Briefingto GPs and Other Stakeholders

Integration of the Community Nursing and Therapy Teams into Three Health Centres

Team Changes

  • Integrated Primary Care services currently provide District Nursing, Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy and Complex Care to housebound patients in Camden, based at four health centres: Belsize Priory, Gospel Oak, Kentish Town and Hunter Street.
  • From 29th January 2014 these teams will be reorganised into three teams based at Belsize Priory, Gospel Oak and Hunter Street health centres.

There will no longer be an IPC team based at Kentish Town Health Centre.

  • Patients living in the Kentish Town area will be served by either the Hunter Street (South) or Gospel Oak (North) IPC teams.
  • Boundary changes on the north/south divide will take immediate effect. The revisions to the west (Belsize Priory / Gospel Oak) boundary will be implemented gradually, to minimise disruption.

Please see the attached map

Rationale

  • The GPs are grouped into three localities and a move to three IPC teams will provide a better fit with this structure.
  • The importance of providing integrated teams focussed on GPs has been highlighted by the frailty (now complex care) programme.
  • Currently nurses and therapists from one team are seeing patients for complex care but other teams may be providing day-to-day care. This realignment will reduce the number of these crossovers.
  • The move to three teams will improve senior clinical leadership to the teams, which is currently stretched across four teams.
  • Three larger teams will provide a broader range of clinical skills and competencies in each team, better meeting patient need in a timely and consistent manner.

Benefits

  • We have listened to what our patients/GPs/social care and acute colleagues have said about the need to easily access a member of the health centre team when an urgent patient care issue/referral/discharge needs to be discussed. We will be implementing a clinician of the daywho will be a senior member of the clinical team and will have a dedicated mobile phone to take and resolve such queries.
  • Similarly, continuity of care is something we have been aiming to improve over the past few months, and as part of these improvements we will be implementing a system where each patient will have a named clinician. This clinician will be the one responsible for both delivering the majority of care for each patient and acting as an advocate or navigator when other clinicians/services are not being delivered in a timely manner for each patient.
  • Each patient along with their carer will be provided with contact details of their named clinician and IPC team.

Staffing update

  • There will be no reduction in staffing within IPC as a result of these changes. Staff currently based at the Kentish Town health centre will be moving, as will current team boundaries. The new boundaries are shown in the attached map.
  • To augment the current service, the CCG is funding three additional complex care senior nursing posts: one will be based in each of the new teams.
  • CNWL is alsoinvesting in practice education for the district nurses. This post will support clinical practice to help improve clinical outcomes for patients. This will also support career and skills progression in the service, enhancing the attractiveness of District Nursing.
  • We have mapped the number of staff in each profession by grade and skill mix that will be required at the three health centres to best meet the needs of the adjusted patient populations that will be supported by IPC.

Telephone numbers, emails and fax numbers?

  • The Kentish Town phone (020 3317 2131) will have a message briefly explaining that the IPC team has moved giving the numbers for Gospel Oak (020 3317 5915) and Hunter Street (020 3317 2309). Callers will be given the option to remain on the line and will be diverted to Central Access who will be able to put them through to the appropriate team.
  • The Fax (020 7813 8678) will be disabled: please do not send any faxes to this number. Please Fax either Gospel Oak (020 7813 8714) or Hunter Street (020 7833 1793) as appropriate, the teams will redirect any faxes as required.
  • For email communications the Kentish town e mail address will go to out of office reply. The in box will be monitored daily for one month and e mails forwarded as required. All enquiries should be sent to Hunter Street or Gospel Oak, details below.

Summary Contact Details from 29th January 2014

IPC Team / Phone / Email / Fax
Belsize Priory / 020 3317 5705 / / 020 7328 4092
Gospel Oak / 020 3317 5915 / / 020 7813 8714
Hunter Street / 020 3317 2309 / / 020 7833 1793

Locality Lead information

Should you have any queries regarding IPC services or these changes, please get in touch with one of the two IPC Locality Leads:

  • For Belsize Priory and Gospel Oak please contact Diane Wiles (020 3317 3332)
  • For Hunter Street please contact Wolfie Smith (020 3317 3338)

Stephen Meechan

Head of Integrated Adult Services

1

Wednesday, 22 January 2014