of looking at you got vitamin D and you know, all of that sort of thing. Um But very much designed as a tool to support a wider conversation. So they don't have all of the information. Um but they have links to other reputable sources. I think what people say they like particularly about the fact sheets is that they are on two sides. So you, you can just print them off some sort of basic info that you can use to back up that wider conversation. Um They're developed by board. Um And then they are checked by our wider list of. So actually, if they're interested in selfcare and would like to become a self care champion, please have a look up and, and um and then, and then we go through the process of um of, of putting them up online and we, we have a format that we use. So um that's essentially how they come about and then we review post process of at least annually. Um so that we make sure that they are and then have a two year reprocess for them. So that's what the fact sheet they are evidence based and they are developed by, you know, a whole series of clinical uh colleagues that we have on the, on the self care board, but also from other colleagues on the board who are not necessarily clinical. But because obviously these are for the general public to be able to use it really important that they are written in such a way that people can, can access them and find them useful. Yeah, and we're, we're getting some comments saying so Elizabeth, so you said the fact sheets sound like a brilliant idea. And I guess not everybody, there's a lot of people that won't know about the fact sheets. I don't know if you can see there's a little chat column um to the to the right of your screen, you click on those little boxes, tell them where there's little um where there's like little bubbles. It because I think have done so much um scooting around. Don't worry, then don't worry. I I'll be reading out from here as well. But also what I've done is I've popped into the chat function there as well about the, the selfcare forum, the link to the selfcare forum and the fact sheets and I've browsed through them myself actually. And they do look, I think what I like about them is they look really clear, um, easy to use, easy to understand. And on those, on a lot of those topics that, um, there are probably, we end up saying probably very similar things over and over. Whether that's I'm looking at middle ear infections, varicose veins, acne all the way through that you said to back pain or constipation as well as well as the menopause, which I think have become a really popular one. And we can just see here, Zoe's just said, thank you. You've never heard of them before. So I think, I think there's a lot of people and it's amazing that we've got them and I do, we do you know how much they are used at all, maybe like in primary care to be able to use. Do you know what the use is? Well, we do, we are now beginning to collate the um the number of downloads and I'm afraid I don't have that, that evidence at my fingertips, but my wonderful colleague would be able to, to tell people if they're interested. But what we do know, um which is, which is absolutely brilliant is that they are actually as a back link. Now, I don't really understand all the technology for these things, but other practice system embedded and you can access when you're in the middle of and the faet are there um, one of the things we do know is really useful going back to the, uh, one of the case studies that we had on, um, reduced antibiotics. And one of the things that we had with that is actually how long is the sort of normal sort of expectancy for? I say, a sore throat or a common cold? Um, and I think this is again, something that people don't necessarily realize that it might be a couple of weeks that you would expect to have or a sore throat and a cough for maybe even longer than that 2 to 3 weeks, for example. Um, and the antibiotics don't necessarily reduce that. And once people are assured that that's normal in university, they're not gonna worry much and they're gonna feel more confident about managing that in their, you know, increasing their fluid consumption, all of those sorts of things. Obviously, there are times when people must and should see their doctor or see a pharmacist and we make that very clear on the fact she isn't a sort of and, or situation it should be done as part of a sort of wide. You can get that sore throat one now and it's what I particularly like is you've got the, you've got the fact sheet that you can print off, but also there's a web based version as well. You can read the same content sort of quite big as well. And I like to read the things quite big too on there. So, so it's repeated that way to make it read easier. And I can see that you've got the whole as well. When should I seek medical attention to? Um, and actually given that lots of patients and lots of people go and get information from all over the internet nowadays that actually having something that can be shared in a consistent way and, and taking them back to the same place, the same reputable safe source of information is really