South TynesideNHS Foundation Trust

GP update

Issue 21

As we begin the New Year the NHS is entering a period of major challenge and change. The NHS White Paper, “Equity and Excellence Liberating the NHS” contains far reaching proposals which if approved will fundamentally change the structure of the service and the way in which care is commissioned and provided.

Locally, South Tyneside NHS Foundation Trust is playing a major role in these changes, having been selected by NHS South of Tyne & Wear as its preferred partner to take forward the management of community services across Gateshead, Sunderland and South Tyneside.

We are currently leading this “Transforming Community Services” (TCS) programme with the aim of transferring services and staff into our Trust early in the financial year.

We hope that TCS will create major opportunities for us, working closely with GPs, GP Commissioning Consortia and other key partners to transform integrated care delivery. There is no doubt looking ahead that the NHS needs to work more flexibly and to ensure that we deliver high quality, streamlined pathways of care. We believe TCS creates an ideal environment for success in this area.

Of course, with such a large scale change we do have to go through a detailed process of scrutiny to make sure that we have sound plans in place, that we have fully anticipated and mitigated any potential risks and that we will have the capacity and capability to manage this bigger range of services. This involves close scrutiny internally by the Board of Directors and externally by the Independent Regulator of Foundation Trusts, Monitor.

Driving transformation forward

GP update Issue 21

Waiting times for November 2008Waiting times for March 2011

Waiting timein weeks

Waiting timein weeks

Waiting timein weeks

FeedbackWe would welcome your feedback on any of the information and comment provided in this issue of Choose Update. Please address any correspondence to;Helen Ray - Executive Director Clinical Serviceshelen.ray@stft.nhs.uk or telephone 0191 202 4174

Service Service Service

Cardiology 5

Dr R K Mohindra Dr A Nasser

Care Of The Elderly 2

Dr A Rodgers Dr J Scott Dr R Wiseman

Child & Adolescent Psych 8

Dr A McClureDr Z Gilder

Dermatology 11

Dr FreemanDr Ct BhatDr BainesDr Niazi

Diabetic Medicine 5

Dr J H ParrDr S WahidDr J MettayilDr K Dukhan

Ears Nose & Throat 5

Ms H Cocks Miss J Heaton Mr T Leontsinis Mr R Pardeshi

Gastroenterology Medicine 5

Dr S Panter Dr C ReesDr F Butt Dr J Topping

We also offer some open access diagnostic services direct to GPs and currently our waiting times for these are as follows: CT – 5 weeks, MRI – 4 weeks, ETT – 1-2 weeks, Echo – 3 weeks, ECG – no wait.

Once this is complete, we will be able to finalise our plans and move forward with a programme of service integration and development with our partners.

These are exciting times and the year ahead will undoubtedly be extremely demanding. We look forward to keeping you briefed on progress and would welcome any ideas or suggestions about the improvements to patient care which we could collectively achieve with integrated working.

Lorraine B LambertChief Executive

Oral Surgery 5

Mr A M Burns Orthopaedics 5

Mr H Fuchs Mr H Gehling Mr I A Hugh Mr W Pizon

Paediatrics 2

Dr N Brewster Dr G OkugbeniDr VenkatesanDr M Ghazavi Dr S Gupta Plastic Surgery 5

Mr P Longhi Respiratory Medicine 5

Dr M BoneDr L Fuller Dr D A Stock Upper GI Surgery 5

Mr K Wynne Urology 6

Mr T ArmitageMr Lewis

Vascular 6

Rotational Cover

General Surgery 2Colorectal 5Breast Surgery* 2

Mr R Fenchel Mr V Joypaul Mr C J Pritchett Ms B Weber Mr K Wynne* First appointment at Gateshead

Hospital

Gynaecology 5

Mr U I Esen Mr H Fawzi Dr Al-IniziMr S Orife

Uro-Gynaecology 2

Mr N J Nwabineli

Haematology 5

Dr M J GallowayDr V HerveyDr S Lyons Dr S Mathew

Hepatology (Hep C Clinic) 2

Ms C Davison(Nurse Consultant)

Ophthalmology 5

Mr D Bell Miss Adams Mr P S Phelan Mrs Varma Mr P A Tiffin

GP update Issue 21South TynesideNHS Foundation Trust

New electronic ICE system set to save GP time

The ICE system which is being introduced as part of a region-wide rollout, will offer significant benefits to all stakeholders, reducing the amount of paperwork circulating within the Trust and ensuring that appointments can be made at the earliest possible opportunity.

Once the system is in-place, all appointment requests will be handled automatically by EMIS via the ICE link, with the delivery of results being made directly via ICE. The current Manual Test Request Card is being phased out as practices introduce ICE.

The Trust’s rollout of the Sunquest ICE (Integrated Clinical Environment), allowing GPs to electronically book appointments within the Radiology and Pathology departments, with results reported back directly via the same system, is well underway and due for completion this month.

The regional roll-out of ICE will not only improve integrated services and reduce associated bureaucracy; it will also ensure that results are delivered more quickly, being applied directly to patient’s medical records. The system will also give GPs access to the full diagnostic pathology and radiology history of each patient starting from July 2010.

Your staff will benefit because they will no longer need to manually send out test requests and then chase the results during busy times. The work of our own administrative staff and laboratory teams is being

On time-saving alone, the ICE process will remove in a single step the time it takes to fill out a request form and have it delivered to the hospital, where it used to be entered manually onto our system, followed by a similar process in the other direction.Maureen Gallagher, radiology clerk for GP appointments, demonstrates the new ICE system

Dr Jo ToppingConsultant Gastroenterologist

I joined the Trust in January 2011 and am thrilled to be working within a four-strong team of gastroenterologists here at South Tyneside District Hospital.

