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W
e are pleased to report that Kevin Cooper of KHC Consulting Ltd has been appointed to carry out a review on access to GPs locally. Some of you will know that Kevin has been working in this area for some years providing support including training under the Releasing Community Capacity initiative and in coordinating the recent Ageing Better (Big Lottery) bid and subsequent Good Neighbours programme. Kevin has already begun to speak to contacts in the Clinical Commissioning Group and at General Practice level and is now looking for feedback from local people about their experiences. Some of you will be aware that access to GPs was the main concern registered when we carried out a local survey about a year ago. Access remains hugely variable – some people can see their GP straight away and other have to wait
weeks, unless their need is urgent. It is now time to look at such issues in a little more detail so that we can identify recurrent problems and look to best practice and ways forward in tackling these. You are therefore invited to either click on the link below or go to our website to complete our online questionnaire. It should only take a few minutes and will be an invaluable source of additional patient data as we make local recommendations about this significant national issue. In addition, we are holding a public consultation event on 14 April 2015 at Centre4, 17a Wootton
Road, Grimsby, DN33 1HE from 3.00 p.m. This will take the form of a drop-in for people to share their individual stories about GP Access with two plenary discussion sessions at 4.00 p.m. and 6.00 p.m. looking at results so far of the public survey and for general discussion. Please feel to drop in at your convenience to talk to us. If you do not know, Centre4 is the redeveloped St Mary’s School and has ample parking at the front and on both sides. The No. 3 bus service runs every 10 minutes and can drop people off at the nearby shops on Sutcliffe Avenue.
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Did you know that wasted medicines cost North East Lincolnshire Clinical Commissioning Group around £1 million a year? Medicines are wasted for a number of reasons, and not all is avoidable, but if you are ordering re p e a t medicines check you only order the items you need. Your GP or pharmacy are able to support you with any queries you have regarding your medicines. Did you know that: pharmacies are not able to reuse returned medication once it has left the premises?
may be equally as helpful and usually the infection will resolve in the same time. GPs are supportive of recent health advice: the right drug, at the right dose and for the right duration and patients should use them exactly as prescribed, never save them for later and never share them with others.
One key area is the prescribing of antibiotics when they may have little or no effect on colds, most coughs and sore throats. Over-the-counter remedies
Another problem is stockpiling of medications especially when patients are on repeat prescriptions for a variety of conditions and where, for whatever reason, the patient has stopped taking some/all of these. It is not always safe to stockpile medicines at home, consider duplication of medicines, or children having access or taking medications which should have stopped. People are encouraged to take unwanted medicines back to their community pharmacy for disposal. There are examples of where sacks full of unopened drugs have been handed in to pharmacists for disposal. Remember, these drugs cannot be reissued and have to be incinerated. Maybe you
We announced in the last newsletter that we were wanting to look at people’s experiences of Patient Transport over the last two years and that we have
been working with some of our partners to draw up a bigger picture. Unfortunately the feedback so far as not been as great as we would have hoped. We have therefore produced a press release inviting wider feed-back from the local community by the end of March. Paul was interviewed on Radio
How does this come about? This is not all about clinical demand and here are a couple of reasons for saying this. Ask yourself, when you go to see your GP with a bad cold or flu, do you expect him/her to give you a prescription?
have a family member or friend that you know is supposed to take various medications but you are not sure if they are managing. Suggest they speak to their GP or community pharmacist who can discuss their medicines with them. It may not always be easy but a few simple questions could help clarify the picture. Patients who have repeat prescriptions are urged to routinely discuss their medication with their GP or pharmacist to ensure their pre sc riptio n is regularly reviewed. GPs now carry out six-monthly reviews of people aged over 75 who are on four or more medications but it is important that they get an accurate picture either from the individual or the family where the individual may, through memory loss or other reasons, not p re se nt an accu ra te picture. Often people worry about telling their GP that they don’t like a medicine or they are not taking itbut it is best to tell them. So check if you can – it may make all the difference.
Humberside about this and there has been an article in the Cleethorpes Chronicle. If you have used patient transport (not emergency transport) in the last two years, or know someone who has, we would be delighted if you would click on the link below or complete the survey on our website.
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Volunteering is continuing to improve and move forward with us now having 7 active Enter & View volunteers and 8 currently being trained and processed, as well as 6 active general volunteers and 8 awaiting the return of their DBS forms or who are currently inactive due to other commitments. With us now having space for a spare laptop and table we are able to offer more t i me to our a d mi n volunteers during the week.
