Health News - April 2008
'Tis the season for sneezing
For many people across the borough, the approach of Summer also means the onset of hayfever.
May heralds the start of the grass pollen season, one of the most common triggers of allergy. But now help is at hand.
Homerton University Hospital houses one of just a few centres in the country to offer a comprehensive allergy service for all ages.
While many people can successfully treat themselves with over the counter medicines, some sufferers need extra help to reduce their symptoms.
Homerton has been a centre for immunotherapy for seven years and is nationally renowned for its work.
Immunotherapy can reduce the symptoms of a variety of allergies including hayfever, wasp and bee venom and house mite dust.
Currently most immunotherapy is administered by injection and there has been a significant increase in the number of patients receiving this treatment over the last few years.
Homerton has also been trialling a new tablet treatment that could potentially see many more people being able to treat themselves at home.
A specialist team runs the child allergy service. As well as hayfever, staff are trained to treat severe asthma and skin allergies and have access to dieticians who specialise in food allergy and intolerance.
If you think you have a problem allergy, the first step is to talk to a pharmacist who can advise about over the counter treatments. If your symptoms persist, your GP can prescribe treatment or refer you to the Homerton’s allergy team.
More information
Visit www.homerton.nhs.uk/allergy.
Star praise for carers
An EastEnders star returned to his roots to talk about his experiences as a carer in the borough.
Peter Dean, better known as Albert Square market trader Pete Beale, is a carer for three friends in Hackney.
He proved a popular guest speaker at the Carers’ Conference, held in the Town Hall on 8 April. More than 150 residents attended the event to find out more about new services for carers – those people who provide unpaid care and look after a friend, relative or neighbour – and to hear from Peter, 68, a former Hoxton resident.
He said: “I don’t think you’re carers, I think you’re solid human beings, and that’s what makes this borough one of the best in London and what makes it a good community.”
Peter added that he takes those he cares for shopping, out for meals, to hospital appointments, and does a spot of gardening for them as well.
The conference was an opportunity for carers to get together, let the Council know how they’re doing, and find out about new services such as a local helpline, and a contact details card that can be given to the ambulance service and police in emergencies.
Information was also available on free respite breaks and training courses, benefits advice, and a carers’ card that allows concessionary rates of up to 50 per cent at Council leisure centres, and discounts in local shops.
More information
To apply for a card, contact Michelle Ereira on: 020 8356 5054; or email: michelle.ereira@hackney.gov.uk.
An apple a day
Initiatives on Hackney’s estates to help residents keep fighting fit were marked on World Health Day on 7 April.
Hackney Homes called on residents to take advantage of some of the healthy lifestyle schemes it runs across the borough.
A daily lunch club on Nightingale Estate in Clapton uses produce sourced locally to minimise the impact on the environment.
Healthy meals are cooked daily and advice and information offered on achieving a balanced diet.
Residents can also buy their fruit and veg from the Nightingale Estate Food Co-op which sells healthy affordable produce.
Alice Burke, Nightingale Estate resident and Hackney Homes Board Vice Chair, said: “We believe healthy food leads to healthy lifestyles and that is what we encourage residents on the estate to prioritise.”
Encouraging young people to improve their health and wellbeing is also high on the agenda.
Young people who attend the Chatham and Victoria Youth Committee on New Kingshold Estate have been taking part in healthy eating workshops – learning practical cooking skills.
Sonia Bradley, Hackney Homes Youth Coordinator, said: “We often hear about young people eating bad foods and not being active enough. We are using World Health Day as an opportunity to reach out and encourage them to take charge of their health.”
Obesity and other conditions associated with poor diet and nutrition are top priorities for the borough’s health agencies.
Current estimates indicate that over 18 per cent of adults in the Hackney NHS area are obese and that borough levels of the disease in children are higher than average.
Slam dunk for cigarettes
National No Smoking Day went with a bounce when top basketball team London United visited schools across Hackney.
The highlight of the day was a tournament at the newly-refurbished Clissold Leisure Centre, where children from seven local primary schools showed off their skills. The winning team hailed from Millfields Community School, E5.
The City and Hackney Teaching Primary Care Trust (CHPCT) joined forces with London United to organise the fourth annual Hoops 4 Health roadshow on 12 March.
The day also allowed parents, carers and teachers to get free carbon monoxide readings and advice on giving up smoking from the Council’s Smokefree team.
The Hoops 4 Health programme works with children from over 40 Hackney primary schools.
Professional basketball players are trained to give positive messages about healthy lifestyles, as well as to educate young people about the dangers of smoking and unhealthy eating, combating messages such as ‘junk food is good’ or ‘smoking is cool.’
Although the borough has seen improvements in recent years, Hackney still has a higher than national average of smoking and obesity.
More information
The CHPCT runs a free, Stop Smoking Service. Ask your GP about it, or call free: 0800 169 1943
Supporting grandparents
A Hackney based national charity has received extra funding to provide support and advice to families affected by substance misuse.
The £100,000 award from the City of London Corporation’s Bridge Trust will be used by ADFAM, based in Corsham Street, N1, to help grandparents who are bringing up their grandchildren as a result of their own kids drugs problems.
The funding will pay for a Grandparent Carer Coordinator to set up support groups across London over the next three years. The ultimate aim is to establish a London Grandparent Carer Network.
One grandparent, who is raising four children after her daughter’s drug-related death, said: “It has been a struggle, I am exhausted, looking after them is a fulltime job.”
ADFAM was set up in 1984 by the mother of a heroin user. The charity’s Chief Executive, Vivienne Evans, said: “We are thrilled with this news, there is currently a chronic lack of support and a host of complex problems facing grandparent carers.”
According to a report by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs report, up to 300,000 children in England and Wales are from families in which one or both parents are drug users.
More information
For further details visit: www.adfam.org.uk
Teen pregnancy down
The number of teenage girls getting pregnant in Hackney has continued to drop, and the borough has been praised for leading a national trend.
According to figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), teen pregnancies are at their lowest in England and Wales for the last 20 years. And Hackney has reduced its rates by a massive 28 per cent since 1998, compared with a national average of 13 per cent.
The Department for Children, Schools and Families stated that ‘if all areas were doing as well, national reduction would more than double’. It added that ‘areas such as Hackney have shown by fully implementing the Government’s Teenage Pregnancy Strategy, change is possible’.
Steve Goodman, Deputy Director of the Council’s Children and Young People’s Services, said: “More young people in Hackney are showing maturity and responsibility for their own sexual health – with support from our local Teenage Pregnancy Partnership, which brings together health, education and Council services to deliver the strategy. We have a good chance of meeting a 60 per cent reduction target by 2010.”
Hackney’s programme is the biggest in the country. Funded by Team Hackney and the Government, it includes grants to help young mothers with childcare, peer mentoring, advice on contraception, and counselling.
More information
See the Government strategy at: www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/teenagepregnancy
Page updated: 1 May 2008