Introducing the Stenhouse Surgery - by Martin Rowlatt, Practice Manager
The surgery is named after Dr Daniel Stenhouse, who set up practice in Arnold in 1886. Since then there has been a succession of single-handed general practitioners until DrsGraham, Jacobs and Lobb formed a partnership as the practice expanded in the 1950s, eventually moving to Stenhouse Medical Centre in 1991.
We now have 7 partners and a practice population of 12,500. Our large team of staff is dedicated to providing the best possible service to our patients. There is a strong tradition of training at the practice going back to 1973. There are two GP registrars with us on a rotational basis all year round and we also support medical students from the university. We are very supportive of facilitating additional services to our patients and currently host counsellors, New Leaf and community alcohol workers at the premises as well as providing a minor ops clinic.
PLT event - Dementia Cafes and Community Heart Failure Nurse
The above PLT event was well attended with Julia Jefferson, Dementia Advice and Support Service Manager for the Alzheimer’s Society giving a helpful summary of their work. The Dementia Cafés provide a welcoming, relaxed place for people with dementia and their carers to share concerns, receive support and information and a social outlet. In addition to those up and running in Newark and Mansfield, it is proposed to open more cafés in Ashfield, Rushcliffe, Nottingham City and Eastwood. No referrals are necessary - people can just turn up. Contact the Dementia Advice and Support Service at the Nottingham Branch of the Alzheimer’s Society on 0115 9343800 for further details.
The second session was dedicated to the Heart Failure Nurse (HFN) service commissioned by NNEC & Calverton, and Deb Pearce and Matt Garrod gave background on the role of the HFN and objectives of the service. The service manages patients with Left Ventricular Heart Failure, confirmed by echo and they see patients in their home and in clinics held in practices. Patients are managed according to individual plans which includes intensive care with home visits when they are first referred, following on to being taught how to self monitor and recognise ‘alerts’. For any further information on the service please contact Hazel Buchanan at the PBC office. There will be a report on the PLT event on Cytology and Chlamydia held on 4 March in the next Bulletin.
Snow and Ice - Not an Issue for CICSS
The Crisis Intervention Community Support Service was able to see all patients, every day, despite the troubles caused by snow and ice during January. The British Red Cross Emergency Response Service supported CICSS in providing 4x4 vehicles to take Community Workers to patients which ensured continuity of the service.
Tobacco Control Plan Summary - an update from Jon Melbourne, Tiger Team Leader
The locally agreed Tobacco Strategic plan will be achieved through preventing young people from starting to smoke, engaging with those who do not want to quit, and supporting those who do want to quit and focussing on narrowing health inequalities. In 2010/11 it is aimed across the county to achieve the target of at least 5,800 4-week smoking quitters. It is aimed to roll out Brief Intervention measures across all providers and to implement a Stop Before the Op scheme in acute care.
The PCT’s ‘Tiger Team’ is working closely with young people in defining interventions which will include parental advice packs and peer support and additionally there will be a workplace tobacco strategy to feed into existing good practice.
The ‘Tiger Teams’ are an initiative established by the PCT aimed at creating a team of PCT colleagues who each bring their own expertise and skills to a Tiger Team in order to develop proposals and plans for tackling various high priority needs.
Please feel free to email any comments on this to
No Smoking Day
‘Break Free’ is this years No Smoking Day theme. The event takes place on Wednesday 10 March. Last year’s event saw 1 in 10 people quit and we are hoping for even more this year. To help publicise this event and the support available for people wanting to quit smoking, GP practices, dental surgeries and pharmacies are being sent promotional information to please display.
If you need any advice please contact either Helen Scaman 01159773156 or Jo Hopkin 01623673147
Review of NNEC Services
At the recent very well attended NNEC Practice Forum meeting, which focused on a review of a wide range of established NNEC services, the practices’ representatives were asked for views on all of these services. There were some services which the Practice Forum ultimately concluded were perhaps desirable but were not essential in the current challenging financial climate. The view of the Practice Forum was ratified by the NNEC Executive Board and accordingly notice has now been given on the community ophthalmology clinic, the soft tissue clinic and also the primary care based citizen advice bureau sessions.
