This is a public health message from NHS Test and Trace
As part of the government’s coordinated response to Coronavirus, NHS Test and Trace has developed the new NHS COVID-19 app.
It is now available for download to all residents of England and Wales. We strongly recommend that everyone over the age of 16 downloads and uses it.
Download the ‘NHS COVID-19’ app from the App Store or Google Play. There is more information at https://covid19.nhs.uk
The app will help you to understand and manage your personal risk and reduce the spread of Coronavirus. The more people who use it, the more effective it will be.
The app requires operating system 13.5 or above if you have an Apple iPhone. It requires Android 6.0 or above if you have an Android phone. If your smartphone is not compatible, you can still access full support from the NHS Test and Trace service.
NHS Test and Trace
All individuals over the age of 16 who are registered with a GP in England and have provided an email address to the NHS are receiving this email. Some people will receive a text message instead, if an email address has not been provided.
Raking & Baking, running at St Werburghs Community Centre,focuses around inspiring people and giving them the tools to grow their own fresh food in small spaces and learning to cook fresh, organic, seasonal food from scratch. The course is offered free, with a small, optional donation towards ingredients. It uses the catering kitchen and perimeter gardens at the Community Centre. The course will be in-line with government guidelines for Covid-19.
Starting back with a mini 4 week course.
Every Thursday 10am-2pm, 1st Oct – 22nd Oct
Bookings must be made in advance by contacting St Werburghs Community Centre
Disability Rights UK (DRUK) has just launched its ‘We Belong’ project and will be hosting a series of roundtable discussions next week.
They will be holding two sessions on 30 September discussing issues and priorities of disabled women, and two on 1 October discussing priorities of disabled people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds.
DRUK are planning on holding further roundtables on other topics in the not to distant future, discussing such issues as employment, allies, young disabled people, and families .
If you have any questions or would like further information,
LaToya Grant tells Deaf BSL signers about the Experts by Experience Commission on Social Security and invites them to attend a workshop to give their views on the Commission’s first proposals.
The new NHS Covid-19 app for Apple and Android devices has launched today and can be downloaded from your app store. The app is free and is part of the NHS Test and Trace service in England and Wales.
The app has a number of tools to protect you, including contact tracing, local area alerts and venue check-in via QR codes.
The Thomas Poklinton Trust have been involved in ensuring that the app is as accessible as possible for blind and partially sighted people.
To celebrate the #BeInclusive theme in The Great British Week of Sport, Access Sport are hosting ‘Try-Day Friday’ packed full of your favorite sports and activities!
Details:
Friday 25th September
4:00pm – 8.30pm
Five fantastic inclusive sessions; Yoga, Hockey, Fitness, Boccia and Self-Defence!
All activities will be led by experienced coaches/instructors who will provide options for all abilities and experience levels!
You can sign up to 1, 2, 3, 4 or ALL of the sessions, just be sure to sign up so you have the details to log in to the sessions on the day!
You can also win medals depending on how many sessions you attend! Bronze = 1 session, Silver = 2/3 sessions and Gold = 4/5 sessions!
We will be on Zoom for all of Try-Day Friday, so you just have to log in once and then you can join all the sessions you like.
To access the session and receive the log in details click the link below! All free! All fun! All inclusive!
LunchBox Learning – Making Activities Disability Inclusive We will also be hosting a FREE Lunchbox Learning session on Friday for volunteers, coaches or anyone who would like to know more about making activities inclusive and raising their disability awareness!
Join our Disability Inclusion Team on Zoom on Friday 25th September, 1:00-1:45pm!
Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group (BNSSG CCG), with Community Access Support Service (CASS) in partnership with community groups and volunteers, has made two videos in more than ten community languages about Covid-19 and the lockdown.
These were made to address the need for information for non-English-speaking people in the community who did not have access to reliable information about the outbreak in their own languages.
The videos are:
• Protecting others – with a number of key messages about social distancing, gatherings, where you can go and so on
• Mental health – about looking after your mental health and wellbeing at this time.
The languages are:
Pashto, Kurdish Sorani, Arabic, Farsi, Albanian, Urdu, Bengali, Tigrinya, Somali, Punjabi, Chinese (Cantonese), Chinese (Mandarin), Turkish [please note the videos in Albanian and Trigrinya are not available yet, so any help to find volunteers in both languages would be appreciated].
We hope these videos are helpful and that you will share them with relevant members of the community.
