January 2024
Determination to improve continues
Happy new year to you all and we hope you like our new look newsletter.
Our first newsletter of 2024 clearly shows we are determined to enter our 11th year continuing to deliver the clinically-led improvements we created and implemented over the past decade.
We are proud of the many service improvements that have been championed by the Greater Manchester and Eastern Cheshire Strategic Clinical Networks (SCNs) and successfully implemented because of the widespread support of clinicians.
As resources tighten in the NHS, we have seen our ability to progress in some areas restricted, but our clinicians are determined to continue their work to improve clinical practice and be ready to accelerate their work when more support returns.
Clinicians working in the SCNs greatly appreciate the backing they have received from all the senior officers within the Integrated Care Board. That will stand us in good stead as we pursue our work.
In this month’s newsletter we cover the following Networks:
- Respiratory – Clinical lead stars in new vaccination campaign (see picture of Dr Jennifer Hoyle above) and a second pulmonary rehabilitation service received accreditation
- Children and Young People – clinical lead wins analytical award and launch of new app to help young people manage their health
- Cardiovascular – new cath lab training manual being produced
- GM Neurorehabilitation and Integrated Stroke Delivery Network – collaborative event to kick start greater involvement in research
- Diabetes – GP toolkit to help primary care teams refer people onto low-calorie diet programme
- Palliative and End of Life Care - new advance care planning training launched.
Thanks again for your continued support of our Networks and we look forward to keeping you updated in 2024.
Best wishes
Clinical lead playing key role in vaccination campaign
The Respiratory Network’s clinical lead Dr Jennifer Hoyle stars in a new NHS Greater Manchester campaign to encourage people to get vaccinated against Covid-19 and flu.
Dr Hoyle features on social media promoting the need for people living with a long-term condition to ‘protect and prevent’.
Her photo and message also features on a van which has been touring Greater Manchester, together with contributions from other health professionals from the city region (pictured left: her poster outside a supermarket).
Dr Hoyle, talking about the importance of the campaign, said: “When I discuss vaccination in clinic or on the ward in the hospital, many people with chronic conditions such as diabetes or asthma tell me that they never thought they were included because they usually feel well.
“It is important that anybody who is offered vaccination, even if they feel well, should make themselves a priority and take up the invitation to be vaccinated. It may not stop you catching influenza or Covid fully, but it will reduce how ill you become and may prevent hospital admission.”
Dr Hoyle, who administers catch-up flu immunisation in her clinics, is a consultant respiratory physician and occupational lung disease lead, based at North Manchester General Hospital.
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The pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) service in Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale is the latest in the city region to receive full accreditation.
The Network is supporting all teams to apply for the qualification, with the aim of making sure everyone in Greater Manchester has access to the same standard of care.
HMR’s award from the Pulmonary Rehabilitation Services Accreditation Scheme follows Trafford’s successful application last year. The other 11 services are also working towards the same goal.
PR is an exercise and education programme designed for people with lung disease who experience symptoms of breathlessness. It focuses on tailored physical exercise and information that helps people to better understand and manage their condition and symptoms, including feeling short of breath.
Jonny Lee, senior practitioner physiotherapist at Trafford, as well as a clinical advisor for the Network, said: “We are delighted HMR has achieved this recognition.
“It is a reflection of the high standards of service they offer, as well as the dedication they put into their application for accreditation. We know they will support and inspire other teams to join them.”
Also, the clinical lead for the Respiratory Network, Sue Mason, was interviewed by the Pulmonary Rehabilitation Services Accreditation Scheme for International Nurses Day 2023 last December.
The interview discusses how Sue became involved in pulmonary rehabilitation and who has been her inspiration.
Measles information for health professionals as cases rise
Health professionals are being reminded of the symptoms and risks of measles as cases continue to rise nationally.
Although the number of people in the North West with the infection remains relatively low, it is rising in children in the West Midlands and is very contagious.
NHS England has launched a campaign to increase the number of children being vaccinated and from February 6, parents and carers of unvaccinated and partially vaccinated children, aged 6 to 11, will receive a letter, text or email inviting them to make an appointment with their child’s GP practice for their missed MMR vaccine.
Funding boost for new children's app
Work is underway to launch a new app which helps children and young people with asthma and other long term conditions take control of their health.
