But there is help and support available to help you with essentials such as food, help with energy costs (prepayment and credit meters).

As well as the support outlined below, Knowsley Council has allocated funding from the Government’s Household Support Fund to provide food vouchers to pupils who have been means tested and are in receipt of free school meals. This will fund the October, December, February and April school holidays, providing support to over 8,500 pupils.

Vulnerable residents who are being supporting through the council’s Adult Social Care or Children’s Services teams are also receiving bespoke support aligned to their identified needs.

NHS 111 is staffed by a team of trained professionals who can help direct patients to the most appropriate service for advice or treatment. This could include arranging a face-to-face appointment with a GP, a pharmacy consultation, a call-back from a nurse, or an appointment at an urgent walk-in treatment centre.

It is estimated up to two fifths of A&E attendances are avoidable or could be better treated elsewhere. This latest campaign highlights different care options that not only are more convenient for patients but can also help relieve pressure on busy emergency departments.

The latest published data showed it was the busiest ever October for A&E attendances and most serious ambulance callouts – with more than 2.17 million patients attending emergency departments in England, while ambulance services responded to 83,986 life-saving calls.

Extensive work is already underway to boost capacity ahead of winter including through expanding rapid response teams to help people who have fallen at home, and increase the number of call handlers working in NHS 111 and 999.

New 24/7 system control centres are also being created in every local area to manage demand and capacity across the entire country by live tracking beds and attendances.

Using NHS 111 online services where possible – which are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week – will also enable the 111 phone service to triage more people with urgent issues.

Dr Peter Williams, Medical Director, St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust said:

“As with other hospitals across the country, Whiston Hospital has seen record-breaking A&E attendances in recent months – which, unfortunately, is only set to continue as the NHS faces growing pressures this winter.

“This new campaign will remind the public that NHS 111 online is available to signpost people to the best option for their care needs – it can provide the most appropriate local treatment option for medical issues quickly without needing to leave your home and saving you an unnecessary trip to A&E.

“We will always prioritise those needing emergency or urgent treatment first, and if your condition is not life-threatening, this may lead to a much longer wait to be seen.

“Where people need to access NHS services, but their need is not an emergency we would urge people to call 111 or use the online service www.nhs.uk/111 in the first instance and allow the experienced call-handlers to direct them to the best service for their care.

“People can be absolutely assured that if they have an emergency, we are open and are here to care for them. In an emergency, people should always still call 999.”

To access NHS 111, go to 111.nhs.uk or dial 111 at any time – it operates 24-hours a day, every day.

Through 111.nhs.uk people can:

• Find out how to get the right healthcare in their area, including whether they need to see a GP or seek urgent care
• Get advice on self-care
• Get a call back from a nurse, doctor or other trained health professional if they need it

People should dial 111 to speak to someone if they need to:

• Discuss complex medical problems
• Get medical advice for a child under five.

The NHS is also continuing to roll out the autumn Covid booster programme at speed, with over half of those eligible receiving their top up in just two months, and more than 14 million receiving their flu jab.

Those eligible for their autumn top-up are able to attend one of over 200 walk-in sites, including Knowsley’s Living Well service – click here for locations – or book an appointment on the National Booking Service, and book flu vaccinations through their GP practice or by visiting one of the many thousands of participating community pharmacies.

It’s International Men’s Day on Saturday 19 November and Knowsley Council is raising awareness of some of the serious issues that affect men and their wellbeing and the advice and support available.

Mental health support

One in 8 men have a common mental health problem such as anxiety, stress, or depression. Left unchecked these issues can worsen, however, there’s lots of information, advice and support available to help men look after their own mental health and wellbeing.

Better Health – Every Mind Matters has a range of simple steps to help you tackle stress and improve your mental wellbeing.  At its heart is the free, NHS-approved Mind Plan, available on the Every Mind Matters website. By answering five short questions people get a personalised mental health action plan, providing practical tips to help you deal with stress and anxiety, boost your mood, sleep better and feel more in control. People can also join a 4-week email support programme where you can get reminders, receive new tips and are encouraged to make looking after your mental wellbeing part of your everyday routine.

If you’re experiencing stress or anxiety due to the cost of living crisis, the Life Rooms team is available in Knowsley’s libraries providing help and support for money issues and your mental health.

Life Rooms is available in Knowsley’s libraries, during usual branch opening hours from 10am to 4pm at Halewood Library (on Mondays), Huyton Library (on Tuesdays), Prescot Library (on Wednesdays), Stockbridge Village Library (on Thursdays) and Kirkby Library on Fridays.

Stay Alive App

Sadly, suicide is the single most common cause of death in men under 45 and the rate of suicide is highest in middle aged men.

