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26 Clrtheroe422324(EdrtoriaI).01282426161 (Advert-Sing),Burnley 0128242^^ » 1 _ V ft NHS J „- A IT Soil very well coming up rractice makes perfect as nurses take the lead ,«


with phrases like'more health care in the community' ■ but now IS it done in practice?


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of the GP's Practice Nurse, whose role is seen as vital in helping local people live more fulfilling and healthier lives. They're in the front line in deal­ ing directly with patients and their problems, and they help take the strain off the doctor into the bargain.


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Take Deborah Gaughan, who has been a Practice Nurse at Thursby Surgery on Browhead Road in Burnley for the past 11 years. Before that, she was a


Sister at Burnley General, so


, she comes with a wealth of practical, hands-on experience. Deborah, who is 42 and lives in Cliviger, near Burnley, is part of the surgery's four-strong team that includes fellow Practice Nurses Sharon Arnone, who specialises in respiratory condi-


. tions, and colleague Nicola Hunt, along with Health Care Assistant Gillian Kalus. Deborah's specialist areas are diabetes and chronic disease


: management and she said: "The range of issues we deal with and the role of the Practice Nurse has grown considerably over the years. We have spe­ cialist training for specialist areas so that we can deal much


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more actively with patients and their needs: . "We work as a team, doing health promotion and monitor­ ing of patients, taking a lot of' the strain off our GPs, allowing them to concentrate on seing people who are unwell and


have a greater need to be seen."


She added: "We are also nurse prescribers and able to do cer­ tain prescriptions, with the doc­ tors' support. We do telephone consolations, triage people who want guidance and advice


or sign-posting to the right place for attention and treat­ ment. "We really think that the patients in our care do benefit and it's a real pleasure to be involved in helping the local community.''


£1m Padiham health boost


A; MAJOR £1 million investment is to be made in


■ bringing new and revitalised : health fa cil ities into the


heart of Padiham. . . The plan is to completely


revamp and expand Padiham Clinic, on Station Road near the town centre, with work due


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• to begin on the major project by early summer. ■ ■ The cash has been allocated by.


the area's community health, provider NHS East Lancashire,


which was also the prime funder of Burnley's state-of-the-art health facility at the St Peter's


Centre. Now, the primary care health


provider is focusing on Padiham,


' which will end up with better and more local health facilities fit for the 21st Century. . It's hoped that the health cen­ tre work will be finished and ready to accommodate services back by late spring next year.


■ The work, which will cost the


PCT.just under £1 million, means that existing services pro­ vided from Padiham Health Cen­ tre will be moved out temporarily to otherJocal premises in the town or to Kiddrow Lane Health Centre. Already, accommodation has


been procured at Padiham Town Hall for staff who need a base m the town, though no patients will be seen there. At present, Padiham Clinic


acts as a base for health visitors and school nurses, as well as pro­ viding a wide range of services, many of them on a session basis. Over time, these services will be


Once complete, the revitalised


premises will offer a home for the existing services which will return to the modern premises.


. There will also be a new GP surgery that will have four con­ sulting rooms and which will offer increased access and choice to Padiham patients, in addition to


, the existing GP services on offer in the area which is all part of NHS East Lancashire's efforts to improve local access to GP servic­ es for Padiham residents. ; There will be two treatment


temporarily transferred; The teenage sexual health drop-in- service has gone to the Youth Centre in Padiham, and the Stop ■ Smoking Service has moved into Whitegate Clinic in the town. Podiatry and speech therapy will go to Kiddrow Lane and th e . health-visitors will ultimately move into the town hall as an operating base.


. rooms, a clinical consulting room; a podiatry room and multi-pur­ pose clinics for use by services such as speech therapy, v • In addition, the premises will


have the capacity to accommo-' date the mobile mammography unit so that residents do not have to travel to Burnley General Hos-- pital site for the service. ■


improvements to the surrounding environment, the car park and access routes. - The latest investment, on top of the major investment in Burn­ ley's St Peter's Centre, is all part of the NHS local policy of provid­ ing front-line community health services as near to people's homes as possible. More and more services are being provided from health-cen-


■ tres and clinics throughout Burn­ ley, v- Pendle,'. Hyndburn,


•Rossendale and the Ribble Valley, as part of this process, meaning that local patients do not need to travel to the big hospital sites for ■ an increasing number of services.-


; At the same time, existing facil-; ities will be upgraded, including;: the heating, water, lighting and . internal fittings, as well as ■


■ -Peter Sellars, Head of Primary - Care with NHS East Lancashire, said: “We're pleased about bring­ ing better community health facilities to the people of Padi­ ham. They will end up with a modern and up-to-date health centre, which will help us provide more services locally.”


i . www.clitheroeadvertiser.co.uk Ciitheroe Advertiser &-ntnes, Thursday, Match 5th, 2009 27 NHS


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. Part of the front-line ■


GOOD PRACTICE: team at Thursby


. : Surgery in Burniey. From left to right. Spe­ cialist Practice Nurse ^


Sharon Arnone; Health Care Assistant Giil


Kalus; and Specialist Practice Nurse Debo­ rah Gaughan.,


"I still find it really fulfilling. You get to know patients well, build up a rapport and a feel­ ing of trust and you see peo­ ple's lives improving. It's good to put a smile on their faces into the bargain."


Patients lead way in health monitoring


IT'S not always obvious when you've got high blood pressure. ;


- . . , ■ ,


. . But local residents m Burnley are taking the issue into their own hands - and that's literally! - The good folk of. Burnley Wood area are taking


advantage of a novel way of testing their blood pres­ sure and seeing if their height and weight is in line too. Health professionals at Burnley-Wood Medical Cen­


tre on Parliament Street have introduced a machine that allows patients and -visitors to do a hands-on self­ check, right there in the waiting room.- It's free for all comers and is being used to increase


the detection of high blood pressure in the near-6,000 local people who use the GP surgery. As Burnley-born and bred GP George Grumble-


holme, one of three doctors based at the practice, said: "We know that the national average of people suffer­ ing from from high blood pressure is about 12 per cent


of the population. Our figures locally are around 9 per cent. ■


. ■ “Although we have a lot of young people in Burnley


Wood area, we suspect that this is not a complete explanation and we wanted to increase our testing arid surveillance. ;


“So our practice manager and his team came up


with the idea of the self-momtonng machine that peo­ ple can use for themselves. It's verified as pretty accu-' rate and when people show the results of their height and weight measurments, and their blood pressure, to the reception staff, we can take the matter further if that is required."


■


:: Dr Crumbleholme added: “It's proving to be very popular and it's part of our practice development plan to improve in this sphere. We will audit the results in a year's time and see if any improvement in detection rates has occurred.


‘In the meantime, patients and their families can


have a bit of fun and find out more about their state' of health. It also fits in neatly with the campaign by our pnmaiy care trust. NHS East Lancashire, to 'Save A Million Years Of Life. It all helps the cause.” ; - -


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