Community Mental Health Teams - Dudley Primary Care Trust

More documents

Recommendations

Info

DUDLEY HEALTH LINK NEWS PAGE 2 DUDLEY HEALTH LINK NEWS PAGE 3 BOOST TO NHS DENTISTRY IN DUDLEY The 1st of April marked the dawn of a new era for NHS dentistry in Dudley as dentists and the Primary Care Trust took on the new Dental Contracts. The contracts bring an £8.74m investment in Dudley’s dentistry from the Primary Care Trusts along with an increase of 5% in dental activity commissioned by the PCTs. This will mean that anyone who wants to see an NHS dentist should be able to do so within 24 hours. This is great news for Dudley with 30 out of the 33 dental practices in the area agreeing to the new terms. The contract seals some of the many reforms in dentistry IMPORTANT CHANGES TO YOUR DENTAL OUT OF HOURS SERVICE From the 1st April 2006, if you require dental treatment between the hours of 6:30pm and 8:00am Monday to Friday, all weekend and on bank holidays, you need to call 01384 568792. The call will be received by the Out of Hours Dental Team based at Bhandal Dental Practice, 148 High Street, Cradley Heath, West Midlands, B64 5HJ and they will offer advice or where necessary, make you an appointment to come and see them at the practice or direct you to the most appropriate alternative. This service is for urgent dental treatment and should only be accessed if your treatment cannot wait until your dental practice is open. You should only consider using the Out of Hours Service if: ● ● You are experiencing severe dental and facial pain not controlled by over-the-counter pain relief You think you may have a severe infection in your gums If you are unsure whether your treatment is urgent, please call NHS Direct for advice on 0845 4647. If you have any concerns regarding this service, please contact FHS Shared Services on 01384 366017. Patients in Dudley can now benefit from a new minor injuries service which has been launched to help beat waiting times at GP practices. The new pilot service runs from Ladies Walk Health Centre in Sedgley and is being provided because many GP practices in the Borough are at their busiest at the beginning of the week as patients wait to see a clinician to deal with illnesses that have occurred over the weekend. The service, being run by two advanced nurse practitioners and a GP, provides help for people suffering from minor ailments or injuries that do not require emergency treatment such as cuts and grazes, sprains and strains, bites and stings, infected wounds, minor eye infections, foreign bodies and scratches. And because the service does not require an appointment, health chiefs in the Borough are hoping that patients who are unable to get an appointment with their GP on a Monday morning will choose to get their care from the new centre. bringing with it a number of benefits for patients, including giving them a clear charging structure for NHS dentist services and will help ensure even more people are able to access dental services in the Borough. The new contract will ensure that patients only pay once for each course of treatment - no matter how many times they need to visit the dentist to complete that treatment. The new contract will also enable dentists to agree with patients how regularly they need to have a check-up, with patients with better oral health being able to visit their dentist less frequently than every 6 months. Andy Harrison, Director of Operations & Primary Care welcomed the news saying: “The teams have been working hard to ensure that we maintain our excellent level of dentistry here in Dudley and I am pleased that so many dentists have chosen to continue working with us. This level of investment can only improve on this already high standard of care provision.” CARE PAPER CHASE BECOMES A THING OF THE PAST NEW SERVICE TO BEAT MONDAY BLUES “Because GPs can only see so many people, some patients chose to go to A&E as an alternative - but often end up just being referred back to their GP” Patients and carers in Dudley are set to benefit from a new streamlined way of recording health and social care needs as clinicians and social care staff abandon reams of paperwork and roll out a new streamlined process. April saw the beginning of the new single assessment process, which gives patients in the Borough a single set of papers that explains the care they will receive - something clinicians and care workers can add to over time. Until now, every nurse or care worker who provides services has had to keep their own paperwork, which has meant that some patients have had a number of files kept on their condition - information that sometimes isn’t shared between services. Cath Molineux, Nurse Consultant said: “Monday’s have always been the busiest days for our practices because many patients who develop minor health