Health

Evidence-Based Interventions Consultation

24 August 2018 0 Comments

Evidence-Based Interventions programme

NHS England

Opens: 4 July 2018
Closes 28 September 2018

Overview

Research evidence shows some intervetions (medical procedures and treatments) are not clinically effective or only effective when they are performed in specific circumstances. And as medical science advances, some interventions are superseded by those that are less invasive or more effective.

At both national and local levels, there is a general consensus that more needs to be done to ensure the least effective interventions are not routinely performed, or only performed in more clearly defined circumstances.

NHS England has formed a new national collaboration with the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, NICE (The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence), NHS Clinical Commissioners and NHS Improvement’ GIRFT (Getting It Right First Time) programme to turn this consensus into action – the Evidence Based Interventions Programme. This programme is counterpart to the items that should not be routinely prescribed in primary care programme launched in early 2018, www.england.nhs.uk/medicines/items-which-should-not-be-routinely-prescribed/.

The proposals have been jointly developed by NHS England, NHS Clinical Commissioners, the Academy of Royal Medical Colleges, NICE and NHS Improvement’s GIRFT programme in collaboration with the Royal Colleges and patient groups such as Healthwatch.

The proposals aim to reduce avoidable harm to patients, save precious professional time, help clinicians maintain their professional practice in line with the changing evidence base, create headroom for innovation and maximise value and avoid waste for patients and taxpayers.

NHS England are publicly consulting on the design principles of the programme, the interventions we should target initially and proposed clinical criteria, the activity goals we should set and delivery actions, including proposed new terms in the NHS Standard Contract.

During the consultation period NHS England are also hosting face to face events and a series of webinars (online meetings), to gather further clinical, professional and patient views. This will include patient and public events, webinars for CCGs and providers, an event co-hosted by Healthwatch England for their members, events jointly run with Age UK, NHSCC, the Health and Wellbeing Alliance, The NHS Youth Forum and Choices. Please contact NHS England at england.ebinterventions@nhs.net to learn more about these events.

You can read more about the Evidence Based Interventions programme on the NHS England website, www.england.nhs.uk/evidence-based-interventions/.

Initially targeted interventions

17 interventions are proposed to targeted initially:

Interventions that should not be routinely commissioned

  1. Snoring Surgery (in the absence of OSA)
  2. Dilatation and curettage (D&C) for heavy menstrual bleeding in women
  3. Knee arthroscopy for patients with osteoarthritis
  4. Injections for nonspecific low back pain without sciatica

Interventions that should only be commissioned or performed when specific criteria are met

  1. Breast reduction
  2. Removal of benign skin lesions
  3. Grommets for Glue Ear in Children
  4. Tonsillectomy for Recurrent Tonsillitis
  5. Haemorrhoid surgery
  6. Hysterectomy for heavy menstrual bleeding
  7. Chalazia removal
  8. Arthroscopic shoulder decompression for subacromial shoulder pain
  9. Carpal tunnel syndrome release
  10. Dupuytren’s contracture release
  11. Ganglion excision
  12. Trigger finger release
  13. Varicose vein surgery

Consultation documents

What happens next

Responses will be taken into account and considered fully before deciding the final approach. Any wording which, following consultation, we determine should be added to the NHS Standard Contract will be included in the 2019/20 version of the Contract, to be published later this financial year.

Give Your Views

Online Survey

Consultation, Health, News

Public access defibrillators

9 August 2018 0 Comments

You may have seen on the local news that British Heart Foundation are working with other organisations to create a database of Public Access Defibrillators. Known as the National Defibrillator Network this will allow any member of the public to quickly locate a defibrillator when one is needed. Unfortunately the service is not likely to be ready for several months.

In the meantime defibrilllators can be registered on the existing database operated by HeartSafe, who supply defibrillators. A defibrillator does not have to be supplied through HeartSafe to be included on its database.

If you know of an organisation that has a public access defibrillator please ask them to register it on HeartSafe.
www.heartsafe.org.uk/AED-Locations

Kent Fire and Rescue Service now have defibrillators at all fire stations.

