Community of Practice Round-up (16th July 2025)
- alexfisher36
- Jul 24
- 7 min read
Updated: Jul 29
A summary of all the speakers from this week's COP, with external links included
Colin Orr – Kings Church Wirral
Colin began by thanking everyone, He remarked on what a pleasure it is to see so many people with such passion and love for their communities. Colin went on to give a little history of the church, that it was the former site of St. Joseph's Primary School and it came into their possession in 1983. He gave another example of the miracles that they see at King’s Church, telling a story about a man who turned up to them out of the blue who was in a very bad way and needed support, Colin expressed that the transformation that they have seen in him has been phenomenal.
Lee Pennington – Open Door & Primary Care Place Board
Lee opened with some updates from the Primary Care place board;
Wirral remains the highest in GP appointment availability per 100k population
Although new GP contract is a good thing there is still some risk to services with the increase to National insurance
Medication spending on Wirral is very high. Wirral spends more on medication that other places per 100k population.
ADHD Medication prescribed is significantly higher than anywhere else and is considered a massive outlier.
The addiction report Darkness to Light has been released and is an interesting read.
Lee then talked a bit about the Open Door Charity. Their Journey and the current future plans to move to the new Joy building. He described the excitement of the program which has taken 5 years but is going to be a really strong base for a range of mental health services. Lee also spoke briefly about the projects they currently offer at the ODC:
Bazaar – Bazaar is a free eight-session peer support programme shown to reduce the symptoms of anxiety and depression. By blending CBT, mindfulness and more Bazaar gives you the tools to combat negative thought patterns.
Mysa – Mysa is a free eight-session peers support programme for those living with disordered eating, that aims to empower members through knowledge understanding and empathy. Mysa also provide support groups tailored for those aged 18+ living with disordered eating.
OOMOO – For Children looked after and those with special guardianship order ages 10-18 living on Wirral it is designed around the ethos of putting young people in the driving seat of what is built around them. This is achieved through creative classes, therapeutic interventions, peer support and conversation of shared experience.
Branch – Branch is an online metal well-being hub for children and young people in Wirral aged 0-18. It offers tools and local support to help with any worries big or small.
Zoop – Zoop is a collaboration between ODC, CWP and partners to create an autism hub. Zoop Offers a range of wellbeing activities to anyone aged 18+ on the waiting list for autism assessment.
Karen Livesey – One Wirral
Karen is a representative on the Wirral Place Partnership board. She spoke firstly about the great opportunities we have within the sector to act as representative son a number of strategic groups. She implored more people to get involved as reps as there are number of opportunities available Representation | Wirral CVS. Support and mentoring is available for anyone who might be interested but doesn’t feel confident right away.
Next Karen highlighted some of the main points from the new NHS 10 Year plan. The main themes of interest are:
Illness to prevention
Analogue to Digital
Hospital to Community
She also highlighted that NHSE is being abolished, Healthwatch is also being closed down and that 50% of the ICB work force will be reduced. She emphasised the shift to local neighbourhood and community models around health and that as a sector this is a real opportunity for us to get involved and support good health and wellbeing work in communities.
Tia – One Wirral
Tia the health coach and program manager at One Wirral discussed the Community Health Check project aimed at enhancing the reach and impact of NHS Health Checks. Health Checks help people who are aged between 40-74 identify their risk of:
Heart disease (CVD or Cardiovascular Disease)
Diabetes
Kidney disease
Stroke
The programme focuses on delivering health assessments within the community, particularly targeting groups with historically low uptake rates
These include
Men
Individuals who misuse drugs and alcohol
People from Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds
Residents in the most deprived areas of Wirral
They are also looking into a program for people who fall outside this age range (under 40 and over 75) which will be more along the lines of a health MOT.
Mike Fortune – One Wirral
Mike is the Social Action Lead looking to engage and work with the local VCFSE organisations to reach local communities to educate on early detection to improve knowledge of the signs and symptoms of cancer within local communities. It is hoped to encourage more people to go for NHS screenings when they are invited – reducing inequalities in when it comes to accessing cancer treatment. He asked that if you had access to groups that would benefit from more knowledge around health screenings that you get in touch.
