Self-management sign-ups reach 21,000!

The Network is celebrating an impressive milestone in patient engagement with its online platform MyWay Diabetes.

More than 21,000 people are now enrolled on the system, with nearly 5,500 joining this year alone.

Also, more than 4,000 people have embarked on the structured education courses, with more than 1,400 taking part in 2024.

The platform helps people with all types of diabetes to manage their condition and provides secure online access to their healthcare data.

Naresh Kanumilli, the Network’s clinical lead, said: “It is really encouraging to see thousands of people in Greater Manchester have taken steps to manage their diabetes at home using MyWay Diabetes.

“Having convenient access to important health information can empower people to live healthier, happier lives.

“The latest evaluation has shown that people using the app have improved management of their diabetes, including statistically significant reductions in HbA1c, blood pressure and cholesterol.”

The platform offers benefits for both patients and practices, including:

• Empowering patients: they receive the knowledge and tools to manage their diabetes effectively through a number of eLearning modules
• Streamlined workflows: they reduce the burden on practices with free, accessible resources.

Feedback from people who have accessed the support has been really positive.

One of its users, who enrolled after living with type 1 diabetes for many years, said: “I have had type 1 diabetes for 49 years and wish there had been structured education such as this then.

“Since completing the course and really focusing on how I manage my diabetes around exercise, my HbA1c has decreased dramatically.”

Getting people started on the platform has been streamlined and people can register using their NHS log in at the MyWayDiabetes registration page.

To register your practice, please contact manchester@mwdh.co.uk.

Explore the free eLearning modules.

Top health officials visited Greater Manchester to see at first hand the successful Smokefree Pregnancy Programme which has now inspired a national scheme.

Chief midwifery officer for England, Kate Brintworth, commended the pioneering initiative, which has reduced smoking at the time of delivery by more than 40%, on a visit to the region with top officials from NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).

She praised the programme for its transformative impact on maternal and infant health and being the inspiration for a new national initiative.

Delivered between NHS Greater Manchester, local authorities, NHS foundation trusts and technology partner Accenture, Greater Manchester’s initiative has led to more than 6,000 additional babies being born smokefree, since launching in 2018.

The programme offers all pregnant women and birthing people, and their partners, free and personalised stop-smoking support through a specialist maternity stop-smoking service. This includes one-to-one advice and guidance, free nicotine replacement therapy, regular carbon monoxide screening, and an incentive scheme to stop smoking.

Kate, joined by national clinical director for maternity, Professor Donald Peebles, and deputy chief public health nurse for England, Professor Jamie Waterall, met for a roundtable discussion at Tonge Family Hub, in Bolton, with specialist midwives, maternity tobacco dependency advisors and senior leaders from Bolton NHS Foundation Trust and NHS Greater Manchester.

They also met with parents who had successfully quit smoking while pregnant to listen to their experiences and discussed the upcoming roll-out of a national incentive scheme to support pregnant smokers to quit.

Kate said: “Smoking rates in pregnancy are at an all-time low thanks to initiatives and support from NHS teams like the Smokefree Pregnancy Programme in Greater Manchester. This year also saw the biggest annual fall in smoking in pregnancy since records began.

“But there is still more to do to protect families. The rollout of a similar scheme nationally will ensure we can continue to build on this work so that all mothers and babies, no matter where they live in England, are protected from the dangerous health impacts of smoking and passive smoking during pregnancy.”

Professor Jamie Waterall, deputy chief public health nurse for England, said: “Smoking during pregnancy can lead to preventable death and ill health, but we know how challenging it can be to quit once addicted to nicotine. 

“Greater Manchester's approach to supporting women to quit smoking is clearly having a positive impact and making a huge difference to people’s lives.”

Smoking in pregnancy and breathing in second-hand smoke (also known as passive smoking) carries serious health risks. Carbon monoxide in tobacco smoke reduces the amount of oxygen getting to the placenta and baby which can lead to women going into labour early as well as increasing the chance of miscarriage, stillbirth, and sudden infant death. Babies whose parents smoke are more likely to be admitted to hospital for bronchitis and pneumonia during their first year.

Pictured top: Kate Brintworth, chief midwifery officer for England (centre), with top officials from NHS England, Department of Health and Social Care, NHS Greater Manchester, Bolton locality and Accenture. The Network's midwifery clinical lead Eileen Stringer is pictured fifth from the left.

