National Self Care Week
Communications Information
Self Care for Life – Take Control
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What is Self Care Week 2013?
Self Care Week is an annual national awareness week that focuses on embedding
support for self care across communities, families and generations. Each year
there is a different theme for the campaign and for 2013, our theme is:

Self care for life – Take Control
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The aim for Self Care Week 2013

Theme: Self care for life – Take Control
We want to inspire people to take control of their health and ultimately take
control of their life. By becoming more health literate, we hope people will
understand how to look after their health for life, taking care of their own
minor ailments, managing more serious conditions and choosing healthy
options that will impact positively on people’s physical health as well as their
mental wellbeing and self esteem.
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Who is involved in Self Care Week?
The Department of Health handed over organisation of Self Care Week to the
Self Care Forum in 2011, and for two years it was a joint initiative. This year,
NHS England will be a partner organisation.
The Self Care Forum is the leading UK organisation dedicated to helping
people help themselves by embedding self care into everyday life so that it
becomes a life long habit.
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Who is our Target Audience?
The Self Care Forum‘s target audience is the NHS, voluntary and private
sector organisations that are already communicating with people and carers
responsible for managing minor ailments and long-term conditions. We see
these organisations, as well as Patient Participation Groups (PPGs) as
important partners in promoting and disseminating the messages of Self Care
Week.
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Supporting you to get involved
As the organisers of Self Care Week, we hope to support you by providing
national tools, messages and encouragement to help run local initiatives that
target your own audiences under an overarching, national Self Care Week banner.
In previous years, these local initiatives have included alcohol awareness, weight
control, school education, minor ailment and long-term condition management.
We hope this year’s theme of Self Care for Life – Take Control is broad enough
to allow you to promote self care messages to all your target groups no matter
what age or gender. We have specifically created it so that it is totally inclusive
and gives you the flexibility to add self care messages with a physical as well as
mental health focus.
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Self Care Week Key Messages
We have devised a bank of key messages to help with your campaign. These
are mostly themed around Self care for Life – Take Control with a physical
and mental health focus.
Some messages centre around careful use of health services. It is widely
acknowledged that self care not only empowers the individual, it also lessens
demand on the NHS. Pressures on the NHS are rising as a result of high
demand and fiscal challenges that mean now, more than ever, people have to
be supported to look after their own health, and their family’s health better.
NHS Costs: GP consultation £43 / A&E Treatment £112 / District Nurse visit
£39
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What are the key messages?
Mind
Physical / Life
Your NHS
Get connected online, via
mobile, with neighbours
and your community
Take control, know how to
look after your health and
your family’s health
Use health services but
don’t abuse health services
Be responsible for your
own health and mental
wellbeing – take control
Your health, your life, your
future – stay healthy, your
choice!
By looking after your
health today, the NHS will
be there for you tomorrow
Take control of your mind,
body and soul – don’t
sweat the small stuff!
A 30 minute walk a day,
keeps the hospital bed at
bay!
Self care for you, yours
and your NHS
Be mindful of your health,
self and happiness!
Do yourself a favour –
choose the healthy option!
Don’t misuse your NHS –
make sure it’s still around
when you really need it
Take control of your
health, be in control of
your life
Self care is not no care
Choose well and get the
right care at the right time
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Why run Self Care Week Now?
This is a good time to raise awareness of what people can be doing to take
care of themselves better, particularly those with long-term conditions. The
time leading up to the winter months can prepare and inform the whole
population at a time when seasonal illness tends be more prolific. The Week
fits with existing national initiatives, including the National Pharmacy
Association’s ‘Ask your Pharmacist Week’ (4-11 Nov) and the European
Antibiotic Awareness Day (18 Nov), which makes the link with self care
support for colds and flu. See slide 18 for a list of initiatives.
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What is the role of the Self Care Forum?
The Self Care Forum will provide a generic communications toolkit, including
the national campaign tools, resources and messaging, for local organisations
to develop their own approaches to promote self care initiatives.
The Self Care Forum’s website (www.selfcareforum.org) will act as a portal to
promote a range of freely available Self Care Week information and resources,
including web buttons, banners, posters and public-facing leaflets with Self
Care Week messages. Post-campaign, the website will also act as a channel
for local evaluation and success measures.
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What is the role of my organisation?
Local organisations are encouraged to use the range of national resources
freely available from the DH and Self Care Forum websites and adapt them
to fit what they are doing locally to promote support for self care.
It is hoped that local organisations and stakeholders will proactively look for
opportunities to bring local self care activities and existing initiatives together
and promote and run them under the national Self Care Week banner. This
will enable local communities to target their own groups and maximise their
own initiatives.
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How can I participate in SCW?
