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Enjoy a picnic with friends in Sefton this World Friendship Day

5 July 2019
Ollie Cowan
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Categories: 2019 - Sefton's Year of friendship, Front Page, Latest News

Sefton Council wants its residents to celebrate World Friendship Day (Tuesday, July 30) in style this year by bringing a picnic to their local park, beach or open space.

This is an opportunity during Sefton’s Year of Friendship for residents to enjoy one of the boroughs stunning greenspaces with friends, neighbours or family.

World Friendship Day has been celebrated since 1930 and is all about bringing people together both to celebrate old friendships and create new ones. While World Friendship Day is mainly celebrated in Asia, the Council wants to bring it to Sefton this year and start a new tradition for residents.

Throughout its Year of Friendship, the Council is actively promoting ways residents can help make new friends and tackle social isolation. This picnic is an opportunity for people to check in on friends, family or neighbours who may live alone and invite them along to enjoy a bite to eat.

Sefton Council is also supporting the Liverpool City Region’s Year of the Environment and for this reason is encouraging anyone taking part in the picnic to think twice before using single use plastics.

Please make sure to tidy up after yourself by using public litter bins or taking your rubbish home with you if the bins are full and remember that BBQs are not permitted at the beach.

The Council is also encouraging local businesses, care homes, nurseries and hospices to hold their own picnics and give staff and residents the opportunity to get to know each other more.

Cllr Paulette Lappin, Sefton Council’s Cabinet Member for Regulation and Compliance and Sponsor of the Year of Friendship, said: “I think it’s important for us to celebrate our friendships in the same we celebrate our significant other each year on Valentine’s Day.

“World Friendship Day is a chance for Sefton residents to pack a picnic and head outdoors with their friends and family and also opens up an opportunity for people to get in touch with people who may be socially isolated and invite them along for a day out.”

Anyone out enjoying a picnic is encouraged to share their photos with @SeftonCouncil on twitter using the hashtags #YearofFriendship and #SeftonsBigPicnic 

To find out more about your local park or green space please visit https://www.sefton.gov.uk/greensefton

To keep up to date with Sefton’s Year of Friendship visit www.mysefton.co.uk

Sefton’s homelessness work praised by Local Government Association

4 July 2019
Ollie Cowan
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Categories: Business and Economy, Essential Sefton, Front Page, Latest News, Regeneration, Your Sefton

Ongoing partnership work to help meet the health needs of people experiencing homelessness and rough sleeping in Sefton has been highlighted as best practice by the Local Government Association (LGA).

The LGA has used the excellent partnership work between Sefton Council, Public Health and Light For Life as a case study on how partners can help tackle health problems associated with homelessness.

While Sefton Council commissions the voluntary sector group, Light for Life, to provide a range of services for homeless people, many of this group were identified to have substance addictions as well.

The Council’s public health and housing support teams decided the solution lay in doing some integrated outreach work and as a result secured some short-term funding from the Government’s Rough Sleepers Initiative to pay for a clinical nurse prescriber.

This allowed them to get a Mersey Care nurse to work directly with the Light for Life outreach service. The nurse started accompanying the homeless service on its rounds in Southport town centre in early 2019 with some positive results.

homeless

Cllr Trish Hardy, Sefton Council’s Cabinet Member for Communities and Housing, said: “It’s really rewarding to see the excellent partnership work taking place across the borough to tackle some of the health issues associated with homelessness being recognised by the LGA.

“Through this set up, the nurse carries out assessments, books the clients in for appointments and has even been able to hand out anti-overdose drug treatment.

“While this scheme is still in it’s infancy, we have been able to secure more funding so it will continue for another year. It could also be rolled out on a regional basis as an example of best practice as we continue to help some of the most vulnerable people in our communities.”

Greta Fenney, Chief Executive of Light for Life, added: “Having collected relevant data over a long period of time our service has worked hard to achieve results and the key to success has been partnership working.

“With a developing hospital in-reach service we expect further improved outcomes for this vulnerable group.”

To read the full case study, visit: https://local.gov.uk/sefton-outreach-drug-and-alcohol-support-rough-sleepers

We want your views on Sefton’s 0-19 health service

4 July 2019
Ollie Cowan
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Categories: Front Page, Health, Latest News, Local Consultation

Sefton Council has launched a public consultation to find out what residents think about the 0-19 years health services offered in the borough.

The consultation will allow Sefton’s Public Health Team to better understand the needs of Sefton’s residents, as it plans the future of the service. This includes gathering views on the health visiting service, the school nursing service and provides an opportunity to comment on the 0-19 health service in general.

The 0-19 team includes school nurses, health visitors, and nursery nurses who are available at a range of locations across the borough to support families and young people. They carry out health checks and provide immunisations for children and young people at home, family wellbeing centres, GP practices and in schools.

Parents and carers, young people and those who work alongside the service are encouraged to share their views about the current offer and suggest ways they think it could be done better.

Cllr Ian Moncur, Sefton Council’s Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing, said: “We want to ensure that the 0-19 Health Service in Sefton is the best possible offer for our residents.

“This consultation is an opportunity for the council to better understand what our residents think of these services. Please take the time to get involved and have your say.”

