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December 2004
NHS News - December 2004
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NHS News - December 2004
In partnership with
Health Direction
The Government has set a Public
Service Agreement target to address geographical inequalities in life
expectancy, cancer, heart disease, stroke and related diseases. The targets aim
to see faster progress compared to the average in the fifth of areas with the
worst health and deprivation indicators. Achievement of the targets will be
assessed on the outcomes for this Group in 2010. The Local Authorities and
Primary Care Trusts which are in these areas, the so-called Spearhead Group is
made up of 70 Local authorities and 88 Primary Care Trusts, based upon the
Local Authority areas that are in the bottom fifth nationally for three or more
of the following indicators:
· Male life expectancy at birth
· Female life expectancy at birth
· Cancer mortality rate
in under 75s
· Cardio Vascular Disease mortality rate in under 75s
· Index of Multiple Deprivation 2004 (Local Authority Summary),
average score
England - Local PCT
News
Barnsley District General Hospital NHS Trust -
Stroke
The Trust has appointed its first Stroke Consultant. Terrie
Fleet will work closely with the Nurse Consultant and Lead Stroke Physician to
co-ordinate the development stroke services and ensure timely access to
hospital or community services. She has already begun to develop a system for
patients to have a 6-8 week review following discharge, as well as a care
pathway for acute services. Nurse-led clinics are also being developed and over
the next few months a new referral pathway should be set up which will be used
with the hospital's IT system.
Barnsley PCT - Appointments Pilot
Scheme
Patients at two GP practices in Barnsley will soon be able
to book or cancel appointments by accessing the practice website, day or night,
via their TV remote control. The scheme will be available to patients with Sky,
Telewest or NTL interactive digital TV. The technology is based on the NHS
online appointment service which is currently available to 4,500 family
doctors, and is designed to free up staff time and save missed appointments.
The bookings system is being piloted by the Ashville Medical Centre and the
Sheffield Road Practice in Barnsley.
Devon Partnership NHS Trust -
Eating Disorders
The only unit in Devon to specialise in eating
disorders has opened at North Devon District Hospital. There are now six beds
within the psychiatric unit to treat women over the age of 18 suffering from
anorexia nervosa. This is a pilot project run by the Devon Partnership NHS
Trust, and it means that patients will no longer have to travel many miles
across the country for specialised treatment - the nearest out-of-area beds are
in Poole, Dorset. A separate clinical team has also been recruited which will
work closely with the community professionals who are most involved with the
patient care package.
Halton PCT - Obesity
Dr Daniel
Seddon, the Director of Public Health for Halton PCT, has expressed concern
that far less money is being spent on the prevention of obesity than is spent
on surgery. Surgery for obesity is currently costing the PCT more than
£70,000 a year. Between January and September of this year, there have
been eight new requests for obesity surgery, six of which have been fully
approved by members of the PCT. The cost of the two major obesity drugs
prescribed to patients over the past year in Halton amounts to nearly
£1,000. Dr Seddon is suggesting that more time and money should be
invested in preventative measures, such as introducing people to weight loss
courses and encouraging them to lead a more active lifestyle. "I would like it
to be easier for a GP in health services to give more than just medical
treatments and expensive drug treatments to patients and instead support people
who are overweight. It shouldn't be as simple as just writing someone a
prescription and referring them on to surgery." There are already programmes in
Halton which offer cost-effective alternatives to surgery, such as the Heart of
Mersey project, and the 5-A-Day programme.
Harlow PCT - Sexual
Health
In its latest White Paper, the government has announced a
major campaign aimed at the sexual health of young people. Harlow PCT has the
only Walk-In Centre for 13-25 year olds in the country. The Centre opened four
years ago when teenage pregnancy rates were soaring in Harlow. Within a year,
the rate had fallen below the national average, and whereas they used to issue
more emergency than regular contraception, that situation has now completely
reversed. One innovation is the Centre’s "C-Card" which provides holders
with free condoms from several outlets in Harlow once they have received
counselling and advice on relationships, contraception and sexually transmitted
infections.
Hinckley and Bosworth PCT - Community Hospital
Hinckley's new £6.5m Community Hospital has been officially
opened. It provides 47 beds, a discharge suite and specialist palliative care.
It has been built on the Sunnyside Hospital site and will eventually replace
the Hinckley and District Hospital.
Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS
Trust - Cancer
A new Lymphoma Association Specialist Nurse has been
appointed at St James' Hospital to offer clinical expertise, advice and
one-to-one care for patients diagnosed with cancer of the lymphatic system. The
charity hopes to fund another four nurses by 2006.
Lincolnshire
Partnership NHS Trust - Elderly Mental Health
A new facility, the
Phoenix Unit, has been opened in Louth to provide mental health services for
the over 65s. The services include 10 in-patient beds for assessment and
treatment, and a memory clinic for Alzheimer's sufferers and their carers.
Newham University Hospital NHS Trust - COPD
A new team,
the Respiratory Early Discharge Service (REDS), has been launched to treat
people with lung diseases in their own homes. REDS has been successfully
piloted for two years in Canning Town and Beckton and is now being rolled out
across Newham.
Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire SHA -
Finance
The Chair and Chief Executive of the SHA have met four
local MPs at the House of Commons. The MPs are deeply concerned about a
£23m deficit affecting PCTs and Hospital Trusts in the county, and have
asked that a plan of action be implemented to deal with the crisis by the end
of January. They believe the financial crisis is affecting patient care and
have warned that unless there were signs that the deficit was being brought
down, they would appeal directly for intervention by the Secretary of State for
Health. Deficits built up in the county are:
· Suffolk West PCT
- £5.2m
· West Suffolk Hospitals NHS Trust - £4.6m
· Ipswich PCT - £5.4m Central Suffolk PCT - £1.8m
· Suffolk Coastal PCT - £5.m
· Ipswich Hospital NHS
Trust - £1.4m
The deficit includes £20m brought forward
from the previous financial year.