Pictured bottom: Professor Donald Peebles, national clinical director for maternity in England, Jane Pilkington, director of population health for NHS Greater Manchester and Andrea Crossfield, population health policy and strategy specialist for NHS Greater Manchester, meeting with service user Alicia and her baby.

A group which aims to improve maternity and neonatal services in the region was left inspired after attending a national event.

Members of the Maternity and Neonatal Voices Partnership (MNVP) leads for Greater Manchester and Eastern Cheshire heard from some of the UK's leading maternity and neonatal experts at the Baby Lifeline event 2024 in Birmingham.

Baby Lifeline is a national charity which supports frontline staff to prevent childbirth injuries and deaths.

The GMEC MNVPs ensure service users’ voices are at the heart of decision-making in maternity and neonatal services by being embedded within the leadership of provider trusts. They feed into the Local Maternity Neonatal System, which in turn feeds into ICB decision-making.

This year’s Baby Lifeline conference had the theme ‘Challenge, Empower, Improve’ and speakers included Sir Rob Behrens CBE, former UK national ombudsman, Kate Brintworth, chief midwifery officer for NHS England and Donna Ockenden, chair of the independent reviews into maternity services at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust.  

Hundreds of delegates from around the UK were at the event, with key themes from the day, including the importance of having a strong evidence base particularly in terms of tackling inequalities within maternity services, and the importance of providing personalised care and information to women and families, in order that informed decision making can take place.

Cathy Brewster, GMEC MNVP lead, said: “This was a brilliant opportunity to hear about best practice from across the country. It’s essential that people who are using the maternity system every day get the chance to shape services, leading to real improvements. 

“All our leads who attended this felt inspired by this event. There was a lot of learning we were able to take away and we look forward to sharing this with colleagues across Greater Manchester and Eastern Cheshire over the coming months.”

Pictured above, left to right: Nicola Ashurst, MNVP lead Wigan, Amy Rothwell MNVP lead Bolton, Natalie Qureshi, MNVP lead, GMEC Local Maternity & Neonatal System, Donna Ockendon, Ashliegh Reed, MNVP lead North Manchester, Corinne Gabriel, MNVP lead Wythenshawe, Naomi Pemberton, MNVP lead St Mary’s, and Cathy Brewster, MNVP lead, GMEC Local Maternity & Neonatal System.

The Network has developed a toolkit to help professionals involved in the improvement of Greater Manchester stroke and neurorehabilitation services to involve patients and carers in their decisions.

The team’s patient and carer group has been supporting them for some time and has recently seen its activities move to the next level following the appointment of a new co-ordinator role.

The voice of those with lived experience is now being heard in more of its work and features earlier in project timelines.

The new toolkit (pictured left) is aimed at professionals, including those working in the NHS, local authorities, independent providers of care, academia and the voluntary sector.

The content is also likely to be applicable to those working outside of the region or in different disease settings. The toolkit and associated resources are available on the Network’s patient and carer webpages.

Patient and carer involvement ensures working in equal partnership with people who have lived experience of a condition.

Lived experience describes those affected by a condition and is often termed “patient involvement” in healthcare settings.

The Network co-hosted a workshop for NHS staff from inpatient and community teams, partnering with GM Active, which provides health and wellbeing facilities across Greater Manchester.

This initiative was born out of the need to address new recommendations in the National Clinical Guideline for Stroke (2023) and to support cardiovascular disease prevention work across the region.

The aims of the event (pictured above right) were to:

• Bring teams together from across Greater Manchester to review clinical guideline recommendations on aerobic exercise and cardiorespiratory training
• Build awareness of the need for aerobic training for stroke and patients with other neurological conditions
• Provide networking opportunities
• Develop a set of priorities for the future

The event was a huge success and provoked thoughts on the next steps and how the Network can continue to work collaboratively on this topic in the region.

The NHS has launched a new hard hitting campaign to raise awareness of the signs of a stroke and of the need to call an ambulance immediately.

In our region, we know that people take longer than average to spot symptoms and dial 999, which results in fewer people receiving time critical but live saving treatment.

Every year in the UK, there are around 100,000 strokes with 4,500 in Greater Manchester alone.

This results in 38,000 stroke-related deaths and is a leading cause of disability. 

The first sign of a stroke might not seem serious, such as not being able to raise your arm, or struggling to smile, or slurring when you speak.

Even if it doesn’t seem like it, any sign of a stroke is always an emergency, so call 999 immediately if you or someone else experiences a single symptom.

The Network recently attended a St. Ann’s Hospice’s learning event to share the key findings and recommendations from a five-year scoping project delivered by their Homeless Palliative Care Service.

