Westminster
Hello and welcome to the latest edition of ‘In Partnership for Patients’. This bulletin
keeps all of our health partners in Westminster up to date with the latest developments
at Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust (CLCH).
In this edition we’ll be letting you know about an innovative new smartphone app for
supporting patients with pressure ulcers, all part of our commitment to being
responsive to our patients and partners' needs.
We’ll be updating you on our new integrated Sexual Health Service for Hertfordshire,
which we’re delighted to be running in partnership with Chelsea and Westminster
Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, from April 2015.
You can also find out more about our progress towards becoming a Foundation Trust.
As ever, please keep in touch and let me know if there are areas of our work that you
would like to hear more about.
Dr Joanne Medhurst
Medical Director
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Homeless health visit from Sweden
This month CLCH welcomed clinicians from Gothenberg in Sweden to learn more
about our model of Homeless healthcare at CLCH. The Swedish team comprised a mix
of doctors, nurses, a podiatrist and a service manager, who visited staff and patients at
Connection at St Martins, Great Chapel Street and West London Day Centre.
In the afternoon, they came together for a discussion group to share their thoughts
from the experience with Clinical Business Unit manager here at CLCH, Mark
McDonaugh.
Anna Westerstahl who works as medical doctor for the homeless in Gothenberg said;
“We’re hoping to move our clinic to a new location, so it was very interesting to learn
about the care model you provide here. We hope these learnings will inform some of
the practises we’ll use to deliver our homeless healthcare care service in Gothenberg
into the future.”
For more information about CLCH’s Homeless Heath team contact Pat Baugh;
pat.baugh@clch.nhs.uk
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Paediatric dieticians launch guidance on
prescribing infant formulae
The CLCH paediatric dieticians are launching guidance for GPs on prescribing
specialist infant formulae. These primary care guidelines, which are supported by our
Paediatric colleagues at Imperial and Chelsea and Westminster Hospitals and our local
Medicines Management teams, offer advice on:
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when to initiate a prescription
products to prescribe for different clinical conditions such as cows' milk protein
allergy, lactose intolerance and faltering growth
how much to prescribe
considerations for reviewing and discontinuing prescriptions
suitable over the counter products that are available, where appropriate
when to onward refer for dietetic advice and/or secondary/specialist care.
Should you have any questions regarding these guidelines or would like the CLCH
paediatric dietetic team to review any of your patients on a prescribable infant formula,
please email the team on clcht.paediatricnutrition@nhs.net
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Marjory Warren intermediate care unit helping to
relieve winter pressures
The Marjory Warren ward intermediate care unit, managed by CLCH at Charing Cross
hospital is now successfully up and running.
The unit accommodates 18 beds for patients who are medically fit and require short
term rehabilitation or post-insult recuperation eg. post-falls, post-acute intervention/IV
therapy and who have:
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Mobility or confusion related issues delaying discharge
Social care or continuing care related delay in discharge
Patient/family choice related delay in discharge relating to placement choices
General frailty
Cognitive impairment that does not require specialist or 1:1 support.
To fulfil the admission criteria all patients must have a diagnosis and investigations in
place with a plan from the referring GP or acute provider before being admitted to the
ward.
Building on lessons learnt in 2013/14, all referrals to the intermediate care unit are
routed via the Bedded Single Point of Access (SPoR). Referrals are be screened for
suitability for the intermediate care unit and, if appropriate, re-directed to more suitable
CLCH bedded units, such as a Rehab unit where more complex or lengthy
rehabilitation is required.
For referral criteria, please contact Claire Basden, Pathway Lead at
claire.basden@clch.nhs.uk, claire.basden@nhs.net (for secure communications) or by
phone on: 07917 078 936
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Preventing pressure ulcers free app available
A new smartphone and tablet app designed to help raise awareness – and help with
the prevention of – pressure ulcers is now freely available to download from the app
store.
CLCH are encouraging GPs to recommend ‘PUinfo’ to any patient who is at risk of a
pressure ulcer either in hospital, at home, in residential care or in receipt of community
or domiciliary services.
For more information please contact Jean Lewis: jean.lewis@clch.nhs.uk
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Diabetes mentoring scheme
A mentoring scheme to support patients living with diabetes and pre-diabetes to
address the challenges they face and help put them in control of their condition has
been set up for patients in Westminster.
Mentors, many of whom are diagnosed with the condition themselves, work alongside
GPs to educate patients, providing them with emotional support as well as factual
advice and information so that they feel more confident about managing their condition.
The mentors also work with the community diabetes service to support patients who
have been newly diagnosed.
In the first session, patients can expect to build a framework within which to work
constructively with their mentors, which includes areas like confidentiality, boundaries
and future times and meeting dates. Sessions last between two and six weeks.
For further information about CLCH’s diabetes mentoring scheme, please contact Ian
Jones: ian.jones@clch.nhs.uk
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Herts sexual health
CLCH are delighted to have been appointed to run a new integrated Sexual Health
Service for Hertfordshire, in partnership with Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS
Foundation Trust, from April 2015.
The trust has developed a service model that aims to improve sexual health by
providing easy access to services through 'one stop shops' located across the county.
The new service offers the full breadth of genito-urinary medicine, contraceptive
services and a dedicated outreach team for young people and those at high risk to poor
sexual health. It also provides support and advice for primary care services including
Chlamydia testing, promotion and organisation of condom distribution and promotion of
HIV testing.
Julie Harris, Divisional Director of Operations for Allied Primary Care Services at
Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust said; "CLCH is delighted to be
selected to provide the integrated sexual health service in Hertfordshire in partnership
with Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. We are very proud of
our services and are excited to have the opportunity to develop the new service for
Hertfordshire residents. Our strapline 'Your Healthcare closer to Home' means that we
provide high quality services to meet our clients' needs in convenient accessible
locations."
For more information please contact Andrea Cuff: andrea.cuff@clch.nhs.uk
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Foundation trust status update
The first in a series of updates on our progress towards becoming a foundation trust.
CLCH hopes to be authorised as a foundation trust in early 2016.
CLCH will be inspected by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in April next year,
subject to final confirmation. All aspirant foundation trusts undergo an inspection and
must achieve a rating of excellent or good before they can proceed to the Monitor
stage of the application process.
External assessors recently examined the Trust’s Board governance and Quality
governance, and both achieved good results. We have improved our Quality
Governance Framework score considerably since we were last assessed in 2012,
moving from 8.5 to 3 (the lower the score the better).
CLCH is committed to working in close partnership with commissioners and other care
providers to meet the current and developing health needs of our local
communities. We are in the process of completing our plans for the future in our
integrated business plan (IBP), and are setting up meetings with commissioners and
other stakeholders to discuss, and invite comments on, our five year strategy.
Last month it was announced that two community healthcare trusts, Derbyshire
Community Health Services NHS Trust and Bridgewater Community Healthcare NHS
Trust, have become foundation trusts. They are the first community providers to be
authorised, and this gives us much encouragement.
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