Full Report

Social and Health

For the most part young people felt that their social and health needs were well catered for in the Northern Fells.

8.1 Social needs

Given that a high percentage of young people are employed in some sort of job and/or in education or training for work, they have little in the way of spare time. Any spare time that young people have is spent with friends either going into Carlisle for various entertainments or going to events, meetings, matches, pubs and friends’ houses in the Northern Fells. Few young people felt that additional activities or spaces needed to be laid on for them. The following comments by a group of young people were common:

There’s quite a lot goes on in the village

There’s always like dos up in the Hall or down at the Club or if someone’s birthday so you all go out or something. Around Christmas time there’s just different dos on, fund raising dos and all that kind of stuff

So you’re pretty sorted then locally?

Aye, I never, I never seem to get a day to just stay at home and just watch telly or sommat

There’s hardly a night you’re just at home. You’re always out doing something (Young men, 18-24 age group)

Not everyone was completely happy with his or her social life in the Northern Fells. It tended to be individual young women who pointed out those facilities and activities aimed at everyone else, especially tourists, children or older generations, except themselves:

You know you've got Brownies and Scouts when you're really young and like there's playgroups and stuff. There's a big gap until you're what? Forty? You know you can join the W.I. or (laughter). Nothing in between

Yeah, like go bowling or, don't know, like you say there's a cut off point (Helen and Catherine, 18-24 age group)

It was unsurprising that it was individual women who pointed out the lack of locally organised social activities for young people. This was because many of the local activities, including darts, pool, football and cricket, were attractive to young men and not themselves. There were few alternatives for women. Furthermore, it was young women who pointed out that the hub of social activities was Caldbeck. Those who lived in places on the outskirts of the Northern Fells felt marginalized from networks of information about forthcoming events and activities. They also felt insecure about taking part in what they perceived to be Caldbeck activities, such as the Caldbeck Players, given that they were ‘not a Caldbeck person’.

8.2 Health needs

Few young people raised concerns with regard to unmet health needs or problems accessing services. Local GPs were well aware of problems and issues pertinent to young people seeking health care and advice in rural areas. A local GP neatly captured the hurdles to local health care that young people potentially face:

Uncle Bob might come in and then, Uncle Bob says “I saw your young daughter, blablabla”. You know, “ohhh, what was she doing at the practice” and there goes confidentiality. Also, and the receptionists are very local, so a young person probably knows them or they’re the mother of their best friend whatever. These are big issues in a rural practice. We, as a practice, are totally confidential can’t do anything about uncle Bob coming in and going oh I saw your young daughter at the practice. But our staff has a duty to confidentiality. So none of our staff would go out and say such and such was at the practice. They are bound by confidential agreement but young people, although that is a fact, I don’t think young people will trust it, or do we tell them that enough? So in their heads, they probably think “oh my god it’s Aunty Sally behind the desk, blablabla…”. But they probably don’t realize that Aunty Sally is bound by a confidentiality code and she promises she won’t say anything to anybody. So, we need to really push that out there (Health practitioner)

Only one young person was unhappy with service provision with regard to the particular case of mental health care:

There’s absolutely nowhere for young people to go. Like I think there’s the Fairfield Centre for really young children and then there’s the Garlands for people who are adults…….

Fairfield, what sort of place is that?

It’s psychiatry. It’s a psychiatrists but it’s mostly for like bed wetting children or people who are five and have just lost their grandparents.