Yes: you did read that right! Today, (August 20) is World Honey Bee Day and although I love all bees, I have to confess Bumbles are actually my favourite. Most people have heard the phrase – attributed to Einstein – that for every third mouthful of food you eat, thank a bee (although I have heard that this statistic was probably not put forward by the great man*).

The World’s Biggest Coffee Morning is Macmillan’s biggest fundraising event for people facing cancer. They ask people all over the UK to host their own Coffee Mornings and donations on the day are made to Macmillan. Last year alone they raised £25 million and this year they are aiming to raise even more.

Approximately 225,000 people develop dementia every year – that’s the equivalent to one person every three minutes!

• Always remember that your first duty, which should be laid out in your Code of Conduct, is to those in your care, even if that means having to report your mistakes, or those made by others.
  
  
• Wherever you’re working, you have a right to be informed of the processes for managing feedback and handling complaints that are in place.
  
  
• If you see something happening in your workplace that you feel is poor practice or unsafe, you have an obligation to raise or report your concerns. If this is difficult, you have the right to inform a senior member of staff and to expect that they will act upon your concerns.
  
  
• Don’t try to do things, or promise things, if you are not trained in handling complaints or unqualified to do so. It is safer to tell someone that you cannot help them directly but that you will get someone who can, than risk causing dissatisfaction or, even worse, possible harm
  
  
• Make sure you access any available complaints handling training and, if relevant, conflict resolution. If training isn’t available, ask management whether it could be provided.
  
  
• You should be made aware of the appropriate senior colleague to whom you can re-direct any complaints. Ideally, you should be able to take someone with a concern directly to them in the event that you are unable to resolve a problem.

Raising and responding to concerns is something that staff should all be comfortably able to do. But we know that being able to speak out is not always as easy as it sounds, but you must have the courage to report and concerns you have, so that lessons can be learned and best practice and processes developed. 

“An expression of dissatisfaction made to an organisation, related to its products or services, or the complaints-handling process itself, where a response or resolution is explicitly or implicitly expected”

Alcoholic hepatitis is a type of hepatitis caused by drinking excessive amounts of alcohol over many years.

This year sees the first ever World Health Organisation’s Global Strategy for Viral Hepatitis, which sets a goal of eliminating viral hepatitis as a public health threat by 2030.

Let's join together on World Hepatitis Day (28 July) to make the elimination of viral hepatitis our next greatest achievement.

As you may have seen, the team have been developing a short Cancer Support Guide to provide advice and guidance for anyone who is currently awaiting results, have recently been diagnosed or are living with cancer - or their carers.

Sometimes it's hard to know what to say, or how to help when a friend or family member has been diagnosed with cancer. 

We all have differing degrees of mental health at different times in our lives. Most people aren’t at the extremes but fall somewhere in the middle. Anyone can become mentally ill, given the right circumstances.