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FOCUSPOINT
Members Newsletter February 2013
A SPECIAL parade through the grounds of the Friarage Hospital celebrated the trust’s continued links with the Ministry of Defence Hospital Unit (Northallerton) when Deborah Jenkins (pictured), the trust’s chairman, presented Queen Elizabeth II diamond jubilee medals to over 120 MDHU personnel. She said: “I was honoured to present the medals. Both organisations benefit from the close working arrangements we enjoy and our partnership continues to go from strength to strength.”
Celebrating our military links
WELCOME to the latest issue of Focus Point, designed to keep you, our members up-to-date with news about the trust. In this issue you’ll find lots of news about new services and developments, a feature about the Friarage Hospital at Northallerton, as well as information about the trust charity that does such a brilliant job of supporting our services, staff and patients.
If you would like any more information about any of the
articles in this issue, or have any ideas for services or topics we could cover in future issues then please do let us know. We always like to hear from our members
Deborah Jenkins, Trust chairman
Welcome
New trust website – thanks to you...LAST year we asked our members what they thought about the trust’s website and thanks to your feedback we recently launched a new look site.
With more internet users accessing sites from mobile devices such as mobile phones and tablet computers, the trust designed the site to be just as accessible from your phone as it is from a desk top computer.
The new site - www.southtees.nhs.uk - is the first NHS website to be fully responsive to mobile devises. It is designed to be easy to navigate, contains an improved
search facility and features a fundraising section as well as lots of information about all of the trust’s hospitals and services.
The site, which gets over 30,000 hits a month, was recently short listed for a best website award by The Association of Healthcare Communication and Marketing, but we’d love to hear
what you think about it, email [email protected] or tell us what you think via our Twitter and Facebook pages.
The role of the South Tees Hospitals Charity is not to replace NHS funding but to help provide those little extras over and above what NHS funding can afford. So for example, it buys more advanced equipment than the standard kit usually provided with NHS funding, and helps to improve the facilities and environments of the trust’s many hospital services for the benefit of patients and staff.
The charity can only do this with the help of patients, carers, staff and local communities who organise a whole range of fundraising events, and give donations and legacies.
The charity has big plans for 2013 with the launch of two major appeals - one to buy a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner for the Friarage Hospital in Northallerton, and the second to
improve the environment for children who need the care of our accident and emergency services at The James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough.
If you’d like to support the charity’s efforts check out the money making efforts highlighted on this page – it may inspire your own fundraising efforts - or for more information on how you can help visit our website or call 01642 854296.
Our charityContact us…Focus Point contact details:Caroline Parnell, Company secretary - 01642 835592
General email: [email protected]
Governor email: [email protected]
Website: www.southtees.nhs.uk
If you choose to receive future issues of this newsletter via email you will help us save money on printing and postage – just let us know by emailing [email protected]
OUR members may be surprised to know that there is a charity which makes a huge difference to the experience of patients cared for in our nine hospitals and community services.
The new trust
website
Marske by the Sea
Calendar Girls
Phil Davies Coast To Coast cycle challenge
TTE Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge
Tim Gristwood’s Tees Pride 10K run
The future of the FriarageTHE current debate about the future of paediatric and midwifery services at the Friarage Hospital in Northallerton has prompted a lot of unfounded speculation about the long-term future of the hospital.
Since the trust took over responsibility for the hospital in 2002 it has always been committed to safeguarding the future of the Friarage, and over the years it has demonstrated that commitment by investing in the site and its services, including the building of a £21m ward block and updating parts of the old hospital.
However healthcare cannot stand still – new services and techniques are always being developed, the health needs of local populations change and new guidelines about the best treatment for different conditions is regularly revised - so what was the right care to offer in 2002 is not the right care for local people today and in the future.
Some developments have resulted in services moving because there is national evidence that patients needing certain types of treatment
have the best chance of survival if they are treated quickly in specialist centres rather than being assessed in a local hospital, such as the Friarage and then transferred for specialist care.
So now local people who need:
• immediate invasive treatment of some heart attacks
• treatment of traumatic injuries • emergency treatment for acute
strokes • emergency surgery for children
are taken directly to The James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough – improving their chances of survival. Once emergency treatment is over wherever possible North Yorkshire patients are moved to the Friarage to complete their recovery.
