Category: Test Flyers

How can health and wellbeing apps help you and your loved ones live more healthily?

Health apps offer easy, engaging, and accessible ways to help you better manage your goals. For instance, apps have the power to support fitness plans, provide advice about diet, connect you with health and care professionals to discuss and manage your health and wellbeing, and help you to better stick to personalised plans. Studies also suggest that evidence-based digital health tools can complement existing treatment plans you may have been given by your health or care professional. With the recent impact of COVID-19 on the delivery of face-to-face care, apps may be able to offer additional support in light of reduced accessibility to in-person healthy living services.

But apps don’t just provide opportunities to support your physical wellbeing. A big part of keeping your body healthy is also looking after your mental wellbeing. Just as physical health conditions can have an impact on your mental health, so too can mental health conditions or poor mental wellbeing affect being able to take care of your physical health. Apps can provide support with improving mental wellbeing and managing mental health conditions which, in turn, can improve your physical wellbeing and ability to live a healthy life. To find tested, safe apps to help with healthy living – such as apps for fitness, healthy eating, weight management, or mental wellbeing – visit your local Digital Health Library and start searching for apps today at https://liverpool.orcha.co.uk, or click on any of the example apps below:

• Running: Couch 2 5k
• Walking: Active 10 Walking Tracker
• Smoking Cessation: Smoke Free
• Calorie Counting: MyFitnessPal
• Relaxation/Sleep: Simple Habit

Can apps help you stop smoking?

So, unsurprisingly, quitting smoking not only adds years to your life, but also greatly reduces your chances of developing smoking-related diseases.

If you are trying to stop smoking, there are small lifestyle changes you can make to help you quit, such as changing daily habits, identifying when you crave cigarettes, and seeking out advice and support. Digital technologies, such as apps, can help with changing behaviour in order to quit smoking.

Apps to help you stop smoking include features such as being able to log your cravings and get tips for managing them, motivational tips and advice, setting your own goals for quitting, monitoring the differences that quitting is having on your health and lifestyle, and much more.

To start searching for safe, tested apps to help with stopping smoking, visit our local Digital Health Library at liverpool.orcha.co.uk.

With mounting evidence that mental health problems have become even more common since the pandemic, the UK government has developed a Mental Health and Wellbeing Recovery Action plan to help people with their mental health.

The Mental Health and Wellbeing Recovery Action Plan explains that digital mental health support can provide greater control and options for round the clock advice or tools. Initially, an app can help you access advice when you need it, and as time goes by can support you whilst you’re on a waiting list, becoming an early support system or safety net. Later, after a therapist has been seen, apps can reinforce strategies and track information. Apps can also help you to self-manage your mental health in your home environment.

As there are so many mental health apps available, it can be difficult to know which are safe to use. ORCHA, a leading digital health assessment organisation, has tested hundreds of mental health apps so that it’s easy for you to find safe apps.

To find safe apps for mental health, visit our local Digital Health Library at liverpool.orcha.co.uk

Common mental health problems

There are many different types of mental health problems and symptoms and the following information is a guide to help understand what the problem might be.

If you feel mentally unwell you should seek the advice of your GP. If you feel you need help right now contact your GP or go to your local A&E department. Read more detailed information here.

More support

If you need help or if you are worried about someone else you can find immediate assistance via the following support services:

You can contact the organisations below if you’re looking for non-urgent help. Click or tap on each image to go to the organisation’s website and find out more about what they do and how you can access help.

Type 1 diabetes causes the level of glucose (sugar) in your blood to become too high. It happens when your body cannot produce enough of a hormone called insulin, which controls blood glucose. You need daily injections of insulin to keep your blood glucose levels under control. Managing type 1 diabetes can take time to get used to, but you can still do all the things you enjoy. 

Type 1 diabetes is not linked with age or being overweight – this is type 2 diabetes.

Symptoms

See your GP if you have symptoms of type 1 diabetes:

• feeling very thirsty
• peeing more than usual, particularly at night
• feeling very tired
• losing weight without trying
• thrush that keeps coming back
• blurred vision
• cuts and grazes that are not healing

Type 1 diabetes symptoms can come on quickly, particularly in children.

Getting tested for type 1 diabetes

Your GP will do a urine test and might check your blood glucose (sugar) level.

If they think you might have diabetes, they may advise you to go to hospital for an assessment with the diabetes team or they may arrange for the blood tests to be done in the community setting.

This page has been amended by the Diabetes Team from Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Type 2 diabetes is a common condition that causes the level of glucose (sugar) in the blood to become too high.

• It can cause symptoms like excessive thirst, needing to pee a lot and tiredness. It can also increase your risk of getting serious problems with your eyes, heart and nerves.
• It’s a lifelong condition that can affect your everyday life. You may need to change your diet, take medicines and have regular check-ups.
• It’s caused by problems with a chemical in the body (hormone) called insulin. It’s often linked to being overweight or inactive, or having a family history of type 2 diabetes.

