Volunteers needed for Clatterbridge Cancer Research

CLATTERBRIDGE Cancer Research (CCR) is looking for motivated and enthusiastic volunteers within the region to help raise funds for research into cancer in the North West.

The newly-branded charity needs reliable and flexible volunteers to help pick up and distribute collection tins and branded promotional materials within the areas of Ellesmere Port, Chester, Wirral, Halton, Liverpool, St. Helens and Warrington. These volunteers will also be asked, from time to time, to help at supermarket charity collections.  CCR is also looking for confident speakers who would like to speak about its research work and fundraising to help raise awareness of the charity at various social events.

Full support and training will be offered to volunteers who are interested in helping in either of these roles. Individuals wishing to volunteer for Clatterbridge Cancer Research should be flexible and motivated, possess excellent communication skills and preferably have their own transport.  Anyone wishing to help out should contact Kate Karmy, Community Fundraiser, on 0151 343 4300 or Kate.Karmy@ccrmail.org for further details and information on how to apply.

Clatterbridge Cancer Research is an independent charity based on the Clatterbridge Campus which is committed to understanding cancer. It was formed 29 years ago to fund world-class research and today continues to invest in research with the ultimate aim of beating cancer. It is in no way funded by the NHS and relies solely on voluntary donations to help meet the £2 million required annually to continue its work.

The CCR fundraising team runs a wide range of fundraising activities, from black tie events to supermarket collections. In order to increase the charity’s capacity, enthusiastic volunteers are needed to help achieve the greatest impact possible in the regional fight against cancer.

 Letters to the Editor:- "My browser has stopped waiting for a reply?"

"I have been reading your site for many years now and we were surprised to see a 'Page Load Error' affecting your sites on Thursday 12 November 2008 and on Sunday 16 November 2008. We thought you might like to know." Steve and Jade Jascinta

Editors note:- "THIS week we have been hard at work updating our computer network, because through out 2008 we have experienced a far higher demand on all our websites than we have ever had before. This year has seen a fantastic jump in the amount of users accessing our services and we are very pleased to have such high demand. We can reveal that this is mainly due to our new news services; one of which you can still sign up to, for FREE, by clicking here www.farmy-reporter.com! It is also down to the increasing amounts of video, that we have been adding on to one of our new group websites, as we get ready for the launch of our TV service in 2009. As has result, some of our readers have experiencing a slower connection speed than normal, but please note, that this is only a temporary issue and it will be fully resolved by the end of this week!  We thank all our readers and listeners for Skyping us when the service is sluggish, as this helps us monitor any problems you, our users, are having, so we can fix them as this work is being conducted. If your request to view any part of this site has been stopped by your browser, please do try again later. Just note that our site is online, as you can now see, but you might have be affected by our self imposed, temporary, user limit, that is in place to speed up the updating of the system. The work being carried out is letting us put in place the new server systems, that are necessary before our TV system comes fully online in the new year. These updates will significantly improve connection speeds to all our servers and as a result it will increase your ability to enjoy our services. We do appreciate your feedback and we are sorry for any inconvenience this update might have caused."

HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS SHOULD BE PENALISED FOR LEAVING OLDER PEOPLE IN PAIN

HOSPITALS and healthcare providers who leave older people languishing in pain should be penalised, according to 59% of adults in the North West. The new research launched 14 November by leading older people’s charity Help the Aged, also found that 49% of adults in the North West are not confident that health professionals can alleviate pain in older people effectively.

According to a new Help the Aged report, Pain in Older People: Reflections and experiences from an older person’s perspective, nearly 5 million people in the UK aged 65 and over are in some degree of pain or discomfort. The Charity is warning that implicit ageism and patchy services mean older people are often deprived of dignity and left in excruciating pain. Help the Aged is calling for the Department of Health to recognise pain in older people as an urgent public health issue by making assessment of the way healthcare providers manage pain compulsory.

The Help the Aged research also found that:-

· 50% of adults in the North West think health professionals typically dismiss pain in older people as ‘old age’;

· 38% of adults in the North West said if older people complain of pain, health professionals think they are complaining unnecessarily;

· 53% of adults in the North West wrongly think being in pain is an inevitable part of growing older.

Paul Cann, Director of Policy and External Relations for Help the Aged, says:- “Despite assumptions to the contrary, pain is not an inevitable part of growing older.

It must not be tolerated, either by older people themselves or those responsible for their care. 

Ageism and patchy services mean that all too often, older people are left in harmful, unnecessary and sometimes excruciating pain.

Pain is exhausting – it undermines dignity, changes personality and drastically reduces quality of life.

It is also likely to be under-reported.

With millions of older people living in pain, it’s imperative that the Department of Health, regulatory bodies, the NHS and social care agencies all work together to ensure pain is managed.

The first step is ensuring healthcare providers are monitored and assessed on how well they manage pain in patients.

If older people using health and social care services are to be treated with dignity, pain must be addressed.”

Pain in Older People: Reflections and experiences from an older person’s perspective, outlines recommendations for government and policy makers, regulatory and professional bodies, the NHS and social care agencies.

These include:-

* Better assessment and monitoring of the extent to which healthcare providers support older people to manage pain;

* Health and social care authorities should provide pain management programmes to teach older people about pain – how best to cope with it and how to live a more active life;

* Specialist pain services need to be tailored to older people and made more accessible;

* Education and training programmes for all health and social care staff working with older people should include pain assessment and management.

For a copy of 'Pain in Older People:- Reflections and experiences from an older person’s perspective', please visit www.helptheaged.org.uk.