Local man finally coping with chronic pain 20 years after sky-diving accident

Ian has praised the community pain management service which he has been attending since May 2018.

Local patient, Ian Gardner, bravely shared his story at November’s Governing Body meeting.

Ian has praised the community pain management service which he has been attending since May 2018. The service is run by PICS (Primary Integrated Community Services Limited) which is a community organisation which delivers a number of NHS services across Nottingham and Nottinghamshire.

Read Ian’s story:

Ian was referred by his GP to the PICS Community pain pathway in May 2018. He has chronic pain following a sky diving accident over 20 years ago. He was cautious regarding analgesia and pain was having a significant impact upon his daily life.

Ian was initially triaged to biopsychosocial assessment with a Pain Practitioner. This is an holistic assessment which takes into account the effect that pain is having on an individual’s life. Ian agreed to start the “Living Well with Pain” group Programme.

This is an 8 week (3 hrs a week) ACT (Acceptance and commitment Therapy) based programme focussing on education, practical and psychological skill acquisition, with mindfulness modalities to live meaningful life with pain.

Ian attended all sessions and during a subsequent refresher session was identified he may benefit from 1:1 CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) follow up.

Ian subsequently attended a CBT assessment and 2 further follow up sessions, to formulate his resistance and enable him to make sense of his barriers and obstacles to recovery, and support behavioural changes he had already begun to make.

Ian now has a more flexible response to his pain, uses medications on a regular basis as a tool in his kit. Ian paces activity, where possible and is finding he can gradually increase this. Has returned to more active pursuits outside work, cycling more, and more physical duties most recently at work.

Prior to attending the Pain clinic, Ian had attended over 20 appointments with various health professionals and been offered multiple interventions including surgery, injections and Physiotherapy. These had afforded him some short term relief but having the tools and understanding to live alongside pain in the longer term is paramount.

Thank you to Ian and the PICS team for sharing this important story.

Mansfield Street Health rough sleeper project hosts visit from national charity looking at how to improve the health of homeless

A national charity has visited a team in Mansfield looking to improve the health and wellbeing of the homeless to see what they could learn.

Members of The King’s Fund, which is an independent charity working to improve health and care in England, came and spent time with the Street Health team as they organised their November event.

For the last 18 months the team has pulled professionals together from across Mansfield and organised regular events that provide wound management, mental and physical health checks, clothes, sleeping bags etc at the soup kitchen held at the church to support vulnerable people living on the street.

The latest event took place in November where more than 50 people living on the street attended Bridge Street Methodist Church in Mansfield.

King’s Fund Chief Executive Richard Murray and Fellow Julia Cream met with key members of the team including Lynn Smart Head of Nursing and Allied Health Professionals and Kate Wright Associate Chief Allied Health Professional (joint project leads) both from Sherwood Forest Hospitals and Reverend John Yarrien, Minister at Bridge Street Methodist Church.

Richard and Julia held a focus group led by Emma Wilson, volunteer at the soup kitchen and nurse at SFH and Stephanie Anstess, Tissue Viability Nurse Consultant at SFH, with some of the homeless to share their experiences of sleeping on the street, or on friends’ sofas.

One gentleman shared his story of sleeping rough and being in and out of prison for the last 16 years. He had been a drug user for 30 years and when first attended the project had extensive leg ulcers. Since attending the Street Health project, his wounds are almost healed and with significantly less pain, he is no longer using drugs, engaged in counselling and now has his own place to live. He now wants to help others who were in the same position as him.

Another gentleman has been attending the Street Health events since they started and has been homeless for nearly four years. He said: “Without this I’d be lost. It’s easier to come here and see a doctor. I went to the hospital and I heard one of them call me a ‘typical drug user’ because I had a needle stuck in my foot. You don’t hear that here, they don’t talk about you like that.”

The Kings Fund team heard how five young men had died living on the streets since the project had started.

Richard Murray said: “We’d not heard of a project on homelessness being led by a hospital Trust so wanted to see how that differed to other local authority and primary care led services. It is clear that what is important is building on existing schemes like the soup kitchen which is trusted by street sleepers already and then building relationships with others to come together as one team.”

Suzanne Banks, then Chief Nurse at SFH said: “When we started this, what became clear to us was that even as health professionals we didn’t know all the different organisations or support that was out there. If we didn’t, how could we expect vulnerable people on the street to understand and access them?”

“The Street Health events are a way to simplify this by bringing the services to them and from this hoping we all can build relationships and help these vulnerable and often overlooked members of our community.”