The consultation can be completed online at https://yourseftonyoursay.sefton.gov.uk 

Metro Mayor presents school ‘Year of the Environment’ drawing competition awards

4 July 2019
Charlene Smith
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Categories: Front Page, Latest News, Sefton Council, Uncategorized, Young People, Your Sefton

Steve Rotheram, Metro Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, recently visited St Benedict’s RC Primary School in Netherton to present the awards in a drawing competition linked to the Liverpool City Region Year of the Environment.

The competition was the culmination of class work that saw the children learn about their local environment.  Six-year-old Lauren Williams scooped first prize with her drawing of a meandering river with five fish swimming down-stream, in clear waters.

Lauren’s family won tickets for the Blue Planet Aquarium while the runner-up Hope Jones won family passes to Knowsley Safari Park.

Emma Carrington, St Benedict’s primary school teacher, said: “St. Benedict’s School has been delighted to take part in this competition to highlight Liverpool City Region’s Year of the Environment. The children enjoyed learning all about the different animals and plants in Sefton and now have a greater appreciation for what a beautiful place we live in.”

Attending the competition presentation, Metro Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, Steve Rotheram, added: “The Year of the Environment is all about raising awareness of the challenges facing our planet so it is great to see our local primary schools getting involved.  It is clear from the quality of their pictures that these children were really engaged in thinking about the world around them and the importance of looking after our environment.  I’m sure they could teach the grown-ups a thing or two!”

Councillor Carla Thomas, who is a governor at St Benedict’s and a deputy portfolio holder at Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, added: “By inviting the children of St Benedict’s Primary School to participate in a creative competition to commemorate the Liverpool City Region’s Year of the Environment. It was my aim to start to inspire the children in Netherton to become active and engage with an environmentally focussed project that shows you are never too young or too small to make a difference!

“By participating with an innovative activity it has encouraged young people to become responsible global activists, developing their understanding, empathy and a sense of responsibility. We can empower our young generation to protect their environment and motivate tomorrow’s leaders to help make our world a better and greener place.

“The children at St Benedict’s Primary School are delighted that the Metro Mayor of the Liverpool City Region has attended their awards ceremony to recognise their efforts and work highlighting the environmental issues that matter to them.

“St. Oswald ward can be proud of the children who are paving the way to inspire other youngsters to follow them by illustrating the fantastic landscapes we have in Sefton with an abundance of protective designations, such as the Red Squirrel Reserve in Formby, the Sefton Coastal Dune System and the special wildlife habitats, along the coast.

“What’s more, I am profoundly grateful to the Blue Planet Aquarium in Ellesmere Port and to Knowsley Safari Park for their very kind donations.”

The Liverpool City Region officially declared 2019 as the ‘Year of the Environment’. This is a cross agency programme led by the Liverpool City Region’s Local Nature Partnership, Nature Connected along with the Combined Authority, the city region’s six local authorities, the Environment Agency and Natural England.

Sefton Backs LGA Demands on Social Care

3 July 2019
Ollie Cowan
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Categories: Essential Sefton, Front Page, Latest News

Sefton Council is supporting the Local Government Association’s (LGA) stance in demanding the Government publishes the long-awaited adult social care green paper before Parliament goes into recess in September.

The call to publish the green paper within 10 weeks was made at the LGA’s annual conference in Bournemouth.

Last year Sefton Council responded to the Local Government Association’s (LGA) consultation on Adult Social Care and raised serious concerns about the future of the service.

Without a grown up, cross party conversation about a sustainable way forward, the Council strongly believes the most vulnerable people in our communities will not receive the care and support that they need.

The Council still calls for immediate action and money, placing emphasis on the importance of investing more in developing early intervention and protection models.

The local authority believes this will help to reduce future demand on services, develop the social care market, demonstrate how much the care and support workforce is valued and most importantly support those in need of care and their carers.

To do this, the Council estimates that it will require an immediate funding injection of ÂŁ25 million over the next three years to ensure that people in need of care are supported in a way that is right for them.

It also stresses the importance of national investment to wider wellbeing services that work towards reducing the health and social inequalities in their communities and calls for this matter to be looked at holistically as Children’s Social Care is also under great pressure.

Cllr Paul Cummins, Sefton Council’s Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care, said: “We stated last year that Social Care is in crisis and a grown-up conversation needs to happen nationally but it seems nothing has moved forward.

“We desperately need more money to meet the needs of our most vulnerable people to ensure that we do not fail them when they need us the most. We must ensure that people in need of care and support are able to continue to live the lives that they want to live.

“We stand by the LGA and strongly believe the Government must put this matter at the very heart of its thinking right now and publish the social care green paper within 10 weeks.”

Dwayne Johnson, Chief Executive of Sefton Council, added: “It has now been a year since the Government announced a further delay to the publication of its social care green paper.

“While we wait, Sefton, like many other councils across the country, is having to make incredibly difficult decisions on adult and social care provision with limited funding.

“What we all need is funding certainty for both the immediate and long-term so that everyone with care and support needs can rightly live their lives to the full.

“This is why we are backing the LGA in their call for action.”

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