Welcome to the last Whittington GP Connect of 2022. Sadly this will be my last bulletin as I am stepping down from my role as Medical Director of Integrated Care. I would like to say a huge thank you to my GP colleagues who has supported both me and Whittington Health in our continued quest to improve the patient’s journey and health care through integration. I do believe we have shown how mutual respect and understanding of each other’s pressures and demands along with good communication and listening has helped us towards this.
I would also like to thank the wonderful, amazing staff at Whittington Health who have supported me, inspired me and always wanting to makes things better for the patient and teams.
I will continue to be a GP in Islington...so I am not really going away!
I would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Take care
Sarah
Dr Sarah Humphery
Medical Director for Integrated Care
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The Wood Green Community Diagnostic Centre has seen over 4000 patients since it opened in late August.
You can refer your patients for phlebotomy and x-ray and ultrasound — and with lots of availability and quick reporting times I would really encourage you to offer this new service to your patients.
The centre is currently open Monday to Friday, between 9am – 5pm but the team hope that they will be able to extend this into evenings and weekends. The centre has great transport links and a multi-storey car park available,
If you would like to find out more about the centre or arrange a visit, please email the team at woodgreencdc.whitthealth@nhs.net.
Full details on the referral and reporting pathways are available at www.whittington.nhs.uk/woodgreencdcgp
Ultrasound: Referral sent to referrals.woodgreencdc@nhs.net > appointment booked > results sent back to you on EMIS.
X-ray: Referral form either emailed or given to patient > patient can walk in at a time that suits > results sent back to you on EMIS.
Phlebotomy: Appointments available on ERS choose and book, or patient can walk in with referral > patient can walk-in or attend booked appointment > results sent back you on EMIS.
Whittington Health have gone live with an online patient portal that allows patients to access the appointment letters, information, leaflets etc. that we have sent to them regarding their outpatient appointments. The portal is delivered via Zesty which you may be familiar with as it is used at a number of other local acute trusts.
The portal is currently in the pilot phase, with Haematology and Respiratory services currently on Zesty. We hope to add all remaining acute services early in 2023.
Phase two of the project will allow patients to cancel and reschedule their appointments themselves. The plan is to start Phase two early 2023.
Some of the benefits of the portal are listed below:
- Reduction of physical outpatient appointment letters being printed and posted.
- Reduced DNA rates - portal users have the ability to autonomously cancel and reschedule their appointments without calling a member of the booking team.
- Relieving pressure on booking staff and/or call centre and clinic staff by reducing the number of calls from patients as adequate number of appointments slots are available to book into.
- Option to add appointments to personal calendars from the portal
- Patients don’t need to worry about misplaced appointment letters, contact details available for the service on the portal
- NHS App integration – Early 2023 we will see the Zesty portal accessible via the NHS app through a single point of access for our patients using their existing NHS log ins.
It is important to make clear that unless patients choose to opt out of paper letters they will continue to receive paper copies from us via the post, so they are not disadvantaged if they do not have access to the internet or choose not to use it.
You can find more on our website at: www.whittington.nhs.uk/opa.
The Expert Patients Programme and The Diabetes Self-Management Programme are back up and running for the last few months. These programmes provide vital support to patients living with long-term conditions.
Participants completing the programmes see a significant increase in their mental wellbeing and their confidence to manage their condition.
As a recent participant said: “The course was brilliant! To not feel…so alone is a gift – the fact that everyone had [condition] was good in that we could all relate to each other. The tutors were engaging, informative and friendly”.
For more information or to refer patients please visit the Self-Management Support and Behaviour Change Webpage.
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Do join our Bank of GPs for flexible working in a great team!
Whittington Health NHS Trust is offering an exciting opportunity for experienced GPs to work in the Emergency Department at Whittington Hospital. The Emergency Department has a co-located Urgent Treatment Centre and Children’s Emergency Department and High Dependency Area.
The Trust has a well well-established Ambulatory Care Centre to support the delivery of Same Day Emergency Care. A Rapid Assessment area at the front door of the Emergency Department that supports early decision making.
GPs would be required to registered with Bank Partners to book shifts. The registration process is likely to take between 2-4 weeks.
Rota and Shift pattern: This is a 12-hours a day 7-day week rota. With flexible working arrangements for either 12-, 6- or 4-hour shifts.
If you would like to know more about these shifts please contact Dr Duncan Carmichael, Clinical Lead-Emergency Department & Urgent Treatment Centre at: duncan.carmichael@nhs.net.
To register with bank partners please send your CVs to Aminur Rehman, Rota co-ordinator. aminur.rahman8@nhs.net.
We would welcome enquiries!
Dr Samina Ishaq and Dr Amila Gunawardhana are co Clinical leads for MWRES / International Medical Graduates (IMG).
They are trying to identify IMG colleagues and reach out to put together a local welcome package with pastoral care components and generic Trust details.
If any GP colleagues who are IMG would like to contact Dr Ishaq to discuss further please email her: samina.ishaq@nhs.net.
As you may be aware, patient initiated follow-up (PIFU) is a priority in line with the in the NHS 2021/22 priorities and operational planning guidance. We are implementing PIFU in outpatient services starting with:
- Haematology
- Gynaecology
- Rheumatology
- Ophthalmology
- Dermatology
- Pain management
- Urology
- Thoracic medicine
- Clinical haematology
- Cardiology
- Neurology
- ENT.
Instead of routinely booking a follow-up appointment at a specified point in the future, some patients will be asked to contact the hospital to request an appointment if and when they need one, e.g. during a flare-up.
For patients with short-term conditions, this option will be available to them for a fixed length of time, dependent on the specialty. After this length of time has elapsed, the patient will either be discharged from the service, or we will book an appointment with them. For patients with long-term conditions, PIFU may be used alongside check in appointments (e.g. annual reviews).
PIFU will not be suitable for everyone and the decision to go onto a PIFU pathway will be a shared decision with the patient made on a case by case basis, based on the person’s individual needs, circumstances and preferences. We will copy you into communications sent to the patient, including symptoms to watch out for and how to book an appointment if required.
If the patient is diagnosed with a new condition that may affect their ability to contact us (e.g. dementia), we request that you inform the relevant service so that a decision can be made as to whether PIFU is still suitable for them whether it needs to be adapted, or whether returning to a traditional timed follow-up pathway would be better for them.
We anticipate that PIFU will also help reduce burden on GPs by reducing the need to chase up appointments for your patients. More information on PIFU can be found in p19-26 of this guidance. If you have any queries, or if you have any feedback on how we are rolling this out, please get in touch with Sumayyah Oozeerally (Transformation & Service Improvement Manager) on s.oozeerally@nhs.net or 0207 288 3185.
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Dr Suzanna Hardman, joined Whittington Health in 1995 as Consultant Cardiologist with an Interest in Community Cardiology and I know was known to many of you. She recently retired and asked me to pass on a letter of thanks to you all. Click here to read it.
I am sure you will all join me in wishing her a very happy retirement.
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We are pleased to announce that our plans were approved by Islington Council for a substantial project to improve our maternity and neonatal facilities. In total, over £100 million will be spent on improvements to the Kenwood Wing of Whittington Hospital.
The investment in these areas will result in modern and welcoming facilities for families, patients, and our staff. It will result in families having access to ensuite rooms for their comfort and privacy. Two bereavement spaces will also be created, which will support the care given to families dealing with a sad loss.
This significant project will be undertaken in phases over the coming years. During the project, all services will continue to be provided throughout. The first phase of the project will see ensuite labour rooms and one of the bereavement suites delivered, with further developments made during subsequent phases.
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