As you may be aware, every June is the official LGBT Pride Month in celebration of people of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and other gender minorities. Celebrations happened around the world and across the UK in commemoration of the Stonewall riots of June 28 1969. This year holds extra significance as the 50thanniversary of the decriminalisation of homosexuality between men in England and Wales, which forms the foundation of LGBT equality across the UK.As a gay man myself, I have tak… Read More »

We hear a lot about health services changing to become more ‘integrated’. Put simply, this means working closely together so the care patients receive is more joined up.At Pennine Care, we are working with partner organisations across our footprint to integrate more services and improve patient experience. I recently visited the ORCAT service – a perfect example of this.ORCAT (or Oldham Rapid Community Assessment Team) was set up by the Oldham Urgent Care Alliance. Pennine Care is a key member o… Read More »

I recently went to visit the Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale (HMR) children’s community nurses based at Callaghan House in Heywood.For background, the nurses are part of our HMR Children’s Acute and Ongoing Needs Service, which was launched in September last year to bring together a range of community services for children and young people and make them accessible through a single point of access (SPOA).During my visit, I was keen to see how the team was finding the new service arrange… Read More »