June 2025
Long-established Network continues to save lives
Pictured above: flowers in a garden belonging to the Maternity Network's Karen Clough, who is opening her creation to the public this summer to raise money for health and nursing charities. Read the story in this month's newsletter.
The Cardiovascular Network is one of our longest established teams, having been within our portfolio of work when we were launched 12 years ago.
Our clinical leads have led significant improvements to services which have increased the speed of diagnosis and treatment, saving lives across Greater Manchester.
The Network held an event this month to look at what has been achieved in the past 12 months and agree next steps. Many of the partners they have worked with over the years were at the session.
It is rewarding to see such a resounding team effort continuing into 2025-26. We feel very lucky to have them.
And we had a similar feeling about all our clinicians and support teams when reading this month’s newsletter, which summarises some of our work.
Stories for June include:
Palliative and End of Life Care: Revised guidance launched
Children and Young People: clinical advisor writes about new support for asthma therapy
Maternity: Midwife receives royal recognition
Neurorehabilitation and Stroke: annual conference celebrates 10 year anniversary
Staff news: Karen opens garden to raise money for charity
Thanks again for your interest in our Networks.
Best wishes
Future priorities discussed at cardiac event
The Greater Manchester Cardiac Network hosted a successful strategy event this month.
Local, regional and national stakeholders (pictured left) came together at 3 Piccadilly Place, Manchester, home of the Networks, to see the team showcase recent achievements, review ongoing workstreams and agree priority projects for the next two years.
Speakers included Professor Simon Ray, NHS England’s national clinical director for heart disease, and Dr Steve Knight (pictured below), deputy chief medical officer for NHS Greater Manchester, as well as representatives from specialised commissioning, urgent and emergency care and the Greater Manchester Elective Reform Programme.
The team also welcomed clinical associates from across the spectrum of cardiac and cardiovascular disease prevention workstreams.
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Among the key achievements showcased were the rollout of a direct transfer pathway for out of hospital cardiac arrest patients, the development of a hypertension toolkit and lipids pathway and the creation of a comprehensive Tableau dashboard for cardiac data.
Clinical lead Professor Farzin Fath-Ordoubadi said: “We are fortunate to have a highly skilled group of clinical associates, an exceptional senior programme lead and a strong team of project managers.
“Combined with the continued support from Strategic Clinical Networks and Integrated Care System leadership, this has enabled the Cardiac Network to provide the clinical leadership essential for driving improvements in patient care across Greater Manchester.”
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Doctor follows in footsteps of Hollywood and Olympic stars!
Professor Sanjay Arya OBE – medical director and consultant cardiologist at Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals, as well as a great friend of the Network - has been honoured with his name on Wigan’s Walk of Fame.
Prof Arya (pictured right) was joined by friends and family at a special event at Wigan town hall to unveil the Believe Star - the highest accolade awarded to residents or those who have made a difference to the borough. This was awarded for his contribution and dedication to local people.
Professor Arya said: “I am so very grateful to receive this honour. It has been 25 years since I began working at Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh (WWL) and none of this would have been possible without the support of my colleagues and the teams I work with.
“I promise to continue to serve the people of Wigan for as long as I am able to. They are the best people I have met throughout my career and it is a pleasure and privilege to do so.”
The star was placed on Believe Square, alongside famous names already honoured including actor Sir Ian McKellan, rugby league legend Billy Boston, John Winnard, joint managing director of Uncle Joe’s mint balls, and Olympic athlete and coach Jenny Meadows.
The Palliative and End of Life Care’s primary care clinical lead, as well as Wigan GP, Liam Hosie, also attended the ceremony and said: “Professor Arya has been heavily involved in developing and refining services in the borough for a considerable amount of time. He is well respected both as a clinician and leader.
“He helped develop cardiology services in Wigan initially, but his role as medical director over the last few years has seen him work collaboratively with many partners for the greater good of all Wigan residents. The honour of receiving a star on the walk of fame deservedly places him in very good company.”
Professor Arya began working at WWL in 2000 and led on setting up the cardiac catheter lab and starting coronary intervention at the Royal Albert Edward Infirmary.
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Revised guidance launched
The Greater Manchester palliative care pain and symptom control guidelines have been launched after a revision.
