Welcome to your latest update from NHS Sefton. This bulletin is designed to keep you informed of our latest news and developments. We hope you find it of interest and we welcome any comments you may have. Please use the contact details at the bottom of the bulletin to get in touch.
(1) Sefton Health and Social Care Quality Awards
Family doctors, hospital staff, community health professionals and nurses from across the borough were celebrated at the first Sefton Health and Social Care Quality Awards. NHS Sefton and the Council staged the awards, sponsored by Hill Dickinson solicitors. The ceremony, held at the end of November, was hosted by the Crosby Lakeside Adventure Centre. The judging panel included a member of Sefton’s Local Involvement Network, Sefton’s Lead Nurse, an NHS Sefton Non Executive Director and a representative from Sefton Council. There were two winners in each of the main categories – a community and a hospital based service. A special Chief Executive’s Award was also announced on the night:
• Ensuring Patient Safety
Aintree Hospital – Medical Emergency Team
NHS Sefton - Physiotherapy Team
• Improving Patient Experience
The Walton Centre – ‘The Walton Way’ Dignity Champions
First Initiatives – Care in Partnership
• Clinical Effectiveness
Southport & Ormskirk Hospital– Medicines Management for Nurses
South Sefton Practice Based Commissioning Service - COPD
• Innovation
Aintree Hospital - Healthy Bowel Clinic
NHS Sefton - Clinical Psychology Service
• Sustained Achievement
Southport & Ormskirk Hospital– Advancing Quality
NHS Sefton – Community Pain Service
• Chief Executive’s Award
First Initiatives - Mental Health Crisis House service
(2) Review of children’s services in north Sefton
Work is underway to address the recommendations of an independent clinical review to improve children’s services in north Sefton. A clinical design group has been established to develop options for service improvement. Membership of the group includes local GPs, hospital consultants, organisations such as the Children’s Trust, other children’s professionals and Sefton LINk. A project group will provide support to the clinicians, while an oversight group will provide scrutiny of their work. Engagement with parents groups, service users and young people will also help inform this work. Membership of the oversight group includes a representative of Sefton LINk, the Overview and Scrutiny Committee for health and Social Care and other key local stakeholders. Options will be submitted to the NHS Sefton Board for consideration in January.
(3) Sefton’s Acting Director of Public Health welcomes new White Paper Hannah Chellaswamy has welcomed the government’s Public Health White Paper, ‘Healthy Lives, Healthy People’, published at the end of November. It outlines the government’s approach to tackling key public health challenges. These include protecting the population from serious health threats, helping people live longer, healthier and more fulfilling lives and improving the health of the poorest, fastest. The White Paper responds to Professor Sir Michael Marmot’s ‘Fair Society, Healthy Lives’ report, which Sefton’s recently published Annual Public Health Report also responds to. Both adopt Marmot’s life course framework for tackling the wider social determinants of health.
Key elements of the White Paper include:
• The creation of a new integrated public health service - Public
Health England -that will take over functions from the Health
Protection Agency and the National Treatment Agency for
Substance Misuse from 2012
• The transfer of public health improvement from the NHS to local authorities, led by a Director of Public Health, with ring-fenced funding and a new health premium to reward progress made against the public health outcomes framework
• Giving local government and communities new resources, rights and powers to shape their environments and tackle local problems
Have your say
In October, NHS Sefton and Sefton Council submitted a joint response to the government’s consultation on the white paper for health, ‘Equity and Excellence - Liberating the NHS’. It also brought together the views of a number of local groups and organisations about how the white paper could be implemented in Sefton. There are a number of additional consultations relating to Equity and Excellence that NHS Sefton is preparing responses for including:
• Healthy Lives, Healthy People – deadline 8th March 2011
• Greater Choice and Control – deadline 14th Jan 2011
• An Information Revolution – deadline 14th Jan 2011
If you would like to contribute to the local responses for these consultations email your views to whitepaperconsultation@sefton.nhs.uk or send your submission directly to the Department of Health via its website www.dh.gov.uk
(4) Keeping well this winter
NHS Sefton is advising people how they can stay warm and well this winter as freezing temperatures take a grip on the region. The cold weather can be associated with serious health problems such as heart attacks, strokes, pneumonia and depression. We are encouraging Sefton residents to look out for elderly and vulnerable friends and neighbours – making sure they are warm enough, especially at night, and have enough food and medicines so they do not need to go out during the cold, icy weather. As the health service approaches its busiest time of the year, we are also reminding people about the range of local health services that can help when they are ill. Many minor illnesses can be safely treated at home with a well stocked medicine cabinet, while chemists offer free advice. People are reminded of the services offered at their local GP surgery and that our out-of-hours
GP service gives people access to 24 hour care. Sefton residents aged 65 years and over are being sent a letter from their GP practice setting out the help and support that is available to them. Seasonal flu vaccination campaign All eligible Sefton residents are reminded that there is still time to get their free seasonal flu vaccination to protect themselves, family, loved ones and work colleagues. Seasonal flu is a highly infectious viral disease which spreads easily from person to person. Every year a vaccination is available to help protect those who are more at risk. It is recommended for people of all ages with the following conditions:
• Heart or chest disease, diabetes, liver or kidney diseases, stroke
• Lowered immunity due to disease or treatment (such as steroid medication or cancer treatment)
• Neurological conditions
• Spleen problems, like sickle cell disease, or if you have had your spleen removed
• Everyone aged 65 or over
• People living in residential or nursing homes and for people who are the main carer of an older or disabled person
• Women who are pregnant and who have underlying health conditions
• The seasonal flu jab is also recommended for all healthy pregnant women if they have not already had a swine flu jab
• Anyone in the ‘at risk’ groups who has not routinely been offered a vaccination, should contact their local GP surgery to find out how to get their jab.
