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Dear Colleagues,
Welcome to the new look Whittington Health GP Connect newsletter as we head into the autumn.
I do hope you all had a chance to get some rest and a break over the summer. It does feel very relentless at the moment; with the media GP “bashing”, workforce issues, increased demand and complexity of patients- it is exhausting.
When I reflect on all this I realise, now more than ever, how important good communication is. With that in mind, this edition of Whittington Health's GP Connect is focussed on the many and new ways we are trying to support you with the information you need.
As we head into the challenging Winter months, I am reminded of Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s wise words “ Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness”. Let’s keep talking and looking after each other and we will get through this together.
Dr Sarah Humphery
Medical Director for Integrated Care
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GP Information Page on the website
We are going to start putting useful information for GPs on our website onto a dedicated GP Connect page at www.whittington.nhs.uk/GPConnect.
This page already has previous editions of GP Connect with all of their key updates specifically for our GP colleagues. We will also be moving our live real-time service status page which has previously sat on our COVID-19 dedicated pages there too. It shows any temporary changes to services and other changes which may be necessary as a result of the evolving COVID-19 situation.
We will continue to keep the page updated with useful information dedicated to GPs and practice staff, so www.whittington.nhs.uk/GPConnect should be your first port of call if you have any queries or need any information.
The teams here at Whittington Health have been working tirelessly along with our other provider colleagues across the NCL patch to catch up with the waiting lists. The good news is that we are making progress, for example, no Whittington Health patients are waiting over 104 weeks for treatment and the backlog of patients waiting over 52 weeks has reduced by more than 50% since April.
Earlier this month we began emailing you on a monthly basis with a full update on average waiting times for both the Acute Trust and Community services. This will help you and your patients to be informed and up to date.
We will continue to email you this information on a monthly basis. If you missed it, the data for October is available below.
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We are updating our Patient Pathway Co-coordinators (PPC) contact details and will send out to all practices soon.
A reminder about what our PPCs can help with:
Your practice can contact them to chase non-clinical issues about patients’ care e.g appointments, investigations results and service enquires. They know their services in-depth and if they can’t help they will find someone who can.
PPC’s are here to help make our patients journeys through our services as smooth as possible. They work within specific clinical areas to co-ordinate and streamline administrative processes so that they revolve around the patient and their individual needs. They can act as a named point of contact for patients under the care of that specialty(s).
If appropriate they can also notify GPs via telephone, email and/ or letter of attendance outcomes and diagnostic results. They will also liaise with GP practices to ensure that patients have received all appropriate treatment and are fit, willing and able to attend for treatment.
They can be contacted directly by GP’s and your teams, community hospitals and patients themselves.
Look out for more details coming soon.
I have attached the 1 pager with the emergency referral guide for GPs to our ambulatory care and ED as a reminder how to get advice from ambulatory care and how to contact our speciality teams in an emergency.
You can download it using the button below and save or print a copy, or you can access it anytime on any device at www.whittington.nhs.uk/emergencyreferrals.
Please do not send patients to the Emergency Department without a referral. Please call the relevant specialty to determine where the patient should attend based on the clinical scenario.
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Our Ambulatory Care Centre offers easy access to diagnostic tests, hospital consultants and specialist staff in one place. It is a way of providing safe care designed around the needs of your patients. The aim is to avoid unnecessary hospital admissions.
The adult service is consultant led with a multi-disciplinary team of more than 20 staff including medical and emergency physicians, community matrons, GPs, surgeons and a full range of hospital based specialities working together in the acute care of patients. The service is not pathway or condition led to ensure that all patients can be considered. All patients must be referred and clinically accepted by the ambulatory care team.
The Ambulatory Care Centre is now open from 8am until 10pm Monday to Friday and 9am until 8pm on Weekends and bank holidays.
We believe this will support our GPs and the needs of our local community, extending access to pre-bookable and same day appointments 7 days a week.
To refer to the service:
During normal working hours, GPs or their practice staff should call 07775 117 679 to speak to the ambulatory care consultant.
Out of hours please call the hospital switchboard on 020 7272 3070 and ask to speak to the ambulatory care consultant, you will speak to the duty medical registrar.
If accepted we will usually ask you to send the patient on the day to the ambulatory care centre. If clinically appropriate we may ask the patient to attend the next day.
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