Ways to Wellness UK

11/12/2025

Great to be at today’s Deprescribing in Pain and Mental Health event at Durham University - an interdisciplinary conversation with health researchers and practitioners to discuss in chronic pain and mental health.

In recent years, many prescribers have begun rethinking their reliance on medications such as opioid painkillers and antidepressants. It’s been valuable to join this conversation, especially as Ways to Wellness took part in the collaborative project TAPER2 - supporting people to ‘wait well’ for surgery through opioid deprescribing and social prescribing.

Read more about TAPER2 🔗 https://www.waystowellness.org.uk/newsblogs/ways-to-wellness-rewarded-for-its-partnership-working-at-the-newcastle-hospitals-celebrating-excellence-awardsnbsp

We’ve heard insightful talks from several contributors. Jonathan Coates from St Anthony’s Primary Care Centre and Pharmacy in Walker spoke about working in an area facing significant challenges.

Matt Williams, Psychological Welfare Practitioner at St Anthony's Health Centre, discussed the important role of language in helping patients build psychological flexibility.

Neil Heffernan, Pharmacist, St. Anthony's Pharmacy, explored what happens after the GP interaction ends and the wider societal problem of seeking a quick fix.

Through all the talks, there is a theme of strong relationships being key.

08/12/2025

Childcare: What happens when the system designed to support families works against them?

Listen to Amanda Bailey from the North East Child Poverty Commission, Ang Broadbridge from Ways to Wellness UK, and Dr Steph Scott from Newcastle University on Alison Dunn’s This is the North podcast talk about the childcare issues facing families across the North East.

They share real-life stories of families struggling to make it work, whether it’s the strain that comes from depending on relatives for support, the rising costs of childcare for households already stretched by the cost of living, or the complicated nature of trying to access it.

Listen
🔗Apple podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/ep-41-childcare-what-happens-when-the-system-designed/id1716538462?i=1000740209508
🔗Spotify https://open.spotify.com/episode/1yIsq8aKSK5AGM0ySS5nrZ?si=RTy8dcN0QFuYP5cyzhwJ0w&nd=1&dlsi=40083c5b74f74ad2

Read more in the Health Equity North Childcare should not be a luxury report 🔗https://www.healthequitynorth.co.uk/app/uploads/CHILDCARE-REPORT-FINAL.pdf

03/12/2025

⚽ We were thrilled to invite on the pitch with the Your Move participants!

Today is the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, for many teenagers living with long-term or acute health conditions, taking part in traditional football sessions can be challenging. Your Move, a collaboration between Ways to Wellness UK and Northumberland FA, is breaking down barriers to access England’s national sport.

Hear from Kylla Sjoman, a former Champions League star who now works as the EDI Officer for Northumberland FA, talking about how this inclusive football project came to life and the impact it’s already having.

Funded through The FA's Journey to Inclusion Fund.

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/champions-league-footballer-backs-phenomenal-32862113

Find out more about how SPACE Pilot supports children with complex healthcare needs and their families ➡️ https://www.waystowellness.org.uk/space-pilot

Kylla Sjoman has swapped the Champions League for the Northumberland FA and supported an innovative scheme helping youngsters with long-term health conditions back into sport.

26/11/2025

👋 Visit us today at the Developing NHS Innovation Conference in London!

This event brings together patient groups, government organisations, industry partners and NHS teams to accelerate the adoption of new healthcare innovations.

We’re delighted to be part of the exhibition. Say hello and pick up a Ways to Wellness tote bag before they're gone.

Let’s shape the future of healthcare together. 🌟

20/11/2025

Fantastic to be at the Population Health 2025 Conference on giving all children the 'Strongest Start', where our Head of Implementation Ang Broadbridge is a panellist.

Key messages so far have included “let’s 'Think Child' with urgency”, and how vital lived experience is to shaping practice.

It has also been great to hear among delegates that social prescribing and the VCSE sector are seen as key players crucial to the overall picture.

One standout statistic to consider is the fact it costs a family £35 for a paediatric outpatient appointment, factoring in travel, time off work, and food.

All in all today is serving to act as a rallying cry to urgently invest in our children and families!

https://centreforpopulationhealth.co.uk/2025-conference

19/11/2025

Over the past few months we've been grateful to partner with Northumberland FA on a new, fully-inclusive programme of football training for young people with health challenges that have made training in mainstream settings difficult.

Hear from participants Nate and Louis, Nate's Dad Paul, and some of the team members involved in this fantastic film about the initiative made with support from The Bigger Picture.