Symptoms

Many people have type 2 diabetes without realising. This is because symptoms do not necessarily make you feel unwell.

Symptoms of type 2 diabetes include:

• peeing more than usual, particularly at night
• feeling thirsty all the time
• feeling very tired
• losing weight without trying to
• itching around your penis or vagina, or repeatedly getting thrush
• cuts or wounds taking longer to heal
• blurred vision

You’re more at risk of developing type 2 diabetes if you:

• are over 40 (or 25 for south Asian people)
• have a close relative with diabetes (such as a parent, brother or sister)
• are overweight or obese
• are of Asian, African-Caribbean or black African origin (even if you were born in the UK)

Diagnosis

Type 2 diabetes is often diagnosed following blood or urine tests for something else.

However, you should see a GP straight away if you have any symptoms of diabetes.

To find out if you have type 2 diabetes, you usually have to go through the following steps:

1. See a GP about your symptoms.
2. The GP will check your urine and arrange a blood test to check your blood sugar levels. It usually takes about 1 to 2 days for the results to come back.
3. If you have diabetes, the GP will explain the test results and what will happen next.

If you’re diagnosed with diabetes

What the GP will discuss with you during your appointment depends on the diagnosis and the treatment they recommend.

Generally, they’ll talk to you about:

• what diabetes is
• what high blood sugar means for your health
• whether you need to take medicine
• your diet and exercise
• your lifestyle – for example, alcohol and smoking

The GP will do their best to discuss the diagnosis with you, but this first appointment might only be 10 to 15 minutes.

If you have questions about your diagnosis

It’s usually difficult to take in everything the GP tells you during the appointment.

Talk to family and friends about what the GP told you, and write down any questions you have.

Then make another GP appointment and take your list of questions with you.

There’s also a lot of information on diabetes available.

What happens after the diagnosis

Usually, the following things happen after your diagnosis:

• The GP may prescribe medicine. It might take time for you to get used to the medicine and to find the right doses for you.
• You will usually need to make changes to your diet and be more active.
• You’ll have to go for regular type 2 diabetes check-ups.
• You’ll have to look out for certain signs to avoid other health problems.
• Ask the GP about a free education course for type 2 diabetes.

This page has been amended by the Diabetes Team from Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

You must consider:

• the type of the work you do
• hazards and the likely risk of them causing harm
• the size of your workforce
• work patterns of your staff
• holiday and other absences of those who will be first aiders and appointed persons
• the history of accidents in your business

You might also consider:

• the needs of travelling, remote and lone workers
• how close your sites are to emergency medical services
• whether your employees work on shared or multi-occupancy sites
• first aid for non-employees including members of the public

You don’t have to write down your findings, but if you do, it will allow you to record how you’ve decided on your first aid arrangements.

The contents of your first aid kit should be based on your first aid needs assessment. As a guide, where work activities are low-risk (for example, desk-based work) a minimum first aid kit might contain:

• a leaflet with general guidance on first aid (for example, HSE’s leaflet Basic advice on first aid at work
• individually wrapped sterile plasters of assorted sizes
• sterile eye pads
• individually wrapped triangular bandages, preferably sterile
• safety pins
• large and medium-sized sterile, individually wrapped, unmedicated wound dressings
• disposable gloves

This is a suggested contents list.

If you are buying a kit look for British Standard (BS) 8599. By law, your kit doesn’t have to meet this standard but you should check it contains what you’ve identified in your needs assessment.

Maintaining or replacing contents of a first aid kit

Check your kit regularly. Many items, particularly sterile ones, are marked with expiry dates. Replace expired items, disposing of them safely. If a sterile item doesn’t have an expiry date, check with the manufacturer to find out how long it can be kept. For non-sterile items without dates, you should check that they are still fit for purpose.

You might decide that you need someone trained in first aid, sometimes known as a first aider.

There are no hard and fast rules on how many trained first aiders you should have. It depends on the nature of your work and its location.

First aiders are trained by a competent training provider in:

• emergency first aid at work (EFAW) – at this level they’re qualified to give emergency first aid to someone who is injured or becomes ill while at work
• first aid at work (FAW) – qualified to EFAW level but can also apply first aid to a range of specific injuries and illnesses

HSE approved first aid training

The only first aid training HSE approves is for specialists on offshore installations.

Finding the right first aid training for your workplace

You’re responsible for making sure whoever trains your employees is competent.

There are four types of provider to choose from. They offer:

• regulated qualifications from an awarding organisation (AO) – these are recognised and regulated by Ofqual, the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) or the Welsh Government
• voluntary approval schemes, such as a trade body accredited by a third party – the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) is the national accreditation body recognised by government
• independent training where the provider can prove their competence
• training from one of the three Voluntary Aid Societies recognised by the government:
• St John Ambulance
• British Red Cross
• St Andrew’s First Aid

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