Health and Wellbeing News, Events and Opportunities – February 2026
February 19, 2026
Welcome to Cumbria CVS’s Health and Wellbeing News, Events and Opportunities for February 2026. This page will be updated regularly, so we are delighted you have landed here today and hope that you will keep coming back for updates during the month.
Lots of the News, Events and Opportunities information will also be appearing in our regular Health and Wellbeing Bulletin. This Bulletin is sent out to all current members of our two Networks: Action for Health and the Mental Health Provider Forum. If you have found this page useful why not join either or both Networks by following these links:
News – we will be using this as an opportunity to pick out particularly important/interesting articles from our most recent Bulletin and/or highlighting information that might be time sensitive.
Events – we will be using this as an opportunity to highlight events of interest to organisations interested in health and care issues including Network events. Most of these will be local Cumbria events but some maybe regional.
Opportunities – we will be using this to highlight health and care focused funding and project opportunities, representative roles and working groups you might want to get involved in and much more. These will focus on Cumbria but may also include regional opportunities.
If you’ve seen something you think we should be sharing, let us know! Email us:
Clare Edwards claree@cumbriacvs.org.uk
Holly Ferguson hollyf@cumbriacvs.org.uk
Sarah Penn sarah.penn@cumbriacvs.org.uk
WEST CUMBRIA area – Every Life Matters Training Opportunities
Every Life Matters have recently received funding from Workington town council to deliver some free suicide prevention training across the town, specifically targeting parents and sports groups clubs, this builds nicely on the incredible work already taking place with the Cumbria United project.
Workington Town have kindly offered to host two training sessions at the town ground, both taking place on the 25th Feb (details attached below)
The sessions are an hour long, and a simply introduction for those unfamiliar with the subject of suicide and for parents who want practical advice on how to have conversations about MH/self-harm/Suicide.
COUNTYWIDE – The Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) Switch-Off
Migration to digital phone services is already well underway, as the PSTN is now outdated, energy inefficient, costly to maintain, and no longer suitable for modern communications needs.
The move to digital networks will ensure landline services remain reliable, modern, and fit for the future.
It is important to stay engaged with your service provider during this transition. Digital phone services are not self powered, so you may need a battery back up to keep essential devices running during a power cut, and some legacy equipment may not be compatible with the new system.
If you use assistive technology such as fall alarms, telecare systems, or other safety critical devices then please contact your provider as soon as possible to understand how the switch off might affect you and what support is available.
CARLISLE area – Travel Actively – New Walks Launched
FREE Smillie Stroll Thursday 26th February | Facebook at 10.30am and we look forward to welcoming you then!
As always the walks are all promoted on Active Cumbria Eventbrite and Travel Actively Carlisle | Facebook so please feel free to share these far and wide.
COUNTYWIDE – Poverty Proofing © Healthcare Training
We understand that minimising the impact of poverty on healthcare provision is key to breaking the link between an individual’s income and their opportunity to live a long, healthy life. Our Poverty Proofing© team experts can support healthcare teams to listen to the experiences of their patients, staff and stakeholders on how poverty impacts them. We can then provide tailored guidance, built on evidence and tested methods, on what actions can support improvement in areas such as access, participation, experience and long-term engagement.
What will you gain from the training
Staff will gain understanding and awareness about:
-How poverty is defined
-Poverty statistics in a national and local context
-The causes and consequences of poverty
-The unconscious bias and stigma surrounding poverty
-The link between poverty and health outcomes
-How organisational practices can create barriers to accessing healthcare
-Why a whole system approach is needed when addressing health inequalities
-How the lived experience of individuals can be used to inform change
The two session dates are below
10th March 2026 9.30am-12.30pm
26th March 2026 12pm-3pm
Click here for more information
COUNTYWIDE – Action for Health meeting
Tuesday 21st April 10.30am-12.30pm
Penrith Rugby Club, Winters Pk, Penrith, CA11 8RQ
An exciting opportunity to join an in-person information and workshop style event.
Led by Triple AAA this event will cover aspects of neurodivergence with a focus on Autism and ADHD aiming to:
Bust some myths
Help you improve your services
Help you better support your staff
A 2 hour session with FREE Networking Lunch
Click here to book onto the event.
COUNTYWIDE – CumbriaMed Research Webinar on Exploring Population Health
CumbriaMed Research Webinar on Exploring Population Health – Thurs 26 February 2026, 12:30-13:30
The PCSM Research Hub invites you to join us for the next edition of the CumbriaMed Research Webinar Series, which showcases leading health researchers working in and with Cumbria. Each session features two expert speakers and a live Q&A. The series is open to staff, students, patients, relatives, and the public; all are welcome.
Topic: Exploring Population Health
Date: Thursday 26 February 2026
Time: 12:30–13:30
Location: Zoom (registration required)
Register: tinyurl.com/pcsm-webi7
Speakers:
Prof Rory Collins – Emeritus Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology, University of Oxford, and Principal Investigator of UK Biobank
“UK Biobank: Scale, Depth, Duration… but Most Importantly, Accessibility”
Rory is a clinical researcher who studies why people develop common diseases and how they can be prevented and treated. He leads UK Biobank, a large UK health study that brings together lifestyle, genetic, and medical information to help improve prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.
Dr Christopher Chiswell – Public Health Consultant, University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust
“Public Health in Cumbria”
Christopher works with local authorities, health services, and community partners to improve population health and reduce health inequalities. His work applies evidence in real-world settings, showing how public health teams and community projects translate insight into practical action across Cumbria.
Please see the attached flyer for full details, or contact us at: pcsmresearchhub@cumbria.ac.uk
Hosted by: PCSM Research Hub
Funded by: NIHR Imperial Biomedical Research Centre (BRC)
NORTH CUMBRIA NHS area – Help shape the future of outcomes for health commissioning – join the conversation
Help shape the future of outcomes for health commissioning – join the conversation
Thursday 12th March, 9am – 12pm (online via Zoom)
Following a series of in-person workshops which took place across the region in the autumn, we are hosting this online workshop for the Assura project which is exploring how we can co-design a shared, proportionate outcomes and impact framework that better reflects the value of VCSE organisations within health commissioning. Your ideas and insights from this session will be added to the outcomes generated by colleagues at the in-person workshops to help develop the recommendations.
What to expect at the online workshop
- Explore what data VCSE organisations already collect and how it can be used
- Share learning about what works well and the challenges we face
- Discuss how we can evidence the impact of the VCSE sector on health and inequalities
- Consider how the framework can support all types of organisations, from the smallest grassroots groups to larger providers
This workshop is specifically for VCSE sector colleagues representing organisations of all sizes and specialisms across the North East and North Cumbria that:
- Currently deliver, have delivered, or plan to deliver health and wellbeing services through NHS/ICB grants or contracts
- Have applied unsuccessfully for the above, but still want to be part of future health system partnerships.
A one-off payment of £100 is offered per organisation for attendance, in recognition of your time.
Please note – for those of you who attended the North Cumbria specific in-person event on 07.10.2025 this is a repeat of this session