The sixth edition of the recommendations for staff providing generalist palliative care were updated after a clinical review by Dr Stephanie Lippett, medical director, Springhill Hospice, Rochdale.
The review, supported by a task and finish group, included a full consultation of the updated guidelines via the Greater Manchester Medicines Management Group and the document has now been fully endorsed by the group.
Clinical advisor plays role in production of national guidance
The Network’s asthma clinical advisor, Clare Murray (pictured left), writes about the steps taken recently to produce national instructions to follow new guidelines on the use of maintenance and reliever therapy for children.
“Following the publication of the Asthma:diagnosis, monitoring and chronic asthma management BTS/NICE/SIGN guidelines (ng245) in November 2024, many clinicians approached me and asked how they should implement the management guidelines in children aged 5 to 11 years.
The reason for this was that these new guidelines suggested the use of maintenance and reliever therapy (MART) for children in this age group as the preferred treatment option.
Unfortunately, currently in the UK there are no inhalers licenced for use for this form of treatment in children under the age of 12. In addition to this, there are no national or international guidance documents on how to use any of the current inhaler preparations off label for MART in this younger age group. Therefore, this left clinicians across the country uncertain as to how to proceed.
I approached a number of colleagues across the country to see whether any guidance documents existed locally elsewhere and what practice people were following. We could not find anything available or any best practice documents.
I therefore pulled together a group of interested respiratory paediatricians from across the UK and together we have formulated this consensus document.
The original document was based primarily on expert opinion. This document then went out for consultation to the British Paediatric Respiratory Society, the National Paediatric Respiratory and Allergy Nursing Group and the Primary Care Respiratory Society for consultation.
Their views were incorporated into the document and a final consensus document has now been agreed.
We hope that clinicians will find this useful to follow and that it can be updated as and when evidence becomes available in the future.”
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New online mental health support for children
Children and young people in Greater Manchester can now access a range of wellbeing and mental health resources.
By scanning the QR code to the right, people can read guidance on who they can speak to within their community, charities who can help, as well as where to read leaflets and online help.
Read the Greater Manchester Integrated Care Partnership webpage.
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Regional body’s annual review launched
A body which aims to improve specialised care services for children across the region has launched its annual report.
The North West paediatric critical care, surgery in children, long term ventilation operational delivery network’s document explains what steps they have taken with partners over 2024-25 to make positive changes to care.
The network, which has the Children and Young People’s clinical advisor Julie Flaherty MBE as its independent chair, launched in 2021 and has continued to make a positive impact on youngsters in need of specialised care across the North West, North Wales and the Isle of Man.
This progress is founded on strong collaboration and shared objectives among children’s hospitals, hospices, community care providers and the North West and North Wales Paediatric Transport Service (NWTS).
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Latest news from across the region
The North West Children and Young People’s Programme has issued its latest newsletter.
You can find updates on training and events, epilepsy updates and information on mental health and healthy weights.
Midwife receives royal recognition
Congratulations to friend of the Network Kathy Murphy (pictured left) who was awarded the OBE by King Charles in his birthday honours list.
Kathy, who is director of nursing and midwifery at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, was awarded for her services to midwifery leadership.
It is the second award for Kathy over the past 12 months. Last autumn, she took home the Excellence in Midwifery for Leadership Award.
With more than 40 years’ experience in the NHS, she has brought together the largest maternity service in the UK, employing 820 midwives and supporting the births of 16,500 babies each year.
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Workshop to help respond to safety incidents
The Greater Manchester Local Maternity and Neonatal System (LMNS) is holding a workshop to support maternity teams to respond to safety incidents.
The Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF) sets out the NHS’s approach to developing and maintaining effective systems and processes for responding to patient safety incidents for the purpose of learning and improving patient safety.
The LMNS, in collaboration with Health Innovation Manchester and NHS Greater Manchester Quality team, are holding the workshop on Monday, July 14, for maternity providers to support them with their requirements to align to the framework.
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Information on continuity of care
Taking steps to make sure birthing people have continuity of care during their pregnancy has been a major focus in recent years.
Catherine Owens is the clinical project lead for this work for the Network and the Local Maternity and Neonatal System for Greater Manchester, and she has shared a presentation she delivered recently to maternity stakeholders.
