Patients’ fears for health centre
STAPLEHURST villagers discussed the fu- ture of their health centre with NHS bosses at a public meeting. Staplehurst Health Centre, in Offens
Drive, has been run by Malling Health for five years, but the contract, due to run out in the spring, is now out for tender. Residents highlighted a number of issues
they were not happy with under the cur- rent set-up, while at the same time fearing a new contract holder could make things even worse. Many villagers were concerned the new contract holder would change the health centre’s phone number to a premium rate number. NHS bosses guaranteed this would not happen. The centre’s high turnover of doctors, leading to patients feeling their GPs did not know them, was also a worry, and several people complained that prescrip- tions had either gone missing or con- tained mistakes. Cllr Richard Lusty, who lobbied for a
new health centre in Staplehurstwith then MPAnnWiddecombe, said there was “dis- appointment in the village” with regards to the centre, adding: “We were expecting patient care and we’re not getting it.” Dr James Thallon, medical director at
NHS Kent and Medway, advised patients to “be more assertive” and complain to health centre staff when mistakes were made and standards failed to meet expec- tations. Jo Pow, of the PPG (Patient Participant Group), said the group could approach the centre on patients’ behalf and advised them to contact her or put a comment in a suggestions box at the health centre.
Residents wanted a hand in deciding which company got the contract, in addi- tion to having a PPG representative on the evaluation panel, and wanted to be told who the short-listed candidates were be- fore a decision was made. Dr Thallon said he could see no reason
why a meeting could not be arranged to share this information with patients. The parish council said it would investigate ways of involving patients more in the process. Online appointment booking, evening
and weekend appointments and prescrip- tions sent straight from a doctor’s com- puter to a pharmacy were all identified as possibilities for the future. Patients were told that under the new contract they could expect the health cen- tre to be open at least from 8am to 6.30pm and they would be able to get same-day ap- pointments or be seen within 24 or 48 hours, depending on the urgency. They wouldalsobeabletomakead- vanced bookings to see a GP. Appoint- ments would last 10 minutes with a GP and 15 minutes with a nurse and patients would be seen within 30 minutes of the scheduled appointment time.
THE NHS will give the new contractor between £64.67 and £80 for each of the 5,000-plus patients registered at the health centre per year – less than Malling Health currently gets. The average in west Kent is £69.70 per patient. Dr Thallon, who used to run a GP sur-
Medical director Dr James Thallon speaks at the public meeting
PCTs ‘on the way out’ FROM April 2013 the Government will start to phase out the country’s 151 Pri- mary Care Trusts (PCTs), which currently look after a range of local health services including doctor and dentist surgeries, opticians, pharmacies and hospitals. PCTs currently control 80% of the NHS budget, but after April that control will be passed to GPs, who will make key deci- sions about their patients’ treatment as well as managing finances.
Better quality service ‘perfectly possible’
gery, said it was perfectly possible to run a high-quality health centre with the money being offered. He said: “I’m hear- ing the majority of you wanted a higher level of continuity than has been achieved. It can be done on this contract. It’s about the environment you create and people wanting to work with you.”
Surgeries going green
GP SURGERIES in Yalding and Coxheath have been rewarded for making their practices more carbon aware. The Burgess Bank surgery in
The award-winning team team from Ferris Chemists, Headcorn Award for pharmacy
FERRIS Chemist’s in High Street, Headcorn, is one of the first pharmacies in the country to become an official ‘Healthy Living Pharmacy’. At an accreditation awards evening at Maidstone’s Oak- wood House, 17 pharmacies in Kent achieved Healthy Living status, reflecting the fact they offer awide range of services to help people stay healthy. To achieve accreditation, Fer-
ris reached the standards in a range of areas needed for a Quality Mark. These included providing patients with two en- hanced services – such as stop smoking support or emergency hormonal contraception – as well as advanced services such as medicine use reviews. Healthy Living Pharmacies each have a Healthy Living
Champion on their staff, offer- ing specialist advice and guid- ance and signposting on issues such as losing weight, tackling excess drinking and other lifestyle challenges. Champions can also help people with long- term conditions such as asthma, diabetes or arthritis. They also undertake staff training and development and build links with other commu- nity organisations, such as schools and nursing homes. Andrew Wilson, pharmacist
at Ferris, said: “As well as smoking cessation and weight management which is a new non-NHS service, we provide a supervised methadone service for patients and travel medi- cines. We are also looking at providing more advice to around smoking in pregnancy.”
Yalding, and the Stockett Lane surgery, Coxheath, are two of only nine across Kent to be re- warded for reducing energy bills and improving the way their staff and patients help make the planet a better place. Both surgeries were presented
with bronze awards in the 2012 Sustainable Surgeries Award Scheme for Kent and Medway, at Ashford International Hotel. The awards, believed to be
the first of their kind in the UK, aim to increase awareness of the long-term risks to health from climate change and other envi- ronmental issues, whilst help- ing GP practices develop carbon management skills. Dr Caroline Jessel, medical adviser and sustainability lead for NHS Kent and Medway, said: “As GPs take over respon- sibilities for commissioning healthcare services, it is vital that practices develop carbon management skills and aware- ness in order to improve effi- ciency, manage budgets and reduce carbon emissions in the future. Many carbon- saving ini- tiatives also have a positive im-
The awards were presented by Dr David Pencheon, Dr Caroline Jessel, and Helen Buckingham
pact on the health and wellbe- ing of staff and local residents. “General practitioners are
justly recognised as innovators with a very holistic approach to healthcare, which is why they are best-placed to lead the change in thinking required to tackle this agenda. “We’re impressed by the steps
made by many of the GP prac- tices taking part in this year’s awards.” Surgeries have taken steps
such as turning off their heating earlier, improving insulation labeling switches so staff know what to turn off at night, in- stalling solar panels and im- proved recycling. Higher level awards have
gone to those practices who have successfully engaged staff and patients in this agenda and have developed innovative ways of working.
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