important. It's a really important point and I think it's something that we really strive for with the self care for. I mean, let's be honest, we all look up everything on the internet, don't we? I mean, it was like, I think it's actually in the Oxford dictionary was the word you google it, we do it and, and it's, it's sort of really ridiculous of that the patients are not going to do that. Most of them have Googled it before they come and see any one of us anyway. So what we need to do is make sure that the sort of things that they're seeing are reputable because unfortunately, there is also an awful lot of misinformation out there or an awful lot of stuff that's being promoted to reflect one particular viewpoint. I mean, you had these conversations before Michaela, but it's, it's really difficult for us that include us in the general public to all be able to know good and what is bad because sometimes the stuff that comes out and, you know, social media on Twitter and you have these wonderfully produced videos and films and they're very, very professional and you, you, you know, forgive her thinking. Oh, actually, well, this must have come from something this has got some credibility. So I think we are very careful to make sure that we're using HS public health. Nice for those reputable sources to inform about it. But I'm pleased that you think that they are easy to read because let's face sometimes nice. Isn't that easy to read? Definitely not, definitely not. And it can be, and there can be a lot of documents the way through. And I know for example, the the shared care um document within one of the nice guards. I think that's gone down from 28 pages to about 14 now. So who has time to do that shared care, decision making but still with, you know, multiple pages in that way. So, and, and, and we've started to discuss this, I think a little bit, we've already touched on this on the moment and I want people who are, are joining live at the moment. If you've got any comments, thoughts, questions for Helen, please do pop them in the chat function. But I wanna think, how would you, how do you envisage people will be able to use them? So we know that they're already now embedded into GP systems and em, but how do you think, um, how do you think it could be used? Well, I think I essentially, first of all get, be familiar with them. So, you know, you've now got the, the link to the fact sheets, have a look and see what's there. But I know that the way that, um, we're told by our self care champions and the board and, uh, the, the clinicians on the board use them is literally with patients. So somebody is coming to you with, um, complaining that they, I don't know, let's use one of the dietary ones. So it should take vitamin D for example. So with it, there's a fact sheet on vitamin D and actually, when you look at the evidence base for vitamin D is that it's probably fair to say that most of us should be on vitamin D as a supplement. Um, and particularly people of certain ethnic minority groups with darker skin because you don't get the same absorption of vitamin D and sunlight. But also anybody really in from September to March, I think we have on the vitamin D leaflet because of the country that we live in. You know, I, it, we don't have an awful lot of sunshine we have at the moment actually on and I was just, I did exactly the same with you and turned my head. I can see that there is a bit of sunshine. Out and, you know, I'm covered up from, with jumpers and stuff and, and so now the amount of vitamin D absorption I would get is, is going to be minimal. And also it's the, the, the level of the sun in the sky and all those sorts of things. So, you know, you've got that leaflet which essentially says to you look, have a look at this. You know, it's not a bad idea to take some vitamin D. But you know, what your do is you don't need to be on anything special. It's, it's that sort of information um that, that we're giving. Um And similarly, you know, the, the, the strep A one was quite an interesting one because, you know, normally we're saying to people you can manage this yourself. But actually with strep A, we're saying you do need to go and get a prescription, you almost certainly need to be prescribed antibiotics and remember to complete the course of antibiotics. So it's, it, it depends on what people are asking you about. But we know from, you know, nurses on the board, from GPS on the board, from pharmacists on and, and that's the other group as well as pharmacists. Increasingly, people are encouraged and quite rightly. So you've got highly qualified and, and trained registered healthcare professionals, you know, on your high street. So using our pharmacy colleagues for those initial conversations and um we know that, you know, our pharmacy colleagues use these fact sheets either to say to people. Well, actually I really do think you're going to know you guys need to see your GP or actually have you thought about this, that and the other, um, and you know, it's those sorts of conversations that they are designed to support. Now that's, and, and I'm loving the thought of, I'm