Meet ICP Practice Nurse Lead Anna Davis

We’re delighted to introduce Anna Davis, who has joined the South Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Partnership team as part of her Practice Nurse Lead role.

South Notts News spoke to Anna on a Monday morning, and she’d had a busy weekend doing her bit for the vaccination effort in Stapleford.

“I’ve worked in the vaccination hub a few times but this was different. I hadn’t hand drawn up before, and it was lovely vaccinating patients from our surgery. It was really busy, but it’s a great environment and you feel like you’re really making a difference. I think we did around 1,000 vaccinations.”

But we’re here to talk to Anna about her relatively new role as ICP Practice Nurse Lead and how she got here.

In September 2020, Anna was a participant on the Care Programme – you might remember the feature we ran in January, where three nurses from Nottinghamshire Healthcare talked about the positive benefits of the programme – when the ICP Practice Nurse Lead posts were advertised.

Anna says: “I was really interested in the position as I’ve always been interested in population health and long-term conditions. I’ve also worked in management positions in secondary care and been involved with the education and development nursing teams, so the role looked a good fit.

“I applied and was successful. The role is funded from transformational money, and my first task was to finish the General Practice Nurse 10 Point Plan, which finished March 2021.

“My first five months were spent identifying gaps in the plan that we needed to finish, and it’s been a really varied position, looking at developing staff and looking at career progression, carrying on forums from the care programme – basically lots around education while at the same time building up infrastructure to put into the Nottinghamshire Alliance Training Hub.”

Like many nurses, Anna started her career in secondary care, working across a number of acute medical and critical care departments after the ward she was working on was set to close, she decided to move on to her next challenge and started applying for Practice Nurse roles.

She quickly secured a position at East Leake and found her first few months a real learning curve, explaining: “When you start it’s like being a student again but knowing you have been qualified for 16 years. It was frustrating but I had so much to learn and I love to learn. It was a great decision as Practice Nursing is such a varied role and is incredibly rewarding.”

Now, working alongside Nurse leads and PCN Practice Nurse teams, Anna brings her experience across Primary and Secondary care and her passion for nurse education and collaboration, to this new role.

Part of that role is to look at how Practice Nurses can get more involved with system pathways and population health working across services to improve patient care and experience.

She says: “With South Notts ICP, I’m concentrating on how Practice Nurses fit into the ICP and PCN development and looking at the pathways that touch upon (or should touch upon) Practice Nurses.

“Having done the job myself, I’ve had experience of a service that doesn’t run as well as it could. The problems are usually quite small, like the forms aren’t right or easy to use, or you’re sending patients to a different area when maybe there’s somewhere nearer. It’s about finding a solution to those problems to make things run smoother”.

“An example where we’ve started to make some demonstrable changes is the Desmond programme. Patients would say to the Practice Nurses ‘I would go but I’m not prepared to travel, I haven’t got the transport’, so we started looking for ways around that.

“As a group of Practice Nurses, we raised it with the Desmond team and they took it to the Patient Participation Group, who found a more local venue (you can find out more about it here).”

Anna’s ultimate goal is to give Practice Nurses a voice at system level and to acknowledge, , that it’s the Practice Nurses who are hearing people’s responses.

Anna explains: “They are the people who are hearing what people say and what their needs are especially when it comes to Population Health and Primary Care Networks. At the moment they might not see themselves as part of it, but they are. They have specialist knowledge that I don’t think it always tapped into”.

A key part of Anna’s job will be bringing Practice Nurses together and offering them support: “Something we really want to develop is a professional shared decision-making council. All Practice Nurses are looking at population health and we need to tie that in with the objectives that the ICS is focussed on – diabetes, frailty, mental health and health prevention”.

“They are all Practice Nurse topics, and while they might not be pulling together the pathway, they are involved in that pathway and will have some good ideas and hearing things from patients about what they want.”

She’s also keen to look at professional development and learning for the team around the four pillars – clinical, education, leadership, research – so there’s career progression available to everyone. “I’m passionate about developing people,” says Anna. “I really want to look at leadership, and the ambition would be to have a Practice Nurse lead in each PCN across South Nottinghamshire”.