Stay Alive, the suicide prevention app, is designed to help both those who are having suicidal thoughts and those who are concerned about someone else.

It has several features including a safety plan and LifeBox where people can upload images or videos that remind them of their reasons to stay alive. The app also directs people to local help and gives people the tools to start a conversation about mental health and suicide.

The Stay Alive app is available free on iOS and Android devices.

Samaritans is a safe place to talk 24 hours a day about whatever is troubling you. Call 116 123 or visit the Samaritans website.

If you are in mental health crisis and you need urgent help, you can call the NHS Mental Health crisis line on freephone 0800 051 1508. NHS staff will then support you to get the help you need. Available for people of all ages, including children and young people, available 24/7.

Problem gambling

Gambling becomes a problem when it harms your mental or physical health, relationships with family and friends or finances. It’s the urge to gamble continuously despite the negative consequences or desire to stop, causing harm to the gambler and those around them.

If you or a loved one has a gambling problem, or are at risk of developing one, support is available from the Beacon Counselling Trust.

Worried about cancer symptoms? 

If you’ve had unexplained blood that doesn’t come from an obvious injury (such as blood in your poo or pee), an unexplained lump, weight loss which feels significant to you or an unexplained pain that lasts three weeks or more, it could be a sign of cancer.

Men are encouraged to seek advice from their GP, if they are suffering with any of these symptoms.

It’s probably nothing serious, but finding cancer early makes it more treatable, so just speak to your GP.

In the UK, about 1 in 8 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer.

The three main risk factors for getting prostate cancer are getting older (it mainly affects men aged 50 or over), having a family history of prostate cancer and being black.

If you have any of the risk factors, or have concerns, speak to your GP. They can talk to you about your risk, and about the tests that are used to diagnose prostate cancer.

Most men with early prostate cancer don’t have any signs or symptoms. If you do notice changes in the way you urinate, this is more likely to be a sign of a very common non-cancerous problem called an enlarged prostate, or another health problem. But it’s still a good idea to get it checked out.

Testicular cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in young men. It is a highly treatable cancer if diagnosed and treated early.

Regular checks can help detect any early changes – changes in shape, or size, or a lump that wasn’t there before – and if something doesn’t seem right make an appointment to speak to your GP.

Cllr Christine Bannon, Knowsley Council Cabinet Member for Health, said:

“Men can sometimes find it difficult to talk about how they’re feeling or to seek advice for any concerns they may be having about their health or wellbeing. If you’re finding things difficult right now or know a man who is having a tough time, please take some time this International Men’s Day to find out about the support that’s available.

“It’s a particularly challenging time with the increasing cost of living and money worries can cause anxiety, low mood and stress as people have to make difficult decisions about what they can afford. Mental health and money worries are interlinked but it’s important to know that there is a range of help and support available to you to help you cope during these uncertain times.

“No one should feel they don’t know where to turn as there’s so much information, advice and support available.”

But there is help and support available to help you with essentials such as food, help with energy costs (prepayment and credit meters).

As well as the support outlined below, Knowsley Council has allocated funding from the Government’s Household Support Fund to provide food vouchers to pupils who have been means tested and are in receipt of free school meals. This will fund the October, December, February and April school holidays, providing support to over 8,500 pupils.

Vulnerable residents who are being supporting through the council’s Adult Social Care or Children’s Services teams are also receiving bespoke support aligned to their identified needs.

Knowsley Council’s Winter Wellness Grants Programme will provide grants for the borough’s community, voluntary, faith and social enterprise organisations who are delivering projects aimed at reducing social isolation and loneliness and reducing food and fuel poverty. They will also support groups helping to improve the mental health and wellbeing of residents.

Organisations are expected to use the funding to provide new activities or extend the provision of existing activities. Grant-funded projects must start after 28 November 2022 and end on or before 31 March 2023.

The types of activities which could be funded would include breakfast or after school clubs, providing blankets or warm winter clothing to vulnerable people, lunch clubs, baby and toddler groups with refreshments, evening or weekend meal provision, providing a warm space with refreshments and activity, outreach to communities to provide food parcels to vulnerable residents.

Who can apply?

Grassroots community-based organisations who understand the needs of their local communities and are well-placed to offer this type of support. You must be registered as a community organisation and/or be constituted as a group with a clear set of adopted rules.

When can we apply?

The fund is now open for applications. Please read the Application Guidance and Criteria (below) and complete an Application form. All completed application forms should be sent to communitychampions@knowsley.gov.uk by 6 November 2022.

 Cllr Christine Bannon, Knowsley’s Cabinet Member for Health said: “This is just one of the ways in which we are supporting residents through the cost-of-living crisis – providing our community groups with the support they need to help residents improve their health and wellbeing through the tough winter months.”