 

Emergency, Health, News

Reports on the stroke consultation published

29 June 2018 0 Comments

The NHS in Kent and Medway have today published two reports arising from the recent consultation on changes to urgent stroke services, describing the consultation activity that was delivered and summarising the key themes from the responses received.

Urgent stroke services across Kent and Medway don’t consistently meet national quality standards and outcomes for people who have had a stroke aren’t always as good as they should be, despite the hard work of dedicated staff.

Earlier in 2018 the NHS in Kent and Medway, along with some parts of East Sussex and south east London held a public consultation on the future organisation of urgent stroke services in Kent and Medway.

Following the consultation, the NHS is publishing two reports today, one describing the consultation activity that was delivered and one detailing the responses to the consultation:

(more…)

Health, News, STP

Online GP Consultations

22 May 2018 0 Comments

Your thoughts on ‘online consultations’ – an alternative way to have a consultation from your GP.

NHS England

Opens 8 May 2018
Closes 15 June 2018

NHS England is supporting local NHS GP practices to offer their patients alternative ways to have a consultation with a GP or other practice-based health professional online via the internet, rather than waiting for the next available appointment to attend in person – we are referring to this as ‘online consultations’.

Online consultations are a way for patients to contact their GP practice without having to wait on the phone or take time out to come into the practice. Using a smartphone, tablet or computer, you can contact your practice about a new problem or an ongoing issue. You can ask questions or tell your GP about your symptoms. The practice will ensure your contact is dealt with by the right person in the team, helping ensure you are served as quickly and appropriately as possible. Sometimes this will mean you will need a phone call with the GP or nurse, or an appointment at the practice, and this will be arranged as usual.

NOTE: Online consultations are an alternative service – it is still possible to do other things on the practice website such as seeing test results and your medical record, ordering a repeat prescription or booking an appointment.

Places that are using online consultations already have found a number of benefits:

  • Patients were able to get a quicker response, rather than waiting for an appointment in person
  • It is more convenient as patients they do not have to travel to their GP practice or wait for the next available appointment.
  • GPs were able to provide more appointments for patients, offering the same level of consultation, diagnosis and necessary actions (such as referral or a prescription) as patients would get in a face to face appointment;

It doesn’t matter if you have not used online consultations yourself – your views are still of interest to the NHS. THIS IS NOT ABOUT HOSPITAL APPOINTMENTS.

Your views are valuable to us and we would appreciate it if you could find the time to complete this survey by Friday 15 June 2018. The survey should take less than 10 minutes to complete.

Insight collected from this survey, along with other forms of engagement, will be analysed by NECS (North of England Commissioning Support) on behalf of NHS England. This insight will help determine the most appropriate support and resources needed for both practices and patients to adopt online consultations as an enhancement to currently available online services.

You can find out much more about the programme on the NHS England website.

Give Your Views

Online Survey

Consultation, Government, Health, News

Personal health budgets and integrated personal budgets consultation

22 May 2018 0 Comments

A consultation on extending legal rights to have for personal health budgets and integrated personal budgets

Department of Health and Social Care

Opens: 6 April 2018
Closes: 8 June 2018

Within the NHS, there is an ever-growing shift towards personalisation of health and care. It is clear that choice and personalisation matter to people; uptake of personalised health and care plans within the NHS has increased annually since implementation, and evidence suggests that by providing individuals with more choice and control over how their individual needs are met, outcomes often improve, satisfaction often increases, and the package of care can often be delivered in a more cost-effective manner.

Personal health budgets are the current mechanism to deliver this. Currently however, only certain groups have a right to personal health budgets. This consultation therefore exlplores extending this right to other groups who we believe could benefit from a more personalised approach to their health and care.

There is also ongoing work across the country, looking into how personal health budgets and personal budgets in social care, can be aligned into a single, integrated, personal budget, wrapped around the individuals holistic health and social care needs. This consultation also therefore seeks your views on extending specific groups rights to an integrated personal budget, and also explores the potential to incorporate additional funding streams into that budget, if the individual so wishes.