Other partners who contribute to the project are:

  • Sherwood Forest Hospitals providing wound care, dietary advice, minor injury advice, sexual health advice, hot food provided by medirest and fresh fruit
  • Nottinghamshire Healthcare providing Podiatry (footcare)
  • Roundwood Surgery providing access to GP, flu vaccinations, prescriptions and treatment for minor ailments
  • Change Grow Live providing liver scanning, and advice on alcohol and drug misuse
  • Hairdressers from the Full Monty Barber shop in Chesterfield and Pure Hair, Mansfield.
  • Sherwood Forest Hospitals’ volunteers have supported and coordinated donations of food, clothes and toiletries from staff.
  • Staff from Mansfield and Ashfield CCG and Woodland GP practice who have also supported donations to the project.

ENDS

If you have any queries about this please contact Kerry Beadling-Barron, Director of Communications and Engagement at Mid-Nottinghamshire ICP on Kerry.beadling-barron@nhs.net

Blog 4: Time to Reflect and Plan Ahead

Dr Sonali Kinra is our ICS lead for GP Retention.

This is the fourth of her monthly blog series where she focuses on reflecting on the year and planning ahead for 2020.

Happy New Year to all of you!

This is going to be a short update as I’m away on annual leave and hope you have enjoyed the festive break with family and friends.

December saw the launch of NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Collaborate.

NHS Collaborate was originally set up by three GPs to ensure that no primary care leader was alone in their leadership journey. It was about building a supportive community by employing the art of generative listening.

There were six of us from varied backgrounds – GP/practice manager/nurse lead and though we had professionally known each other before, this was an opportunity to learn more about our personal attributes and challenges and strengths.

Read more about Collaborate here and if interested in joining us for the next meet on 15 January please get in touch with me.

NHS England released service specifications for PCNs from April 2020 and wants GP views for feedback while in the process of negotiations. Closing date: 15 January 2020 at 13:00. Full details of the survey and interactive webinars on 8, 9 and 14 January 2020 can be found here.

Nikki Kanani, NHSE Medical Director for Primary Care, will also be hosting a Twitter chat on 7 January 2020. Follow #primarycarenetworks from 20:00 and share your views.

In the last month questions were raised by local colleagues on twitter regarding what difference PCNs are going to make and whether the process is truly bottom up with engagement and involvement of all members of General practice and the wider primary care network

These are fair challenges and its incumbent on both the leadership as well as front line staff to engage with each other.

Find out about who your local Clinical Director is and more about your PCN demographics and challenges by clicking here.

To encourage further engagement, I have organised a panel discussion with local CDs and Dr Nikita Kanani – save the date 6 May 2020.

As a workforce group, we are also working on opportunities around portfolio working with PCNs – if interested please get in touch with the Phoenix Programme here.

Interested in flexible working? I will be setting off conversations around flexible work opportunities at Nottinghamshire LMC annual conference on 30th January. If you have a story to share and wish to be a part of finding solutions and opportunities then please get in touch with me. You can book your place here

The event is free for levy paying practices and password is NottsLMCConf2020

Our next Primary care workforce group meeting is on 23 January and the next LMC sessional subcommittee meeting is on 20 January where we will hear from Dr Richard Fieldhouse, Chair of the National Association of Sessional GPs – @rafieldhouse

Book your place by clicking here.

Here’s to 2020 and to thriving general practice

Until next time,

Sonali

@SonaliKinra

sonali.kinra@nhs.net

Ashfield volunteers and charities welcomed into new health hub

Voluntary groups in Ashfield can use a new free Health Hub at the Lammas Leisure Centre to help improve the lives of those living in the area.

Everyone Active, which runs the leisure centre on behalf of Ashfield District Council, has transformed one of the rooms at the leisure centre into a Health Hub and is offering it to any local group that wants to use it to help improve the health and wellbeing of Ashfield residents.

It realised more than 400 people a week using the centre for different health and wellbeing groups and decided to give them a dedicated space which could be opened up to others.

Rebecca Phillips, Active Communities Manager for Everyone Active said: “Our mission is to help everyone to get a bit more active, regardless of their fitness.

“But it is clear that people’s health and wellbeing also improves from the support and help of others on issues that are about more than physical health.

“That’s why we’re happy to offer this new space up to groups that support our vulnerable residents in Ashfield so together we can make a positive difference.”

Groups who are already using the hub are:

  • Working Age Dementia Group (with Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust)
  • Parkinson’s Group
  • Falls prevention programme (alongside Nottinghamshire County Council)
  • Chair-based exercise class
  • Exercise Referral Scheme
  • Stop smoking services
  • Active autism (to support families of those with autism)
  • Ashfield Voluntary Action

Any groups interested in booking it should contact Rebecca.phillips@everyoneactive.com

ENDS

If you have any queries about this please contact Kerry Beadling-Barron, Director of Communications and Engagement at Mid-Nottinghamshire ICP on Kerry.beadling-barron@nhs.net

The NHS app, has been life changing for my family

Chitra has been a patient leader for Nottingham NHS CCG since 2016. Since the birth of her son, Avy in 2010 she has used the NHS app since launch and reflects on why its helpful for everyone to have it.