Called the Digital Health Passport, it contains an asthma action plan and enables young people to track symptoms and access educational resources to help them manage their condition – all from a smart phone, laptop or computer.
The Digital Health Passport has been designed and developed to make it easier for patients to record and share their symptom data with their clinicians and was co-produced by Tiny Medical Apps with young people, school nurses, GPs and asthma specialists.
It was originally developed with the Healthy London Partnership and was piloted in Greater Manchester before the pandemic.
The Network applied for health technology adoption and acceleration funding late last year and was awarded funding to roll out the app across Greater Manchester, and also to develop an epilepsy module.
The epilepsy element will mean children and young people will have access to resources in the app that support them with management of their condition.
Dr Amy Wilson and Debbie Garner, the Network’s epilepsy clinical advisors, said: “We are looking forward to working with Tiny Medical to develop the epilepsy module of the app for use by our children and young people with epilepsy in Greater Manchester.”
Work is underway to sign off the contracts and funding and the Network hopes to begin development in the next few weeks.
The main features of the Digital Health Passport are:
- Asthma UK action plan
- Emergency plan
- Track symptoms
- NHS health advice and asthma management educational information
- Air quality levels (pollution, pollen and weather changes)
- Medication reminders
The young person can choose to share with their healthcare team if they want to. Asthma action plans can also be shared with school nurses, parents and carers.
Clinical lead wins CVD analytical award
The Network’s cardiovascular disease prevention lead Aseem Mishra has won an award at the first ever Health and Care Analytics Conference.
Aseem (pictured right), together with Matthew Conroy, NHS Greater Manchester analytical service lead for primary care, won the award for their presentation about the new dashboard for unmet cardiovascular disease need, which will hopefully be launched by the end of February.
Judges said about their presentation, called ‘harnessing routinely generated GP data to reduce the burden of cardiovascular disease across Greater Manchester’: “Their data visualisation was really good and they showed clearly how the data supported every stage of the process from understanding complex risk and need, effectively informing clinical staff and allowing interventions to be planned and tracked for individual patients”.
The dashboard has been seven years in the making and is only possible due to the hard work of the NHS Greater Manchester DII team in laying the foundations. The dashboard allows individuals to understand the unmet need relating to the management of cardiovascular risk factors and conditions, both on a population and individual levels.
Aseem said: “The new dashboard has really hit a nerve with people. Clinicians have never had access to this level of detail before while forming a bridge between populations and conditions.
“We’re very fortunate in Greater Manchester as no-one else has created such a tool, which has been the result of hard collaborative work across traditional silos. It will allow us to clearly see where there are variations in health outcomes while being updated in almost real time.”
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New manual to support trainees
Work is underway to produce a Greater Manchester cath lab training manual for future cardiac physiology trainees.
A working group comprising of cardiac physiologists from the four interventional sites in the city region – Fairfield General Hospital, Manchester Royal Infirmary, Wigan Infirmary and Wythenshawe Hospital - have been working on the manual since early December last year and are meeting on a monthly basis to discuss updates and review each other’s work.
A cath lab, also known as a cardiac catheterisation lab, is a specialised area in the hospital where doctors perform minimally invasive tests and advanced cardiac procedures to diagnose and treat cardiovascular disease, such as angiograms.
The training manual is the first successful step in collaborative working for Greater Manchester cardiac physiologists and they are hopeful that this manual will be available in digital format, and also printable, by April.
This document will also benefit other members of the multidisciplinary teams such as trainee radiographers and nurses.
Toolkit support for GP referrals
The Network has developed a toolkit to help primary care teams refer patients onto a successful NHS low calorie diet programme.
The online resource supports GPs and their teams to sign-up eligible patients onto the NHS Type 2 Path to Remission programme, increasing the number of people living with type 2 diabetes to achieve remission, as well as helping practices maximise income from incentive schemes.
The toolkit aims to give you all the necessary information and guidance you need to make a referral, including:
- How to identify and confirm who is eligible for the programme
- Information and resources you can use to discuss the programme with your patients
- Practical guidance on completing the referral and medications adjustment form
The NHS Type 2 Path to Remission (T2DR) Programme is provided by Momenta in Greater Manchester and is available to people who are overweight and living with type 2 diabetes.