“I’m also involved in developing the nursing associates, and we’ve got a forum and support group already established. Looking at how far they have come over the last couple of years and how different their roles are. It’s a bridging role, and there are lots of exciting ideas about how they’re going to work. It’s going to be a really key role in the future.”

The next project for Anna is working with Nottingham West PCN Clinical Director Tim Heywood to strengthen the relationships between community and practice nursing in South Nottinghamshire.

Anna explains: “We’ll be finding out what the challenges and opportunities are for working better together and we’ll be talking to people working across the patch. We want to raise awareness of roles and look at where the gaps are. It’s all about getting to know each other again”.

It’s a big job and it’s going to be a busy year for Anna, but her enthusiasm and commitment to supporting nurse education and ensuring Practice Nursing is at the heart of PCN development is driving her to make the changes that need to be made.

“With the PCNs and the new roles, there are lots of opportunities to get involved, Practice Nursing Teams are a key group and involving them in PCN and pathway development is critical to a successful Integrated Care Partnership. I’m here to support them and to let them know what they could get involved in and what opportunities there are!”

Join us at the South Notts ICP Community Voices event

South Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Partnership are inviting local people and staff working in health and care across South Notts,   to  join them at their second virtual Community Voices event, taking place on Zoom  on Thursday 22 April 2021.

It will be a fantastic opportunity to have your say and get involved with the development of health and care services across South Nottinghamshire.

Following feedback from the Autumn event, the focus for this event will be mental health  – new services to support people with their mental health and how we support people as we recover from the Covid pandemic.

The event, which runs from 3pm to 5pm, will take place on Zoom. If you sign up, you  will receive a notification detailing the links, event information and support guides the week before the event.

The event is open to all local people and will be led by Dr John Brewin, Chief Executive, Nottinghamshire Healthcare.

Agenda for the event: Agenda – April 2021 Community Voices Event – V2

There will be four breakout rooms where you can pick a priority that you are interested in and discuss how you think we can improve services for local people.  These priorities are:

1. Younger people mental health support   – YP mental health
2. Mental health for adults – Adult Mental Health
3. Learning disabilities – LD and mental health 1
4. Dementia – Dementia overview

To sign up for a place on Eventbrite.

If you have any problems signing up then please email: antonia.smith2@nottshc.nhs.uk

Mindfulness helps boost mental health in Rushcliffe

The Rushcliffe Social Prescribing Team are constantly on the lookout for new resources and services in the community to  help improve their patients’ health and well-being.

The last year has been difficult and it would have been all too easy for the team to become despondent with the restrictions and anxiety around Covid-19, but early on the team became aware of the huge benefit mindfulness might have on the people referred to them.

The team were also interested in how this taps into “taking notice,” which is one of the 5 ways to well-being.     These five  ways –   Connect, Be Active, Take Notice, Give and Keep Learning – are an integral part of the social prescribing service offer. This  simple tool has provided patients with the opportunity to engage with themselves and their surroundings.

A significant number of referrals to the team have been related to mental health and the challenge has been to find a solution to support these patients.

Working with Inspire, an organisation with a remit around culture, learning and libraries, it was clear that there was an opportunity to tap into their wealth of training materials around health and wellbeing, and mindfulness in particular.

A pilot group session Mindfulness – an Introduction, hosted by Inspire on Zoom, was held in October 2020 and met with positive feedback from patients. The Social Prescribing Service has since continued their partnership with Inspire, developing and launching the online Friday Mindfulness Group on the last Friday of every month.

This two-  hour Zoom group provides a gentle introduction to mindfulness and covers a definition of mindfulness, a range of activities, the benefits and  how to actually apply them in everyday life.

Patients of all ages are benefitting and some of the comments have been encouraging. Feedback includes:

• “you’ve given me some tools that I can actually use”
• “such a well-structured session, very friendly, calm and welcoming.”
• “I was left wanting to know more and will go back for the next session”
• “I know now important it is to stop and give time for myself”

Anyone who has been referred to the Rushcliffe Social Prescribing team and is interested in joining the group should speak to their Link Worker.

How collaboration pushed forward the Nottingham West care home vaccination programme

By the morning of Friday 22 January, 900 residents and staff in Notts West PCN Care Homes had received their first shot of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Taking just 15 days, including evenings and weekends, the drive started on Friday 8 January and has been completed while maintaining usual services.

