News | Health Bed blocking


DELAYED transfers of care (bed blocking) in Maidstone and Tun- bridgeWells hospitals remain high (6%) compared with the England av- erage (5.4%). This means 45 beds are occupied


by patients who should be dis- charged. The situation is caused by an over-


load on community-based health- care services and a lack of access to social care packages. Three pathways to help resolve


the problem are in the pipeline. One involves transferring care to a pa- tient’s home; the second is a therapy- led unit at Tonbridge Cottage Hospital; and the third is bed-mod- elling work, for which additional funding has been agreed.


Practice praise


A DOCTORS’ surgery which servesWest Kent has been awarded a glowing report from the Care Quality Commission. Thornhills Medical Practice in Larkfield received “good” grades in all categories for the service pro- vided to its 14,800 patients – the biggest provider of skilled primary care surgery in the area. The surgery offers out-of-hours appointments, with its GP training status and purpose-built facilities and parking all earning special note. The inspector noted patients felt


the surgery offered short waiting times, easy access, a friendly and ef- ficient service and good communi- cation with the patients’ own GP.


Living longer


LIFE expectancy at birth in West Kent is now 82.7 years – one year higher than the Kent average. There are variations across the wards, however. Detling (above) and Thurnham


has the highest expectancy at 89.5 years and the lowest is in Bridge Ward, Maidstone (76.5 years). Maidstone has the highest number


of homeless (2.4 per 1,000) in West Kent, with the lowest in Tonbridge and Malling and Sevenoaks.


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GPs working together efficiently in clusters


GP PRACTICES in Maidstone,Weald, Malling, Tonbridge, Tunbridge Wells and Sevenoaks are increasingly working together in clusters. It is seen as cross co-operation be-


tween practices, which aims to im- prove workforce morale, skills and recruitment. It also hopes to increase resources


in manpower and technology; im- prove IT effectiveness with inte- grated clinical systems; workload reduction projects due to scale; bet- ter investment in premises to sup- port growing populations; improve learning and development; produce economies of scale. The seven clusters will each serve


a population of between 46,000 and 82,500. The four clusters serving the wider Maidstone area will be known as: Maidstone Central; Maidstone Wide; Weald and Malling. The current aim is for clusters to


take charge of preventative, pro-ac- tive planned care of high risk pa- tients (those who are frai; with life-threatening conditions; those at


the end of their life; mental health conditions; and children). Responsibilities will include: op- erational delivery of community- based services working with district nurses; mental health services; so- cial care and encouraging preven- tion and self care; some aspects of urgent care and mental health serv- ices; extended working hours from


2018; prescribing; and shifting some clinical services from hospital care. Of the 60West Kent practices, `52


have been inspected so far by the Care Quality Commission. Two were rated outstanding, 41


were good, eight required improve- ment (two have since moved to good) and one was rated inade- quate.


999 changes to improve ambulance times


THE widely-criticised local ambu- lance service is set to improve by the summer, with changes in response times, especially for critically ill pa- tients. The priorities are:


Red 1: Life-threatening conditions when speed may be critical in saving life or improving the outcome for a patient (such as heart attack, trauma, stroke, serious bleeding). Red 2: Serious, but not the most life- threatening. Green: Where patient has been as- sessed as not having an immediately life-threatening condition but does require an assessment by an ambu-


lance clinician or transport to hospi- tal.


NHS England has agreed to give ambulance trusts more time to as- sess the level of emergency, except when life is threatened – and this is likely to be 240 seconds. This has im- proved RED 1 and 2 response times by up to 3%. The local ambulance service is in-


troducing improved computer sys- tems to operate the changed procedures by the summer.  Ambulance activity continues to grow and performance was below the three keys standards for Novem- ber.


Town’s hospital escapesA&E cuts – for now


THEA&Edepartments of 24 hos- pitals across England are seri- ously threatened with closure as the NHS meets Government de- mands for savings – but Maid- stone and Kent have escaped so far. It is known that the services


across Maidstone, Tunbridge Wells and Medway hospitals are being reviewed and some changes are likely to be recom- mended – but with all threeA&E departments already over- stretched, the local populations are both hoping and expecting


22 Maidstone March 2017


they will be preserved. But across the whole of Kent


and Medway there will be a funding gap of £486m by 2010/21 if nothing is done. Overall, the NHS is looking for cuts across England totalling £22billion. The Kent area says it will iden-


tify and deliver savings in back- office areas and prescribing and by sharing some clinical services. It says it will “prioritise pre-


vention, including smoking ces- sation, tackling obesity and alcohol-related harm and work- ing with employers on work-


place health. “It is planned to create emer-


gency hospital centres, some with specialist services, as well as hospital centres specialising in planned care.” There are also Kent plans to provide a range of out-of- hospital services through local care hubs, including community hospitals, reducing the need for people to be in acute beds. Integrated care teams, made up


a community nurses and social care practitioners, have been in- troduced and attached to GP sur-


geries. There is also a target to re- duce the number of days people spend in hospital beds when they are well enough to be dis- charged. Full public consultation has


been promised in areas where major changes are taking place, such as closure of hospital serv- ices.


Some areas across England


have been asked by the NHS for more information so some detail is not yet available – but theNHS plans implementation will begin later this year.


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