We are delighted to introduce our Impact Report 2021/22 – a document which highlights the difference we have made to the lives of thousands of people in the region over the past 12 months.
This last year has seen us establish long Covid services, launch an app for children to self-manage their asthma, introduce an electronic system to coordinate end of life care and save lives by rolling out blood pressure monitoring at home.
Reducing health inequalities has remained a key focus of our work, improving services to everyone's benefit, regardless of where they live or what community they are from.
You can also read our Achievements 2013-2020 document, if you would like more detail about our work over the past nine years.
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A vital part of our approach is that we are clinically led.
Each of our networks is spearheaded by clinicians who currently work in local services and understand what needs improving and how to do it.
See above our latest list of clinical leads and associates, who push through change with their leadership, or click here for a larger version.
Structured education
The Diabetes Network is launching new primary care staff training to increase the number of people with diabetes who attend structured education courses.
Greater Manchester is below average in England for attendance, with just 3.6% of people with type 1 and 6% of people with type 2 taking part in programmes.
To try and improve these figures, the Network has commissioned GP Excellence Greater Manchester to develop and deliver a primary care training package to help staff support and refer patients into structured education through a personalised care approach. This will start with an introductory webinar – see details below.
The training will attract CPD, be accredited by the Personalised Care Institute and include:
- Shared decision-making
- Motivational interviewing
- Creating a high-quality person-centred support plan
- SNOMED (Systemised Nomenclature of Medicine) coding training
The programme will consist of eLearning modules, webinars and face to face sessions.
The training will be launched at an introductory webinar on Monday, July 4. Register your interest by clicking here. For more information about the courses please email gm.gpexcellence@nhs.net.
New providers of prevention programme
The Healthier You Diabetes Prevention Programme in Greater Manchester has a new provider.
Reed Wellbeing will be accepting GP referrals from the beginning of August.
Practices can continue to refer patients to the current provider, Xyla Health and Wellbeing, until the end of July using the direct referral form on clinical systems.
Healthier You, which is a national programme managed by the SCNs in Greater Manchester, will continue to provide life changing support for people at risk of diabetes and women previously diagnosed with gestational diabetes.
Reed will offer a new tailored remote service alongside the face-to-face and the digital service for all people with diabetes. The intention is that this choice will make it easier for people to attend the programme and thereby reduce health inequalities.
The remote service will be available to patients with a hearing or visual impairment and those from Bangladeshi or Pakistani backgrounds requiring a specific language service.
Lucy Archer, Reed’s Healthier You lead for Greater Manchester, said: “We look forward to building on the great work already achieved and will be working closely with colleagues in Greater Manchester to ensure those people at risk of developing diabetes receive the best support possible to make small lifestyle changes that work for them and help them live happier healthier lives.”
More information will be provided to practices by local communications teams in due course to provide the necessary referral resources and ensure a seamless transition to the new provider.
We have answered some frequently asked questions about the transition and what is means for patients here and GPs here.
For more information on the programme and how to refer please view our primary care information video.
Diabetes Week
The SCNs marked Diabetes Week 2022, which ran from June 13-19, with a series of posts on social media.
Twitter and Facebook was used to promote messages about all the services and support available for people in Greater Manchester who live with diabetes.
(Pictured below: one of the Twitter posts supporting Diabetes Week).
Stakeholder forum
The next Greater Manchester Children’s and Young People’s Health and Wellbeing Stakeholder Forum is being held on Wednesday, July 20.
The theme for this session is ‘connecting care for children, young people and their families’.
There will be a focus on opportunities for connecting care through community diagnostic centres, family hubs and asthma diagnostic hubs.
Dr Mando Watson, consultant paediatrician, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, has been confirmed as a guest speaker; a full programme will be shared shortly.
Registration is now open for this event.
#AskAboutAsthma 2022 campaign
The Network is supporting this year’s #AskAboutAsthma campaign, which encourages simple changes to children and young people’s care that will make a big difference to how they experience their asthma.
The campaign, which is organised by Healthy London Partnership, encourages children and young people, their families, and those involved in their care, to ensure four simple and effective measures to help them control their asthma:
- Get an asthma action plan in place
- Understand how to use inhalers correctly
- Schedule an asthma review – every year and after every attack
- Consider air pollution and its impact on lung health
This year, the campaign highlights the additional challenges caused by inequalities in care for children and young people with asthma and how these can be addressed.
The campaign will run from 12–18 September 2022. Throughout the week there will be webinars, podcasts, blogs, vlogs, social media activity and a one-day virtual conference.
Details of the one-day conference and webinars can be found here.
If you would like to be a part of the campaign at a Greater Manchester level, please contact Afia Ali on afia.ali@nhs.net.
Supporting campaigns
The Children and Young People Network supported this year’s World Allergy Week, which took place from June 5-11.
Organised by the World Allergy Organisation, the theme for this year was #BreatheBetter, focusing on the connection between asthma and allergic airway diseases.
It aimed to raise awareness around the link between asthma and other allergic conditions, including eczema, hayfever and food allergies and the SCN team supported messages from organisations on social media channels to help spread the word (see above).
Also, Clean Air Day took place on June 16 and awareness was raised around air pollution, this being one of the top environmental risks to human health, and how it can have a significant impact on those living with allergies.
Life-saving bus tour to call into Greater Manchester
The Manchester based charity, Heart Valve Voice, has been an important partner working with the Network. They have now helped organise a national bus tour that will be calling into Manchester over the summer, offering free stethoscope checks to people over 60 and raising awareness of heart valve disease.
The Network team is supporting this initiative which will see the bus arrive in the city on Wednesday, August 10, with staff having already listened to 2,000 hearts and found over 200 previously undetected cardiac conditions.
Executive Director Of Heart Valve Voice, Wil Woan said: “We know that not all patients display symptoms or that some could mistake symptoms as signs of ageing or getting unfit, and this simple stethoscope check could change their lives.
“The Your Heart Matters bus is proof that early detection of heart conditions is so, so important, and we’ve had around 1 in 10 patients who attended found to have a previously undetected heart condition, and they can now begin their pathway to treatment.”
Manchester marks the eighth stop on the tour. People who are found to have a cardiac condition are given a letter to take to their GP, outlining what was found and the need for further investigation.
If you would like to get involved and help promote the event locally, email info@heartvalvevoice.com and a member of the team will supply you with promotional materials.
The city centre venue for the bus has not been confirmed yet. We will update you next month.
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