always loving the thought of things, but I am loving the thought of them being used in multiple places because that you, that you end up then with is a consistent set of information. So whi which is what we often get is is the opposite of that. So, you know, people think somebody says something somewhere and we get the opposite one somewhere else. But that consistency is really important and not just consistency in the message, but also the way it's been said. And and that's what I like about the, the, the succinct and the simplicity of the fact she now Sarah's also mentioned in here, but actually, they could also be used in places like could they could they be used in places like outpatients, particularly for people with chronic illnesses? And could they be used maybe for post, post procedure instruction? So for example, with endoscopies when and stuff around digestion and gut and self care that way. So, so it's actually, and I'm I'm just quickly scooching through now looking at them for the bits on that side. But um I think they could. Do you see that? I, and I, I'm asking you a question that I think I know the answer to well, you know. Absolutely. Right. And I think Sarah's made a really good point and maybe we need to, um, you know, publicize it more for our patients and particularly these days when we, you know, the whole concept of integrated care systems where we're all, hopefully once they in and, you know, working across them, that we should be using them in any, any setting where essentially where we're telling somebody you need to try and think about this, that XYZ in order to maintain and improve your health. So absolutely, postoperative giving people advice or I/O patient setting. I see he put in all schools could send strep a information, why not? Um I mean, you know, the challenge is of course is that um UK HS A in terms of a have some really, really good guidance and there are some fact sheets embedded within the guidance. But the idea of these is that it's, it's something simple that people can use. And one of the things that we reference in the strep A is E BGS and anybody who works in schools will be familiar with the E BG website, which is another fantastic resource um for teaching Children and the schools about how to better maintain infection prevention and control. So, um I agree with that, I can see the chat now, unfortunately, I've got to verify my account before I can add anything. So I have to not add anything. But I just wonder if you, Mika could add the link to the. Um There's a best practice link um for self care, which is really, really useful. Um And it's got a lot of our, um it's sort of I can do, is it, is it in resources? I'm going to send you the link in a whatsapp while I'm talking to you and then I send you, this is our telecommunications at its best, isn't it? Who, who knew that we would become so amazingly, Whizz. You know, COVID didn't bring a lot of good stuff. It brought mostly heartache and, and nightmarish stuff. But actually look at that we have been able to, um hopefully that's going to work, but it looks like it says people are, um people are able to hear me now. Maybe it's warmed up. Yeah. Yeah. And you actually, it's not crackling in the same way. So I think it's there. But what I, what I am thinking though is just in case people did log on to start with and then, then maybe disappeared after it took a few minutes because I'm going to wrap us up shortly, but I'm going to invite you back Helen if that's all right to maybe talk about this again. And then because when it's on demand, it might be a bit crackly, but maybe maybe in May June time to come back and talk about a yeah, maybe to repeat what we've done but take it a little bit further. But I am going to put a challenge back out to people on the call and to people who are watching on demand is to think about have a look at the selfcare flow and then maybe have a think about what would you need. What are the fact sheets? Sorry, he, I don't mean to give you lots of extra work or the form, lots of extra work, but what would be really useful? What would be really good? What do you think? Oh, if only I had this be and not for the occasional thing, I'm guessing it's for the more frequent sort of thing. Could that go? There's a request and do people just email in Helen, do they contact you through the port contact? Um So Libby Whittaker is the sort of manager for the self care forum. I mean, what we would need to do is to look to see where we would get funding to initially um make the fact sheet because as you can appreciate it does take quite a bit of time to do. Um But no, if we, if there are requirements, but the other thing is um give us examples of using the factory as a, you know, as a little discussion on the website. Um And remember, we haven't launched the selfcare week innovation award for this year yet. But we will be so remember, keep that in mind and selfcare week. I know that's quite a long way off Michaela, but maybe we need to do something like this in selfcare week. So selfcare week is always this second week in November. And we're really, we, we've got some new