Monthly bulletin for volunteers and partners

November 2015

We can’t do this without you!Welcome to the November 2015 edition of Healthwatch York’s regular monthly bulletins for volunteers and Partner Programme organisations.

Please let us have your feedback on this bulletin – what’s useful to you and what isn’t. If you have any ideas of what else should be included, do tell us.

Office update – November at Healthwatch York

Our Autumn Magazine is now available. We hope you’ve got your copy. If you haven’t, you can find it online via our publications page on the website, or contact the office for a paper copy.

As part of our work on access to GPs we have published a survey which we hope will be our biggest and best survey ever. We need your help and support to reach every single person in York. You can find the survey online at:

www.surveymonkey.com/r/YorkGPs

or ask us for paper copies. If you have ideas or suggestions for places to put the survey please get in touch, or even better, get a batch of surveys from us to get out to people. Thanks in advance – we really appreciate your help with this!

We are beginning work on our 2016/17 workplan survey, to find out what people want us to work on from April 2016. We need your suggestions for hot topics to investigate. Please send your suggestions to the office team before 23rd December.

We attended the second rapid improvement wheelchair event along with representatives from NHS England, CCGs, providers and service users. This was a great opportunity to hear about the plans to make wheelchair services locally more responsive. It was heartwarming to hear from one person who uses a wheelchair that he felt “Healthwatch York’s report has been really influential in making all this happen”. We continue to keep a close eye on progress.

We have been responding to concerns following the closure of Bootham Park Hospital. Tees Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust, who have taken over responsibility for delivering mental health services in York, have been working with clinical staff and partners to try to minimise the disruption to service users, their carers and staff. The helpline for people who have questions or concerns is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This number also covers the crisis service. The helpline number is: 01904 610700

Invitation for all volunteers and partners

Kevin Curley, Interim Chief Executive at York CVS, has asked us to extend this invitation to all our volunteers and partners.

York CVS would like to invite you to our 2015 Annual General Meeting.York CVS Annual General Meeting will be held onTuesday 8 December at 6.00 pm at the Priory Street Centre. Light refreshments will be available from 5.30 pm.

Our keynote speaker for the evening will be Debra Allcock Tyler, Chief Executive of the Directory of Social Change - "Don’t boil your frogs! The importance of independence and campaigning." Promising to be a fearless and humorous talk.

We have recently published our Trustees' Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 31st March 2015.

December 2015

8Get Your Ticket

Copyright © 2015 York CVS All rights reserved. Priory Street Centre, 15 Priory Street, York, YO1 6ET 

Local health and social care news

VOYCCG Governing Body meeting Thursday 3 December 10am West Offices

DOCTORS' surgeries in York and North Yorkshire are to be part of a new scheme to bring expert pharmacists into their practices. Patients will be able to talk to a clinical pharmacist when they visit their GP at practices in York, Scarborough and Ryedale thanks to £31 million in funding from NHS England. The plan is being hailed as a crucial tool in relieving the pressure on stretched GPs, and helping ease the nationwide shortage of front-line doctors.

http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/14032853.New_trial_brings_pharmacists_into_GP_surgeries/

CQC Inspection of Harrogate NHS Foundation Trust

In February 2016 the Care Quality Commission are inspecting Harrogate NHS Foundation Trust. Healthwatch North Yorkshire are running a survey to collect information about people’s experiences at Harrogate Foundation Trust. This survey is open to all York residents with experience of Harrogate’s services.

You can find the survey online here - https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/XVYPR6ROr ask us for a paper copy.

Priority in a powercut

Did you know you could sign up for extra help and assistance in a power cut if you are vulnerable? Northern Powergrid are in charge of electricity in Yorkshire and the Northeast. If you, or the person you care for, are vulnerable and rely on electricity for medical or communication needs, then you can sign up to their Priority Service. It is a free service that will mean you get extra support and assistance during a powercut. For more information or to register for the service visit www.northernpowergrid.com or phone 0800 1692996. If you are hard of hearing then phone

0800 028950.

National health and social care news

The Kings Fund were commissioned by the Department of Health to conduct a piece of research that would examine the progress that had been made in the first 18-21 months of local Healthwatch and to identify the positive steps that could be taken across the system to enable a high-performing and effective local Healthwatch network. You can read their report here:https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/417395/KF_Healthwatch_with_cover.pdfIf you would like a paper copy please contact the Healthwatch York Office

