Blogs

Our blogs highlight the voices of people working across the health and social care sector, talking about a range of timely issues.

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- 2 December 2021
Not just a day job
Clare Woodford
Hello, my name is Clare. I’m incredibly proud to have been elected as a National Voices trustee. A little bit about me and what I stand for.
- COVID-19
- Health inequalities
- 25 November 2021
Broadening our horizons to improve our work
Helen Buckingham
We’re all familiar with the rhetoric that diverse boards make better decisions. And most boards have made some sort of progress on gender diversity by now. But when we at National Voices took a good hard look at ourselves ahead of recruiting new trustees earlier this year, we realised that if we were serious about having a truly diverse board we needed to do something different. As the saying goes, ‘if you always do what you’ve always done; you’ll always get what you’ve always got’.
- Health inequalities
- Lived experience
- 11 November 2021
The story of Long Covid is the story of patients
Aleyah Babb-Benjamin
“As someone living with Long Covid…you want somebody to believe what you’re going through.” – Davine Forde
- Long Covid Project
- COVID-19
- Lived experience
- Health inequalities
- 3 November 2021
Why covid:aid is building a collaborative charity platform to support organisations around Covid-related issues – and how you can help
Michael MacLennan
covid:aid is the UK’s charity for all those significantly affected by Covid-19, and has been uniquely set up to act as an open and collaborative partner and platform for healthcare providers, charities, and other groups – ensuring people and organisations can find and access support tailored to their needs, wherever that may be.
- COVID-19
- 8 October 2021
Growing crises require creative disruption: How Social Prescribing Link Workers Can Help Reduce Health Inequalities
Christiana Melam
By its very nature, social prescribing is a mechanism meant to empower and enable. The main driver of the social prescribing link worker model is the acknowledgment that the health and wellbeing of individuals and communities are often dictated by a range of environmental and socio-economic factors. Social prescribing is all about holistic wellbeing and placing control of health with individuals, so they can save themselves. Social prescribing link workers play a critical role in helping to reduce inequalities.
- Health inequalities
- Person-centred care
- 7 October 2021
How The Wren Project supports individuals living with autoimmune disease
Alice Peck
The Wren Project is the only charity in the UK to offer free mental health support to individuals living with autoimmune disease. Their goal is to reduce the loneliness, helplessness and isolation felt by many people in distress as a result of their diagnosis.
- COVID-19
- Health inequalities
- 30 September 2021
Health is about much more than healthcare: Why National Voices is supporting the Keep The Lifeline campaign
Dr Rebecca Steinfeld
Three slightly worrying things happened to me this week: my energy supplier went bust, I found the fresh fruit shelves at my local Co-op half empty, and the menu prices at my favourite takeaway skyrocketed. It all felt a bit odd and unsettling. But I am lucky enough – for now at least – to be able to leave it at that. Slightly worrying. A bit unsettling. Nothing more.
- Health inequalities
- 27 September 2021
New training programme: Psychologically Informed Collaborative Conversations
Carole Robinson
A new training programme, developed by the Academic Health Science Network for South London Health Innovation Network has been unveiled to improve consultations with the millions of UK adults living with pain. Psychologically Informed Collaborative Conversations (PIC-C) has been co-produced with patients and one of the patient representatives who fed into the programme was Carole Robinson, who is a volunteer at Kingston Hospital and is a patient rep on many of the hospital’s committees.
- Lived experience
- Person-centred care
- 17 September 2021
What the politics of health and social care looks like a week after ‘social care reforms’ were pushed through
Charlotte Augst
In this blog, Charlotte Augst, National Voices’ Chief Executive, argues that the funding for social care via a rise in National Insurance only begs more questions.
- Health inequalities
- Communication and administration
- 26 July 2021
Chronic Pain Report – A story of mixed emotions
Dr Asim Suleman
“The physician should not treat the disease but the patient who is suffering from it.” (Maimonides 1135 – 1204)
- Person-centred care