graphics and new design that um actually a friend of mine who's a graphic designer has been helping us with. Um So we've, we've got some new stuff to sort of help promote and it would be really, really good um to, for people to engage with selfcare week and let Libby know what you're doing because the, you know, it's about, you know, it's about us promoting that as well. And well, I'll definitely let's do something in selfcare week, you know, as you know, here at nurses, we love to just jump on your ideas and things and I'm now thinking let's have a series during selfcare week, let's maybe see different days, different, you know, whatever your themes are, we can support, we can support the selfcare forum by doing stuff like this or by having a quiz or by, you know, or by having, you know, a regular, the, the webinars with slides and doing it that way. So maybe whilst you're away for and Helen is going to be away for all of a collective. She's having a break, not, and she's not gonna work on it. But if you did have a moment where you did start to think, well, what would I love to build? We can help you or help the self care for him to make that happen in November. Um And you just put in D and B I think that might be a really useful one for lots of people as a, as a, as a starter for 10 of something to think about. Now, let's imagine in our last couple of minutes, people thinking actually, I might like to be part of the selfcare forum. I'd either like to um help out on making the fact sheets, help out on reviewing or, or get involved in some way. Are, are you, is that always something people can do? Can they get involved? So, um yeah, we have a whole range of champions. So selfcare forum and, you know, we would welcome, there's a lot of nurses on our champion page. Um And again, Libby's details, the contact details are on the, the website. So um if you're interested, what we really need is just a little bit about you. You why you want to be a self care champion? Um a quote to put on the website and a headshot. There you go. And I've, I've popped the champions in the chat. So for people to come and become a champion too and I, you know, I'm going to put the awards in as well. Oh, the selfcare. Oh, they're not out yet. Are they? The, they're not out yet. We haven't, um, we haven't actually launched it for this year. Um, but it will be coming out. Yeah, I see. Anita's put D and V. Yeah. Um, yeah, we, we haven't got one on DNV. We'd need to, we'd need to have a think about that because it could potentially be quite huge. But, yeah. Um, yeah. Well, Helen, I'm gonna wrap it up here. Um So a huge thank you for joining us today and, and for appearing so calm. Um considering the slight hiccup we had before it all started and that's the, that's the bit. So the people we did have a bit of it and it wasn't Helen's fault at all. It was glitchy problems and all of that sort of stuff. It is Friday and it is, it is it glitchy type thing. So Helena, I'd like to just hand that to you for any, any last thoughts you'd like people to go away with before I wrap this up. I think, I think just keep selfcare and the fact that people, uh our patients, our clients don't necessarily understand what we mean by selfcare. I think um people also need to be supported, they need to be given permission almost to do these things and to follow on. So having having that at the back of your mind when you're having those conversations and also remember that unless we do say to people that they can do Xy and Z, they're unlikely to do it. So, um, I think that I've always had that in the back of your mind, um, in, in thinking about selfcare. But no, it's been really good and, and, um, I really hope that people have had, um, some good feedback now that I've, I've logged on once. Hopefully I'll have to remember everything and, um, we can, we can have a more slick um, joining and we absolutely will and we'll get you, we'll get unu to sort you out for, um, for those, for those verification. And Zoe's already said, looking forward to the November sessions. So we will be there. Well, everybody thank you very much for those of us that are joining us live, for those that have watched on catch up or on demand. Um, you still get the opportunity to do your evaluations and we'll give that feedback to Helen. Of course, we, I'm expecting you to say it was a bit glitchy. The, I was a bit dodgy but actually what we want to know really was, what was the content like? Was it useful? Um, as opposed to our, it issues as it was. But if that was a really big problem for you, do let us know as well. Um, I will also have been, er, next week once my computer is working upload a lot of the certificates and, um, a lot of the CS, a lot of the fact sheets so you can see where to go to and if and if we've got an about to or something from selfcare forum, I will upload that as well. So a huge thank you to everybody who has joined us last and a thank you to everybody who was watching on demand. A huge thank you to you Helen and for joining us here. And uh yeah, have a have a lovely weekend. Everybody speak to you all soon. Take care. Thank you. Thanks. Bye.