NHS England are running some regional Accessible Information Standard implementation events for individuals working in NHS and adult social care organisations. Listed below are the events which are now available to register to attend. Further details about the venues will follow as soon as they have been confirmed. Here are the links for local events: http://www.events.england.nhs.uk/nhs-england/841 > 11 January 2016, 10am – 3.30pm - Middlesbroughhttp://www.events.england.nhs.uk/nhs-england/850 > 13 January 2016, 10am – 3.30pm - Leedshttp://www.events.england.nhs.uk/nhs-england/849 > 15 January 2016, 10am – 3.30pm - Manchesterhttp://www.events.england.nhs.uk/nhs-england/846 > 22 January 2016, 10am – 3.30pm – Nottingham Find out more about the accessible information standard here: www.england.nhs.uk/accessibleinfo

Get involved in My NHS – a new health and care comparison siteWould you like to be involved in helping develop a new healthcare comparison website? My NHS is a new site which makes health and care data more accessible and easier to understand for a range of people. NHS Choices are looking for volunteers to support the development of their test site by joining their research panel. They will email panel members a link to an optional 10–20 minute survey approximately once every two weeks. They will initially run the programme from November 2015 until April 2016. Sign up to take part in the surveys by emailing mynhs.feedback@nhs.net. You can register for their newsletter and keep up to date on developments at mynhs@dh.gsi.gov.uk.

Can you help the National Institute for Health Research?The new National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Dissemination Centre makes health research evidence easy to reach. It regularly publishes ‘Signals’, which are short summaries of recent health research, available on the NIHR free-access portal called Discover. Each week the NIHR asks a group of patients and carers to read and rate research summaries in an area of interest to inform which ones will make the most useful Signals. Patients and carers are offered £5 for each rating they complete. Sign up to take part by completing a short form and provide your profile details.

 

 

 NICE is looking for lay and community members in different areas to help us develop our guidance

Please note that all of our lay and community members are paid a fee to attend meetings and we cover travel and other expenses:

NICE Core community member for our Public Health Advisory Committee Patient, carer or advocate member updating our guideline on keeping patients warm before, during 

and after an operation Patient, carer or advocate member updating our guideline on severe and sudden chest pain Young service user, parent/guardian or advocate member developing a quality standard on Children’s 

attachment

Full details of all roles can be found on http://www.nice.org.uk/get-involved/join-a-committee

Dementia work

The Herbert Protocol The Herbert Protocol is a simple risk reduction tool to be used in the event of a person with Dementia or other mental vulnerability going missing. It consists of a form that contains vital information about a person at risk that can be passed to the police if the person is reported missing. A recent photograph of the person should also be kept with the form. It can be downloaded from www.northyorkshire.police.uk/herbertprotocol It is not intended to replace existing safeguarding and security measures.

Campaigns

Although Healthwatch York is not a campaigning organisation we are aware that, for some of our volunteers and partners, local and national campaigns are of interest. Here, we round up what is happening – so you can get involved if you wish.

Return the NHS to its founding principles is a campaign to support the NHS Reinstatement Bill 2015 

Peter Roderick, the barrister who co-drafted the NHS Reinstatement Bill 2015 will give an update on the bill, which is due to get its second reading next March. This will be followed by a planning workshop, for the ‘fight-back’ in Yorkshire.The event takes place on Saturday 7 November 2015 from 12:30pm to 16:30pm at Shipley College Salt Building - Victoria Road Shipley, BD18 3LQ

You can book your ticket at;

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/return-the-nhs-to-its-founding-principles-tickets-19061848502

Worth a read

We get a large number of bulletins come into the Healthwatch inbox. Rather than forwarding them all and inundating you we will give suggestion of some that might be worth a look. You can sign up yourself if you would like to receive them regularly.

www.yorkcarerscentre.co.uk have a monthly bulletin

Kings Fund

Healthwatch North Yorkshire

Healthwatch York Issues log November 2015 – summary of issues

Services

Key dates for December 2015:

Here are the details of the community venues and events where Healthwatch York will have information stands from November to the middle of January. Please can volunteers who are doing these stands check the dates and contact the office if they know of any changes due to Christmas festivities or if they will have problems attending on these dates.

01-Dec Spurriergate Centre Chris (10-12), Kay

02-Dec Lidgett Grove Community Cafe Fiona, Laura

03-Dec Acomb Ward meeting Fiona

09-Dec NELLI cafe, Folk Hall Kay, Chris

10-Dec St Clements Kay

18-Dec St Sampson's Fiona, Jane, Kay

04-Jan Sainsbury's Monks Cross Jackie

05-Jan Spurriergate Centre Chris (10-12), Kay

06-Jan Lidgett Grove Community Cafe Fiona, Laura

07-Jan Acomb Ward meeting Fiona

07-Jan St Clements Kay

13-Jan NELLI cafe, Folk Hall Kay, Chris

15-Jan St Sampson's Fiona, Jane, Kay

Healthwatch York staff teamMost of the Healthwatch York staff team are part time. Here are the details of when we are at work:

Mon Tues Weds Thurs Fri Main contact

Barbara Community champions, events, signposting, partner programme, volunteer 1:1s

Carol

Until 1pm

Magazine, monthly bulletin, reports, enter & view, care home assessors, PLACE, quality reports

Helen Readability group, issue log reporting, care home assessors, HWY meeting administration

Usual finish time: 2:45pm

Not all Weds

Siân Strategy, budgets and finance, external representation, leadership group liaison, research volunteers

Barbara is taking some annual leave so will be out of the office for most of the month. She is settling in a new puppy and will be back in January.

