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Health and wellbeing

We want to help improve the health and wellbeing of all those we come into contact with.

On this page

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We have identified three broad ambitions, reflecting the three groups of people with which we come into contact – patients, staff, visitors and the wider community:

  • Every patient contact will count for promoting health and well-being
  • Every employee will be supported to improve their health and well-being
  • The wider community will also benefit through our involvement in the broader countywide health and well-being agenda

People in hospital may be more receptive to messages about promoting health and to information from healthcare professionals. The NHS, our Trust, and our staff – we all have a responsibility to lead by example.

Useful contacts

Change 4 Life

Advice and help to quit smoking

  • The local healthy lifestyles service can support you to stop smoking, one of the best things that you can do for your health. They can be contacted on 0800 122 3788.

Healthy Lifestyles team

  • If you live in Gloucestershire, the Healthy Lifestyles team is on hand to support you with making small changes. Whether you would like support around healthy weight, alcohol or exercise, HLS can help. Visit www.hlsglos.org or call 0800 122 3788

Let's talk - mental health support

Our strategies for a healthier future

Staff

We recognise that a healthy, engaged workforce also brings positive benefits for patients. We work to provide support and opportunities for staff to maintain their health in a range of ways, including:

  • access to subsidised swimming and discounted gym membership
  • smoking cessation support
  • occupational health - through Working Well
  • staff support
  • childcare facilities and family friendly working
  • cycle to work schemes
  • a staff choir
  • self-referral to physiotherapy.

Patients

We are well placed to influence our patients and we want make every contact count. We often have access to groups which are more likely to be suffering from preventable illnesses – health promoting initiatives aimed at these groups can contribute to wider initiatives designed to reduce inequalities. People in hospital may be more receptive to messages about promoting health and to information from healthcare professionals.

The NHS, the Trust, and its staff – we all have a responsibility to lead by example.

Read our Patient Health & Wellbeing Strategy

A healthy community

We work with colleagues in organisations across the county to raise awareness of events and campaigns that contribute to people's health and wellbeing. As an NHS provider, the health of the people we treat is important to us, as we seek not just to treat an illness but to look at people's wider needs.

Read our Health & Wellbeing Community Strategy 2017

Giving up smoking

Our smoke free policy

Smoking is not allowed anywhere in the buildings or in the hospital grounds. Every ward in our hospitals has a smoking cessation champion who is trained to give advice and support about smoking. If you are a patient and you are concerned about not smoking while in hospital, why not ask to speak to them?

Support to stop smoking

We actively encourage people to give up smoking, and if you come to hospital and you do smoke, it is part of our routine care to refer you to the local stop smoking service. Patients who smoke will be offered support to quit and manage withdrawal symptoms through the use of Nicotine Replacement Therapy.

If you are a smoker, now is the time to quit! You will be healthier in the long run, will heal quicker, will feel better faster and will be less likely to suffer from complications. Get help from the Healthy Lifestyles Service or call 0800 122 3788. Alternatively you can speak to a trained, expert adviser to get free support from the Smokefree National Helpline 0300 123 1044 or visit NHS.UK

Get active

Regular activity has a huge number of benefits. Excercise can reduce your risk of major illnesses, such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer by up to 50% and lower your risk of early death by up to 30%. It’s free, easy to take, and has an immediate effect.

Support and information

Healthy weight

At our Trust we believe passionately in healthy eating and offer healthy choices to patients, vistors and staff through our restaurants and inpatient catering.

All our patient meals are carefully planned by dieticians and our catering staff have introduced a series of measures to reduce the levels of salt in food. We have also introduced protected mealtimes for patents who may need help and support with eating and drinking as well as producing meals for a variety of special diets.

Find out more

Mental wellbeing

Mental health problems are common - but nearly nine out of ten people who experience them say they face stigma and discrimination as a result. This can be even worse than the symptoms themselves. If you feel stressed, anxious or depressed, you are not alone. These are some of the most common problems that affect thousands of people everyday. We all go through difficult times but sometimes our problems can start to affect our daily life.

If you're concerned about how you're feeling, why not check your wellbeing with this online self-assessment tool.

Let's Talk

Everyone needs to talk from time to time. Let’s Talk is an Improving Access to Psychological Therapy service (IAPT). It is free and provided by your local NHS. We offer information, guidance and therapy during times when you feel stressed, anxious or depressed.

It is important to recognise early signs that you are not yourself. So whether you experience difficulties yourself or supporting someone, Let’s Talk is your first step to getting help. Read more about mental health on NHS.UK

Drinking and alcohol

Drinking alcohol in moderation can be enjoyable for many people, but drinking excessively or 'binge drinking' can have a harmful effect and can lead to serious health problems. Most people who have alcohol-related health problems aren’t alcoholics. They're simply people who have regularly drunk more than the recommended levels for some years. Regularly drinking more than the recommended daily limits risks damaging your health.

For further information on alcohol and a range of health and wellbeing topics, visit the NHS.UK Live Well website.

Monitoring your drinking

Is it time to change the way you drink? The NHS Change for Life Drinks Tracker can help you keep a drinks diary and will calculate your units for you. There's loads more information for people concerned about their drinking on NHS.UK

Local advice and support is available from Change, Grow, Live and the Healthy Lifestyle Service

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