The event was an opportunity to join with colleagues, partners and collaborators from across Greater Manchester to hear about the experiences and consider the findings together as a collective.

The service was established to support people experiencing homelessness with advanced ill health, using a trauma-informed and evidence-based approach to the delivery of care.

The North West has the second highest recorded homeless deaths in the country in 2022/2023, with the highest number in Greater Manchester reiterating the need for this work.

People experiencing homelessness often have poor health linked to multiple disadvantages, a stark fact is the average age of death for a man experiencing homelessness is 46 compared to 76 years for men not experiencing homelessness, and 43 years compared to 81 years for women.

The Homeless Palliative Care coordinators have successfully developed new networks and partnerships and nurtured pre-existing relationships across all ten boroughs within Greater Manchester.

The Network heard from a number of excellent speakers about the local overview of palliative and end of life care.

This included innovative services, including the impact of bespoke residential settings for people with complex needs, the key findings and recommendations from the work that has occurred over the last five years and inspiring case studies, illustrating the effectiveness and impact of the service and what is possible from true collaboration.

Read the event report.

Pictured above: attendees at the recent event.

The Network’s support team visited all Greater Manchester’s pulmonary rehabilitation services (PR) to learn more about the sessions and gather feedback.

Senior project manager Gaynah Butler and Alex Pegg, project manager, crossed the city region, making their way to hospitals, leisure centres, a football ground and a church on their fact-finding mission.

PR is an exercise and education programme designed for people with long-term lung disease who experience symptoms of breathlessness.

They can be referred into these sessions by health professionals, such as GPs or physiotherapists. Find out more.

Alex (pictured below right) explains what happened on their tour:

“Gaynah and I visited all 13 pulmonary rehabilitation services across Greater Manchester to gain a better understanding of pulmonary rehabilitation (PR), to see how the assessments, classes and education are delivered and to get the thoughts of staff and patients.

It was great to meet the different teams and hear how proud they were of their services.

It was interesting to see the different locations in which PR classes are delivered. In Bury for instance they deliver some of their classes in a football club corporate room overlooking the pitch whilst at HMR they run some classes from a church hall. Others are within hospital gyms or in leisure centres.

At all the classes I attended I was impressed with the enthusiasm of staff and patients. I was also surprised at how physically demanding the classes were and impressed with how much effort patients put into their exercises.

The patient education sessions were delivered by a variety of health professionals, including physios, dieticians, pharmacists, nurses and occupational therapists. It was brilliant to see pharmacists and physios teaching patients how to use their inhalers correctly, checking they were on the right type of inhaler and encouraging them to switch to greener inhaler options.

We were particularly pleased to see services and staff utilising the PR education booklet the Network recently developed.

We met a diverse range of patients all experiencing breathlessness, with some needing oxygen and support with mobility issues during classes. The feedback from them was always positive with them expressing how much they enjoyed the classes and how it was improving their breathing and general health enabling them to carry out their day-to-day activities and also having less exacerbations.

I feel the visits have enabled us to gain a greater understanding of services and have strengthened the Network’s links with PR teams across GM.”

A big ‘hello’ to our latest addition to the team, Lianne Amato (pictured right), who joins us as business support officer.

Below, she tells us below a bit about herself and her career journey, at times via plane, to the SCNs.

Q: Welcome to the SCNs. Where have you joined us from and where have you worked in your past career? 

A: I have come across from NHS England’s National Recruitment Team. Before my time with the NHS, I gained experience as an account manager for a software company. Additionally, I had the unique experience of working and living in Abu Dhabi as a flight attendant.

Q: What is your job title at the SCNs and what does the work entail?

A: I am a business support officer. My role entails PA support for Julie Cheetham and Peter Elton, as well as supporting on project work across the team. 

Q: Why did you decide to join the SCNs? 

A: I was seeking a new challenge, and the business support role presented an opportunity to utilise my existing experience while embracing new challenges and expanding my knowledge. Additionally, I was impressed by the impactful work being accomplished by the SCNs and wanted to be able to contribute to those achievements.

Q: What have been your early impressions?

A: My early impressions have been very positive. The team is diverse and passionate about the work they do, which creates an engaging atmosphere. There's a lot to learn and the work has been varied and interesting so far.

Q: What do you do to relax outside work during your spare time?

A: I love spending time outdoors, going for walks and attending Pilates classes. I also enjoy planning holidays to discover new places.