Meeting reports

Healthwatch York staff and volunteer representatives attend a variety of meetings every month. These are the reports from some of the meetings held since our last bulletin. There is a ‘jargon buster’ at the end of this bulletin to help explain some of the abbreviations and acronyms in the reports.

Representatives’ Report/Feedback

Name of Representative: Polly GriffithTitle of the meeting: YorOKDate of meeting: 9 November2 2015Date of next meeting: 4 January 2016

Purpose of the meeting (please give short summary):As before – Strategic and practical overview of all organisations across York involved with the welfare of young people, 0 - 25

Main areas of discussion:For full details, see CYC YorOK website for papers of this and all previous meetings.Item 6 on the agenda – discussed practical matters pertaining to smooth transfer of community services from the NHS to the CYC. Seems to be good relations between personnel from the CYC and the Trust which hopefully bodes well.Item 10: Children's and Young People's Plan: due out in January.

Follow up/actions for Healthwatch York (Anything Healthwatch York needs to respond to?): Keep an eye on Community Services.

Do you feel that this meeting was useful?

Yes No

Jargon Buster

BCF Better Care Fund – a topslice of the NHS budget given to CCGs to support projects that integrate health and social care. BCF schemes should reduce emergency admissions in hospitals

CAB Citizen’s Advice BureauC&YP Children and Young PeopleCCG Clinical Commissioning GroupCOPD Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary DisorderCQC The Care Quality Commission – the independent regulator of

all health and social care services in England. For more information, see their website at http://www.cqc.org.uk

CSU Commissioning Support Unit – formed following the Health and Social Care Act. These organisations provide business support services to Clinical Commissioning Groups. The areas they help with include finance, communication and engagement, and buying health services.

CYC City of York CouncilED Emergency DepartmentHASCPSC Health and Adult Social Care Policy and Scrutiny Committee

(formerly Health Overview & Scrutiny Committee)Herbert Protocol

This is a form is designed to make sure that, if someone with dementia goes missing, the police can get access to important information about that person as soon as possible. If a relative cannot be found this is a deeply distressing and upsetting time for their family and friends. Being asked by a police officer to remember all sorts of information can add to this stress, and these forms are designed to remove some of that worry. 

HWB Health & Wellbeing Board. This is a group of people from different organisations including City of York Council, York Hospital, Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group, Leeds & York Partnership Trust, the police, the voluntary sector, and Healthwatch York. They work together to make improvements to the health and wellbeing of York residents. For more information see - http://www.york.gov.uk/info/200170/health_and_wellbeing/341/york_health_and_wellbeing/3They are responsible for delivering the Health & Wellbeing Strategy for York, available from the above web link.

HWERY Healthwatch East Riding of YorkshireHWE Healthwatch England. This is the independent consumer

champion for health and social care in England. Healthwatch England is the national voice for Local Healthwatch groups.

HWNY Healthwatch North YorkshireHWY Healthwatch YorkIAPT Increasing Access to Psychological TherapiesJSNA Joint Strategic Needs Assessment – a report bringing together

information on current and future health and wellbeing needs in York. This is used to help make decisions regarding future strategies and plans. It is updated regularly.

LYPT Leeds & York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust – the provider of mental health and learning difficulty services across Leeds, York and some of North Yorkshire until October 2015

MAPPA Multi-Agency Public Protection AgencyNHS National Health Service

OOH Out of Hours servicePALS Patient Advice and Liaison Service

PATCH Person alleged to have caused harm.

PHPPE Patient and public engagement

PPI Patient and public involvement

RATS Rapid Assessment and Treatment Service SAB Safeguarding Adults BoardStep down beds

They are a way of enabling people to leave hospital by moving to and being specially cared for in a residential care home bed.

TEWV Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust - the provider of mental health and learning difficulty services in York from October 2015

TLA Three letter acronym – there are far too many of these in health and social care!

UCWG Urgent Care Working GroupVCS Voluntary & community sector

VoY CCG NHS Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group (see CCG)

YTH York Teaching Hospital – the main hospital in York YTHFT York Teaching Hospital Foundation Trust – the Trust that runs

York Hospital, Scarborough Hospital, and several other smaller hospitals such as Selby