Ways to Wellness is a new service for people in the west of Newcastle whose daily lives are affected by certain long-term health conditions. GPs and their primary care teams use social prescribing to refer patients to the service. Ways to Wellness adds to and complements the medical support that people receive, to help them feel more confident to manage their long-term conditions and make positive lifestyle choices.
The aim of the service is to improve patients’ quality of life and reduce their use of mainstream health services by enabling them to lead healthier lives and better manage their conditions. It will also reduce the cost of meeting their needs, particularly to the Newcastle West Clinical Commissioning Group (now part of Newcastle Gateshead CCG) and other parts of the National Health Service (NHS).
To achieve this, Ways to Wellness provides patients with a Link Worker to help them to identify and work to overcome their current barriers to managing their long-term conditions. The Link Workers will work with patients to produce an agreed action plan, which may include a range of activities, such as:
Social prescribing is not new to the west of Newcastle upon Tyne (or elsewhere) and this project is the culmination of many years of effort to test ways of making it work.
The Ways to Wellness Trust is a registered charitable foundation, and Ways to Wellness Ltd is the trading arm, which holds and manages contracts with service providers, social investors and the pre-existing Newcastle West CCG (now part of Newcastle Gateshead CCG).
Procure services via contracts with Service Providers who will employ Link Workers and deliver the Ways to Wellness service.
Provide some of the initial training for Link Workers to help embed the core values and performance management.
Ways to Wellness is for people with certain long-term health conditions, aged 40 to 74, who attend GP practices within the pre-existing NHS Newcastle West Clinical Commissioning Group area (now part of Newcastle Gateshead CCG).
Education about healthy behavior helps, but it rarely works alone. To be effective in supporting change, people need information that is carefully aligned with their everyday lives. Peer support is important and this can come from someone who has a similar health condition, friends and family, or people who understand firsthand the circumstances of someone’s life.
Ways to Wellness wants to build social capital in the communities it is trying to serve wherever possible because this supports our overall mission.
We aim to complement the existing and evolving work of the NHS. It is one of the best health providers in the world, but some aspects face limits.
Tara brings extensive healthcare and business experience to her role with Ways to Wellness. She previously worked in NHS Clinical Commissioning in North East England. Prior to that, Tara worked as an Occupational Therapist in clinical roles with patients for more than ten years in England (Gateshead) and Canada. Her early career experience was as a professional geologist and project manager, exploring for gold in remote corners of the world. Tara holds an MBA (with distinction) from Durham University, an MSc in Occupational Therapy (McMaster University) and a BSc in Geology (University of British Columbia). She is registered with the Health and Social Care Professions Council UK.
Amie has extensive finance and audit experience, understands the key drivers behind successful business performance and has a sound financial background. Prior to her role with Ways to Wellness she held numerous roles within a multinational US-based organisation, including as Assistant Financial Controller across a European Division, managing business projects and performing in depth financial audits. Amie has been a member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants since 2011.
Laura Caithness | Business Administration Assistant
Prior to joining Ways to Wellness, Laura gained experience across the voluntary sector, working with both children and women. In her previous role, she worked within the Student Support Team at a local university, providing admin support to both staff and students. She provided specialist support to students, acting as first point of contact for information, advice and guidance. Laura has also worked within the public sector providing financial information and advice to Higher Education students. Laura received a BA (Hons) in History in 2013.
Ways to Wellness Ltd has company directors who are legal responsible for the running of the company.
Jane brings with her many years of experience working in the NE voluntary sector primarily with a focus on health and wellbeing. She has broad experience of working within the sector including running a local infrastructure organisation and leading a significant service provider organisation, Pioneering Care Partnership (PCP), operating across Co. Durham and Tees Valley. She also has experience as a Trustee and Director of various small and medium charities and in a small community interest company working regionally. Latterly she has worked as a consultant supporting VCSE organisations across the North East and has built a strong credible reputation along the way.
Duncan has 25 years of finance & business experience in FMCG and Retail businesses. Having joined Robson Rhodes from university as an auditor in 1992 he later went on to work for Spillers Petfood (Nestle) and Yoplait Dairy Crest in a number of finance roles before joining Greggs as Divisional Financial Controller in 2002. During his time at Greggs he has managed the centralisation of the finance team and put in place effective business partnering and financial planning teams. He has also taken an active role in supporting the strategic re-alignment of the business and now also runs the strategic planning process.
Mila Lukic works for Bridges’ Social Sector Funds team, focusing on Social Impact Bond investments. Mila previously worked as a Management Consultant with Accenture and she also spent 4 years working on Education Generation, an online community working together to fund scholarships for young leaders in developing world countries to participate in some of the world’s most forward-thinking education programs. Mila holds a First Class Honours Bachelor of Science degree with a Joint Major Molecular Biology and Biochemistry and Business Administration from Simon Fraser University in Canada and an MBA from INSEAD.
