Make your voice heard online

Release date: Thursday 16th December 10

By: Wendy Phillips
Telephone 020 8871 8902 or Email: wphillips@wandsworth.gov.uk

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Wandsworth people can now have their say by submitting an online petition.

The council has introduced an e-petition function on its website. It means that instead of collecting names on a piece of paper, people can gather signatures online. The petition will be on the council website for an agreed period of up to three months and can then be submitted to councillors for discussion in the normal way.

 Anybody who lives, works or studies in the borough can submit an e-petition. You can also submit one if you have a connection with a relevant council service (for example you are related to someone in the care of Wandsworth).

Wandsworth LINk has just published their in depth report ‘Improving the provision of Hospital Discharge and After Care in Wandsworth.‘   The hospital discharge process is a critical time for patients, their family and carers, but all too often problems occur. By carrying out extensive qualitative research in the shape of enter and view visits and interviews with patients, carers and staff, this report aims to identify the reasons for these often recurring probelms, and to make clear recommendations to hospitals and commissioners on how the discharge process could be improved for patient and carers in Wandsworth. 

The report identified two dominant and seperate cultures; the world within the hospital and the world of services provided to support people at home or living in the community setting. The lack of coordination and ownership of the responsibility for the patient were highlighted as the biggest challenges.

Wandsworth LINk is now aiming to bring together key managers from all the health and care agencies in order to discuss the ownership of action on each of its recommendations. Wandsworth LINk plans to carry out folllow-up activity to ascertain what improvemnets have actually been made.

Click on the link to read the Hospital Discharge report- Executive summary

Click on the link to read the Final Hospital Discharge Report

Wandsworth Voluntary and Community Sector Forum

Date: Friday 10th December 2010

Time: 9.00am – 11.00am

Charge: Free

Venue: WVSDA Offices, 170 Garratt Lane, London SW18 4DA

The aim of the Wandsworth Voluntary and Community Sector Forum is to give local organisations the opportunity to discuss, in an open setting, issues that they are facing and what can be done to support them. Any voluntary organisation based in Wandsworth borough may attend.

Please call 020 8875 2846 to book a place.

Carers’ Rights Day

Release date: Wednesday 1st December 10

By: Wendy Phillips
Telephone 020 8871 8902 or Email: wphillips@wandsworth.gov.uk

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Carers can find out what help they are entitled to at Carers’ Rights Day on Friday (Dec 3).

A carer is someone who, without payment, provides help and support to a relative, partner, friend or neighbour who could not manage without their help.

Carers can meet staff from the council’s Adult Social Services department, the Wandworth Carers’ Centre, NHS Wandsworth and Job Centre Plus.

There will be information available on benefits and pensions, carers’ assessments, special breaks for carers, training and employment and the support available to carers going back into paid work.

There will also be general information on other services and support available through the Wandsworth Carers’ Centre.

Go along to St John’s Therapy Centre, 162 St John’s Hill, Battersea between 10am and 1pm.

For more information contact the Wandsworth Carers’ Centre on 020 8877 1200 or email info@wandsworthcarers.org.uk.

Information for carers is also available at www.wandsworth.gov.uk/acis.

The right services in the right place, at the right time

 What does the future of commissioning look like?

Will GP’s be able to commission appropriately for neurology?

What sort of involvement will clinicians have in commissioning decisions?

What services do people both need – and want – to access?

Can we afford to meet those needs?

How many of us wish that we could answer these questions?

Well maybe now we can.

 The MS Society, MND Association and Parkinson’s UK, on behalf of Neurological Commissioning Support, their joint initiative, would like to invite you to attend an evening’s networking seminar on the Future of Commissioning and the third sector’s role within that process.

The evening will also see the launch of their new tool, Neuronavigator™

 Please see the attached flyer for more details – we look forward to hearing from you.

Evening_Neuro_Seminar & Launch_Invite 28Oct2010 

Programme of Events – 28th October 2010

Charlie Peel

Neurological Commissioning Support

‘putting service users at the heart of neurology commissioning’

info@csupport.org.uk

www.csupport.org.uk

Wandsworth LINk have now released their first Enter and View Report on Hospital Discharge at St Georges. Below is an introduction to the report, to read the full report merely click here, Enter and View Final Report May 2010

“Hospital discharge was chosen as one of Wandsworth LINK’s four priorities. The Enter and View Team wished to discover more about how patients and their carers experience the discharge process. We intend later to follow the patients into the community to assess the quality and appropriateness of their care and support at home which will help to inform our opinions about the Transformation Agenda-another of the LINk’s priorities. We planned a visit to St George’s Hospital to seek the opinions and views of the patients who were being discharged and their carers.

