News | Health


downsmail.co.uk Review of out-of-hours services


ACOMPREHENSIVENHSout-of-hours and hospital-at-home service for Maidstone and the rest of West Kent will start to operate from September 2015.


This “radical service design” will


be introduced in two phases. The GP-led West Kent Clinical Commissioning Group has agreed to commission by tender the service and says the key elements are:  Primary care help for patients with urgent care needs, often initi- ated by an NHS 111 phone call.  Integration of out-of-hospital provision with ambulance, primary care and community serv- ices working together as poten- tially a single urgent-care service. The group currently commissions


three core primary care services to deliver urgent and emergency care. They are an out-of-hours service; an enhanced rapid response health


Help to go home


AGEUKis to assist in a “take home and settle” service for patients dis- charged from Maidstone Hospital. The service can provide transport


home from hospital; transport of equipment to home; identification of home safety issues; help with do- mestic tasks such as cleaning and shopping; help with medication and social support.


Dementia care


THE commissioning group now has a dementia strategy and imple- mentation group to establish an in- tegrated approach to ensure early diagnosis and patient support.


Cancelled ops


THE number of hospital operations inWest Kent cancelled for non-clin- ical reasons doubled in the last quarter.


NHS 111 improves


TheNHS111 phone service has op- erated for 18months. After a poor start inWest Kent it now routinely achieves national standards. About 100,000 calls are made every month.


and social care service to support people at home; GPs working in hospital A&E to see and treat pri- mary care type patients. The first phase of the service will


see these three services combined in one contract to improve integration and reduce fragmentation. This contract will run for two


years (2015-17) “to allow the group more time for the development of phase two in which the group will procure a more complex and com- prehensive urgent care service that would engage all key providers lo- cally”. The group sees the main strategic objectives of the new service as:  ReducingA&E attendances and emergency admissions.  Developing more community services to avoid transfers to hos- pital. The hospital-at-home service will provide responsive short- term, clinical care and acute reha- bilitation to patients in crisis, with ongoing assessment and, where needed, referral for longer term


treatment or community support. It will provide medical, nursing and social input to patients at home and all also work closely with hospitals’ discharge teams and GP practices to facilitate early discharges.  Making best use of the en- hanced rapid response service to provide health and social care sup- port for people at home.  Supporting wider introduction of NHS 111 locally that does not lead to increasedA&E attendances.  Working with the ambulance service to care for more people in the community, decreasing hospi- tal demand.


Dog-sledding trip to help cancer patients


VICKI Ingleson will be swapping her job at Maidstone Hospital’s oncology centre for aweek in sub- zero temperatures, with a pack of hounds in the New Year. Her dog-sledding challenge will


take the clinical trials officer, from Barming, to a wilderness campin Swedish Lapland, with only basic facilities and often no electricity or runningwater. Vicki (27) will run her own team of huskies, enduring temperatures of - 25c by day and -40c at night, to raise money for the Lymphoma Association. Vicki, who read about the challenge in amedical journal, has funded the trip fromJanuary 30 to February 3. She said: “As a clinical trials officer,


Iwork with lymphoma patients, and this really appealed to me. I thought it would be great to help a charity with a link tomy profession.” In the meantime she is training to


increase her endurance. She added: “I won’t receive


training until I get there, so I am doing everything I can to get as physically fit as possible. I amquite nervous, but excited, too – it’s going to be amazing.” Vicki’s mum, Avril (56) from


Yorkshire, shaved her head in November to offer her support and raised more than £700 to get her daughter’s fundraising started. To sponsor Vicki, go to www.justgiving.com/Victoria- Ingleson or text VILA99, followed by the amount, eg £5, to 70070.


Vicki and Avril Ingleson Digital records improve treatment Early deaths


HEALTH records of allWest Kent patients, including almost 250,000 in the Maidstone area, are to be made available to professionals at the touch of a computer button. The aim is to help health and so-


cial care workers improve safety, speed and quality of care. The decision to buy and imple-


ment an IT system and infrastruc- ture to support digital sharing of care information and care plan- ning has been made by the GP-led NHS West Kent Clinical Commis- sioning Group, which now holds most local NHS purse-strings. The group says: “Patients expect


all their care providers to see the same information. They are frus- trated when they have to repeat in- formation they have already given to other care providers. “Patients also want to be more involved in their care through ac-


36 Maidstone Town Xmas 2014


cess to their information.” A reduction is forecast in pa-


tients and carers reaching crisis and needing hospital care. A lim- ited first phase aimed at long-term conditions likely to need hospital admissions, end-of-life care plans and frail elderly should be opera- tional by March and progressed across West Kent in two further


stages during a three-year period. The capital cost of the transfor- mational scheme is estimated at £4.56m for the first three years with £6m revenue costs – but the financial benefits during five years could top £10m. It is seen as a key enabler to de-


livering the local NHS five-year plan for “Mapping the future”.


How the scheme works in practice


THE scheme would help patients such as elderly Mr Jones, who relies on oxygen kept at home to help him breathe. Subject to panic, he calls an ambulance but the team has no knowledge


of his history and has no alternative but to take him to hospital. However, with access to his computerised history, the crew can calm him


down and see that support is available from his son. His GP and care team see what has happened. The system informs re-


views of his care plan and enables changes to avoid similar incidents hap- pening in the future.


Skin service


THE NHSWest Kent Clinical Com- missioning Group is planning to commission an integrated consult- ant-led dermatology service for the diagnosis, management and treat- ment of children and adults.


Diabetes care


THE commissioning group is con- sidering reconfiguration of theWest Kent Diabetes service which could see more specialised care provided outside of hospitals.


THEfigure for potential years of life lost to conditions amenable to NHS care in West Kent is “markedly lower” than the England average. But the downward national gradi- ent suggests progress in stemming premature deaths is outpacing the rate of change inWest Ken.


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