problems over the weekend wait until Monday to see their GP. But because the GPs can only see so many people, some patients choose to go to A&E as an alternative but often end up just being referred back to their GP. “By launching the new service we hope to get those patients off the merry-go-round and offer a service which they can drop into and be guaranteed to be seen and treated. And if the trial is successful, we may look to roll the service out elsewhere as well.” If you are unsure if your injury requires A&E, please call NHS Direct on 0845 4647 or contact the Minor Injuries Centre on 01902 575909 or 01902 575910. The centre will operate from 9am-5pm every Monday from Ladies Walk Health Centre. By providing a single system, clinicians and social care workers are now able to see who is providing what care for patients, helping them to make a better judgement about the care they provide. Anna Stanley, project manager for single assessment in Dudley said: “The Single Assessment Process, with its emphasis upon person centred care, not only places the service user at the heart of the care they receive, but enables clients and professionals to share information thereby promoting a co-ordinated response to their needs. “The Single Assessment Process is designed to cut down on the amount of paperwork health and social care staff have to use and to help ensure that better clinical decisions are made.” Linda Sanders, Director of Dudley Council’s Adult, Community and Housing Services said:”The strong local partnership that has developed the Single Assessment Process is welcomed as a way to making a positive difference to how residents of Dudley can access services.” PODIATRY SERVICE MOVES OFFICES As from Monday 24th April, the administrative offices of the Podiatry service will be relocating to 1st Floor Office Suite, Cranham House, Amblecote, Stourbridge, DY8 4BZ. All appointment request slips should be directed to this address after this date. Telephone numbers will remain unchanged. It is important to be aware that we will no longer be able to accept personal callers at our new location. These are multi-use offices and we do not have reception facilities. All appointment queries must, in future, be made by telephone or letter. PNEUMO JAB - DO YOU NEED IT Pneumococcal disease is an infection caused by the bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae, which usually lives harmlessly in the back of many peoples’ throats. However it can invade other parts of the body and cause serious, possibly life-threatening illnesses such as pneumonia, septicaemia (blood poisoning) and meningitis. The bacteria (germs) that cause pneumococcal disease are spread by coughing, sneezing or close contact between people. The bacteria get into the nose and throat and they may stay there without doing any harm. But sometimes they can invade the lungs or bloodstream causing pneumonia and septicaemia, or they can reach the brain and cause meningitis. The symptoms of pneumococcal infection of the lungs are: ● A high fever, coughing, shaking chills, breathlessness, chest pains and confusion. The symptoms of pneumococcal meningitis are: ● A severe headache, a stiff neck, a high fever, confusion and being sensitive to light. Immunisation with pneumococcal vaccine helps to prevent pneumococcal disease. The Department of Health recommends vaccination against pneumococcal disease if you are 65 years of age or over OR have any of the following medical conditions: ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● Serious breathing problems, such as chronic bronchitis or emphysema Serious heart conditions Severe renal disease Long-term liver disease Diabetes that needs medication Immunosuppression due to disease or treatment such as chemotherapy or radiotherapy for cancer or long-term steroid for conditions such as asthma An absent or poor functioning spleen Cochlear implant(s) A CSF shunt If you think you need this jab then check with your doctor or practice nurse. Side effects are usually mild and most people will only need to have the vaccine once. However those with a damaged spleen or problems with their kidneys may need a second dose. You can get more information about the pneumo jab from your doctor or practice nurse, or you can call NHS Direct on 0845 4647. You can also visit the NHS immunisation website at www.immunisation.nhs.uk. The Dudley Group of Hospitals NHS Trust is applying to become an NHS Foundation Trust by November 2006. If we do become an NHS Foundation Trust, it will be very much up to the members of the public, patients, carers, staff and volunteers to help shape the development of our hospitals, and you can be part of this by becoming a member of our Foundation Trust. What is a Foundation Trust All NHS hospitals will become Foundation Trusts by 2008, but by becoming