
Scientific, Medical, Pharmaceutical & Healthcare sales jobs

Home » NHS Articles » NHS News » NHS News December 2005

NHS News - December 2005

Search available book titles on the National Health Service (NHS)

England - Local PCT News

Buckinghamshire Mental Health NHS Trust - Proposed Changes to Services

Proposals for changes in the delivery of mental health services in Buckinghamshire aim to improve hospital services for the most vulnerable, while increasing the proportion of care which is given outside hospital. The proposals will be rolled out over the next three years, and include:

- seven-day acute hospital services in Aylesbury and High Wycombe
- an expanded home treatment capacity and in-patient units for people over and under 65
- more community support for non-hospital accommodation for people with long-term needs - delivering day care for older people with dementia in the Buckingham area with the help of voluntary organisations

The proposals will also see the management of south Buckinghamshire's mental health services transferred from Berkshire Healthcare NHS Trust to Buckinghamshire Mental Health NHS Trust.

Derby Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust - Stroke Unit

A 6-bed Specialist Stroke Unit is to be set up in Derby City General Hospital in addition to the 13-bed unit which opened at the Royal Infirmary last year. About 1,100 people in southern Derbyshire have strokes each year and about 330 of them will die.

Heart of England Foundation Trust / Good Hope Hospital Trust - Organisational Changes

An arrangement has been agreed whereby the Good Hope Hospital Trust will be run by the Heart of England Foundation Trust until March 2006. It is hoped that this will help the Good Hope achieve financial balance - Dr Mark Golding will be CE for both trusts

North Eastern Derbyshire PCT - Nurse-led Clinic

The PCT has terminated its contract with Cresswell Primary Care Centre over "failure to deal with patient complaints". The centre was the first nurse-led unit in north Derbyshire. It was opened September 2003 and will close in three months' time.

One of the Centre's GPs has highlighted the progress made by the practice in improving clinical care locally. He believes that there was some local resistance to a clinic which was run by a nurse and a woman, and that the PCT could have been more supportive.

However, he also suggested that this has raised questions about the feasibility of nurse-led practices. The Secretary of the Local Medical Committee secretary for Derbyshire has commented that he had supported the practice and was fully aware of the challenges to providing medical services in the area. All the GPs are leaving the practice, which will be run by the PCT while the contract is put out to tender.

Nottingham - Obesity

Nottingham City PCT has assessed, for the first time, the proportion of local children who are obese by measuring and weighing children in their first year at school. Results show that one quarter of Nottingham's 5-year olds are overweight, and whereas nationally 8% of 5-year olds are obese, in Nottingham the figure is 11%.

The PCT has now developed "Go For It", a successful project which is aimed at helping obese children tackle their weight problem.

"Fatmanslim" is a lifestyle change programme designed specifically for men by Dr Ian Campbell, a Nottingham GP and President of the National Obesity Forum. The programme has become so successful that he has decided to make it free and available to everyone over the internet. As the risk of CHD increases with waist size, one of the aims of the programme is "waist loss".

Preston PCT / Chorley & South Ribble PCT - Diabetic Retinopathy

A new, enhanced Diabetic Retinopathy Screening Service has been launched as part of the PCTs' joint action programme for diabetes. Annual checks will be carried out both by accredited optometrists and at the two hospital sites using digital photography.

Wales - Local Health Board News

Caerphilly LHB - Cancer

The LHB has launched an outreach service which allows cancer patients to receive chemotherapy at the local Day Hospice. Specialist nursing staff from Velindre NHS Trust provide the service once a week, and patients find it reduces fatigue and side effects

Scotland - Local NHS News

NHS Argyll and Clyde - Dissolution March 2006

NHS Argyll & Clyde, which had incurred a financial deficit of £80m, is to be dissolved and split between NHS Highland and NHS Greater Glasgow in March 2006.

Health Minister Andy Kerr has now announced that the former NHS Board area will be divided according to local council boundaries, in recognition of the increasing co-operation between health boards and local authorities in delivering services, such as free care for the elderly.

NHS Highland will, therefore, absorb the parts of the health board area which fall within the Argyll and Bute Council area, and the remainder will be transferred to NHS Greater Glasgow.

