Recognising success during hard times

Celebrating our highlights in no way diminishes the challenges of a year that began still ravished by the Covid pandemic and is finishing with incredible winter pressures in our health and social care system.

We feel the work of our clinicians and the programme teams is especially impressive when many detect there is a prevailing downbeat mood music.

And it feels more important than ever to publicise the improvements our clinicians have made to patient care in 2022. To take a moment to think about the positives and remind ourselves we are making a difference whatever the difficulties we face.

Many of the programmes we have worked on over the past 12 months are directly helping to reduce pressure on the system, as well as improve patient care and save lives:

For example: 

The Cardiac Network has improved services for patients with acute coronary syndrome by introducing bespoke transportation, so they are transferred quickly between hospitals for emergency procedures.

The Network has also worked with the Greater Manchester Neurorehabilitation & Integrated Stroke Delivery Network (GMNISDN) on the BP@Home programme, which is distributing home blood pressure monitors to people at risk of having a heart attack or stroke, keeping them safe, while limiting the need for visits to clinicians. The GMNISDN has also introduced an around the clock thrombectomy service – the extraction of clots from the brain – for all residents in Greater Manchester, with very few other regions in the country offering such a service.

Our Maternity Network compiled an Equity and Equality action plan for Greater Manchester, supported by the Greater Manchester and Eastern Cheshire Local Maternity and Neonatal System, which describes how we will improve maternity and neonatal services, addressing gaps and improving outcomes for those most in need. Their plan was one of only three out of 42 highlighted as being excellent.

Likewise, with help from our Diabetes Network, children and young people with type 1 diabetes are using the award-winning DigiBete app, which helps them manage their condition and allows clinicians to send them relevant information and resources. From an adult perspective, more than 7,500 patients are registered to use the Diabetes My Way platform to access their personal GP diabetes data and enrol on structured diabetes education.

The Palliative and End of Life Care Network has helped primary care to identify people at end of life (defined as the last 12 months of life) with a second wave of support, which included the use of an electronic tool and training to offer patients the chance to develop an advance care plan. Clinicians were encouraged to record the personalised care details on the electronic palliative care coordination system (EPaCCS).

The Children and Young People Network successfully appointed a team from Manchester Local Care Organisation to pilot an asthma friendly schools project over 18 months, targeting schools with a high level of absence due to asthma by looking at hospital admissions and school attendance. A range of resources will be developed for the seven schools involved in the programme, including training for school staff and plans that enable early identification and intervention with children experiencing asthma symptoms.

Our Respiratory Network has continued its great work with long Covid in Greater Manchester. Services have been established in every locality, together with links to specialist services, such as mental health and children and young people. Work continues to review and improve pathways of care and reduce variation and inequalities.

And our Frailty Network held a session to promote the importance of good oral care for people living with frailty. Health and social care professionals learned about the Mouth Care Matters in the Community intervention, which is part of a series of programmes aimed at reducing mouth care health inequalities by improving equity of dental provision for vulnerable and frail older people.

***

We prepare for 2023 feeling energised and ready to support the system again. 

NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care was established this year and both Mark Fisher, chief executive, and Manisha Kumar, chief medical director, support what we are doing and recognise the importance of clinicians’ involvement in decision-making. 

But before we look too far ahead, we would like to pause and say thank you to our inspirational clinicians, who during these hard times remain dedicated to finding ways of doing things differently, and better, for our patients. 

Also, thank you to our talented, agile programme teams, who have spent the past 12 months, in collaboration across our system, helping to turn ideas into a reality. 

We wish you all a merry Christmas and a peaceful New Year. 

Best wishes

Julie Cheetham            Dr Peter Elton

Director                        Clinical director