Health & Wellbeing

Take Five

Take Five is a national campaign that offers straight-forward and impartial advice to help everyone protect themselves from preventable financial fraud. This includes email deception and phone-based scams as well as online fraud – particularly where criminals impersonate trusted organisations.

Many people may already know the dos and don’ts of financial fraud and scams – that no-one should ever contact them out of the blue to ask for their full PIN or full password, or ever make them feel pressured into moving money to another account. The trouble is, in the heat of the moment, it’s easy to forget this.

www.takefive-stopfraud.org.uk contains a wide range of information and advice and is definitely worth looking at.

If you have fallen for a scam, report it to Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or via action fraud.police.uk

Scam text messages can be forwarded to 7726 to help phone providers take early action and block numbers that generate spam on their networks.

Forward fake emails received to report@phishing .gov.uk

Shropshire Council’s Vaccination Bus will visit Hodnet next Monday, 17^th January 2022.

The bus will arrive at 08:00 and park near the Sports and Social Club. (The car park will still be available for the school drop off).

Vaccinations will take place from 08:30 – 10:30.

1^st, 2^nd and booster Vaccines will be available.

Please do take advantage of this opportunity if you are not yet fully vaccinated.

People who are struggling to heat their homes are encouraged to seek advice and support to help with their winter energy costs.

Shropshire Council, along with its partners, offers a range of support and advice to help those in fuel poverty or facing other financial worries. These include:

• Keep Shropshire Warm – a partnership between the council and Shrewsbury- based charity Marches Energy Agency (MEA), that offers free and impartial energy advice to anyone in need in Shropshire. Local advisers can support residents with a range of energy concerns, from accessing grant funding to switching supplier or resolving fuel debt issues. Residents who require help and support can contact the Keep Shropshire Warm team for free on 0800 112 3743 or via email at advice@mea.org.uk.
• Household Support Fund – If you are one of the 3,600 households who have received a letter from the council, advising that you are eligible for a one-off payment of £115 to help with essential costs this winter, don’t delay. Complete the form as soon as possible so you don’t miss out. Those eligible will be in receipt of Universal Credit (at a level that is below the threshold for free school meals or free prescriptions) and council tax support. To receive this support residents will need to complete a short online application form to verify their identity and provide their bank details for payment. Each letter contains a unique identifier which needs to be provided to verify their application.  The form can be accessed at shropshire.gov.uk/hhsupportfund.
• Finance and welfare support this winter– The council now has a range of support and funding available to help the most vulnerable of Shropshire’s households to manage over the winter months. This includes financial help for those eligible and who have been affected by the pandemic, and who may be struggling to pay for food or other essential outgoings. Please note this is limited funding and will only be offered for a limited time until it is spent. To find out more call 0345 678 9078.

Every winter millions of people across the UK struggle to stay warm and healthy at home. In Shropshire alone there is around 16,000 households suffering from fuel poverty. Rising energy costs, low incomes and inefficient homes leave them unable to afford even basic household essentials like food and heating. Living in a cold home can have a range of impacts on physical and mental health, and treating cold-related illness is estimated to cost the NHS in England and Wales over £2bn a year.

This year the fuel poverty situation will be even more difficult. The pandemic continues to squeeze household finances further, and the recent energy price increases will be being felt just as weather turns colder. Some of the health conditions caused or worsened by cold homes, such as asthma and COPD, also place people at greater risk from the virus.

There are a number of grants available for residents to improve their heating and insulation at home, helping them reduce energy costs and stay warmer at home. More information and an online application from can be found at www.shropshire.gov.uk/keep-shropshire-warm

Finance and welfare support this winter

To find out more about what other finance and welfare support is available during the winter months call Shropshire Council’s Welfare Support Team on 0345 678 9078 or visit https://shropshire.gov.uk/five-ways-to-winter-wellness/welfare-and-wellbeing/

During the seven-day period between 4-10 June:

• 83 new cases reported
• An increase of 167% on the previous week
• The seven-day infection rate for Shropshire was 25.7 per 100,000
• It was 55.7 for the West Midlands and 78.3 for England
• 2 hospital beds were occupied by a COVID-19 patient
• There were zero COVID-19-related deaths in a local hospital

The data also shows that the average age of people who have had a positive test in this timeframe is 32.

30.7% of cases were aged between 0 and 19, and 22% were 20-29. Meanwhile 5.7% of cases were 70+, showing a slight increase in the rate of cases in the older population.

During the seven-day period between 7-13 May 2021:

• 31 new cases reported
• That is a 45% decrease on the previous week
• The seven-day infection rate for Shropshire was 9.6 per 100,000
• It was 16.5 for the West Midlands and 22.5 for England
• 1 hospital bed was occupied by a COVID-19 patient
• There were zero COVID-related deaths in our local hospitals

During the seven-day period between 30 April – 6 May 2021:

• 57 new cases reported
• That is a 14% increase on the previous week
• The seven-day infection rate for Shropshire was 17.6 per 100,000
• It was 18.2 for the West Midlands and 21.4 for England
• 2 hospital beds were occupied by COVID-19 patients
• There were zero COVID-related deaths in our local hospitals

During the 7-day period between 16-22 April 2021:-

• 54 new cases were reported
• This is an increase of 24 cases (80%) compared to the previous week
• The seven-day infection rate for Shropshire was 16.7 cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 of the population
• It was 23.9 per 100,000 in the West Midlands and 24.6 per 100,000 in England
• Two hospital beds were occupied by COVID-19 patients
• Zero COVID-19 related deaths at our hospitals.

In 2017 Kate Ballinger was appointed as The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust’s (SaTH) new Community Engagement Facilitator.

This completely new position was created to encourage and enable the community to become actively involved in decision-making and shaping services at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital (RSH) and the Princess Royal Hospital (PRH) in Telford.

SaTH is currently running an online conversation to find out how local communities would like to be involved with their hospitals and, for the next 4 weeks, we have the opportunity to share our ideas on how we can be more involved with our local hospitals.

SaTH recognises it’s not always easy to get your voice heard and this is why they’re holding an open, honest and anonymous online conversation. 
This is an opportunity for everyone in our communities to share their ideas in a safe, anonymous online space. 
You can also read and comment on what others have shared, and vote on what you like or don’t like. Visit www.sathgetinvolved.org to join in now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mm28nQaqIv8