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Medicine management technology delivers savings


Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust has reduced its drug spend by 11.7%, based on a 16-month ‘like for like’ comparison – equating to a £6,000 per ward annual saving – after investing in new automated medication dispensing cabinets and software to allow central pharmacy teams to manage medication use at Hopewood Park in Sunderland, a 122-bed inpatient care facility for adults with mental health problems. Since its installation 18 months ago, the new Omnicell system has reduced medicine wastage, helped release clinical staff to deliver more care, and improved patient safety – ensuring that the right patient gets the right dose of the right drug at the right time. At the outset, the Trust worked closely with Omnicell UK to design ‘lean processes’ to ensure the cabinets were in the optimal locations. Alongside the financial savings, and a fall from 37.7% to 23% in ward reports of non- compliance with omitted dose audit standards, the Omnicell cabinets have reduced the need


Help for those with


a learning disability Local plans to ‘transform care for people with a learning disability and/or autism’ have been published by NHS England, ‘backed by millions of pounds of dedicated funding’.


for out-of-hours medicine supply from central pharmacy, with the proportion of calls to emergency duty pharmacists about medicines supply 12% down, and ad hoc orders falling from 77% to 25%.


Omnicell said: “The cabinets have also


reduced concerns in relation to the safe and secure management of medicines, and improved the audit trail.” A reduction in controlled drugs incident investigations has resulted in a £20,000 saving.”


Dementia care unit’s specialist ironmongery


Leading architectural ironmonger, BJ Waller, has provided specialist hardware for a new dementia care unit at Margaret House, a residential care home in Barley, Hertfordshire. The 24-bed unit, designed by architect, Portess and Richardson, is located in a purpose-built environment adjacent to the main house, a former rectory. Portess and Richardson, which has worked closely with BJ Waller since its establishment in 1982, commissioned the company to provide the ironmongery schedule for the 74 doors in the dementia care unit. “The key requirement was to


balance the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act


accessibility-wise, with the need for effective access control for the safety of residents and staff,” explained Paul Ingle of Portess and Richardson. For security doors,


BJ Waller provided an electronic access system requiring keypad operation, while bedroom doors incorporate high quality stainless steel lever handles ‘for simple one- handed operation’, complemented by electronic swing-free door closers, allowing people to safely enter without risk of the door slamming shut, and panic release locks for ease of opening in emergency situations.


Shower head ‘a time and money-saving solution’


Set to be unveiled by Dupal UK at this month’s Healthcare Estates 2016 exhibition in Manchester is the company’s new ‘recyclable’ L8 shower head system.


The company said: “We believe compliance to ACoP L8 and HTM 01 guidelines needn’t increase costs, or result in time-consuming auditing for healthcare establishments. Manufactured in the UK, our L8 shower head system offers a simple solution. The components have antibacterial properties to boost infection prevention and control, and


8 THE NETWORK OCTOBER 2016


are designed to replace existing shower heads and hoses, with each head and hose colour- coded, to ensure that not a single shower is missed or forgotten.


“The heads and hoses are fully recyclable, eliminating the need to incinerate or send used shower components to landfill. The L8 Shower saves time for the estates team fitting the showers, and for personnel auditing and reporting quarterly compliance. The L8 system is real time and money-saving solution all healthcare establishments can afford to implement.”


NHS England said the announcement marked ‘a major stage in delivering the reforms set out in Building the right support: A national implementation plan to develop community services and close inpatient facilities, published in October 2015 by NHS England, the Local Government Association, and the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services’. NHS England said: “Building the right support set an ambition of empowering individuals and their families to have more say in their care by developing and strengthening good quality support options in their communities, and thus reducing the number of people with a learning disability and/or autism in England who are in hospitals by up to half over three years.” Forty-eight local Transforming Care Partnerships (TCPs) – comprising service- users, their families, service-providers, Clinical Commissioning Groups, local authorities, and NHS England specialised commissioning hubs – are tasked with ‘taking forward these intentions’. The first awards from a £30 million,


three-year NHS England revenue fund to help TCPs speed up the delivery of new services – announced at the same time as Building the right support – have now been finalised.


Funding of almost £6.5 m has been designated to 23 TCPs on a match-funding basis to help get new services up and running.


Examples of new services backed by this funding include:


• In North Central London, funding will help develop support for people to stay well in their own homes, with a Community Crisis Intervention Team offering personalised home treatment support, and a ‘crash pad’ pilot scheme providing a temporary ‘recovery house’ model as an alternative to hospital. • In many areas, existing outreach teams are being enhanced, to offer support seven days a week, or greater therapeutic input. • In Kent and Medway, a new community service to support people whose behaviour leads to contact with the police or criminal justice system is being established.


• In Devon, a new service to support people with autism is being set up. • TCPs across the South have been assigned over £500,000 to support joint work focussing on bringing patients placed in inpatient care outside the region back to their own communities.


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