My beautiful son Avy was born on 23 April 2010 – St Georges Day. As amazing as it was to become a mother for the first time, it was not without its challenges for me. Avy was born in good health but later developed a host of complex medical needs. He was in hospital for the first 16 months of his life and had to undergo surgery many times. Important milestones like Avy’s first birthday and his first Christmas were spent in hospital. He still needs long stays in hospital as well as frequent medical appointments at clinics and GP surgeries, and a host of different medications every day.

I found it hard juggling the daily routine to care for Avy but I also wanted to remain positive and make a difference in other people’s lives. Over the last few years, I have undertaken a lot of voluntary roles in health and care and worked hard to influence the way care is provided for other people.

I became a Patient Leader for NHS Nottingham City CCG in 2016. Through the CCG I became involved in the Nottinghamshire My Life Choices Programme. This is a coproduction group for personalised care – something I have a lot of experience and expertise in. I also applied for the NHS England Peer Leadership Academy. I graduated from the Academy in 2018 and joined NHS England’s Personalised Care Strategic Coproduction Group, giving advice and guidance on personalised care approaches at a national level. I am also a member of the Greater Nottingham CCGs’ Patient and Public Involvement Committee, representing carers and as an expert in personalised care. I am proud to be helping to shape services for people on a local and national level and feel that I am really making a difference and contributing a lot of expertise as someone who accesses health and care services a lot.

Recently I have been working with the Connected Nottinghamshire Programme to encourage people to make the most of digital services. I shared my experiences caring for Avy and how using online services would really make a difference in helping me manage his health and care. You can read my story here.

When the NHS app was launched in Nottinghamshire I spoke to the Nottingham Post about how it could change the way me and my family access health services. You can read about this here

The NHS app will be life changing for my family. I’ve been involved in the planning of it from the beginning because of my role as a patient expert with the Connected Nottinghamshire programme. The app will make my life so much easier, with the ability to book and manage Avy’s appointments online; order repeat prescriptions and view his medical history at any time.

I am passionate about encouraging people to use digital services across the NHS. I am now a national ambassador for the NHS app. This means that I will be working closely with colleagues across the NHS to spread the word about the app and the benefits it can bring to people’s lives. Being a carer for someone with complex medical needs means that I am always navigating back and forth across health and care services. Having all Avy’s information stored in the NHS app, accessible to me at any time, is incredible and is making such a difference to my life.

My role as an ambassador for the NHS app involves supporting colleagues and members of the public with their use of it and promoting it through my own networks. Have been delivering talks to people; contributing to newsletters; appearing in videos and attending digital support hubs to encourage people to use the app.

I look forward to working closely with colleagues across health and care in spreading the word about the NHS app.

A new group aimed at improving health in Mansfield has met

The Mansfield Health Partnership held its first strategic group, chaired by PCN Deputy Clinical Director, Dr James Mills.

The group, made up of partners from Mansfield District Council, Mansfield CVS, Primary Care Networks, the CCG and the ICP, intends implementing the recommendations that came out of the former Healthy Mansfield Commission.

It agreed five priorities which align well to the ICS and Health and Wellbeing Board as:

  • Best start – giving every child the best chance for health throughout life
  • Healthy Choices – lifestyles, resilience and social connection
  • Health and Work – improving access to work
  • Ageing Well – raising Healthy Life Expectancy
  • Healthy Place – promoting health through our built environment

The partnership also approved the place based focus areas as Bellamy, Bull Farm, Oak Tree, Portland and Warsop. There is a longer term strategic aim to develop outcomes and measures and these will be supported by the research proposals through Nottingham Trent University.

David Ainsworth, locality director, said: “This signifies real cohesion of partners to deliver meaningful difference with the communities we serve.”

A Blidworth GP and District Council Chief Executive have been appointed to two key roles for Mid-Nottinghamshire

Thilan Bartholomeuz, GP partner at Abbey Medical Group has been named as Clinical Lead and Hayley Barsby, Chief Executive of Mansfield District Council will be the Deputy Executive Lead for Mid-Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Partnership.

The Mid-Nottinghamshire ICP is a new partnership of NHS organisations and local councils who are working together across Mid-Nottinghamshire to improve the lives of the citizens in Mansfield, Ashfield, Newark and Sherwood. The group formed in May 2019 and its vision is to create happier, healthier communities with the goal of reducing differences in healthy life expectancy (the number of years that people live in good general health) by three years.