(5) Update on Transforming Community Services (TCS)
Business cases that will transform community services in Sefton have now been submitted to NHS North West, the Strategic Health Authority. The aim is to separate the commissioning and provision of services. This will create more effective, integrated and responsive community health services for the benefit of local people, based on their needs, and ensuring close collaboration with local
authority services. The business cases will pave the way for many of NHS Sefton’s Community Health Services to be provided by a new integrated care organisation, comprising Southport and Ormskirk Hospital Trust, West Lancashire Community Health Services and some of Sefton Community Health
Services. Liverpool Community Health NHS Trust will also be providing many of Sefton’s services by the end of March 2011. The business cases are being considered by the Department of Health and the Cooperation and Competition Panel and final approval is expected by early 2011.
NHS Sefton’s directly managed GP practices & TCS A number of GP practices that are currently managed and directly run by NHS Sefton have exercised their ‘right to request’ to become social enterprises. They are currently working on business cases, involving patients and stakeholders, which will be presented to the NHS Sefton Board at its meeting on 20th December. Those other practices currently run by NHS Sefton have been offered independent contracts, similar to the majority of other GP practices in Sefton.
NHS Sefton practices that do not choose to become a social enterprise or to take on an independent contact will initially transfer to the management of Liverpool Community Health NHS Trust from April 2011, pending a tendering exercise to identify a new provider or providers to host the remaining practices.
(6) Preparing for the Sunbed Act
NHS Sefton and Sefton Council are working together to ensure that sunbed premises in the borough are ready for new laws to protect their customers. More than 50 premises will receive a letter from the Council informing them of a Health and Safety at Work inspection. During the inspection the premises will get advice and help to ensure they are prepared for new legislation in April 2011, banning under 18s from using sunbeds. The law also stipulates that all salons must be staffed and provide accurate health information on the dangers of sunbeds. The partnership between Sefton Council and NHS Sefton continues to ensure residents’ safety through the ‘Be Sunsible’ campaign. With the increased use of sunbeds the campaign has been developed to inform residents of the risks and harmful effects of both natural and manufactured UV rays. Currently more than 2,500 people die from skin cancer in the UK every year.
(7) CAB outreach service does good work in Sefton GP practices A new report highlights the benefits of the NHS Sefton-supported Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) Outreach Service. The CAB service is offered in nine GP practices in the borough, covering a total of 56,419 patients. The report into the effectiveness of the service was carried out by Liverpool John Moores University. It found that practice managers, GPs and CAB staff all agree the service is beneficial to patients. The report authors considered the service to be open and accessible. It reaches a different client group from those using the regular CAB drop-in service, including many with mental health problems. Authors concluded that the CAB Health Outreach Service demonstrates actual and perceived benefits to the NHS in terms of staff time and prescribing costs.
(8) Street action to stop smoking
During October, Bootle, Litherland, Netherton and Southport residents were given extra help to quit smoking by NHS Sefton’s Health Promotion Service. Trained on-street promotional teams were out and about discussing the benefits of quitting with people living in these areas. The team encouraged smokers who want to quit to call Healthy Sefton (0300 100 1000) where they were signposted to SUPPORT, our local NHS stop smoking service. After speaking to a resident, the Street Action Team conducts a follow up call two weeks later. This helps NHS Sefton to offer encouragement to quit, and to evaluate the campaign.
(9) Healthy Sefton gets national attention
Our healthy lifestyle information and advice phone line – Healthy Sefton – was showcased at the recent NHS Alliance conference. The service, which offers Sefton residents and health professional’s access to a range of lifestyle advice and services, was chosen by organisers to feature in a special documentary. The film includes the experiences of service users and professionals who have benefited from Healthy Sefton’s introduction. ITN newsreader, Martin Lewis, introduced the programme, which was screened at the conference in Bournemouth. You can contact Healthy Sefton on 0300 100 1000.
(10) Praise for Sefton projects
Our interactive digital TV service, Looking Local, was a finalist at the recent How
Do Public Services Communications Awards in Manchester. Smokefree North
West, hosted by NHS Sefton, also made it through to the shortlist. The NHS Sefton-supported Active Lifestyles Service and Heart of Mersey both won a North West Public Health Award, while Smokefree North West was named the winner in the prestigious European Drug Prevention Prize 2010 for its Smoke and Mirrors campaign.
If you have any queries about any aspect of your health or health services call PALS, Sefton’s dedicated Patient Advice and Liaison Service, on 0800 218 2333 Our website www.sefton.nhs.uk contains a wealth of information about local community health services, along with advice about improving your health and wellbeing Looking Local is our digital TV health information service for Sefton. Sky and cable subscribers and some other digital services can access Looking Local by pressing the ‘interactive’ button. You can also access Looking Local online or via a web-enabled mobile phone www.lookinglocal.gov.uk/nhssefton
For further details about anything in this briefing, or to comment on any aspect of local health services, please contact Lyn Cooke, Head of Communications for NHS Sefton, lyn.cooke@sefton.nhs.uk
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