Norwich PCT - Hepatitis
Norwich is one of six PCTs in the country which is stepping up
screening facilities and increasing the awareness of hepatitis. There are
around 2,500 known sufferers in Norfolk, with 95 per cent being current or
previous drug users.
Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University
Hospital NHS Trust - Palliative Care
The UK's first Centre of
Excellence for the care of the dying has been launched in Liverpool. The new
Marie Curie Palliative Care Institute brings together the work of Liverpool's
local Marie Curie Hospice and the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University
Hospital's Specialist Palliative Care Team. The Institute's prime aim is to
undertake research to find out how best to care for dying patients and promote
best practice. It will also encourage collaborations between charities, the NHS
and private institutions. The Institute will be under the academic and clinical
leadership of Dr John Ellershaw, and will be based at the Marie Curie Hospice
with a satellite unit at the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University
Hospitals NHS Trust. Much of the work of the new institute will take place on
Merseyside, but some projects will be run on a national and international
basis.
Worcestershire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust -
Dementia
A new Admiral Nursing Scheme has been launched at Evesham
Hospital This is a joint initiative between Worcestershire Mental Health NHS
Trust and the charity "For Dementia" which promotes and develops new Admiral
Nurse teams as well as supporting existing ones. Admiral Nurses are specialist
dementia nurses, working in the community with families, carers and supporters
of people with dementia. They also provide training to other professionals and
voluntary agencies who work with dementia sufferers, and promote best practice
in person-centred dementia care.
Wales -
Health Board News
Conwy and Denbighshire NHS Trust -
Palliative Care
Conwy and Denbighshire NHS Trust has agreed that
when they appoint a new Consultant in Palliative Care, they will hold weekly
sessions at the St David's Hospice, Llandudno. This means St David's will be
recognised by the NHS as a palliative Care Centre. St David's Medical Director
will also be holding sessions at the North Wales Cancer Centre. The future of
St David's Hospice has been in doubt, but it has now received a grant from the
Assembly totalling £506,000 over the next two years. Benefits which the
grant will bring include two new in-patient beds which will open in the New
Year, taking the total to eight, and a new Clinical Lead Nurse who will be
involved in palliative care training.
Neath Port Talbot LHB - New
Services
Neath Port Talbot LHB has reported on the progress of
health care service improvements in Croeserw, a village which was labelled the
"sickest" in England and Wales following the publication of Census data in
July. Initiatives include a new Medicines Management Advisory Service which
will be provided by an experienced community pharmacist and which will be a
pilot for other areas experiencing similar issues. There will also be an Expert
Patient Programme in the new year.
Scotland - Local NHS News
NHS Argyll
and Clyde - Diabetes
A One-Stop Diabetes Clinic within four GP
practices in Glasgow has not only meant that patients are seen by four
different health professionals at one appointment locally, but has also reduced
waiting times for other specialities at the local hospital.
NHS
Grampian - Substance Misuse
A new one-stop-shop for drug abusers is
to be sited in Aberdeen city centre. It is part of the new Integrated Drug
Service and will combine health, social work, specialist drug and voluntary
services. The service will supplement and work with existing GP, pharmacies and
other specialist drugs services. There are currently around 1,400 people in the
city receiving treatment for drug problems but it is estimated there could be
three times as many who have not sought help. This number represents 3% of
Aberdeen's population aged 15 to 54 - it is above the Scots national average
and makes the city the third worst in the country for drug use.
NHS
Greater Glasgow - Management Reorganisation
NHS Greater Glasgow is
proposing a major reorganisation of management structures. Proposals include
merging the three Acute Divisions (North, South and Yorkhill) to create one
management body which will have two distinct parts. One part will be in charge
of day-to-day delivery of services, waiting times and winter bed planning, and
the other will consist of an acute planning team to oversee the Health Board's
modernisation programme. Community health services currently being managed by
the Primary Care Division will also undergo change. NHS Greater Glasgow is
already well ahead with plans to replace the Division with nine new Community
Health Partnerships and the new Mental Health Partnership. It is hoped that
this move will see more power being devolved to staff, more local
accountability and improved services to patients. The details of the plans are
expected to form the basis of a report being put to NHS Greater Glasgow’s
Board in December, and if approved, they will be circulated to staff and other
key stakeholders, as part of a formal consultation. Once the proposals are
finalised, it is hoped that the new management structures can start being
formed by April 2005.
Northern Ireland -
Local NHS News
Foyle HSS Trust - Award
The Continence Advisory Team at the Trust has won an award for their
Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia project which has reduced health inequalities for
men with prostate problems by developing the first nurse-led community based
BPH clinic in N Ireland.
Western HSSB - Health Sessions in Rural
Areas
A series of mini health events is being held in rural areas
of the North West. A mobile cancer screening unit will be available, with blood
pressure and diabetes checks, and a breast aware workshop highlighting
prevention and detection of breast cancer. The events are part of a
Lottery-funded project under the WHSSB umbrella which aims reduce the
incidences of cancer, Coronary Heart Disease and Stroke in rural parts of the
WHSSB area. The project covers Derry City Councils, Limavady Borough Council
and Strabane District Council areas.
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