The programme provides a low-calorie diet treatment for people to improve their diabetes control, reduce diabetes-related medication and in some cases, put their diabetes into remission.
If you have any questions about the T2DR programme, completing the referral form or the direct support available to practices, please email anna.agar@momentanewcastle.com.
Research boost with collaboration event
Research provides the evidence base to help the Network’s teams in Greater Manchester deliver the very best treatments and care for stroke and neurorehabilitation patients.
In late November last year, it held a collaborative event to kick start greater involvement in research and innovation.
The event brought the Network together with the Greater Manchester NIHR Clinical Research Network, the Geoffrey Jefferson Brain Research Centre and the Northern Care Alliance R&I Office.
Around 50 local clinicians, academics and research support staff heard more about what research is already happening, what support is available for teams and how they can get more involved, including how to develop an academic career.
Attendees were treated to an inspiring talk by Wendy, a stroke survivor, (pictured above left) who shared her passion for research and how important it is to involve patients and their carers to really make an impact. She provided great clarity on the differences between patients participating, being engaged and really getting involved in research and highlighted the benefits of each.
Local stroke academic Professor Craig Smith facilitated the meeting, including a lively discussion at the end to decide next steps. A working group has been established to think through:
- Building research cultures in clinical teams
- Embedding research within our network
- Developing clinical academic careers
- Encouraging participation in NIHR portfolio research
- Influencing local researchers and their priorities
- Improving patient, carer and the public’s awareness of research
The Network hopes to spend 2024 making a step change in its involvement in research, whilst also considering how it can continue to engage with innovation, as this area is especially rich in rehabilitation, with a host of new technologies available.
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Sign-up for advanced care planning sessions
The Network is inviting health and social care professionals in the North West to register for a training session to make them more aware of advance care planning.
Called the 'Palliative and End of Life Care Training for Professionals - Level One Awareness of Advance Care Planning for babies, children, and young people', the sessions are for those who support the care of those groups, as well as those closest to them, who have a life limiting condition.
Attendees will gain an understanding of their role in supporting advance care planning, including its purpose, potential and how to use it.
Repeat sessions will run monthly via MS TEAMS - attendees will only need to attend one session. The training is open to all professionals, including health and social care staff, Allied Health Professionals, medics and GPs, paramedics and school personnel.
Sessions will be 1.5 hours long, are led by palliative and end of life care professionals, and will provide a safe space for questions and exploration.
Session dates are:
- 22nd February 10am-11:30am
- 8th March 12:30pm-2:00pm
- 8th April 1:30pm-3:00pm
To register your interest please contact gillian.bailey3@nhs.net.
Free poverty workshop training
Poverty is the biggest driver of ill health and early death in the city region and free training is being offered to health and social care staff in Greater Manchester to explore the relationship and what steps could be taken to make a difference.
An online workshop is being held in March, organised by NHS Greater Manchester and Greater Manchester Poverty Action (GMPA).
The workshop is for NHS Greater Manchester staff and colleagues employed within health and care providers who meet one or more of the following criteria:
- Non-clinical managers and leaders (including senior leaders) with responsibility for teams, services or pathways
- Colleagues in clinical roles who have some influence over services/pathways
- Clinical and care professional leaders
Workshops planned for January, February and early March have already been booked-up.
Quizzer Col crowned Only Connect King!
Did you catch our colleague Col Daffern on BBC 2 while eating the leftover turkey and Christmas pudding on Boxing Day night?
Trivia fanatic Col, a project officer for the Cardiac Network, won the quiz show Only Connect with his friends Steve and Tom (pictured above with presenter Victoria Coren Mitchell. Col is second left).
It is the second time he has appeared on the programme with his team. His first appearance was in 2016, and they were asked back to appear again for the festive special.
Col, whose team named themselves the Wrestlers, said: “We were absolutely thrilled to get asked back in the ring for another crack at what’s generally regarded as TV’s toughest quiz!
“It was really close, just a point in it, so we were relieved to win it.”
Our Boothstown trivia buff has also appeared on Pointless (which he won), Mastermind three times (a semi-finalist on each occasion), Eggheads and Fifteen To One, as well as a short-lived series called A Question Of Genius in 2009.
In 2022, he came first in TV quiz Lightning, winning the top prize of £3,000.
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