There are some concerns regarding this change, with some people in Helensburgh and Dumbarton wishing to be part of the NHS Greater Glasgow area.

NHS Greater Glasgow- Mental Health

An innovative new Mother and Baby Community Mental Health Team has been introduced in Glasgow to help women suffering from post-natal mental health problems. It is the first dedicated team of its kind in Scotland, and the only specialist team in the UK where staff work across both inpatient and community based services.

The community team includes specially-trained Community Psychiatric Nurses, a Health Visitor and a Social Worker, and is able to assess patients and provide a wide range of treatments (medication or therapy) to help overcome problems such as depression and anxiety.

A full-time Community Nursery Nurse has also been appointed to work with the team to offer extra support with baby care, and to help mothers bond with their babies.

Northern Ireland - Local NHS News

Northern LHSCG - COPD

The North-West has the second highest level of COPD in Northern Ireland, and practitioners in Altnagelvin Hospital, Foyle HSS Trust, GPs and voluntary organisations have joined together to launch the Respiratory Shared Care Group.

The group will come together over the next few months to look at how best the needs of patients with chronic respiratory conditions can be met, building on the recent LHSCG "Review of Respiratory Services", and supporting service developments, such as the establishment of local Respiratory Support Groups.

Paul Cavanagh, Manager of the Northern LHSCG, believes that the key to patient care is to keep the condition manageable through regular review and access to community servces, such as physiotherapy. "Also we need to ensure that the most appropriate staff assess and treat patients. This is quite often their GP with support from district nursing, pharmacy and hospital clinicians.”

Reform of Health Service Structure

Minister of Health, Shaun Woodward, has now outlined in detail the proposed reforms to the structure of Northern Ireland's health service which he first signalled in July.

The plans include:

- a considerably smaller Government Department
- a Strategic Health and Social Services Authority to replace the four Health and Social Services Boards (HSSBs) and take on some functions currently with the Department
- 18 Trusts will be reduced to 5 by April 2007
- the Ambulance Service will remain as a separate Trust
- 7 Local Commissioning Bodies, demand-led by patients and driven by GPs and primary care professionals, which will take on some roles from the 4 HSSBs and some roles from the 15 Local Health and Social Care Groups (LHSCGs), which will be abolished
- 1 Patient and Client Council (PCC) replacing the existing 4 Health and Social Services Councils
- no presumpton that central or main organisations will be situated in Belfast

The 18 Trusts will be reorganised as follows:

The Western Area
covering Sperrin Lakeland, Foyle, and Altnagelvin HSS Trusts

The Southern Area
covering Craigavon Area Hospital Group, Craigavon and Banbridge Community, Newry and Mourne and Armagh and Dungannon

The Belfast Area
which will amalgamate the Belfast City Hospital, Royal Group of Hospitals, Mater Infirmorum and Greenpark Trusts, and North and West Belfast Trust, part of South and East Belfast Trust and part of Down Lisburn HSS Trust

The South Eastern Area
covering the Ulster Community and Hospitals Trust, part of South and East Belfast Trust and part of Down Lisburn Trust

Southern HSSB - Mental Health

A pilot which trains people to recognise the symptoms of mental health problems and provide initial help has begun in Enniskillen. The project, based on an Australian scheme, is similar to the Mental Health First Aider pilot launched in Scotland in June.

Search available book titles on the National Health Service (NHS)

Health Direction...
Turning NHS data into incisive knowledge

Health Direction is entirely focused on collecting, processing and analysing high quality UK-based health information for dissemination through intuitive, browser-based products via the internet, company intranet and CD-Rom. Privately owned and run you will find our staff friendly, knowledgeable and helpful. We put customer satisfaction at the top of our agenda.

If you have a requirement for NHS information, contact Health Direction

Disclaimer

Net Media Marketing excludes any warranty, express or implied, as to the quality, accuracy, timeliness, completeness or fitness for a particular purpose of this briefing. Net Media Marketing will not be liable for any claims, penalties, losses, damages, costs, or expenses arising from the use of or inability to use this briefing or from any unauthorised access to or alteration of the Briefing. Net Media Marketing makes no warranty that the contents of this briefing are compatible with all computer systems and browsers.