Tuesday 5 May 2020
Due to the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19), we will now be providing regular email updates for residents to let you know about the latest information we have and any changes to local services that may be affected.
If you do not wish to receive these updates please click on “unsubscribe” at the bottom of the page.
You can check the latest information on our website at any time by going to https://www.rotherham.gov.uk/coronavirus.
Garden waste collections to resume from Monday
Residents will be able to put out their brown bin on their usual collection day from Monday 11th May.
We’ve been working to resume the garden waste service as quickly as possible, with some members of staff being redeployed from other services to support our waste teams.
With many restrictions continuing to be in place during the lockdown, and with reduced staffing, we are asking residents to hold on to any additional waste that does not fit into the brown bin, until their next collection. This will help to ensure that we can continue with garden waste collections during this difficult period.
Further information will follow about how residents will be compensated for the six-week break in service. We want to ensure that despite these difficult times, residents get the amount of collections they have paid for.
We are grateful to residents for their continuing patience during this time.
Tetra-pak recycling in black bins
To further support residents, households can now recycle Tetra-paks at the kerbside in their back bin, along with glass, cans, and plastic bottles, tubs and trays.
These waterproof paper cartons often contain multi-layered materials such as paper, plastic, foil and wax. Examples include long-life milk and juice, soups, pasta sauce, tomato and picnic/children’s drinks cartons.
Further information about the kerbside waste collections is available on our website
Kerbside waste collections
More funeral service times to be provided
In order to support as many families as possible to grieve for their loved ones, East Herringthorpe Crematorium will be increasing the number of services available from 9th May.
Services on Saturdays are to be extended from 9am until 5pm (from 1pm) and will now also be available on Sundays from 10am to 2.30pm. Weekday times continue to be available from 8.15am to 6.30pm.
In addition, the length of cremation services provided will now be 30 minutes. Graveside burials remain unaffected.
During these difficult times, it is helpful if families can work closely with funeral directors to use all of the times being offered for services, allowing families to continue to be able to grieve for their loved ones in the way that they wish.
Up to 10 maximum attendees can attend each service including household members, close family members or friends. This is to be discussed with the Funeral Director. The 2-metre distance rule must be adhered to at all times.
We know how difficult it can be to not attend a loved one’s service. This may be because a person is shielding or displaying symptoms of COVID-19, or the maximum 10 persons has been reached. To enable as many people as possible to be part of the service, a live recording (webcast) of the service is being offered. We hope this will go some way to supporting people to be able to properly grieve.
In order to reflect the reduction in service time, the fee for the cremation service has been reduced and there is no additional fee charged for the webcast.
Support with bereavement
The loss of a loved one is distressing at anytime, but with coronavirus affecting the way we can grieve and our ability to get support from friends and relatives, the impact on mental health and wellbeing is even greater.
Rotherham Council has worked in partnership with other local authorities in South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw to launch the Listening Ear service, providing free counselling for people who have lost loved ones during the pandemic.
The service is accessed through a free call and will allow the bereaved to talk to a trained therapist who will be able to offer emotional health and wellbeing support when they need it the most.
Anyone wishing to use the service should call 0800 048 5224 (freephone) or provide details via the Listening Ear website www.listening-ear.co.uk/refer.
If you know someone who has recently been bereaved and needs support, please share this information.
Access Bereavement support
Business as usual for NHS and GPs
The coronavirus pandemic has resulted in a decrease in people accessing NHS services for a range of conditions that are not related to coronavirus.
This appears to be impacting: adults and children attending at A&E departments for urgent and emergency medical issues, including serious conditions such as stroke and heart attacks; cancer patients attending their ongoing treatments; and expectant mothers attending for regular scans.
The NHS ‘Open for business’ campaign has been created to help address this issue by giving people permission to access NHS services and reassuring them that they won’t be a burden on the NHS.
All Rotherham’s GP practices are open.
Please continue to contact them by telephone, rather than going to the surgery, if you need to speak to your doctor.
Please also remember that if you have a medical emergency, not related to COVID-19, you should still go to hospital for treatment. This includes people suffering from:
- loss of consciousness
- acute confused state and fits that are not stopping
- chest pain
- breathing difficulties
- severe bleeding that cannot be stopped
- severe allergic reactions
- severe burns or scalds
- stroke
- major trauma such as a road traffic accident
Macmillan Cancer Support have produced this excellent video. Please share and help spread the message:
VIDEO: Your GP is still here for you
Want to learn some basic sign language?
This week is Deaf Awareness Week (4th to 8th May).
We’ll be using our Twitter and Facebook pages to give a beginners guide to British Sign Lanuage. New lessons will appear everyday, including how to sign the alphabet, how to introduce yourself and ask simple questions and even learn a song.
And we’ll be encouraging people taking part to share their new skills on social media, using the hashtag #deafawarenessweek2020
We’re highlighting the work of Rotherham Council’s Children’s Hearing Impairment team, which works with deaf children and young people and children and young people aged up to 25 with a hearing impairment.
The team works closely with NHS Rotherham Foundation Trust’s audiology department so they can support babies, children and their families from their diagnosis of hearing loss and monitoring their child’s communication and language.
Currently, the Hearing Impairment team works with over 400 children and young people in Rotherham, providing advice, specialist teaching and training as well as British Sign Language classes to families, schools and other family settings.
More information about Deaf Awareness Week
Getting in touch…
During this challenging time please, where possible and appropriate, use our online services rather than calling via telephone. We’re receiving a high level of calls daily and want to ensure we’re able to answer urgent calls regarding vulnerable residents and our front line services.