If you have any questions about the Winter Wellness Grants Programme, including questions about how to apply, please email communitychampions@knowsley.gov.uk

Application guidance and criteria

Grants of up to £5,000 are available to Community, Voluntary, Faith and Social Enterprise Organisations who are based in Knowsley. The purpose of the fund is to support community-based organisations to deliver activities and interventions to help local residents to stay warm, safe and well this winter.

Application period: 21 October until 6 November 2022.

Successful applicants will be notified of the award decisions after 28 November 2022

Who can apply?

Grassroots community-based organisations who understand the needs of their local communities and are well-placed to offer this type of support. You must be registered as a community organisation and/or be constituted as a group with a clear set of adopted rules.

Requirements

Groups and organisations must:

• Have a current active bank account in their own name, with a minimum of two signatories.
• Ensure the grant will be spent by 31 March 2023
• Complete an End of Grant Form (issued towards the end of the grant period) and take part in monitoring and evaluation of the programme
• Have appropriate policies and insurance in place.
• Only make one application per organisation (although this may cover various activities to a limit of £5,000)
• Collect information to monitor the impact of the project, this may include numbers attending activities, number of items distributed, number of meals served, case studies, pictures and feedback from participants

Applicants will need to be able to produce the following at the point of application:

• Governance document(a copy of your constitution, articles or memorandum of association)
• A bank statement (dated within the past three months)
• Most recent accounts or income/expenditure sheet
• Safeguarding policy
• A list of your Trustees/Directors/Management Committee members

Applicant Responsibilities

Community organisations will be expected to describe in their application how they will achieve and monitor the following primary health outcomes as relevant to their proposed activities.

Applicants are also encouraged to meet the following secondary health outcomes:

Applicants will also be required to collect the following information:

• The number of people taking part in the activity (families, older people, other adults, children and young people), together with other measures of activity as appropriate
• Areas of the borough where the activity is taking place
• Details of other services which were linked to your activity (eg by coming along to meet people, or by providing you with information to share)

Any promotional materials produced by the applicant regarding the funded project must display both the Knowsley Better Together and the Community Champions logos (found at the top of this page).

Organisations should ensure that their activities are delivered in a way which minimises the risk of spreading infectious diseases such as flu and Covid-19. The NHS Simple Things guidance provides advice to help to keep everyone who safe this winter: Simple Things (simplethings-nhs.com).

End of Grant Monitoring

To evaluate the success and impact of the Winter Wellness Grant Programme, you will be required to complete an End of Grant Monitoring Form at the end of the funding period. This will be issued to you towards the end of your grant period.

All completed application forms should be sent to communitychampions@knowsley.gov.uk by 6 November 2022.

If you have any questions about the Winter Wellness Grants Programme, including questions about how to apply, please email communitychampions@knowsley.gov.uk

Members approved plans to establish a Stronger Communities Fund – a replacement for the former Community Empowerment Fund – to support Knowsley’s voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise sector to develop new project ideas, and to sustain and grow established activity.

Over the past five years, the Council has invested £1.2m into Knowsley’s voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise sector and this fund will particularly support groups helping families deal with the challenges brought by the current cost of living crisis.

The principles of the fund will also support the priorities in the Knowsley Council Plan, which has a clear vision of supporting ‘Knowsley’s People and Communities to thrive’ by providing effective support for those in need, inclusive growth and skills, and achieving Net Zero by 2040.

Who can apply?

Registered charities, constituted voluntary, community and faith organisations, community interest companies, community benefit societies, charitable incorporated organisations, and community amateur sports clubs who have been operating for at least 12 months and have a good track record of delivery.

The Council is also keen to support newly established organisations which can demonstrate that they have strong governance structures in place.

How much is available?

Grants of up to £2,000 and £10,000 are available.  Organisations can apply for:

• One allocation of up to a maximum of £2,000 to support new organisations or new project ideas which require a small allocation of “seed” funding to enable the ideas to be launched and tested and,
• One allocation of up to a maximum of £10,000 for established organisations wishing to sustain activity or expand and extend current activity.

When can we apply?

The fund will be launched on 10 November with a closing date for applications midnight on 4 December 2022. Funding would be released from 2 March 2023.

Please visit the Knowsley Council’s website – www.knowsley.gov.uk/OnlineFundingPortal – and complete an online application form.

There will also be a series of online workshops available for groups/organisations to talk through the application process, if required.  These will take place via MS Teams on:

Wednesday 16 November 2022: 9.30am – 10.30am

Wednesday 23 November 2022: 9.30am – 10.30am

Wednesday 30 November 2022: 9.30am – 10.30am

To book onto a session, please email stronger.communities@knowsley.gov.uk

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