“The RCN has supported the self care agenda over many years and is proud to work with the Self Care Forum on initiatives such as Self Care Week to help embed self care in communities, and in co-producing the e-learning course “successful self care aware consultations” which is for nurses, pharmacists and GPs. This resource is important and the work of the Self Care Forum is crucial for nursing and midwifery staff since self-care is integral to their everyday work in enabling individuals to be at the center of decision making about their health and wellbeing and what matters to them. The RCN is keen to continue working with the Self Care Forum on our aligned priorities around furthering the reach of self care.” Helen Donovan, Public Health Lead, Royal College of Nursing
“The Self Care Forum has been an incredibly helpful resource to our members in their endeavours to support people to better look after their own health and, over the years, has helped to progress the self care agenda across CCG communities and patient populations. We hope to continue to work closely with the Forum to meet our national aligned aims of embedding self care in the population and affecting positive behaviour change.” Julie Wood, Chief Executive, NHS Clinical Commissioners
“Self care and self management are key to enabling people to take responsibility for their health and wellbeing, accessing appropriate support when needed. The Self Care Forum plays a key role in raising people’s awareness of how they can do this.” Dr Linda Edwards, Chief Executive, Education for Health
“The Self Care Forum is the only UK charity dedicated to empowering people to self care. The Self Care Forum works with the NHS, healthcare professionals, local government and others, providing valuable information, case studies and materials which can be used to implement local self care programmes. Self Care Week has grown significantly over recent years, reaching more than 33 million people with self care messages in 2020. In the wake of COVID19 and with the on going challenges of a growing and ageing population, the need to change people’s behaviour and embed a culture of self care has never been greater. The Self Care Forum has an important role to play in supporting and enabling this change”. Michelle Riddalls, CEO, PAGB
“The Self Care Forum has over many years played a very valuable role in bringing together different stakeholders involved with self-care, and in raising the profile of self-care as a vital future element of healthcare in the UK. The Forum’s approach has been a model for many countries around the world, and merits strong support for its continuing contributions and further development.” David Skinner, CEO, International Self-Care Foundation (ISF)
“The RCGP is proud to be a founding member of the Self Care Forum. We are aligned with its ethos of increasing levels of self care in the population so that people understand how to take better care of themselves and their families independently and with support from the NHS. We appreciate the hard work and dedication of the charity in supporting our members in implementing self care strategies through free resources such as the fact sheets, the e-learning course for GPs, pharmacists and practice nurses and in particular in making such a success of the increasingly popular awareness initiative, Self Care Week.” Dr Jonathan Leach, Honorary Secretary, RCGP
“The support of the Self Care Forum has been fundamental to the progression of our self-care strategy. In particular, we have seen significant increase in the number of people taking part in activities that could help them to manage their self-care as well as new groups being set up to help people thanks to initiatives such as self-care week. The impact of our work with partners would not be so great were it not for the resources and national credibility that comes from working with the Self Care Forum.” Nathan Skelton, Sr Communications and Engagement Officer, Fylde Coast CCGs
“This is the first year we got involved in Self Care Week but the Self Care Forum was really supportive and informative in helping us understand how we could participate in this worthwhile national initiative to not only help our patients, but also our staff to think self care for life.” Kaye Atkinson- Tench, Clinical Locality Manager, Harrogate Adult Services
“The Self Care Forum provides a unique form of support to our prevention and self care work in Bracknell Forest. They take an approach that is holistic, informative, creative and that transcends professional silos. Their support with our annual ‘Self Care Week’ has been particularly valuable and we looking forward to working with them in the future.” Lisa McNally, Strategic Director of Public Health, Bracknell Forest Council
“The self care fact sheets have been very useful. From a clinical perspective, the grey box at the end can be used to give a written safety net to those patients I see in clinic. I have directed patients to the Self Care Forum website for more info on minor ailments when consulting them via telephone. I have had several patients come back to me stating they followed the advice but reached the point they needed to speak to a doctor-which shows patients are using them. I don’t have any figures for how many patients have been able to self manage minor ailments as they don’t contact us! Overall, we have been pleased with the leaflets and feel they will be used more and more.” Dr Ben Penfold, GP Partner, Rosmellyn Surgery
The Self Care Forum, through its campaigns, partnerships and advocacy, provides unrivalled leadership, evidence-led resources and educational tools that are the gold standard across multiple health and social care systems beyond the UK. Ade Williams, Bedminister Pharmacy, Bristol
More testimonials can be accessed here.