Blog | Middlesbrough Voluntary Development Agency

People with learning disabilities are either hidden or visible - my lessons learnt so far

14 October 2021 - 9:55am

I'm getting some useful insights into engaging communities who are sometimes ignored as I reach the halfway point in my piece of work to identify the barriers which those with learning disabilities from minority communities face in accessing Annual Health Checks (AHCs) at their GP surgery.

You can read the background to this piece of work MVDA has been commissioned to do on behalf of NHS England here: Changing the poor take-up of annual health checks by minority communities

Changing the poor take-up of annual health checks for minority communities

28 July 2021 - 4:46pm

After the lockdown I am back at MVDA working on a project to encourage the take-up of Annual Health Checks (AHCs) by those with learning disabilities from ethnic minority communities in Middlesbrough and Stockton-On-Tees

The project’s aim of getting more people from different communities to attend their GP surgery for a check-up would seem straightforward, but this belies and points to structural and individual barriers against this happening.

More people, more active, more often

30 August 2019 - 2:12pm

Guest blog by Jen Berger, Insight & Analytics Officer at ‘You’ve Got This’ - a Sport England local delivery pilot

All I wanted was something nice to go with a baked potato…

26 July 2019 - 12:17pm

Last night was exceptionally warm; the second warmest day on record in the United Kingdom. I wanted something simple for tea, a baked potato with something nice. The choice was limited at my local Co-op so a went a bit further up the road to a big Sainsbury’s store, but the shelves were oddly empty – all the chilled shelves had been cleared. I thought they were probably just moving the stock around.

A tablet to mask the pain

11 March 2019 - 5:11pm

Prevention is the word on everyone's lips for health and wellbeing, yet why do my experiences suggest we still look to mask symptoms rather than cure them?

The current health and social care agenda has a focus on prevention, the Care Act 2014 stated that there will be ‘A greater emphasis on prevention ‘ - local authorities and providers of support would encourage and assist people to lead healthy lives, reducing the chances of them needing more support in the future’