People with long-term illness book in for advice
ROCHDALE residents living with long-term health conditions can benefit from a new reading scheme.
Rochdale Borough Council has signed up to the latest Reading Well project, promoting access to recommended books to help people living with long-term conditions such as diabetes, asthma, heart disease, arthritis and stroke.
There are also interesting titles giving advice on overcoming fatigue and managing pain, whilst others in the nationally approved collection offer support for relatives and carers.
Each of the 28 titles in the Books on Prescription for longterm conditions list will be available across the council’s 17 libraries.
Recent statistics released by NHS England found there are more than 26 million people across the country living with long-term health conditions.
Councillor Janet Emsley, cabinet member for libraries, said: “This is an excellent scheme which provides fantastic support to enable people living with long-term conditions to better understand their symptoms.
“Thousands of people across the borough are living with these conditions, so the more useful information they can access to help manage their ailments, the better.
“It’s just the tonic and yet another great service provided by the council’s libraries.”
Previous Reading Well schemes for young people, adults with mental health conditions and people living with dementia have reached nearly 700,000 people across the UK.
To provide access to the scheme, doctors or health and social care professionals may prescribe a book from the recommended list, and patients can then collect their reading matter from any of the borough’s libraries.
Alternatively, the books can be borrowed, without prescription, by anyone with a Rochdale libraries card.
The prescribed books have been specially selected and reviewed by professionals and those living with long-term conditions, who have rated them as helpful and easy to use.
The Reading scheme is run by the Reading Agency and Society of Chief Librarians
Details of how the scheme in the borough can be accessed are available at rochdale. gov.uk/libraries