Read the presentation.
Annual conference celebrates 10 year anniversary
The Network celebrated its 10th anniversary in style at its annual conference, with more than 130 professionals attending.
The event at the AJ Belle Stadium, in Eccles, featured a packed programme of talks and workshops, plus a poster competition and a wide array of exhibitor stands.
Clinical director Dr Shivakumar Krishnamoorthy (pictured below) started the proceedings with reflections of the last 10 years and how the Network has grown to lead some of the best patient services in the country.
One of the highlights of the day was when Anna and Martyn (pictured left) shared their experience of living with Motor Neurone Disease (MND). Their positivity was inspirational and their experiences of health and social care reminded people why the Network is working hard to improve services.
Keynote speaker Professor Manisha Kumar, Greater Manchester’s chief medical officer, shared the city region’s plans for long term conditions.
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Delegates also heard from Dr Dwai Sen about a genetic testing in stroke pilot, as well as results from researchers leading the DRIVE study in visual impairment.
Workshops were led by local experts, with themes including spasticity management, cardiovascular disease prevention and facial rehabilitation.
It was then time to present the Chadwick Award for outstanding contribution to neurorehabilitation services to Susan Bannister, lead for Bolton’s long term condition team.
Professor Craig Smith then presented Gill Pearl, CEO of Speakeasy, with the Tyrrell Award for stroke care. Gill is the first non-NHS professional to win an award and was a thoroughly worthy winner for her work over the years on aphasia.
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New service launched to improve lives
The Network attended the launch of a new service for Greater Manchester – the first of its kind in the country – which aims to improve the lives of people who suffer from neurogenic bladder and bowel.
The new service is the culmination of many years of collaborative working across many organisations, facilitated by the Network.
The initiative has involved a wide group of stakeholders including Manchester Centre for Clinical Neurosciences teams, local continence and community neurorehabilitation teams, as well as charities such as MS Together and the MS Trust.
Neurogenic bladder and bowel is a surprisingly common but often extremely debilitating condition in many neurological disorders, with the majority of patients with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) affected at some point in their lives.
It refers to the dysfunction of bladder and bowel control due to nerve damage, often resulting in incontinence or difficulty emptying.
In Greater Manchester, access to timely specialist support is often not available, with some patients experiencing long delays to be seen. Many end up in A&E and are admitted to hospital, with costs calculated to be over £5.4 million a year at Salford Royal Hospital alone.
A steering group of key stakeholders worked together to develop pathways of care based on the clinical guidelines and local expertise. Private company Coloplast, which makes products designed to help people with bladder and bowel issues, agreed to fund the service to get it off the ground.
There is now a team of clinicians and administrators in place who ensure patients are seen and treated quickly and then provided with any products they may need.
The service is clinically led by specialist nurse Clare Crossley (pictured above right) and will initially treat patients with MS or spinal injury, with plans to expand the criteria in future. The new team will also focus on upskilling local clinical teams and ensuring they work more closely together to better co-ordinate care for patients.
The launch heard from people with lived experience about how the condition severely impacts their lives. Ian, who has recently accessed the new service, shared how his life had changed for the better as a result of seeing Clare and receiving specialist treatment.
The service is busy collecting data to help demonstrate its value. There are already many examples of how being seen quickly by a specialist nurse has resulted in patients being able to restart their lives. These are activities most take for granted like going on holidays and socialising in the pub.
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Take a trip to Karen's garden!
A member of our maternity support team is opening her garden again this summer in aid of health and nursing charities.
Karen Clough (pictured left), maternity safety lead, is inviting the public to take a look around her pride and joy at Higher Bridge Clough House, in Rossendale, as part of the National Garden Scheme.
The garden (pictured above) is nestled within her Rossendale farmland in an exposed site.
Karen, who has opened her garden in recent years as part of the scheme, said: “A local farmer once said ‘you won’t grow 'owt up ‘ere...’, so I took on the challenge!”
The garden will be open from Saturday, July 19, to Sunday, July 20.
Charities which will benefit from the initiative include Hospice UK, the Queen’s Institute of Community Nursing and the Carers Trust.
Last year, the National Garden Scheme donated more than £3,500,000 from money raised at openings during the year.
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