· NNEC practices hosting the CAB sessions will be aware of the end dates of those ‘pilots’.
· The community ophthalmology clinic had been commissioned from NUH and they have been given 3 months notice of termination. The notice period will end at the beginning of May 2010. The clinics have been running fortnightly with un-used slots so the clinics can receive referrals up to mid-April with follow-ups taking place, if required at NUH.
· The soft tissue clinic had been commissioned from Dr James Hopkinson at the Calverton Practice and Dr Hopkinson has advised that the clinic currently has a 4 week waiting list. The notice period is again 3 months and so will again expire at the start of May 2010.
Please contact Nick Ryan at the PBC office if you have any query on any of the above.
Engagement Scheme
Colleagues at NNEC practices will be aware of discussions held at NNEC Practice Forum meetings regarding the proposal to have an NNEC Engagement Scheme. NNEC practices have been excellent at engaging and contributing to the development of practice based commissioning within the NNEC and the planned Engagement Scheme will formalise aspects of that excellent engagement from practices and will reward that ongoing commitment. Final details of the NNEC Engagement Scheme will be with practices shortly. Please contact Simon King at the PBC office for any queries on this.
NNEC PBC Plan
After a wide consultation exercise amongst NNEC practices and many other ‘stakeholders’ with an interest in the NNEC, the final version of the NNEC’s PBC Plan for 2010/11 is now with the PCT. Thank you for your all your comments and input to the Plan. A copy of the final Plan has been emailed to all NNEC practices but if you would like a paper copy of it sending to you, please contact SallyButton at the PBC office. Our thanks also to the NNEC’s Medicines Management Group and the NNEC’s Prescribing Lead Dr Jeremy Hill who have led on the development of the new NNEC Prescribing Plan and this will also be shortly shared with all NNEC practices.
Referrals Review
A big thank you from the NNEC Executive Board to all NNEC practices for taking the time out to join in with the February in-house referrals review session. The agreement by NNEC practices to spend that February time-out learning session on reviewing and monitor your own referrals in-house was very much appreciated by the NNEC Executive Board.
Nottinghamshire County Love Your Lungs - March 2010
In order to support the implementation of the Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) pathway across the County by Practice Based Commissioning Clusters, the PCT has commissioned the British Lung Foundation (BLF) to co-ordinate and deliver an awareness-raising session in each cluster during March 2010. The BLF are keen to reach people who are unaware of the early symptoms of COPD, which include breathlessness and a persistent cough, often with phlegm. To help people identify symptoms and find out whether they have a problem, the ‘Love Your Lungs’ campaign will be running a series of events offering members of the public free lung function tests.
The campaign delivered by the BLF consists of:
· Pre-campaign communication with local GPs and Pharmacies to engage support.
· The provision and distribution of all campaign materials that have been agreed with local teams to agreed outlets, ie GP Surgeries, Pharmacies, Health Centres and Libraries.
· Co-ordination of an awareness-raising stand in venues of the cluster’s choosing, with free lung testing.
· A post-campaign evaluation report.
There is one in Arnold today, 5 March, at Sainsbury’s from 9 am to 3 pm and one on 10 March at Asda in Mansfield also from 9 am to 3 pm. If you have any questions please contact Lindsay Price by email on telephone 01623 673524.
And finally ……
For any query on the contents of this Bulletin, the NNEC Executive Board and the NNEC PBC Support Team can be contacted via Sally Button at Byron Court, Arnold Business Centre, Brookfield Gardens, Arnold, Nottingham NG5 7ER Tel: 0115 883 1712 or email: Please note that Sally Button returned to work in February following a successful hip replacement operation.
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