New baby hub to help vulnerable mothers opens in Oldham

Healthy Gems Hub held its open day on Monday at Lindley House, its new base, to allow people in the area to come and see its services and celebrate the move to its new home.

The space was recently transformed by NHS Property Services, a government-owned company helping the NHS get the most from its estate, to provide a safe environment for staff and visitors to use.

Healthy Gems is a project funded by a group called the Shared Health Foundation, and it aims to engage families across Greater Manchester to access health and wellbeing resources.

The hub in Oldham will look to be a valuable place for vulnerable mothers who do not have traditional support networks in their communities and need to find the support to raise their children elsewhere.

Those who access the services of the hub will receive care packages with resources and materials for their babies, as well as counselling sessions providing education and support on a number of topics such as breastfeeding.

There will also be workshops on things such as health literacy, mental wellbeing, oral health, sexual health, nutrition and weaning.

Angie Ouattara of Shared Health Foundation said: "The hub is here to give all around support alongside families in Oldham.

"From health literacy to therapeutic counselling, access to a GP trainee and hygiene packs the Hub is a one-stop shop for public health needs and an essential part of the community."

Healthy Gems' new hub has come about due to the NHS Social Property Services' social prescribing programme, which looks to convert underused spaces for organisation like Shared Health Foundation.

Social prescribing relieves the pressure on primary care and is designed to give patients the tools to take control of their own health, which reduces the pressures on clinical and acute services.

The hub is connected to a doctor's practice which will give patients a link to primary care should they need it.

Dan Burdett, regional partnership director of NHS Property Services, said: "It is great to see the space at Lindley House being used in such a positive way.

"We worked closely with the Shared Health Foundation, listening to their requirements to create a welcoming and safe Hub centre."