We wanted to find out how the policies work on the ground on the day of discharge. Particularly seeking to establish whether the discharge was safe and how the patients and their carers felt about the process….”

Last night at the open meeting at South Thames College each of the Battersea parliamentary candidates from the three main political parties were asked their view of the current proposed polyclinic hub services for Battersea.

Jane Ellison (Conservative) felt that the current “portacabin” solution in Grant Road was a far cry from what was promised by NHS Wandsworth after the expensive consultation in 2008.  She still felt that a replacement hub on the NHS-owned Bolingbroke Hospital site would have been the best solution.

Martin Linton (Labour) pointed out that the “portacabin” solution was only temporary whilst the permanent base for the GP health centre under the arches was prepared.  He also reiterated NHS Wandsworth commitment to achieving the comprehensive hub on the Grant Road site: a promise made by NHS Wandsworth after referral of their current plans to the Council’s Health Committee by Wandsworth LINk.

Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat) saw the long-term solution being the creation of local health boards which would take over the running of local health services.  Local people would then be able to determine what happened in their own area.

Roger Appleton

Chair Wandsworth LINk

Andrew Craig, PEC Lay Representative, has produced a feedback briefing from the PCT’s Professional Executive Committee Meeting held with the PCT Management Team on 16^th March 2010.    

• Dental Mystery Shopping
• St. Georges Hospital A&E  GP referrals
• Minor Oral Surgery update
• Out of hours Services

To read his report please click here March 2010 Lay Member PEC Feedback

Your comments on these and other lay issues in connection with PEC discussions are very welcome and Andrew will feed them into the next PEC meeting or other appropriate channel at the PCT.  

Secretary of State Andy Burnham has this week announced the start of a nationwide consultation about abolishing GP practice boundaries/catchment areas.

GP SURGERIES CONSULTATION

Here is an excerpt from the press release, which also quotes local GP Dr Seth Rankin:

Patients will have the chance to choose the best GP practice for them under new plans in a consultation published today by Health Secretary Andy Burnham.

At present, GPs operate within fixed geographical boundaries that can be restrictive and severely reduce patients’ choice of the practice they register with, especially for those patients living in poorer areas. 

The majority of patients are happy with their current GP practice but a significant minority would like to change their GP.

For many patients it is important to be registered with a local GP so their GP can visit them at home and help co-ordinate care with local health professionals. Others want to register with a practice closer to where they work, or one closer to home, open longer or offers more services. Other patients have said they’d like to be able to stay registered with their current practice when they move house.

The consultation is seeking views on a wide range of proposals, in particular around the issues involved in arranging home visits, co-ordination of community based services, safeguarding access for local residents, and access to hospital and specialist treatment.

This is a very important development with a number of issues attached to it about patient choice, continuity of care and how primary care practices are funded.  

You can read the full story here www.dh.gov.uk/en/News/Recentstories/DH_113502 and also access the consultation at the foot of the page.  

The assumption is that the changes will be implemented from October 2010.

What do you think about these proposals? LINk is trying to gather the thoughts and opinions of local Wandsworth Residents which they will then feed into the consultation. Please get in touch with us or write your comments at the bottom of this page.

Why is the LINk is referring the NHS Wandsworth decision on the Battersea polyclinic hub to the Council’s Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee? 

 Wandsworth LINk has now sent Wandsworth Council its reasons for referring the recent NHS Wandsworth decision to create a split-site polyclinic hub for Battersea, to its health Overview and Scrutiny Committee for further analysis. 

Wandsworth LINk considers the new plan to be a substantial change from the previous one and should therefore be exposed to public consultation.  The split-site service will inconvenience patients, sometimes requiring attendances at both sites to deal with a single problem.  The availability of capital finance is being given as the recent for the change of plan.  There was a solution for this in 2008.  Is that solution not available today?  For the full reasons for referral please see attached note.  The Committee will be held in public at Wandsworth Town Hall at 7.30 pm on Tuesday 16th February.

Why are Wandsworth LINk referring the NHS Wandsworth Polyclinic decision to the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee