An extremely busy last few weeks. Bit more space for this article to include more items and more about them:
Mid & South Essex (MSE) Integrated Care Partnership pilots an innovative new programme to improve access to NHS dental services which has started well. Hoping to be able to publish the report about this soon; technical hitch at MSE ICP being rectified asap.
MSE Integrated Care Board (ICB)’s new Chief Executive reiterates commitment that patient and public communications and engagement remain top priorities. Our suggestion to survey transport access to medical services and appointments welcomed. Our questions and answers are at https://swfhealthsocial.co.uk/2024/09/22/question-for-mse-icb-board-meeting-in-public-on-12-september-2024/ . Our health services face the same challenges as the whole NHS. Detailed Agenda Papers at: https://www.midandsouthessex.ics.nhs.uk/publications/nhs-mid-and-south-essex-integrated-care-board-meeting-paper-12-september-2024/ show positives and negatives.
The final report about the consultations into community health services and future of St Peter’s Hospital is published. MSEICB has announced a six-month delay in the final decision-making regarding the reconfiguration of community hospital beds, a midwife-led birthing unit and ambulatory care services. An independently chaired group will look at viable options. https://swfhealthsocial.co.uk/2024/09/19/nhs-chiefs-agree-delay-to-final-decision-on-community-hospital-changes/ . This seems sensible. There’s been a huge amount of understandable anger and frustration about this. That stems from historic broken promises. Over the last 25 years times have changed. If the renovations/rebuild had gone ahead up to the time Braintree got its new community hospital Maldon was working towards the same basis. In more recent years the national situation meant the project aimed to deliver health hub to include all the outpatient services presently delivered at St Peter’s and also putting two GP Practices and some additional community health services under the same roof, but would not have included inpatient beds which would have been unified elsewhere. Whether we like it or not, a project of today will be guided and regulated by national present-day guidance and regulation, as well as local and area needs.
Junior Doctors, now titled Resident Doctors, have settled their industrial dispute. Government and doctors are working to resolve wider workforce issues including training and rotational placements. Unresolved industrial action posed an enormous challenge for everyone working across the NHS. Preparations for the winter are relieved there’s staffing certainty but increased demand will be challenging.
Last week our Group helped the NHS with a project to develop ways to help patients prepare for medication reviews. Invitations to contribute patients’ views to such activities makes a real difference and we’re pleased to take part on your behalf.
MSE has a new innovative secure digital Shared Care Record system giving doctors, nurses, social workers and other professionals access to patient and service user information. This improves delivering more effective holistic care. One of the first things any clinician needs to know is the medical history of the patient and what medications they are taking.
Significant reports and inquiries include:
Lord Darzi concludes the NHS “Is in a critical condition but its vital signs are strong.” It struggles with the pandemic’s aftershocks. Managerial capacity and capability have been degraded by disastrous management reforms. The trust and goodwill of many frontline staff are lost. The service is chronically weakened by lack of capital investment, lagging behind similar countries by £10s of billions. Demand has grown as the nation’s health has deteriorated. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66e1b49e3b0c9e88544a0049/Lord-Darzi-Independent-Investigation-of-the-National-Health-Service-in-England.pdf . Better decisions would only have made marginal differences. Extraordinary clinical skill, passion and determination are the NHS’s beating heart. The principles that the NHS is taxpayer funded, free at the point of use, based on need not ability to pay, remain unquestionable. We can’t afford not to have the NHS. It’ll take time to recover as it’s taken a decade for the NHS’s disrepair.
The New Hospital Programme review’s terms of reference have been published at:
New Hospital Programme review: terms of reference – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) . This review includes the future of Harlow’s Princess Alexandra Hospital. You may have heard Wes Streeting, Secretary of State for Health & Social Care, speak about this on BBC Essex https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cje3wjwk3kko “Health secretary ‘committed’ to new hospital”.
The UK Covid-19 Inquiry in its current Modul 3 hearings is taking evidence about the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on patients, healthcare workers and the wider NHS. This week there have been harrowing accounts from senior doctors about their experiences. Our film about “The Impact of Covid on Dying, Death & Bereavement” has been submitted to the Inquiry. It is freely available for use with full details and links at https://swfhealthsocial.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/film-publication-6aug24.pdf . Do contact us if you’d like help to use it.
Baroness Lampard’s public inquiry into more than 2,000 mental health related deaths at NHS-run children and adult inpatient units in Essex between 2000 and 2023 opened in Chelmsford. The first three weeks of hearings of commemorative and impact accounts has finished. The next set of hearings will start on 25 November 2024; they will be held remotely, with everyone participating and watching online.
The Thirlwall Inquiry into the handling of Lucy Letby’s crimes started looking at experiences of the babies’ parents, considering the conduct of hospital staff and looking at NHS-wide relationships between professional groups, the culture within hospitals, and the effects on the safety of newborns in neonatal units.
The theme “If we’re not vaccinated, we’re not protected” continues. Amongst conditions of concern are: 0-5-year-olds’ multiple vaccinations; students against meningitis; measles; HPV (Human Papillomavirus); RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus); Whooping Cough; STIs including gonorrhoea, genital warts and syphilis; Mpox; the latest Covid variant, with cases starting to rise; and international travel infections.
SWF’s GPs start Covid & Flu vaccinations in October and are delivering RSV vaccinations; all by invitation. Vaccines are a key line of defence for us this winter. The guide to who’s eligible for the 2024 flu vaccine is at: https://swfhealthsocial.co.uk/2024/09/26/your-guide-to-whos-eligible-for-the-2024-flu-vaccine/ . Those eligible for Winter 2024 Covid vaccinations are: adults aged 65 years and over; residents in a care home for older adults; individuals aged 6 months to 64 years in a clinical risk group (as defined in tables 3 or 4 in the COVID-19 chapter of the Green Book); and, frontline NHS and social care workers, and those working in care homes for older people. The vaccine should usually be offered no earlier than around 6 months after the last vaccine dose. If you are eligible, you can get protection from an autumn COVID-19 vaccination even if you have not taken up a COVID-19 vaccine offer in the past. Public health news is on our website and in weekly e-newsletters. SWF Library provides online services and help with internet access. For health & welfare information and subscription to our newsletter, email swfhealthsocial@outlook.com , or leave voicemails on 01245 322079 https://swfhealthsocial.co.uk/
SWF Health & Social Care Group 