CASS has been working closely with @BNSSG_CCG and local volunteers to help create 2 Covid19 videos, each in Bristol’s key community languages including English. One is on Protecting Yourself, and one on Looking after Mental Health.
Translated text used for the videos will be available shortly, please get in touch via info@cassbristol.org to request hard copy printed materials for distribution out into the community.
Welcome to our latest update, and apologies that we have not uploaded on since early August. Staff annual leave meant this was not possible.
Your City Our Future consultation survey
This week is your last chance to have a say in what Bristol is like in the future. Covid-19 has had a big impact on our lives and income. The city will need to recover and we now have a once in a lifetime opportunity to rethink what kind of future we want for Bristol and make some big, positive changes.
This survey is your chance to tell the Council what you liked and disliked about living in Bristol before lockdown, about your experiences during lockdown, and what you would like Bristol to be like in the future. The Council want (and need) to hear from as many people as possible from all parts of Bristol so that Bristol’s future improves life for everyone. So, make sure Disabled people’s needs and ambitions are not overlooked, but completing the survey before 9 th September 2020. You can take part at: www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/ABYCOF/ until 9 th September 2020.
Pavement Parking Survey
Consultation on How to Stop Parking on Pavements The government is consulting on whether pavement parking should be banned. This in response to evidence that it significantly impacts on the lives of pedestrians with vision and mobility impairments, those with pushchairs and buggies, young children, etc.
They are asking for your views on three options. None of the options would apply to emergency vehicles, delivery vehicles loading and unloading things (for a maximum of 20minutes), refuse trucks, street cleaners, urgent of emergency health care practitioners (whilst working) such as midwives, vehicles connected to essential work to roads, pavements, utilities (water, power, etc to buildings).
Option 1 – Improve the current system Keep things as they are but make it a bit easier for local authorities to put restrictions on specific roads using the existing Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) system, as creating new TROs is a lot of work at the moment. The main advantage is that the government would only need to make the process of getting a TRO a lot easier. The main disadvantage of keeping things the same is that the level of pavement parking would not improve by very much.
Option 2 – To give local authorities the power to take action (fines) against ‘unnecessary obstruction’ caused by pavement parking. The main advantage is that this option would enable local authorities to hand out fines, without the government having to ban pavement parking across the whole country. The main disadvantage is that it would be difficult to define when a parking obstruction is ‘unnecessary’, so fines are likely to be challenged quite frequently. This would, among other things, put local authorities off taking action because of the cost to them of lots of appeals against fines.
Option 3 – A national ban on pavement parking.
This option would introduce a general rule against pavement parking except where a local authority gives permission for it on specific roads or residential areas e.g. emergency vehicles could not get through.
This option would extend a ban that already applies across London. One advantage of this is that it would be much clearer to motorists where they could, and couldn’t, park on the pavement. Another is that decisions could be made locally about where there is a need for pavement parking.
The main disadvantage is that it would take a lot of work to identify which roads/areas the local authority should give permission for pavement parking, which would also be expensive.
A new law would also need to include a period of time for motorists to get used to the new law.
We want to make sure that the government hears the views of Disabled people in the Bristol area. So we can do this, we need you to tell us which option you think is best.
Please email, telephone or reply on our social media, telling us which option you think is best for Disabled people and others who are put at risk by pavement parking.
Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group (BNSSG CCG) – which is responsible for spending our local NHS funding – has created coronavirus information videos in a range of community languages, such as Arabic, Bengali and Cantonese. You can find them on its YouTube channel by clicking on this: coronavirus information in community languages to find a video in your language – including English. One is about how to Protecting Yourself, and one is about Looking after Mental Health.
Translations of the text used for the videos will be available soon. If you would like please get in touch viainfo@cassbristol.orgto request hard copy printed materials for distribution out into the community.
2. Free counselling from Bristol Mind
Free counselling is available to people who are shielding as a result of the pandemic, particularly those who are:
older or Disabled people;
part of a Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic community; or
living in Avonmouth, Barton Hill, East Hillfields, Filwood, Hartcliffe & Withywood, Knowle West, Lawrence Hill, Lawrence Weston, Lockleaze, Southmead, St. Pauls, or Whitchurch Park.
The service is available from September to December 2020. You can self-refer, or be referred by a family member or an organisation you are in touch with. Email counselling@bristolmind.org.uk, or telephone 01179 800 370, to be sent a registration form.