Members on the ICP Board include representatives from:

  • Ashfield District Council
  • Ashfield Voluntary Action
  • East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust
  • GP practices with Mid-Nottinghamshire
  • Healthwatch Nottingham and Nottinghamshire
  • Mansfield and Ashfield Clinical Commissioning Group
  • Mansfield Community and Voluntary Services (CVS)
  • Mansfield District Council
  • Newark and Sherwood Clinical Commissioning Group
  • Newark and Sherwood Community and Voluntary Services (CVS)
  • Newark and Sherwood District Council
  • Nottinghamshire County Council
  • Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
  • Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust
  • Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Thilan was previously Clinical Chair for Newark and Sherwood CCG. He said: “I am excited to be able to represent the clinical community across Mid-Nottinghamshire and ensure the care our communities need is fully integrated.”

Hayley has been at MDC for 20 years and Chief Executive for two. She said: “If we are to truly improve the healthy life expectancy for the people living in our areas we need to look outside of the traditional health focus to issues like housing and employment. District council expertise can make sure this happens and that we work together on all our strengths to see combined improvements for the people of Mid-Nottinghamshire.”

Richard Mitchell, Executive Lead for Mid-Notts ICP said: “These are key roles within our ICP which will make sure the views of colleagues from district councils and GP practices remain central to our conversations about how we improve the lives of residents in Mansfield, Ashfield, Newark and Sherwood.”

Thilan and Hayley take up their roles in January 2020 which sit alongside their existing roles.

ENDS

If you have any queries about this please contact Kerry Beadling-Barron, Director of Communications and Engagement at Mid-Nottinghamshire ICP on Kerry.beadling-barron@nhs.net

20,000 more appointments available at GPs in Mansfield, Ashfield, Newark and Sherwood for this winter

People living in Mansfield, Ashfield, Newark and Sherwood have an extra 20,000 opportunities a month to go and see their local doctor.

Latest figures shows that across Mid-Nottinghamshire there has been an increase of 21,823 appointments a month across the region, meaning there are now 168,746 appointments available across all 40 GP Practices.

This is 15.2% more than last year, representing an increase of 6,530 appointments for ‘on-the-day’ appointments.

Most appointments are face to face but there has also been an increase in video and online appointments with 3,000 more a month taking place this year compared to last year – that’s an increase of over 170%.

David Ainsworth, Locality Director at Mid-Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Partnership said: “This means there is more availability to see your local doctor at your local practice, including at evenings, weekends or via video this winter.

“We know this is important to our neighbourhoods, especially during the colder months when we know people are likely with winter bugs.

“For many people their local doctor is a key part of their community and these extra appointments should make it easier for people to see them when they need to.”

ENDS

If you have any queries about this please contact Kerry Beadling-Barron, Director of Communications and Engagement at Mid-Nottinghamshire ICP on Kerry.beadling-barron@nhs.net

NOTES TO EDITORS

Information quoted from latest NHS CCG data:

 September 2018September 2019% Change
Mid-Notts ICP146,923168,746+15.2%
September 2018Face-to-FaceHome VisitTelephoneVideo/OnlineUnknown
 119,1592716,8311,8789,208
September 2019Face-to-FaceHome VisitTelephoneVideo/OnlineUnknown
 137,3036616,4505,1259,802

A new team of link workers welcomed to Mansfield, Ashfield, Newark and Sherwood

A team of seven super-connected link workers have joined GPs across Mid-Notts to help residents.

Link workers help people to take control of their health and wellbeing and strengthen their personal resilience by taking into account a person’s full circumstances. They connect people to diverse community groups to improve isolation alongside referring to statutory services for practical support in areas that has an impact on a person’s wellbeing such as mental health difficulties, debt, housing issues or physical/social inactivity. They work alongside clinical services like GPs to provide an additional service and are a crucial addition to the Mid-Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Partnership.

Each of the team is linked to a local Primary Care Network across Mid-Nottinghamshire:

  • Amanda Wilson covering Newark
  • Helen Gordon covering Newark
  • Claire Haigh covering Rosewood (formerly known as Mansfield South)
  • Helen Duszynski covering Mansfield North
  • Sylvia Porter covering Ashfield North
  • Louise Redhead covering Ashfield South
  • Victoria Davies covering Sherwood

Louise Redhead is the team leader. She said: “Often people think the only answer for a physical health problem is something that can be prescribed by a Doctor.

“We know that actually helping with the social side and linking in with existing community groups and local services can greatly help with confidence, reduce isolation and improve people’s quality of life.

“We’re excited to get started and start making a difference.”

David Ainsworth, Locality Director for Mid-Nottinghamshire said: “A big welcome to the link working team who I know will make a big difference here in Mid-Nottinghamshire.”

ENDS

If you have any queries about this please contact Kerry Beadling-Barron, Director of Communications and Engagement at Mid-Nottinghamshire ICP on Kerry.beadling-barron@nhs.net