The PICS Enhanced Health in Care Home Service has been at the heart of the rollout to all 20 care homes, working closely with GPs, care home staff, vaccine suppliers and the amazing roving service from the Nottingham’s Integrated Care System.

The team have been at the centre of a whirlwind of complex logistics, accurate and detailed administration and filling staffing rotas from a database of volunteers, all with different experience, training requirements and hours available.

Safety for patients and staff has been paramount, with measures including PPE, social distancing, rigorous infection control. It’s also been very important to ensure each resident was aware of the process and was happy to have the vaccination.

The team have worked so hard to deliver this on top of ensuring other health and care services are maintained, yet with a smile for each patient and a commitment to ensuring informed consent.

By moving quickly in this area, while ensuring each person is able to give informed consent, the most vulnerable people have been reached, and now the vaccine roll out can continue across the entire community.

The PICS Enhanced Health in Care Home Service was set up by Nottingham West PCN in September 2020 and is made up of a team that includes specialist clinicians and admin support for care home staff. Their purpose is to provide dedicated and immediate care and support to the residents and staff in care homes as they responded to the impact of COVID-19, and as part of the local health response to the NHS Long Term Plan.

When the first vaccine was approved, the team were ready to bring the community services and agencies together and roll it out. Laurie Chadburn,  Clinical Care Home Lead said back in October: “Our service is specifically designed to improve the access to the health services received by residents in care homes and integrate and streamline community referral pathways. We are at the forefront of change and to be driving the integration and collaboration to improve the patient experience is very exciting for us all.”

“We were so excited when we got our vaccination date, as it gave us some hope that things will get better. It was an amazing day. The team of vaccinators were really great; they were organised and efficient, and they made our residents and staff feel comfortable and reassured.” Rachael Simpson, Home Manager, MHA’s The Herons Care Home.

Dr Tim Heywood, Clinical Director for Nottingham West PCN says: “There has already been a vast array of benefits from Primary Care Networking since its inception, and the PICS Enhanced Health in Care Homes initiative has been one of the most tangible advances in the delivery of community health and wellbeing in Nottingham West.

“What Dr Scullard and PICS have built together is a team of incredible, dedicated professionals who have taken on a new task with a blank sheet of paper and created a team which works seamlessly with existing services to provide a holistic level of care that has long been an aspiration in the care home setting. The way they have risen to the vaccination challenge and supported it through direct intervention and support for practices and the Notts central vaccination service have been but one example of this, and we are very, very proud of them.”

Dr Paul Scullard, Clinical Lead for the Eastwood neighbourhood in Nottingham West PCN: “It is a pleasure and honour to work with the PICS Enhanced Health in Care Homes Service. Since their formation, just four months ago, not a week has gone by when they are not at the forefront of supporting and championing the health of our care home residents and the implementation of the vaccine programme is just another example of this. The dedication and enthusiasm of the team has been wonderful to see, especially during a time that has been so challenging for care homes and their residents”

Inspiring staff and volunteers ensure vaccination centre success

Earlier this month, the first two Covid vaccination centres on our patch opened at the Community Centre in Gamston and Richard Herrod Leisure Centre in Carlton. South Notts News visited the Carlton site, which counts Professor Jon Van Tam as one of its team, to talk to its staff and volunteers…

It was a cold, snowy evening when we visited the site, but the weather hadn’t dampened people’s enthusiasm for the vaccine. Staff told us the over 80s they had vaccinated talked about their happiness that there was a light at the end of the tunnel, and that they could now see that the day will come when they can hug their grandchildren again.

For some people, it was the first time they had left their houses since March 2020.

The vaccination centre at Richard Herrod was opened on Wednesday 6 January, one of the first in Nottinghamshire, and will support the rollout of the national vaccination programme. Since then, several additional facilities have opened at other locations across Nottingham and Nottinghamshire.

Vaccine recipients will be called forward in priority order, as set out by the Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), with the NHS sending letters to eligible people in due course. Vaccines will be delivered by appointment only.

The feedback from the people receiving the vaccine, which was overwhelmingly positive, created a really positive environment for the people who had volunteered to support the roll out.