Give Your Views

Online Survey

Consultation, Government, Health, News

Stroke Consultation deadline extended

31 March 2018 0 Comments

The Joint Committee of Clinical Commissioning Groups for the Kent and Medway Stroke Review has taken the decision to extend the stroke consultation by one week. The consultation will now close at midnight on Friday 20 April.

The reason for this is that during the week of bad weather in late February and early March, we had to postpone a number of listening events, which have been rescheduled, and in response to feedback we have scheduled a number of additional events. Whilst these events will be concluded by the 13 April it is important to allow time for those attending to consider what they have heard and respond to the consultation. The extension would allow this and take into account time lost due to bad weather.

Transforming health and social care in Kent and Medway 29 March 2018
https://kentandmedway.nhs.uk/stp-workstreams/stroke/stroke-consultation-extended-to-friday-20-april-2018/

For more information on the consultation please see our previous post

https://southashford.org.uk/index.php/2018/02/27/improving-urgent-stroke-services-in-kent-and-medway-consultation/

Health, News, STP

Improving urgent stroke services in Kent and Medway Consultation

27 February 2018 2 Comments

The Clinical commissioning groups in Kent and Medway (Ashford, Canterbury and Coastal, Dartford Gravesham and Swanley, Medway, South Kent Coast, Swale, Thanet, and West Kent), along with NHS Bexley Clinical Commissioning Group in London, and NHS High Weald Lewes Havens Clinical Commissioning Group in East Sussex.

Opens 02 February 2018
Closes 20 April 2018

Stroke services can be separated into three areas: prevention; urgent care during a stroke; and rehabilitation. This consultation document is focused on changes to the urgent stroke services provided in hospitals across Kent and Medway.

Improving stroke services is part of a wider programme across Kent and Medway involving all the local NHS organisations, Kent County Council and Medway Council.
We are looking at what needs to be done differently to bring about better health and wellbeing, better standards of care, and better use of staff, funds and other resources. The changes to hospital-based stroke services are being developed alongside and in alignment with other work on improving hospital services, developing more local care outside of hospitals, and improving mental health and social care. We believe it is imperative that we move forward with a decision on improvements to stroke services, but we will continue to align stroke improvements to our wider sustainability and transformation partnership programme.

You can find out more about our sustainability and transformation partnership and the other projects at kentandmedway.nhs.uk.

If you would like to find out more about stroke, the symptoms and what to do if you or someone you know has a stroke visit www.nhs.uk/actfast.

Read the consultation document

https://kentandmedway.nhs.uk/stroke-consultation-documents/

Review the supporting information

https://kentandmedway.nhs.uk/stp/stroke-supporting-information/

Respond to the consultation

https://kentandmedway.nhs.uk/stoke-consultation-questionnaire/

Meetings and events

Below are details of the confirmed listening events taking place during the stroke consultation nearest to Ashford. More events will be added over the coming days. Please refer to https://kentandmedway.nhs.uk/stroke-consultation-listening-events/ for the latest list.

Our consultation on urgent stroke services stretches across 10 clinical commissioning group areas and we plan to hold a minimum of two open discussion meetings in each CCG area, one in the day and one in the evening. However, we are happy to look at scheduling more if there is sufficient demand. There has been a relatively short space of time since we were able to confirm definite dates for the start and duration of the consultation period, and in some areas we are still confirming dates and venues for meetings. This is a priority as we know people will want to have as much time as possible to get the dates in their diaries.

Date Day Time Town Venue Register to attend CCG area
 05/03/2018 Monday 18:30 to 20:30 Ashford Ashford College Click here NHS Ashford
04/04/2018 Wednesday 10:00 to 12:00 Ashford Singleton Environment Centre Click Here NHS Ashford

Frequently asked questions

https://kentandmedway.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Stroke-consultation-FAQs-01-02-18.pdf

 

Consultation, Health, News

Postnatal Depression

15 February 2018 0 Comments

Craft Attack & Jigsaw

Support & Therapy Groups

Around 10-15% of new mothers in the UK suffer from postnatal depression (PND). It usually develops within the first 6 weeks after birth, but can develop at any point within the first year.