We still don’t feel that enough of the people of North East Lincolnshire know of Healthwatch and what we have to offer. We want the local community to share their experiences on health and social care services with us to help improve them. This is the reason we continue to p ro mot e He a lthwat ch around NEL to ensure everyone can have their say. You will be able find us throughout the month at one of our regular stands at either Diana Princess of Wales Hospital on the second Tuesday of every month, Cleethorpes Library
As every organisation that has volunteers, you can never have enough! We still need more volunteers to help and make sure that the voices of local people in North East Lincolnshire are being heard about their local health and social care services. If you have an interest in admin, promoting at events or our Enter & View programme please contact Tayo Davenport at the Healthwatch office on 01472 361 459 or email tayo@nbforum.org.uk for more information.
on the first Thursday of every month and the Grimsby Library on the last Friday of every month. Alternatively you will be able to find us at other promotional stands we hold which we will always advertise on our website under upcoming events. Some of the recent promotional stands we have held have had a high level of engagement. We have seen 556 people at our normal stands since the beginning of the year plus 58 at Asda on 27 January and 82 at Freshney Place on 6 February. We are planning another session at Asda on 5 May 2015 from 9.30 a.m. to 3.00 p.m.
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We continue to look for opportunities to partner with other local organisations and we thought it might help to remind you of why we are doing this. The Partner P r o gra mme see ks to recognise the valuable contribution that other agencies, particularly in the voluntary and community sector (VCS), make to putting local people at the heart of health and social care services in North East Lincolnshire.
It is imperative that local people have a say on the services they access and it is often the more vulnerable people that are least well heard. So many local VCS organisations provide a valuable link to such groups in their day to day activities and can help HWNEL fulfil its role in challenging local commissioners and providers and in making sure that those needs and concern are responded to. HWNEL, because of its
statutory responsibilities, can also provide a stronger voice for local partner organisations on issues of mutual concern. HWNEL and the organisations and groups signing up to the Partner Programme will agree a set of mutual undertakings about sharing information and working together and partners will be given an annual contribution of ÂŁ100 from HWNEL.
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is carrying out a national survey of how well people with dementia are living in their communities. They would like as many people with dementia as possible to complete this survey to help them make the case for dementia to be a key priority for government.
is currently working with CERT to complete a feasibility study for their Millennium Park project and need as many members of the community to fill out their surveys as possible. If you could complete the most relevant survey to you using one of the links below, we would be very grateful. Health Sector: www.surveymonkey.com/s/ghopahealth Young People: www.surveymonkey.com/s/ghopayoungpeople Residents and Communities and Voluntary organisations: www.surveymonkey.com/s/ghpacomm Public sector: www.surveymonkey.com/s/ghopapublicsector
The survey will inform the Dementia 2015 report, which will provide a snapshot of current experiences and attitudes towards dementia and make the case for dementia to be a key priority for government and politicians. This work builds on the Dementia 2012, Dementia 2013 and Dementia 2014 reports. Please help by getting as many responses as possible by completing this survey with people with dementia you know, and sharing it with others. To complete the survey, visit www.alzheimers.org.uk
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writing led by Pippa Robson of North Bank Forum (our host body). We want to give advance notice that our AGM is on 18 June 2015 and will be at The Warehouse, 155-159 Freeman Street, Grimsby, DN32 7AR from 11.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. It will be built around a Funding Fair and we are delighted that a number of prominent organisations have already agreed to come along to hold information stalls and to be part of a Question and Answer Panel. Our keynote speaker will be Rob Malyan form the Big Lottery with contributions from some of the other funders. There will also be a morning session on bid-
We are hoping that as many local organisations involved in health and social care that are considering future funding options can join us on for the whole session. We are therefore asking for expressions of interest now to help in the organisation of the day (including catering) so please let us know if you want to come as places are limited. We reserve the right to restrict places for any organisation that appears to be overrepresented by such expressions of interest. We will update with further details in our next newsletter (May/June).
We had hoped by now to be able to make an announcement about the vacant position of our Chair. However, we had to readvertise the position and extend the application deadline and interviews are now planned for 17 March 2015. We will produce an update once an appointment is made and confirm in our next newsletter (May/June).
Please note that the next Board meeting, planned for 19 March 2015 has had to be re-arranged and will now be on 1 April 2015 in Meeting Room 1 at Centre4, 17a Wootton Road, Grimsby, DN33 1HE from 5.30 a.m. to 7.00 p.m. As always, these are public meetings, and we will be joined at the start by East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) who will set out their `Vision for the Future’.
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Contact The Team
Paul Glazebrook
Tayo Davenport
Bayard Tarpley
Partnership Co-ordinator
Communications & Engagement Worker
Project Support Officer
Meet The Board
Michael Bateson
Sam O’Brien
Malcolm Morland
Jane Mansfield
Esther Smith
Sean Snelson (Co-optee)
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