There are many ways you can support Self Care Week. To get a flavour of the
type of activities organisations have been involved with previously, please visit
the Self Care Week 2012 review at: http://www.selfcareforum.org/events/selfcare-week-review/
A lack of resource should not be a barrier to involvement, the next slides gives
suggestions on what you can do to start your own campaign.
We hope that you will get involved and make Self Care Week YOUR Self Care
Week
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Join in - a few ideas
Limited resource
Moderate resource
Ensure your Chief
Executive is aware of
activity
Publish articles in public
and staff facing newsletters
and websites
Link to other organisations’
self care initiatives
Tailor, print off and display
posters in patient/staff
areas
Post details on internal and
public-facing websites
Run awareness sessions
for patients to talk to nurses
about managing their
condition; involve PPGs
Mention Self Care Week
2013 in presentations and
speeches
Create resources for local
journalists
Self Care for Life – Take Control
Extensive resource
Team up with local
voluntary sector
specialists on awareness
raising activity
Launch a self care
initiative such as a
cough/cold and flu
campaign aimed at the
general public and those
vulnerable to these viruses
and invite local media
along
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Where can I download the resources?
A range of free resources and information is available to download from the
DH and Self Care Forum websites, including:
Web
buttons
Banner
Master
presentation slide
Sample
Range
article
of free public-facing leaflets
Go to www.selfcareforum.org
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Will it make a difference?
We plan to review the impact of SCW and hope you will do the same.
If you aren’t able to commission an agency to carry out research into the
campaign’s impact on patients and staff, here are other suggestions on low cost
evaluations:
Use
an online survey provider such as SurveyMonkey to ask target audiences how
the campaign has impacted on the local community.
Search
Keep
the internet for local campaign press coverage.
track of the number of posters, leaflets, etc that have been distributed.
Monitor
For
take up of any services/ initiatives launched.
online content, find out the number of page views and click through. Please
share your evaluations with us by emailing libby.whittaker@selfcareforum.org
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Who is getting involved in SCW?
Here are some of the organisations that we know of who are
committed to participating in the campaign:
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Diary dates: other self care initiatives
Organisation
Self Care initiative
Date
National Eczema Society
Working Families
World Heart Federation
Department of Health
United Nations
Harvey Ross Ball
Backcare
World Health Organisation
National Osteoporosis Society
North West Strategic Health Authority
International Federation of Psoriasis
Associations
Community Hygiene Concern
Roy Castle Foundation
British Dental Health Foundation
National Eczema Week
National Work Life Week
World Heart Day
Stoptober
International Day of Older Persons
World Smile Day
Backcare Awareness Week
World Mental Health Day
World Osteoporosis Day
Choose Well winter campaign
World Psoriasis Day
September 14 – 22nd
September 23 – 27th
September 24th
October 1-31st
October 1st
October 4th
October 7 – 11th
October 10th
October 20th
October 29th
October 29th
National Bug Busting Day
Lung Cancer Awareness Month
Mouth Cancer Action Month
October 31st
November 1-30th
November 1-30th
Pancreatic Cancer Action
Movember
Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month
Movember – Men’s Health
Awareness Month
Psoriasis Awareness Week
Ask your Pharmacist Week
National Stress Awareness Day
World Kindness Day
Self Care Week
Indoor Allergy Week
World COPD Awareness Day
World Diabetes Day
Antibiotic Awareness Day
November 1-30th
November 1-30th
Psoriasis Association
National Pharmacy Association
International Stress Management Association
World Kindness Movement
Self Care Forum
Allergy UK
British Lung Foundation
International Diabetes Federation
Department of Health/European Centre for
Disease Control and Prevention
Alcohol Concern
Self Care
for Life – Take
Alcohol Awareness Week
Control
November 1-7th
November 4 -11th
November 6th
November 13th
November 18 – 24th
November 11 – 17th
November 14th
November 14th
November 18th
November 19-25th
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Self Care Week Action Plan
What will we do?
When will we do it? Who will do it?
Cost implication?
Determine what key messages will
be used from Self Care Week
Review existing health promotion
initiatives to see if these fall under
self care
Relaunch existing initiatives under
Self Care Week banner
Identify a key need in the local
community and create new Self
Care Week initiative to tackle
Post Self Care Week online button
or banner on websites
Link to other organisations’ self
care initiatives that meet local
health needs
Include Self Care Week in
presentations and speeches
Publish articles in public and staff
facing newsletters
Distribute posters and leaflets
Run an awareness session
Create local media resources and
tailor, e.g. how many A&E visits are
for minor ailments Self Care for Life
– Take Control
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What are you doing?
We very much hope you will support SCW 2013 and we would
be interested to know what you are doing so that we can
share this with others involved. Your details will be included
in one of our SCW newsletter that is circulated to like minded
people with an interest in forwarding the reach of self care.
Please send details to libby.whittaker@selfcareforum.org
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