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NHS in Manchester July 2012 e-bulletin

In This Edition:

 · Clinical Commissioning Groups

· Mental Health and Well-Being in Manchester - Update · Lets make next generation services safe and sustainable to us all

· Health Watch 

· Clinical Trials Gateway

· Get Ready for the Summer Holidays! 

 · We Face Forward: Art from West Africa Today

  ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Clinical Commissioning Groups The NHS is changing….

In last month’s e: bulletin, we explained how, from April 2013, the commissioning of health services in Manchester will be the responsibility of 3 GP-led Clinical Commissioning Groups in the city; North, Central and South. One of their key priorities will be to develop mechanisms by which they can understand better what local people think about the health services they receive and how they think they should be improved. In Manchester, we have a number of established ways we inform, and listen to, local communities, including this e:bulletin. In addition, the Clinical Commissioning Groups are developing new mechanisms. For example, each CCG has established a Patient and Public Advisory Group within their governance structure. This is a group of local people whose role it is to inform the CCG’s commissioning work from the perspective of patients and carers.

We will publicise the work of the CCGs within this bulletin so you have the opportunity to feed into the work they do. In the meantime, if you have any thoughts about local health services, or stories about the care you have received, please send them to talkinghealth@manchester.nhs.uk. Please also forward this email address onto your friends. Every day, thousands of people in Manchester receive healthcare of one sort or another. The more people we can get to send us their thoughts and stories, the better the CCGs will be able to ensure that services improve in the city.

For further information follow the links below:

• § North Manchester
• § Central Manchester
• § South Manchester

Mental health and well-being in Manchester Your latest update on mental health and wellbeing in Manchester is now available here.

This edition includes updates on:

• The Adult Community Mental Health Services Review (CSR)
• Changes to the role of consultants
• The new Dementia Advisor Posts

We welcome any feedback on Trust News and would also be happy to give more information on any of the projects or news stories included. You can contact the trust regarding this at peter.swift@mhsc.nhs.uk.

 All previous editions of Trust News are available here.

 Let's make next generation services safe and sustainable to us all

You may be a patient or carer; a support, voluntary or community group member; part of a LINk, or HealthWatch; on a Clinical Commissioning Group patient panel; engaged in other ways as a member of the public with health and social care. We want you all to participate in planning the future. The NHS in Greater Manchester is reviewing the way healthcare services are provided and the initial work will hear from the public and work closely together with a project team for the next 9 months to a year. There may be further activity after April 2013.

You may have experience of conditions or health services such as:

• Diabetes
• Chronic heart disease
• Respiratory conditions, for example, asthma, Chronic Obstructive Airways Disease (COPD)
• Stroke
• Cancer
• Surgery / Surgical operation
• Emergency or urgent care, for example, being admitted to hospital in an emergency, going to A&E, or other urgent care service
• Primary care, for example, services at your GP practice or in the community
• Neurological conditions eg head injury (for acquired brain injury), multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, motot neurone disease, muscular dystrophies, spinal injuries

If so, please consider joining a number of patient/carer panels and work in partnership with clinical and other professional staff to plan how future services could be delivered. These may be groups that meet at regular intervals and/or virtual groups that have discussions online. You can contribute your stories and have the opportunity to hear about some of the most important issues facing us today, so you can have a view on the shared way forward.

To find out more, and to join either one of our patient panels or virtual panels you can either:·

or take part in an online discussion

* Please note that you only need to attend either the workshop or the online discussion*

If you are interested, please click below to register for either event (you may need to press the Ctrl key and click at the same time):

Safe & Sustainable Health Services for the Future (2 August event)

ONLINE DISCUSSION - Safe & Sustainable Health Services for the Future (online event)

Alternatively, contact Jill Boardman on 0161 212 6338 or jill.boardman@cypfn.manchester.nhs.uk

We hope you can participate and help improve services for future generations.

HealthWatch HealthWatch is a new, independent consumer champion created to gather and represent the views of the public and strengthen the patient and public voice. If people want complaints or issues raising, HealthWatch can be their advocate. We need to know what people want from HealthWatch to make it the best it can be.  

