My Health Workshops
MyHealth is an education and empowerment programme offering advice and workshops on a range of topics such as diet and nutrition for weight loss, hypertension and cholesteral and stress management.
You can find out what workshops are coming up on the My Health website: https://www.myhealthhillingdon.co.uk/workshops or you can telephone: 01895 543437
Where to go when you feel unwell
There are many NHS services that are on hand to help and support, but it’s also important to ensure you are contacting the right service for your need. Support our NHS by making the right choice when you need health and care services.
Self care at home: Many minor ailments, such as coughs and colds, headaches or stomach upsets, can be successfully treated at home with the help of a well-stocked first aid kit or medicine cabinet.
Pharmacy: Your local pharmacist is a highly trained medical professional. They can advise and support you with a range of issues, from minor aches and pains, scalds, allergies, sore throats, colds and bites and stings. No appointment is needed.
Minor Injuries unit: Minor injuries such as those listed below can be treated at the local minor injuries unit. For appointments at Mount Vernon Hospital please call 111. Hillingdon Hospital has a walk in urgent treatment centre located next to the Emergency Department.
cuts, bruises, grazes, dog and cat bites
minor burns
minor head injuries
injuries to hands, wrists, elbows, feet, ankles and lower legs
soft tissue injuries and sports injuries
dislocated fingers and toes
Minor Injuries services CANNOT treat more serious injuries or conditions, such as from road traffic collisions, drug overdoses, deep vein
thrombosis, severe allergic reactions or head injuries for people taking blood thinners. Maternity or gynaecological conditions are also NOT able to be treated by the service.
GP surgery: Your General Practice team is here to help you access the right support when you need it, whether that’s via telephone, online or face-to-face.
A triage system will be used to book appointments, as this ensures, you are in the right place to be treated, that you will be seen, and that you won’t have to wait long.
111: If you have an urgent health concern, but you’re unsure what to do, visit 111.nhs.uk online or call 111, available 24/7. They
will help right away and guide you to the right service for your needs.
Emergency department or 999: In the event of a life-threatening or serious injury or illness, such as chest pain, breathing difficulty, severe bleeding or severe allergic reaction, go to your nearest emergency department or call 999.
Warm Welcome Centres 2023-24
The attached file lists the details of the warm welcome centres open in Hillingdon this winter.
Mental Health
Your GP will always be available to support and advise on mental health concerns. In Hillingdon there is also the following services:
Mental Health Crisis Line
The Single Point of Access is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. You can call them on 0800 0234 650 or email [email protected]
Cove Cafe
Hillingdon Cove Cafe is a drop-in service where residents of Hillingdon can go if they are experiencing a mental health crisis. Open 2pm-10pm, for people 16+.
Domestic Abuse
Contact the Hillingdon Domestic Abuse Advocacy Service (HDAAS) in confidence (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm) by emailing [email protected] or calling 07874 620954.
Outside of HDAAS’ opening hours and on bank holidays, contact the Stronger Families Hub by calling 01895 556006 or emailing [email protected]
Safeguarding
The Stronger Families Hub is the point of contact for out of hours adult safeguarding concerns too.
Housing
Hillingdon Council
Find information on the council website about help with your housing needs.
Housing Services Emergency line:
If you need to contact the council in an emergency situation outside of office hours, they are available to provide advice 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. For emergency situations that cannot wait until office opening times, please call them on 01895 250111.
Homeless/rough sleeping:
Connecting people sleeping rough to local services. You can make a professional referral through Streetlink below:
StreetLink – Connecting people sleeping rough to local services (thestreetlink.org.uk)
Care Home Support
Telephone: 0808 175 3609
This specialist service comes at no cost to individuals or families. The team is available to help find the right care for the individual, whether this is self-funded care options, whether in a nursing home or help staying independent at home.
Find Care Home Availability and Local CQC Registered Home Carers (carehomeselection.co.uk)
Social Care Directory
Hillingdon Council
This directory can be helpful if you have a one-off social need. Home | Hillingdon Directory
Poverty / Financial Hardship
Telephone: 0808 2082138
Lines open Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm. Closed on public holidays. Their friendly advisers can help you get the support you need if you’re struggling to afford essentials like food, heating and toiletries. They can advise which benefits you’re entitled to, guide you through any claims, and help you with emergency issues.
Kooth: Mental Health Support for Young People
What is Kooth?
Kooth is a free, safe, anonymous online emotional wellbeing community that is accessible 24/7, 365 days of the year and provides access to chat sessions with BACP-accredited counsellors and qualified emotional wellbeing practitioners.