However the moves have not all been one way and you may be surprised by the services the Friarage now offers (See Did you know?).
The trust is committed to safeguarding the future of the Friarage Hospital, which is well loved by local patients, GPs and the highly skilled staff that work there. It is working with Hambleton, Richmondshire and Whitby Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG),
which is taking on responsibility for determining the future shape of local services, to develop a shared vision for the hospital.
At the last meeting of Council of Governors held at the Friarage your representatives toured the site to talk to staff about the services currently offered at the hospital. They also heard about the hospital’s place within the trust and the organisation’s evolving plans for the its future.
The meeting heard that changes in healthcare have prompted discussions across the country about what is the right place for care to be delivered – in major acute hospitals, local hospitals, elective treatment centres, primary care, in the community settings and at home. From that the concept of a local hospital, which acts as a bridge between community and specialist care, has been developed and the trust believes this is the right role for the Friarage, with the hospital continuing to remain the front door into secondary and specialist care for local communities.
The Friarage is better placed than many small and even medium sized hospitals to cope with the changes facing healthcare across the country, because it has:
• Clinical teams working across both James Cook and the Friarage
• Excellent accommodation • Clinical staff who are committed
to finding innovative ways of delivering services locally
• Good support from local GPs and the CCG
• Loyal patients who chose our hospitals for their care rather than neighbouring hospitals
• Access to many specialist services through a range of clinics offered from the Northallerton site.
The Friarage is important to the future success of the trust and we will continue to work hard with partner organisations to safeguard its future.
The old children’s ward accommodation
MANY changes have brought new services and skills to the Friarage
which were not previously
available and they have increased the access to locally delivered care for many people of all ages. These include:
• Cardiology (heart) specialists on site
• More consultants and specialist nurses to help recovering stroke patients
• A clinical oncologist (cancer) specialist available every day and many cancer treatments provided from the Mowbray suite five days a week
• all the sub specialist ophthalmology services available at James Cook are also at the Friarage
• retinal screening and cataract surgery, which was previously only available at James Cook or Darlington Memorial
• ear, nose and throat (ENT) surgeons on site and also specialist ENT clinics including those for children and paediatric audiology services
• a specialist centre opened for people suffering from kidney stones attracts patients from North Yorkshire, Teesside and further afield
• the urology team is developing specialist laser treatments for prostate cancer with generous help from the Friends of the Friarage
• the acute pain team now supports consultant led weekly ward rounds and the chronic pain team carries out more procedures
• a high proportion of the trust’s specialist orthodontic treatment is now carried out at the Friarage – the only other hospitals offering these service are in Newcastle, Leeds and Carlisle
• the clinical decisions unit has a dedicated consultant available during the day and in the early evening when the majority of patients arrive at hospital
• the hospital is the trust’s centre for hip replacement
• Plastic surgeons planning to do more day case surgery for skin cancer
• A drug therapy service for children and adults with vascular birth marks
• A minimally invasive non-surgical sterilisation technique for women
Look out for news about other developments at the Friarage in future issues of Focus Point.
Did You Know?
Did youknow?
The new ward block
Nominate your award winnersEVERY day our 9,000 staff give amazing care, treatment and support to people from across the region who depend on them – and you can nominate trust teams or individuals for a range of awards.
Each year we run our Star Awards that celebrate the staff and services that provide excellent care, and your governors Jacqui Wesson and Keith Martin where on the judging panel for the awards that will be presented later this month.
We also run the Nightingale Awards to recognise the best amongst our thousands of nursing staff and the Thank You Awards to give a much deserved pat on the back to individual members of staff who go above and beyond the call of duty.
More details about how you can nominate trust staff and teams for these awards are on our website – www.southtees.nhs.uk – and we would love to hear from you.
Global acclaim for Endeavour unitTHE Endeavour unit, which was featured in the last issue of Focus Point, has won global acclaim.Built as part of the £35m redevelopment of cancer services at The James Cook University Hospital and officially opened by Princess Alexandra, the unit was highly commended in the international project of the year category of the Design and Health International Academy Awards held in Malaysia.
The awards are the world’s leading advocacy programme recognising professional excellence in the research and practice of designing healthy environments. The honour
came just weeks after the unit was also highly commended in the Constructing Excellence in the North East Awards.