The aim of local HealthWatch will be to give citizens and communities a stronger voice to influence and challenge how health and social care services are provided within their locality. Local people should be at the centre of how services are planned, designed and delivered in health and social care across Manchester. This includes GPs, dentists, pharmacies, hospitals, mental health services, care homes, day centres, and personal care at home. By April 2013 a new organisation called ‘HealthWatch Manchester’ will be set up to support this. This will take over from the Local Involvement Network as the way people aim to shape their local health and social care services.

What will HealthWatch do?

• Ask the people of Manchester for their views about the services they use
• Tell people what health and social care services are available locally and how to access them
• Give people help and support when making a complaint about health and social care services
• Help make local services better

You can play an active part in shaping Manchester's HealthWatch by completing this online questionnaire on our website at http://www.manchester.gov.uk/healthwatch

Consultation will run for 12 weeks, from the 2nd July to the 24th September. In order to ensure that this consultation is accessible, alternative formats such as Easy Read, Braille, Large Print and Translated versions of the online questionnaire will be available. If you require any alternative format, please contact Ruth Enright at ruth.enright@manchester.gov.uk.

What do you think of the new UK Clinical Trials Gateway? Please help out the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) by completing this survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/XK7NTBB 

Access to clear information about clinical trials is essential if we wish to see greater numbers of people take part in research in the future.

The UK Clinical Trials Gateway (UKCTG) http://www.ukctg.nihr.ac.uk/default.aspx was launched at the end of last year. Its ambition is to provide accessible information to the public about clinical trials relevant to their condition, and which they may be able to participate in.

There is much scope to improve and strengthen the website and the information it provides, and this is possible based on the feedback you and others can provide. The NIHR have asked if you could:

  complete the survey

- send the survey link to fellow patients and colleagues to complete as well

- draw attention to the survey if you have access to your own website or social media such as twitter

The survey also provides people with an opportunity to join a 'user panel.' This panel will be an important partner in the development of the site from a patient perspective. It will also be an important source of advice to me as NIHR National Director for Public Participation and Engagement in Research in thinking through how we can better meet the needs of people when it comes to digital health information about research.

Thank you in advance for doing the survey and helping us out. The survey will close at the end of Tuesday 31st July 2012.

Simon Denegri

NIHR National Director for Public Participation and Engagement in Research

Chair, INVOLVE

Twitter: @SDenegri

Get Ready for the Summer Holidays In the run up to the school summer holidays, the NHS is giving advice on how to self-care for some of the common summer health complaints that people face. 

Complaints such as coughs and colds, stomach upsets, aches, sprains and strains, insect bites and allergies can be treated without the need for a GP appointment with some basic tips and medicine cabinet essentials. An information leaflet on self-treating these conditions is available from high-street pharmacies. There is also an on-line interactive First-Aid kit with information about what to keep in your kit and how to use it.

Aneet Kapoor, community pharmacist and Chair of the Manchester Local Pharmaceutical Committee said “Some of the symptoms that accompany these common complaints are unpleasant, but will begin to improve by themselves after a few days. We know that people are sometimes confused about how long symptoms for things such as stomach upsets will last, and what they need to look out for.

“We are hoping that by promoting the different sources of useful information, we can encourage more people to self-treat for these conditions.”

A leaflet can also be downloaded from http://bit.ly/METTrp ; a mobile phone friendly link to on-line information about symptoms can be downloaded from http://bit.ly/nhsnwQR ; the interactive First-Aid kit can be found at www.nhs.uk/tools/pages/firstaidtoolkit.aspx

Pharmacy staff are working with the local NHS to help people to use the right health service first time, as part of the Choose Well campaign. Health leaders believe more than 51 million people a year who visit their GP with common complaints could either care for themselves or visit their local high-street pharmacy for help.

 We Face Forward: Art from West Africa Today
A season of contemporary art and music from West Africa is being celebrated across Manchester’s galleries, museums, music venues and public spaces right up till 16 September as part of the London 2012 Festival. Exhibitions, concerts, events and community activities recognise the links between West Africa and Manchester. Details at the website: www.wefaceforward.org