Although I am originally from Yorkshire, I consider the North East my adopted home, having worked in the region for the last eleven years.

I studied medicine in Nottingham before moving to the North East and undertook the majority of my postgraduate training here in the region. This included a year as a registrar at this hospital.

I am a general gastroenterologist although my main subspecialty interest is hepatology, in particular alcohol-related liver disease.

At present, I work closely with my colleagues and the existing alcohol services within the Trust, to help make care for this particular group of patients more streamlined and integrated.

I am interested in research and am involved in a national alcoholic hepatitis trial in which South Tyneside patients will be eligible to participate. I hope this will help our understanding and treatment of this serious condition.

Profilestreamlined and simplified, allowing them to carry out tests and produce results more quickly.

In terms of the patient pathway, the ICE system will allow GPs to provide much more detail and pertinent clinical information than the paper-based forms. This will help our own teams to identify the most suitable diagnostic tests and assist with interpretation of the results.

Long-term, the collation of results in one place will offer significant benefits to patients with long-term conditions, allowing both GPs and our own staff to access historical information that may be relevant to the patient’s current condition. It will also help us to identify where further monitoring is needed in the future, especially where a condition is recurrent.

On time-saving alone, the ICE process will remove in a single step the time it takes to fill out a request form and have it delivered to the hospital and, where it used to be entered manually onto our system, followed by a similar process in the other direction.

If you have any questions about the introduction of ICE and what it means for your patients, contact Claire Weston, Radiology PACS/IT Lead, on (0191) 404 1000 Ext 3176 or Jonathan Maddison, Pathology IT Manager on Ext 2201.

GP update Issue 21South TynesideNHS Foundation Trust

Improvements in diabetes care will benefit all

We will be working closely with GPs and other community support staff to ensure that they are fully supported and skilled in the treatment of diabetes and its related conditions

Dr Khaled DhukanConsultant Diabetologist/Endocrinologist

Having trained initially in Libya, I came to the UK in 2001 to complete my specialist training. I have worked in hospitals across the North East, most recently with colleagues in Newcastle hospitals.

I joined the Trust in September 2010 as a Consultant Physician. Working with two other consultant colleagues, I lead on improving the patient pathway for patients with diabetes.

I have a specialist interest in matters relating to the treatment of diabetes, including in-patient care and the limitation of complications.

As part of my role, I will be implementing the ‘Think Glucose’ initiative in South Tyneside, a programme designed to control the sugar levels of in-patients with diabetes, regardless of whether their admission is specifically related to the condition.

I will also take the lead on ‘Putting Feet First’, a national programme aimed at preventing the foot problems that are a common side-effect of diabetes.

Profile

The Diabetology team at South Tyneside NHS Foundation Trust

If you would like to discuss any aspect of diabetes care with our Trust, please contact Specialist Nursing Services (0191) 202 2161 or Anita Hagon, Clinical Business Manager (0191) 202 4011, email anita.hagon@stft.nhs.uk

GP update Issue 21South TynesideNHS Foundation Trust

Continence care hits the gold standardSouth Tyneside has been placed third in a national audit of continence care in the NHS, demonstrating the high level of care that we offer to patients and the great improvements that have been achieved in recent years.The National Audit of Continence Care 2010 provides the largest, most detailed evaluation of continence care in Europe. It evaluates all the systems and procedures each organisation has in place, looking closely at policies, care pathways and the overall quality of service provided.

Our Trust offers an Integrated Continence Service across all departments where it may be required and this has been substantially enhanced in recent years with

the introduction of the Integrated Continence Service standard, as laid down in the NHS National Service Frameworks (NSF).

In line with the best practice guidelines, we have worked to:• Improvepatientcareforolderpeoplewithcontinence

problems as highlighted in ‘Good Practice in Continence Services’ (DoH, 2000)

• Demonstratevariationinstandardsofcare,relatingto the management of older people with continence problems across different care settings

• EnableHealthCareSettings(inprimarycare,secondarycare and care homes) to compare the quality of their care using evidence-based criteria

• MonitortheNSFforolderpeoplemilestonefortheestablishment of Integrated Continence Services

To come third in the country is a great achievement for South Tyneside NHS Foundation Trust. Effective continence care has a huge role to play not only in maintaining the pride and dignity of all our patients, but also helping them to focus on recovery or management of their condition. With the right support, both in hospital and the community, it can also help patients to function effectively in everyday life.

To find out more about the Integrated Continence Service, please call Beverley Bell, our Continence Nurse Specialist, on (0191) 404 1000, Ext 2128.

Final phase of ECU underwayWork is underway to develop the new emergency assessment unit and accident and emergency major injuries area within the Trust’s newly launched Emergency Care Unit (ECU).Following the completion of works and transfer of our services to our new ECU within South Tyneside District Hospital in December 2010, construction has started on a new assessment unit which is due to complete in September 2011.

This area will be for patients who need to be evaluated over a longer period of time and who may also require admission. This will include many single rooms where they can undergo tests and await results.

Once assessment is complete and if admission is required, adult patients will be directed to the most appropriate ward for their needs. Children requiring further care will go to the hospital’s children’s ward.

This final phase of works within our £8 million programme will include remodelling and refurbishing some existing facilities which will then complete the integrated Emergency Care Unit structure.

For further information contact David Watts, Executive Director Estates & Facilities on (0191) 202 4094 or email david.watts@stft.nhs.uk