an NHS Foundation Trust, it means that our hospitals will be run in a different way, whilst remaining part of the NHS. The benefits: ● ● ● ● There is real involvement of local people in running the hospitals through becoming members and through an elected Council of Governors The hospitals are accountable to local people for the quality of services they provide The hospitals can raise money for changing and improving services from several sources, and are not restricted to using only Government funds The hospitals have to ensure they are managing their finances in a more business-like way STAFF GIVE THUMBS UP TO TRUSTS AS TOP EMPLOYERS Health staff in Dudley have given the thumbs up to the NHS as a good employer, with staff claiming the two PCTs have improved the way they operate by up to half the areas they are judged against. A report published by the Healthcare Commission at the end of March, which took into account of the views of just under 700 doctors, nurses and support staff, puts the two Dudley PCTs in the top 20% of PCTs in the country for giving management support, providing a quality work life balance, providing staff with job satisfaction and well structured Appraisals and Personal Development Plans. ● ● ● ● At least 80% of staff across the two PCTs said that they had taken advantage of flexible working options in their current job. 96% of staff working for the PCTs said that they had taken part in employer-supported training, learning or development in the last 12 months. Staff were also asked a series of questions about how satisfied they are with various aspects of their job including recognition for good work, support from their immediate manager and the extent to which the Trust values their work. With possible scores ranging from 1 to 5, with 1 representing very unsatisfied staff and 5 representing very satisfied staff, the Trust’s score of 3.74 for Dudley Beacon & Castle staff and 3.68 for staff employed by Dudley South put the PCTs again in the highest 20% of Trusts in the country. Chief Executive, Mark Cooke said: “The report showed that the PCTs are a good place to work. We have worked hard to ensure that our staff have a greater say on how we develop our services and how we run our organisation and our success in doing that shines through from today’s report. “It’s really important to have an organisation where the staff feel happy and valued because they are the people who are making sure we modernise our services to improve patient care”. The Dudley Group of Hospitals NHS Trust Why does The Dudley Group of Hospitals want to become one The Dudley Group of Hospitals provides hospital care to everyone in Dudley and to some patients from surrounding areas. With state-of-the-art medical and diagnostic equipment, in impressive new facilities, the Trust now offers the very best in hospital healthcare to its patients. Becoming an NHS Foundation Trust gives us the opportunity to bring up to date how we work with the local community, to make sure we are providing services that local people want, in the way they wish to have them delivered. The Government’s policy on Choice now means that from January this year, patients going to their GP are able to choose which hospital they want to go to for their planned treatment and care. The Dudley Group of Hospitals has the aim of being the ‘Hospital of Choice’ for local people providing high quality healthcare services which respond to patients’ needs. We recognise we cannot, and should not, achieve this without the active support of our local communities. Individuals and groups now have the chance to become involved and help us to achieve this aim. We believe that, with local people as members, and with the Council of Governors working with the Trust Board of Directors, we can positively improve the quality of services we provide. A key part of this is to make our care more accessible and more personal. NHS Foundation Trusts can recruit members of the public to become members of the Foundation Trust. These members will receive regular information about the hospitals and have the opportunity to learn more about how the hospital works through meetings, tours and discussions with staff. How Can You Find Out More To find out more about NHS Foundation Trusts or to express your interest in becoming a Member please contact us: ● ● ● You can call the Membership Office on 01384 456111 ext 1419 You can send a letter to Les Williams, Project Director, Foundation Trust Office, 2nd Floor C Block, Russells Hall Hospital, Dudley, West Midlands, DY1 2HQ. You can send an e-mail to foundationmembers@dgoh.nhs.uk