Liz – One Wirral
Liz, who works within the Cancer Support service, came to thank everyone for their support around the Macmillan HOPE course. One Wirral CIC helped deliver Macmillan’s HOPE Course (Help Overcoming Problems Effectively). The ‘HOPE Course’ helps people manage the day-to-day impact cancer has on their lives and rediscover their strengths after treatment ends. Designed for people who have had cancer, regardless of the type, and then may have felt on their own after treatment, and who may be finding it difficult to cope with the long-term effects. It has helped individuals self-manage feelings such as anxiety, fatigue and allow them to address concerns for the future. To learn more about this course head to One Wirral’s website.
Liam Hanlon – Tri4Life
Tri4Life are a community group that looks to support people through adversity or addiction with sport and community. As a community they organise a Mersey swim where they encourage people to get involved in open water swimming.
The next Mersey swim is the 30th of August and the fundraising that they do will be used within local organisations. There goal is to provide community participation through physical activity to provide opportunities for challenge and development.
Bev Williams - AJ and Friends CIC
AJ and friends was founded in 2018 and are based in Kingsmead School in Hoylake. They provide a range of family support services to support the health and social care needs of children and their families. They specialize in care services catering to children and young adults living with neurodiverse conditions, as well as individuals with disabilities, learning delays, and profound and multiple disabilities.
From birth through adulthood, they offer personalised support that focuses on enhancing the quality of life and promoting independence for each individual. They focus on regulation before education but once ready they offer immersive educational experiences that aren’t often available in other settings. They subscribe to the 5 pillars of care to offer high level trauma informed interventions.
Bev highlighted that they have an open day on the 30th of July from 10am to 12pm AJ and Friends, The Centenary Building, 6 Carlton Lane, Hoylake, CH47 3DB
Nikki Barker – Branch
Nikki from branch came to talk about Branch. Branch is an online mental wellbeing hub for children and young people in Wirral, from 0 all the way to 18 (and up to 25 with additional needs). It doesn’t deliver services directly – it’s more of a guide, helping people to find the best tools and local support.
It can be used for any child or young person, no matter how big or small their worries feel. It’s packed with tips to help them feel better and, when they need a bit of extra support, gives simple routes into local services Branch doesn’t offer crisis support but has information on where to get help in an emergency.
Beth Saunders – Wirral Foodbank
Beth came to talk about the new community advice hub. The Community Advice Hub will host Citizens Advice Wirral, Energy Project Plus, Wirral Change, CAP Wirral and community connectors from Involve Northwest. Covering advice and support on benefits, debts, energy bills and more, people can pop in and speak to a friendly adviser to easier access the help that they need.
The hub is hosted by One Wirral CIC in the centre of Birkenhead, opposite the McDonalds on the corner of Oxton Road and Grange Road West, Birkenhead, CH41 2QJ. The hub will be open to members of the public every Thursday morning 9:30-12:30.
She also thanked everyone who supported the Foodbanks lobby to support increasing universal credit. Although the recent welfare build was adjusted there is still a long way to go to make the universal credit amounts line up with the cost of living. They present their petition in the house of commons so they are hopeful that their lobbying will have an effect moving forward.
Joanne Parr – Merseyside Society for Deaf People
Joanne came to highlight the support services that MSDP offer. They support with Training, Interpreters, equipment prevision and service level agreements around provision. They provide duty sessions that provide 1:1 advice and support to people with all levels of hearing loss who are over 16 and live in Wirral, Sefton and Liverpool. Their advice and support officers give clients confidence and knowledge to solve problems and advocate for themselves. They also provide community development opportunities through their base with A&K Football in Birkenhead.
Joanne highlighted a story recently when one of their members happened across and asylum seeker who had received their right to remain but because they were deaf struggled to understand what to do next. They were homeless and sat in a bus stop at a loss. The community member who happened to bump into them recognised that they were deaf and supported them to connect with MSDP who were able to find accommodation for them and support them with all of their paper work.
Philip Barton – Rotary Community Service Committee
Phil came to talk about the fundraising efforts that the Rotary take part in. They support mostly unincorporated groups and small organisations as well as supporting with aid efforts abroad. They encouraged groups to get in touch with rotary to explore discussing what they do and to see if there were any ways in which they could work together.
The next Community of Practice meeting is 2nd September at Birkenhead Salvation Army, which you can RSVP to on our link below:
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