Susan Deacon highlights teamwork
Tackling Inequality
Transforming services
New ways to deliver services
Making a pledge
fit for the futureReshaping Glasgow's hospital services will replace century-old buildings with new, excellent facilities which will mean a faster, better, more responsive service for patients. Recommendations include:Southside
North and East Glasgow
West Glasgow
making sense across glasgowNHS professionals contributed to the review of acute hospital services by Greater Glasgow Health Board and the North Glasgow, South Glasgow and Yorkhill NHS Trusts. The review focused on 'making sense across Glasgow as a whole' -keeping local ambulatory care services and making sure that the pattern of services makes sense on a Greater Glasgow basis. GGHB and the trusts recognise that people cleave to hospital buildings that often have associations with births and other life changing -and sometimes very emotional -events. But moving forward will mean closing some old facilities to release investment for new, excellent facilities, especially in community settings. shaping priorities GGHB and the trusts:
The priorities were to modernise the Southside hospital service and to secure Stobhill's future around its state-of-the-art ambulatory care centre. The recommendations will be open to public consultation until June and proposals will be put to the Scottish Executive in the autumn. |
Teamwork that cares as well as cures"It's the people working in the health service who deliver health care. They are the people who make the difference. We need to invest in developing all staff throughout their whole career. We need to introduce flexibility so that people can combine working life with bringing up their children. " Susan Deacon Photo Susan Deacon MSP, Minister for Health and Community Care We have a unique opportunity in Scotland to develop a health service which is the envy of the world. But to achieve this we have to change the way the NHS delivers care. Modernising the NHS is about much more than bricks and mortar. It's about new ways of working. Building a new culture and creating effective teamwork. Working together is the key. Modernising the NHS is about reorganising the entire health care system. Making the patient journey as good as it can be. People talk to me about their experience through the system. Cancellations, changes to appointment, disruption to family life. And the human dimension of systems failures that can lead to suffering where the condition is potentially serious. The patient journey involves a huge range of people, from cleaners to consultants. It's these people together who are delivering health care. And the quality of care will be determined by how effectively these people work together as a team. Until now, patients have had to fit into the system. That's not good enough. Now it's crucially important that people get the care they need as quickly and as effectively as possible. We must make best use of the skills of every member of the team. Modernising the service means spending better and investing for the future. Investing in staff and in ways of delivering the biggest benefits to patients.
When teams have worked together and looked at the service based on their experience and skills -and crucially from the patients' point of view -they have recognised the shortcomings and reorganised. They have achieved notable success, for example, with 'one-stop' clinics. We have to accelerate that pressure for change so that the highest quality of care becomes the norm. There are examples of good practice across Scotland. The challenge is to make these good examples the norm. |
tackling inequalityNHS professionals working closely as a team are delivering primary care in Craigmillar, Edinburgh, one of Scotland's most deprived communities. Dr Carl Bickler, GP Principal, says: "Every practice in Scotland is facing a different challenge. We are providing a very demand-led service. For example, we are responding to the particular needs of our patients by offering many 'same day' appointments." The Medical Centre offers a range of services -including child psychiatry, psychology, counselling, family planning, learning disability clinics, speech therapy and child health surveillance- and there is a community dentist and chiropodist. Dr Bickler says: "Demand from our patients is very high. We have 6.5 full-time equivalent GPs to address this need, giving us a very low list size per GP." Dr Bickler recognises that the practice represents a complex model and that Lothian Primary Care pushed at the boundaries to "make it happen". The Group has a high level of staff retention which Dr Bickler says reflects well on the individuals and on the regard the community has for the service. The Centre itself is unmarked by graffiti and has suffered no vandalism. "Staff retention is remarkable although people work in a very demanding and difficult environment. The challenges of working in an area of such high multiple deprivation means that the whole team has to work much harder than their colleagues in more affluent settings. Our great results in terms of reaching targets is a tribute to this work."
Craigmillar Medical Group was established in 1948 and moved from two cottages to a purpose-built health centre in January 1999. The 8,200 patients include many young, single parents and a significant number of multiply deprived families. The practice actively manages 270 drug users. Craigmillar Medical Group includes:
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The minister has now announced the largest ever programme of redesigned care across Scotland. Funding fourteen separate projects, The Scottish Executive is working with the Service to transform the quality and speed of care in, for example, mental health, gynaecology, cancer, accident and emergency. Projects have attracted funding from £18,000 up to £300,000, demonstrating that innovation comes in many different shapes and sizes.
Examples of some of the projects are:
For further information contact Angela Anderson in the NHS Management Executive telephone number 0131 244 2829
targeting diabetes"The collaboration of all health care professionals in the community and the hospitals has been tremendous. We aim to show that population based 'seamless care' is possible for people with diabetes in Scotland." Consultant diabetologist Dr Andrew Morris
Harnessing state-of-the-art technology has created an information system designed to improve the clinical effectiveness of diabetes care in Tayside. NHS professionals are now collaborating with colleagues in Forth Valley and Fife in providing seamless care for patients in hospitals, in the community and in their homes. Diabetes Audit and Research in Tayside Collaboration (DARTS) is a joint initiative involving all Tayside GPs, the diabetes units at Ninewells, Perth and Stracathro hospitals, and the Medicines Monitoring Unit (MEMO) at the University of Dundee. Using information technology to track patients, whether they are seen in general practice or hospital, DARTS monitors the health of over 9000 people with diabetes in Tayside. Initial results show that 41% of people with diabetes have high blood pressure, 8.8% have severe eye disease and 20% have symptomatic heart disease. DARTS enables all health care professionals to identify those people with diabetes who are making good progress and target those who are at increased risk of developing problems with eye disease, kidney disease and heart disease. Dr Andrew Morris, consultant diabetologist at Ninewells and DARTS co-ordinator, says: "The collaboration of all health care professionals in the community and the hospitals has been tremendous. We aim to show that population based 'seamless care' is possible for people with diabetes in Scotland." Details of the initiative are at: Diabetes mellitus is a major health problem at all ages.
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healthy promises in highlandPeople in Highland have received a clear statement of Healthy Promises in a ground breaking scheme which is leading the way towards making the NHS fully accountable in the community. The area's NHS Trusts and Health Board have set out a raft of challenging targets which they have committed to meet by September 2000. They have set out their statement of intent in a Pledge Card distributed to the public and health professionals. In a joint declaration the chairmen and chief executives of Highland Health Board, Highland Acute Hospitals NHS Trust and Highland Primary Care NHS Trust have promised: "We want the Health Service in the Highlands to be the best, and the most responsive, with quality of care and ease of access at the centre of everything we do. We have made our promises to you. We WILL keep them" "We are making a symbolic step towards our community and saying "It's your NHS." This is what you can expect from us over the next twelve months" Caroline Thomson, Highland Health Board chairman." promise Judge us on this Caroline Thomson, Highland Health Board chairman, says: "This is what we promise will happen. This is what you can judge us on." Heather Sheerin, Highland Primary Care NHS Trust chairman, says: "It is important that we are open and accountable. These are challenging targets but will be the yardstick against which we will be measured." Stewart Whiteford, Highland Acute Hospitals NHS Trust chairman, says: "These promises represent our commitment to the public."
Our promises to you The focus is on delivering 30 promises to seven groups of people and includes
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Published by The Management Executive for the National Health Service in Scotland B10556 (3/2000) "
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