The volunteers come from a wide and varied background, and while many work for the NHS and health and social care organisations across the area, there are volunteers from all walks of life including the council, police, and airline staff.

Site Manager Jess Waterhouse, who has been seconded from PICS for six months, said: “Getting this up and running is how I imagine it’s like being in the Army. We’ve all pulled together and built really strong working relationships. Together with partners, we set this place up from scratch.”

“We have had fantastic support from Gedling Borough Council staff, and we’ve trained a wide range of people to vaccinate – TUI and BA cabin crew, council staff, and NHS staff. We also have police here to volunteer and support. They come and help manage people, particularly when we started. They stand on the door, but they also help giving out clipboards and guiding patients – they’ve been marvellous.”

Mark Griffen, who also works for PICS, said: “It’s my first day and everybody is doing everything and anything, no matter who you are. Nurses and GPs are working alongside cabin crew, personal trainers and accountants.

“The support around me has been incredible. I’m a nurse but I haven’t been clinical for a while, but I was able to get back into it with the support of the team. I was nervous at first, but now after a day I feel confident and I’ve been injecting all day.

“Teamwork, everyone supporting one another, covering for each other – it’s just been amazing what has been set up. And the patients coming through are so happy and grateful.

“I had a patient who had very recently lost his wife, so it was incredibly emotional for him. It’s important to have compassion and spend a little bit longer with someone if we need to. It’s that human emotion.

“Another patient this morning said they really wanted to go to Asda – people just want get back to normal, although we make sure we tell them to hold on just that bit longer, to wait until after their second vaccination. I say look how far you have come.”

Jess added: “Everyone is so keen to get involved. It’s an altruistic thing to do and there’s so much positivity. Everybody really wants to be here. Sometimes we’ve found ourselves a bit short staffed, and there have been so many people willing to keep working and stay a bit longer. The positivity is overwhelming – people come and say thank you at the end of their shift for being given the opportunity to volunteer!

“Some of the people coming in haven’t been out of the house since March and they get all dressed up to come here. It’s really emotional for them sometimes, as they can now see a light at the end of what’s been a very long tunnel.”

In addition to volunteers, staff have been redeployed from other parts of the health and care system. One of these is Susie King, who works in the prescribing team at the Clinical Commissioning Group but is now working on overseeing the vaccines.

Susie said: “I’ve been here for a couple of weeks and it’s been amazing. I really love working here. My role is to oversee making up all the vaccines, and we do all the work up to the point the vaccinators do the vaccination.

“We work very collaboratively; it’s a great team and I really enjoy coming here. Everyone is working hard and we’re doing something together for the good of the people. Everybody is so positive. That’s the atmosphere. Everyone really wants to make a difference.”

Mandy Varley, who used to work as a Healthcare Assistant in sexual health, knew that she just had to be involved when the opportunity to volunteer arose. She is working across the vaccination centres but particularly likes working at Richard Herrod: “I’ve been here all this week doing 6-hour shifts. I was volunteering anyway as an NHS responder and when this came up, I just had to come and do it. I wanted to be part of it because I want things to move on.

“My motivation is to make a difference and it’s been an absolute privilege to get to know everybody here – it’s a great team. It’s incredibly well organised and everyone is working hard because we need to get there, we need to make everyone safe.

“I’m coming back here next week because you get to know everybody and it’s a lovely place to volunteer. It was daunting to first give a vaccine, but you quickly get more confident and then you can help other people out too. The lady I’ve just given a vaccine to was 92 and she was fabulous – she hadn’t been out anywhere for such a long time, and was really grateful to be getting the vaccine.

Andy Solley has been juggling his job at Gedling Borough Council with giving Covid jabs at Richard Herrod and was enjoying the camaraderie of working at the centre.

He says: “I’m trying to do two sessions in the week and one at the weekend alongside my job and family commitments. The professionals from the NHS that are here are amazing. They’re so helpful and kind, so you just watch them and the way they are with patients, so caring and natural. I never thought about it when I was clapping for the NHS, the real people, but they are brilliant.