DUDLEY HEALTH LINK NEWS PAGE 4 DUDLEY HEALTH LINK NEWS PAGE 5 HEALTH CHIEFS GIVE GREEN LIGHT TO HELP BREASTFEEDING MUMS Health Chiefs in Dudley recently agreed a package of measures to give more help and encouragement to Mums in Dudley who wish to take up breastfeeding. A report to the two Primary Care Trust Boards earlier in the year highlighted the fact that while the number of mums in Dudley initiating breastfeeding is on the rise, it still falls way below the average for England. MAKE YOUR VIEWS COUNT Now the Trust is responding to Government calls to increase the number of mums initiating breastfeeding by 2% a year and have pulled together a Breastfeeding Action Plan with key partners around the Borough. The Trust’s Health Improvement Programme Manager, Trish Bussell, said there was strong medical evidence to suggest that breastfeeding had positive health implications for both mothers and babies. She said: “Evidence suggests that there are real health benefits to breastfeeding. For the child, it can help protect them against juvenile onset insulin dependent diabetes and even obesity. There are benefits for mums as well as it can help protect against ovarian and endometrial cancers.” But the Office for National Statistics have evidence that breastfeeding uptake is lower than average in less affluent areas, and it’s hoped the breastfeeding strategy will help address this in poorer areas of the Borough. 85% of mums classified as in higher occupation groups initiate breastfeeding compared to 59% in lower occupations - still way higher than the average take-up in Dudley. Now a Volunteers Breastfeeding Support Project has been set up using Neighbourhood Renewal Funds which aim to provide training for volunteers who want to support other mums to breastfeed their children and a community breastfeeding co-ordinator is being employed to support the service. Trish Bussell said: “We are proposing to develop the community volunteers project to provide better support to mums and established joint infant feeding policies across the two PCTs and the hospitals so that mums get consistent advice from the staff supporting them.” DUDLEY LEADS THE WAY WITH CHOOSE AND BOOK HEALTH CHIEFS PLAN TO CUT OBESITY IN DUDLEY Health chiefs in Dudley recently gave the green light to a strategy to cut obesity, claiming that obesity nationally has gone up by almost 400% in the last 25 years. ● Steps to Health: a programme which aims to get people to be more active by linking GP practices to Dudley Leisure facilities and encourages people to use local parks Around two thirds of the population in the country are now deemed to be overweight or obese and health bosses believe that on present trends it could soon surpass smoking as the greatest cause of premature death. Obesity is associated with both physical and psychological health conditions including coronary heart disease, diabetes, kidney failure, osteoarthritis, back pain and hypertension. And in a report on obesity presented to Dudley South PCT Board earlier in the year, Director of Public Health, Dr Tony Collins, said that one of the underpinning reasons for obesity was a lack of exercise an that physically active leisure had been gradually replaced with pastimes such as television, computer games and the internet. The report calls for more action to be taken to encourage more people to take up physical activity in the Borough, including: ● ● ● ● Schools and workplaces to adopt active travel plans and provide would-be walkers and cyclists with cycle storage and showering facilities Support for more local shops to stock fruit and vegetables Redesign of street and community layouts to make walking and cycling safer Kids in schools should be able to enjoy the national recommendation of physical activity provision and provide healthy school meals The recommendations come on the back of a number of initiatives that have already been developed by the Trust in partnership with others, including: “Taking the stairs rather than using a lift, can burn as many as 15 times the amount of kilocalories: simple steps like that can make the difference to leading a healthier lifestyle.” ● for exercise Take 5: rewarding takeaways to provide healthy food and developing community cafes such as the one on the Sledmere estate Director of Communications, Rob Checketts, said: “Becoming more active isn’t necessarily about doing marathons or going to the gym every night - there are plenty of things we can do to burn more calories. “For example, taking the stairs rather than using a lift, or washing the car manually instead of going to the car wash, can burn as many as 15 times the amount of kilocalories: simple steps like that can make the difference to leading a healthier lifestyle.” Your views are important to us as they help us to shape our services for the future healthcare in Dudley. Below are some of the many ways in which you can get involved and express your views on the services we provide. You can write to us at the following address: Communications Department St John’s