And thank you to England Football and the FA Journey to Inclusion Fund for making this all possible!

Ways to Wellness is excited to have joined forces with Northumberland Football Association (FA), which has led on helping us ensure more of the region’s youn...

18/11/2025

Many people ask us about how we take an idea from kernel stage to full test-and-learn prototype. Wonder no more - our Head of Development Simon Bromhead has explained all in our latest blog post

Getting from an innovative idea to a deliverable prototype can be a nuanced process that involves many factors. Our Head of Development Simon Bromhead, explains the Ways to Wellness  approach to making it happen.

17/11/2025

Don't forget about the Fuse, the Centre for Translational Research in Public Health, Early Life and Adolescence cluster lunchtime seminar tomorrow.

We will be talking about SPACE CYP (Social Prescribing And Community rEsources for Children and Young People) pilot; our family-centred hospital-initiated social prescribing service.

📍 Where: Online
📅 Date: Tue, 18 Nov 2025, Noon

You can learn more about how social prescribing can help children with complex needs and their families by taking a whole-family approach.

The SPACE Pilot is a partnership project between Ways to Wellness, the Great North Children's Hospital and Newcastle University.

Anna Basu, Lauren Loader and Ang Broadbridge will share insights from the pilot.



https://fuse.ac.uk/events/fuseresearchevents/earlylifeandadolescenceclusterlunchtimeseminar.html

11/11/2025

🏆 We were honoured to be part of the team that received the ‘Partnership Working’ award at The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Celebrating Excellence Awards, recognising our work on the TAPER2 programme.

TAPER2 brought together healthcare professionals, social prescribers, including the Ways to Wellness PROSPeR (Perioperative Social Prescribing) team, and the Deep End Network of GP practices to support people to ‘wait well’ for surgery through opioid deprescribing and social prescribing.

TAPER2 saw:

64% overall reduction in analgesic prescriptions
74% of patients supported by Ways to Wellness reduced opioids by more than half

Read more in our blog to see how collaboration across Primary and Secondary care, community organisations, and VCSE partners can deliver real improvements for patients and the wider health system.

https://www.waystowellness.org.uk/newsblogs/ways-to-wellness-rewarded-for-its-partnership-working-at-the-newcastle-hospitals-celebrating-excellence-awardsnbsp

The TAPER2 team were honoured to receive the Partnership Working award at the recent Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust ’s annual Celebrating Excellence Awards, in recognition of their collaborative approach to helping people ‘wait well’ for surgery through opioid deprescribing...

10/11/2025

🎬 Join us this Thursday at Tullie, Carlisle, Cumbria, for a special screening of ‘See the Whole of Me’ - a short animation inspired by the experiences of a diverse group of Cumbrian mums.

This powerful 3-and-a-half-minute film shares the voices of women from seldom-heard communities, who too often feel unseen or excluded within the healthcare system.

Come along to hear from all the partners who contributed to this project, and join the conversation on the transformational power of listening for new and mums-to-be.

The event will include a drinks reception, an animation screening, and talks, with an exclusive first look at the exhibition to follow throughout the next week at Tullie.

📅 Date: 5pm, Thursday 13 November 2025
📍 Location: Tullie, Carlisle, Cumbria
🔗 Sign up: https://tullie.org.uk/events/happy-mums-foundation-see-the-whole-of-me-film-screening/

The Happy Mums Foundation Newcastle University Cumbria CVS Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council Roots and Wings

06/11/2025

Celebrating !

As we nearly come to the end of , we’re highlighting the depth of experience our trustees bring to the table.

At Ways to Wellness, we know how vital the voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector is in keeping people well and reducing .

Having trustees who understand both the VCSE sector and how it works alongside the NHS and wider healthcare system helps us strengthen partnerships and work across sectors to improve people’s wellbeing.

Our trustees have:

➡️ Founded and grown voluntary and community organisations from the ground up
➡️ Led a mental health charity as CEO for more than a decade
➡️ Advised VCSE organisations on finance, governance and effective frameworks
➡️ Served on boards across everything from therapeutic horticulture to healthcare innovation

This collective expertise informs the way we work at Ways to Wellness, helping us tackle health inequalities through collaboration.

We want to say a huge thank you to our Trustees!

Professor Chris Drinkwater, Dr Guy Pilkington, Brendan Hill, Professor David Hunter, Mary Jordan, John Spurr, Dr Ruth Briel, Dr Robert Westgate, Dr Leahan Garratt.

👉 Meet our Board: https://www.waystowellness.org.uk/meet-our-board