Annual Review 2009 - Sandwell & West Birmingham Hospitals

Chapter Three
Transformation of
Ear Care
23
The beginning of March saw the launch of
the new ‘Ear care community clinics,’ which
marked the transformation of patient care as
we know it.
The pilot scheme plans to bring health care to
the community by establishing clinics managed
by specialist nurses, to offer a patient-led service
away from the hospital setting.
The six month pilot aims to treat ENT patients
with conditions which can not be treated in
GP surgeries such as, chronic external ear
infections, persistent ear wax removals, microsuction
and ear dressings.
The service, which is a part of the ‘Right Care,
Right Here’ programme and is facilitated by
Trust, requires GP’s to refer patients to the
clinics, where they will be seen by a specialist
ENT nurse at their own convenience. Although
patients do not need to make an appointment
to be seen, they will need a referral form on
attending the clinic.
“The new clinics will be better for patients as
they are able to access a service closer to home
with the same facilities used in hospitals. There
are also shorter waiting times for treatments,”
says Martin Whitehouse, Clinical Nurse Specialist
and Lead at the Aston ear clinic.
The specialist nurses at the clinics will receive
clinical supervision from Mr Uday Kale, ENT
Consultant. However, if successful it is envisaged
that this service will become increasingly primary
care led with more community locations across
the region.
Currently, the service will be based at Aston
Health Centre on Mondays and Rowley Regis
Hospital on Fridays. Both clinics will be available
from 2pm-4pm.
Two pints of milk and a
quick blood test
IF you’ve ever had a blood test you’ll know
that it is a fairly simple and straightforward
process, rarely taking longer than a few
minutes. So why should you have to go to a
hospital or GP surgery to have it done?
Well, thanks to Sandwell and West Bromwich
Hospitals NHS trust, now you don’t. In fact all
you have to do is pop into the Asda Superstore
at Great Bridge, where a senior hospital
phlebotomist will take your blood sample and
dispatch it back to the hospital for the results
to be available on the same day.
With over 38,000 blood tests being taken by
the Trust every month, it makes sense that
more locations are offered to provide patients
a greater choice of where to attend.
Phlebotomy Manager, Sukvinder Atkar
explained: “The Americans have been offering
this kind of service for about five years, and it
has proved very popular in the states.