House Union Street Dudley DY2 8PP Email: listen@dudley.nhs.uk Patient Advice & Liaison Service: Contact the Patient Advice & Liaison Service on Freephone 0800 073 0517, Fax: 01384 366622 for Dudley Beacon & Castle Primary Care Trust or 0800 073 0640 for Dudley South. Email: pals@dudley.nhs.uk Voices for Health Network - The Voices for Health Network is made up of service users/general public and representative organisations from the North of the Borough who meet every 6 weeks to discuss issues which they feel should be addressed and to help shape the future of services for primary care and mental health in Dudley. Contact Sara Mackinnon on 01384 366136 if you would like to attend this forum. Health Panel - A group of patients from the South of the Borough who meet bi-monthly to discuss any issues which they feel need to be addressed and to help shape the future of services for primary care in Dudley. Contact Janice Cunningham on 01384 366131 if you would like to attend this forum. PPI Forums - The Dudley South and Dudley Beacon and Castle PPI Forums hold regular joint meetings. Members of the public are welcome to attend to share their views on health and find out more about Patient and Public Involvement Forums. For further information, please contact the Forum Support Organisation on 0121 5613845 or email ppih@bcha.co.uk. More patients in Dudley are taking advantage of Choose and Book than any other area in Birmingham and the Black Country. Figures revealed by the Department of Health earlier this year show that the effort being made by many practices across the two PCTs to roll out Choose and Book has pushed the number of patients using the service beyond the 1,800 mark. The figure - which combines patients from Dudley South PCT and Dudley Beacon and Castle PCT - now means that Dudley residents using the system account for almost 32% of patients using Choose and Book in the region. The latest figures come as every GP and GDP in the Borough have signed up to offering patients choice from the beginning of the year. The success keeps Dudley as the top performing area in the patch - a standard we set when we became the first Trust to take a patient through the Choose and Book system in July last year. Sue Lane, the Implementation Manager for Choice in Dudley said the success was down to the hard work and efforts of both the GPs and Practice Staff in the two PCTs and also the hard work and efforts of the Local Call Centre at Russells Hall Hospital, who receive the majority of the calls to offer patients a choice of date and time for their appointments. She added: “Everybody should feel proud of the hard work and enthusiasm that has led to this achievement so far.” ● Get cooking: providing people in the community with sessions to raise skills and awareness to be able to buy, prepare and cook healthy nutritious food on a budget PROMISES PLEDGED FOR A SUPA TRIKE Staff at Dudley Beacon his muscle weakness Ethan has never been able to pedal a conventional bicycle, and as and Castle Primary such his physiotherapist recommended a Supa Active Pedal Power trike. Care Trust pledged promises for an The trike, which costs £750, has a unique gearing system that is fully adjustable to online staff auction Ethan’s requirements and also has trunk, ankle and hip supports. to help raise funds for a Supa Trike for Many activities took place to raise money, including staff ‘pledging’ promises and items local youngster for an online auction, which included a gardening session from a Director, the design of Ethan Couldrey. a personal website and cinema tickets. Ethan, aged six, was diagnosed with hereditary muscular dystrophy at the age of three following an operation to a poorly formed hip. Due to Trust Chairman Rachel Harris said: “It’s great to see all staff pull together to support a worthy cause.” Ethan’s dad, Paul Couldrey, who is the Confidentiality and Security Manager at the Trust, said: “It’s a joy watching Ethan being able to fully participate in games with his friends. The trike has given Ethan his independence and some street cred too!” OUT OF HOURS GP SERVICE 0845 145 1800 Patient Forums - Many GP surgeries also have patient forums for you to attend and discuss any issues you feel are important to you. If you are interested in attending one of these groups please ask at your GP surgery’s reception. We have made it easier for you to be able to access the GP Out of Hours service in your area by making our services a single telephone call away. If you need to see a doctor or a nurse urgently between 6:30pm and 8:00am, Monday to Friday, or anytime on Saturday and Sunday (and Bank Holidays), please telephone: 0845 145 1800
Page 1: DUDLEY HEALTH LINK SPRING 2006 Usef

Community Mental Health Teams - Dudley Primary Care Trust

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?