The unit is one of the first in the world to treat patients on three leading edge linear accelerators – machines that give radiation treatments. It also houses a CT scanner and a new outpatient suite, and was designed to provide cancer patients with a bright, spacious and calm environment.
Margaret McGloin receives centre’s
award
A NEW sling developed by a trust’s radiographer could soon be used across the NHS.Senior radiographer Sue Best came up with the idea for the disposable Velcro sling to make life more comfortable for both patients and clinicians during a coronary angiograph – a specialist kind of x-ray of the heart’s arteries.
Now the sling is on the market after being championed by the trust’s research and development team. The company, which is now marketing the sling, has already had interest from across the UK as well as other parts of Europe.
One-stop clinic for living kidney donors A NEW one-stop assessment clinic for living kidney donors has been opened at The James Cook University Hospital.All donors who choose to donate a kidney to a relative or friend can now just make one visit to the clinic for specialist nursing and medical assessments, kidney function and blood tests. Previously donors had to make three visits to the hospital and new arrangements mean donors can now find out whether they can go ahead as donors within just four to six weeks.
Caroline Wroe, consultant nephrologists, said the clinic offers a range of benefits including reduced visits for donors, shorter waiting times for recipients, reduced NHS costs and ultimately the ability to see more patients.
THE trust has invested £4.5m in a new 16 bedded high dependency unit (HDU) at The James Cook University Hospital.The unit provides services for seriously ill people who need specialist care and brings together surgical and general medical high dependency beds in one central place in the hospital.
Dr. Stephen Bonner, clinical director of critical care, said: “This is a massive achievement –
having these critically ill patients cared for in one area by highly trained specialist nurse and with a resident doctor immediately available has been shown to save lives as well as improving the quality of patient care and the whole patient experience.”
The hospital provides many lifesaving regional services including a major trauma centre, vascular surgery, neurosurgery and major abdominal surgery. Outcomes at the hospital are already amongst the best in the country for patients who need
these specialist services and high level critical care.
New HDU opens
Celebrating the HDU opening
Sue’s sling hits the market
Sling development
team
Members can now keep up to date with everything that is happening at the trust via Facebook and Twitter.
Follow us @southtees or find us on Facebook - just search for South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
Focus Point contact details:Caroline Parnell Company secretary - 01642 835616General email: [email protected] email: [email protected] Website: www.southtees.nhs.uk
Diary dates 2013
Board of Directors meeting10am - 12.30pm.
Council of Governors meeting2pm - 4pm.
Contact us…Board of Directors meeting10am - 12.30pm.
Members are welcome to attend all these public meetings, which will be held in the board room, Murray Building, The James Cook University Hospital.
Silver Slipper appealTO many people a pair of slippers can be a useful but dull gift – but for some they can be real health protectors.Patients often come into hospital without suitable slippers for their stay. For some patients this is just an inconvenience, but for an increasing number of elderly and frail people the right slippers could save them from slips and trips that can result in serious bone fractures.
So as well as reminding patients to bring the right slippers with them into hospital, the trust has also launched an appeal to buy slippers to help protect many of our frail and elderly patients.
The Silver Slippers appeal is asking local people to help the trust buy the slippers patients need to protect them, in a wide range of sizes.
To give an elderly patient a gift of slippers you can donate by debit or credit card just by calling 01642 854296 or send a cheque to South Tees Hospitals Charity at the Murray Building, The James Cook University Hospital.
Other useful numbers:The James Cook University Hospital 01642 850850Friarage Hospital 01609 779911
If you choose to receive future issues of this newsletter electronically you will be helping us save money on postage – just email [email protected] to let us know if you’d like electronic issues of this newsletter.
26FEB
19MAR
26MAR
Thank you from our elderly patients
Seeking new governorsWE have started the search to fill two governor places – one representing members in Redcar and Cleveland and the other to represent Hambleton and Richmond.
Voting packs will go out on March 11 and members in Redcar and Cleveland and Hambleton and Richmond have until April 3 to choose their preferred candidate. If you want any more information about the election contact Caroline Parnell, company secretary, on 01642 835592 or email [email protected].
Community staff model
appeal slippers