All our chat sessions are text-based conversations that take place on the Kooth website, and last up to an hour. Chat is available from 12pm – 10pm Monday through Friday, and 6pm – 10pm Saturday and Sunday, providing a much needed ‘out of hours’ service.
Kooth is accessible from any device that connects to wifi, allowing young people to seek support at a time and location that is suitable for them.
FAQs
Are you able to see all content on the site?
There are restrictions in place to ensure that when using Kooth, you only see what is age appropriate for you. This also helps us to ensure you find the content that is most useful to you.
Any comments are pre-moderated to ensure that only relevant comments are posted and visible.
Can you create content on Kooth?
You can submit content and post on the discussion boards to share your experiences and to support others within the Kooth community.
We also encourage you to give us feedback by sharing your views of how we deliver our service.
This will help us to keep improving Kooth.
Can you message other young people on Kooth?
The safety of our users on Kooth is really important to us.
Therefore, you cannot add friends or directly message other young people on the site in the same way you can on gaming platforms or social media sites.
This is because we are an anonymous service and we need to make sure everyone using the site is safe.
When can you talk to someone?
The Kooth team are available to chat 7 days a week, 365* days of the year. You can access the magazine, discussion boards and any other online content whenever you like, from wherever you are.
Our friendly online team are available to chat during the following times:
- From 12 noon until 10pm weekdays.
- From 6pm until 10pm weekends.
To make sure we can support as many of you as possible, we do have a chat queue.
How long you will have to wait in the chat queue depends on how busy the site is so please be patient with us.
You can send a message to the team at any time and it will be responded to during service working hours. Our counsellors are employed by us and are fully qualified with the BACP or equivalent.
*We offer a reduced service on bank holidays
Do you need to be referred by a GP?
You do not need to be referred to Kooth to access the service.
You are invited and welcome to join as long as you fall within the age range that is available to your area.
Carers
Are you a Carer?
If you provide unpaid help or support to a relative, partner, friend or neighbour who could not manage without you, then you are a carer.
Recognising you are a carer can be the first step to getting the help and support you may need in your caring role.
Firstly, we recommend to patients that are carers of any age to inform your GP as soon as possible. Support is available throughout the life course for carers from 5 years upwards.
Your GP practice will do their best to be flexible with appointment times to accommodate your caring situation. They can also provide health checks to make sure you are fit and healthy and not neglecting your own health because of your caring duties, which is sadly all too common.
Whilst caring for a loved one can be rewarding, we also understand the many challenges that being a carer can bring. However, there is advice and support available so we recommend you register with your local Carers’ Centre, Carers Trust Hillingdon who is a national Network Partner of Carers Trust, an organisation that brings together carers services from across the UK.
Carers Trust Hillingdon can offer:
- High Street Advice Centre opposite Tesco in Uxbridge
- Expert Welfare Benefit advice and help to claim carer-related benefit entitlements. This service is also offered in Urdu, Punjabi and Hindi
- Training for carers in some of the skills needed to care, but also for personal interests too. We know time for you is critical for your continued health and wellbeing
- Book clubs, hobby groups, painting and craft groups and IT support sessions
- Social opportunities, Carer Cafes across the borough and peer support groups
- 1:1 emotional support, counselling and psychotherapeutic support groups
- A programme of health and wellbeing activities including yoga, chair exercise, alternative therapies, mindfulness, regular Health MOT and Pamper days
- Specialist mental health and dementia support
- Help for young carers of all ages, including Clubs, school holiday activities, trips, weekends away, arts and sports activities and supported transition from school for 16-25 year old young adult carers
- Assistance in accessing care and support or referral to other services
Non-urgent advice: Please Note
All you need to do to register is either pick up the phone and call the team on 01895 811206.
Or for more information please visit https://carerstrusthillingdon.org where you can complete an online registration form if you prefer.
NHS Support
There is also wealth of information and support on the NHS Website for carers, see below for links into the NHS site that we hope you will find useful.
| Carer Support A guide to care and support Information for carers and people who have care & support needs. Support and benefits for carers Caring for someone can be a full-time job – find out about accessing breaks and respite care. Taking a break Caring for someone can be a full-time job – find out about accessing breaks and respite care. Work and Disability Guidance, support and help with employment issues. Being a Young carer Advice for carers 18 or under and their entitlement to support. | Finance and Law Benefits for carers Directing carers to the benefits that can help them in their caring role. Benefits for the under-65s Advice and information on helping the person you look after get the benefits that they are entitled to. Benefits for the over-65s Advice and information on financial support for older people with a disability or illness. Carer’s Assessment How your benefits maybe affected after the death of the person you look after and what happens to their benefits. Other benefits Advice for carers and the people they are looking after on claiming a whole host of other benefits unrelated to their disability or caring. |