While we admire and support the Christmas campaigns that we see pop up in December, we also know that help is urgently needed all year round, each and every year. As some people pack away after the festive break, we are still here.
Our support is not limited to a food package, but it leaps beyond - we form connections, we listen and respond to everyone who steps through our doors. We open up a warm, safe, environment which aims to feel like a home away from home.
For us to continue to thrive and grow, and keep supporting as many people as possible, we are asking you to become a Friend of Cooking Champions. Even a donation of just £5-10 per month can make a HUGE impact on the lives of those who come through our doors.
Pop to our People's Fundraising page to donate, and we promise to keep you updated with how your support is making a difference. Thank you, we appreciate you! Team Cooking Champions
The London Child Obesity Task Force wants to get all primary and secondary school children across London to only drink water when they're in school. This would put an end to selling and drinking fizzy drinks in London's schools. They are running a competition asking primary and secondary school children to help develop an advertising campaign - one that can inspire everyone between the ages of 4 and 18 in London to drink only water in school.
Maintenance Cognitive Stimulation Therapy sessions offer an opportunity to meet other people living with dementia, and take part in a wide range of activities in a friendly, caring and supportive environment. Age UK Enfield is running a six-month project - places are limited.
A year or more of lockdown has resulted in some people doing less walking than usual. They may have lost confidence in walking longer distances, which increases the risk of falls. Age UK Enfield's Falls Stop Service has devised a Stepping out from Lockdown Falls Programme and will be resuming in-person sessions from this month.
Earlier this year a cross-party group from Enfield Council organised an online conference on the subject of cervical cancer awareness. Following the conference the organisers wrote to candidates standing for election as the next Mayor of London asking them to do a short video endorsement of the aims of the conference and of the importance of screening to catch any signs of cancer at an early stage. Rather disappointingly, only one of the candidates sent in a video - Sian Berry from the Green Party
A new children's ward, which opened on 28th April, is the latest of several recent improvements introduced this year by the North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust. Also this week the Trust published details of its new chief executive, as her predecessor started her new job at a hospital in Bristol.
Candidates from eight parties standing in the mayoral and London Assembly elections next month have taken the London Patient Protection Pledge, stating that if elected they will fight to take back the NHS surgeries that have fallen into the hands of a giant US corporation and oppose any other takeovers by profit-driven private corporations. Evidence from a survey of more than 8,000 practices shows that patient satisfaction is lower across four out five key indicators when they are run by limited companies rather than traditional GP partnerships.
On 7th April the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) issued new guidance to healthcare professionals regarding the effective treatment of chronic pain. According to Palmers Green-based clinical massage therapist and chronic pain specialist Steven Murdoch, the new recommendations have created both confusion and anger amongst people with persistent (chronic) pain and pain specialists alike. However, he believes the new guidance is a step in the right direction.
Campaigners and politicians have joined forces to raise the alarm about the takeover, in questionable circumstances, of GP surgeries in north London and elsewhere by a giant US health corporation.
Volunteers are required for an online NHS research project into balance anxiety and dizziness - the research sample needs to include both people who experience problems in these regards and those who don't.
On 17th March Healthwatch Enfield held an online question and answer session about local mental health services and support, with more than forty participants. A recording is now available.