“I think about looking back at my life when I’m 80 and how I’ll measure my life, and I’ll have done this and that’s incredible. It’s so important. People come in and say ‘Thank you so much, I’ve been inside since March’. They’ve been so frightened and that’s all starting to change with the vaccine. They feel some hope.”

Jess summed it all up, saying: “We’re enormously proud of our vaccinators. They’re the backbone of the operation, and it’s great to walk round and see everyone happy and getting on with things. Nobody has made any mistakes, they are that good. They are what makes this all work.”

This was a recurring theme; the positivity, teamwork, and the sense that they are participating in history for the benefit of all.

But perhaps the biggest testament to the staff and volunteers is the positive feedback from the patients.

Rosalind Dixon, who lives in Gedling, supported two friends to the Richard Herrod Centre on Sunday for their vaccinations, and said: “It was fantastic. Very, very well organised, with charming and helpful staff.   One friend had her appointment for 9am, the other for 9.10am, and we were on our way out the door by 9.35am, all done and dusted.

“My 90 year old friend was quite disappointed as it was her first outing for months and she wanted it to last longer!”

PCN pioneers roll out new network roles across South Notts

Before the Primary Care Networks received central funding for recruiting staff back on 1 April 2020, PICS had been working with the Clinical Directors and PCN teams to recruit to the new PCN roles.

As competition to fill the new roles across the region was going to be intense, the  partnership worked together early and fast to ensure the network attracted applicants who were experienced, enthusiastic and ready to create new pathways; and it worked.

PICS employed the First Contact Physiotherapist in Nottinghamshire for Byron PCN on 5 April, closely followed by a second post on 8 April, just days after the funding started.

Crucial to the success of the new roles is an integrated way of working across all partners in health and social care. After spending almost a year building the team of allied health professionals, including Clinical Pharmacists, First Contact Physiotherapists, Care Co-ordinators and Social Prescribing Link Workers, they are now embedded into the Integrated Care Partnership and Integrated Care System, including with GPs, care homes, local authorities and local charities.

The goals of these roles are to reduce pressure on GP services, to support enhanced care for an older and aging population, and to help improve the lives and everyday experiences of people across the entire region. Through a mix of tactics including earlier interventions, personalised care plans, specialist support and a whole-person (or holistic) approach, the team have been hard at work.

Dr Adam Connor, Clinical Director of Byron Primary Care Network and GP at Whyburn Medical Practice in Hucknall, said: “The roles and personalities engaged through the additional roles have exceeded our expectations. It has allowed us to widen health care to care homes and housebound, extended electronic prescribing to make patient’s access to medication more efficient, and reduce prescribers’ time for repetitive tasks.

“Our pharmacy teams are working hard with other clinicians to lower the local populations dependence and use of opioids and gabapentinoids drugs, which are now recognised to contribute to negative health outcomes.

“Our First Contact Physio has increased rapid access to MSK (Musculoskeletal) care and assessment, signposting to local appropriate services, and has been integral in cross-professional supervision and learning objectives.”

The infographic below highlights some of the activity that’s taken place since February 2020 within the Nottingham West and Nottingham North and East regions. These areas include Kimberly, Eastwood, Broxtowe, Arnold, Calverton, Beeston, Hucknall, Gedling, Burton Joyce, Carlton and Stapleford.

CVS offers local groups a helping hand in Gedling

Newark & Sherwood CVS offers local groups a helping hand in Gedling
We know that local voluntary groups are a lifeline to our communities.   They may meet to knit and natter, play bowls, do art or offer many other types of peer support. We also know that what they all offer is a safe space for people to connect – a place where people feel comfortable with friends to talk, share similar experiences and have fun.

Last year was challenging and as we moved into this year we’ve found ourselves in a similar situation of isolation and lockdown which has meant many community groups have not been able to meet physically again. For those that have been able to they have met via virtual platforms (zoom). But for others this is a long way be being an option.

That is why Newark and Sherwood CVS have developed the first step to distanced meeting. We are offering community groups the option to connect with each other through our community groups telephone meeting facility. All that is needed is your telephone and information on how to connect to your friends. It’s three simple actions.

This will help to bring you back together and share those moments of laughter and joy that make such a difference to your day. For more information please call 01636 679 539 or email: information@nandscvs.org