Symptoms may include feelings of being overwhelmed and unable to cope, suffering from low moods, anxiety, panic attacks, and experiencing irregular sleeping patterns and difficulty in bonding. This in turn may lead to feelings of guilt, anger, irritability, negative thoughts and feeling helpless and isolated, even when supported by loved ones.

Craft Attack

offers an environment of respite for mums finding it difficult to cope. The group uses arts and crafts to help mums explore what they are experiencing and how they are feeling, whilst providing the opportunity to meet others in a similar position and find mutual support within the group. There is no obligation to engage with the craft activities and certainly no expectation to produce masterpieces! Refreshments and lunch are provided.

Jigsaw

is a group for mums ready to explore what they are experiencing through talking with others in a similar position, facilitated by an experienced counsellor. Refreshments are provided.

Crèche and Care

A crèche is provided for babies and pre-school children, allowing mums to attend the groups in the knowledge their child is looked after in a safe crèche environment.

“Craft Attack has been the best support for me during a really difficult time” – Craft Attack attendee (2016/17)

The Groups

Using Big Lottery funding we offer places for up to 10 mums with PND and the groups run every Monday for 10 weeks. Craft Attack lasts two hours (12.30 – 2.30) in a relaxed and confidential environment. Jigsaw lasts one and a half hours also in a safe and confidential environment. Both groups offer support to mums with symptoms of PND and may address other aspects of anxiety and depression associated with PND.

Qualified and experienced counsellors attend the groups and are available for you to speak with in relation to matters that may be affecting you and the care of your baby. Be assured that information shared is treated in the strictest confidence.

Transport

Transport can be provided for those who need it from the Ashford area; the transport will collect you from your home address and will return you back once the session has finished. Child seats can be included, please let us know in advance.

How you will benefit:

  • We will provide a confidential and safe place in which to support you.
  • We will enable you to meet people in a similar situation to develop new friendships.
  • We will support you in exploring feelings and emotions brought about through postnatal depression and early parenting challenges.
  • We can provide support that meets your individual needs: respite, group therapy or individual counselling / therapy.
  • We will work with you to build confidence and self-esteem to enable you to change your current position.

Would you like to know more?

Contact:

Ashford Counselling Service
The Paul Bower Centre
123 Church Road
Willesborough
ASHFORD
Kent TN24 0JQ
Tel: 01233 610083
Email: info@ashfordcounselling.org.uk

 

 

Care, Children, Health, News, Wellbeing

‘Opt-out’ consent for organ donation in England consultation

10 February 2018 0 Comments

Introducing ‘opt-out’ consent for organ and tissue donation in England

Department of Health and Social Care

Opens: 12 December 2017
Closes: 6 March 2018

Summary

The government wants views from as many people as possible on plans to make it easier for people to give consent to be an organ donor.

Consultation description

The Department of Health and Social Care have launched a consultation about organ and tissue donation. The government wants to know what people think about proposed changes in which people are considered willing to be an organ donor after their death, unless they have ‘opted out’.

They want to find out what people think of how the changes to the system should be made, and what else they think the government needs to consider.

The defining issues of the new system are:

  • how much say families have in their deceased relative’s decision to donate their organs
  • when exemptions to ‘opt-out’ would be needed, and what safeguards would be necessary
  • how a new system might affect certain groups depending on age, disability, race or faith

Documents

Consultation on introducing ‘opt-out’ consent for organ and tissue donation in England
www.gov.uk/government/consultations/introducing-opt-out-consent-for-organ-and-tissue-donation-in-england/consultation-on-introducing-opt-out-consent-for-organ-and-tissue-donation-in-england HTML

Quick Read: organ and tissue donation consultation
www.gov.uk/government/consultations/introducing-opt-out-consent-for-organ-and-tissue-donation-in-england/quick-read-organ-and-tissue-donation-consultation HTML

Impact Assessment: organ donation opt-out
www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/666518/Organ_Donation_Opt-Out_Consultation_Impact_Assessment.pdf PDF, 707KB, 24 pages

Have your say on organ donation

https://engage.dh.gov.uk/organdonation/

Department of Health and Social Care 12 December 2017
www.gov.uk/government/consultations/introducing-opt-out-consent-for-organ-and-tissue-donation-in-england

Consultation, Government, Health, News