Improvement in the Homerton’s responses to patient safety alerts welcomed
Hackney LINk has praised Homerton Hospital following publication of a new report showing an improvement in the hospital’s responses to the patient safety alerts issued to NHS trusts by the National Patient Safety Agency.
NHS trusts are supposed to report to a Central Alert System when the actions recommended by these alerts have been implemented. Implementation of such actions by the given deadlines was one of the ‘core standards’ set by the Department of Health (until ‘core standards’ ceased to exist in April).
Earlier this year the charity Action Against Medical Accidents (AvMA) published a report indicating that as of 29 December 2009 the Homerton had failed to confirm that it had complied with 10 patient safety alerts for which the deadline had passed.
Hackney LINk wrote to the Chief Executive of the Homerton to request an explanation.
Now, however, a new report from AvMA indicates that as of 7 June 2010 the Homerton had only four outstanding alerts and the LINk has been given an explanation by the hospital of what is being done about them.
Ida Scoullos, Chair of Hackney LINk, said: “The Homerton provides around 100,000 episodes of care for City and Hackney residents each year. We are therefore very pleased that it has improved its performance over patient safety alerts and is keeping us informed about what it is doing.”.
The new report ‘Implementation of Patient Safety Alerts’ was published on 13 August 2010 by the charity Action Against Medical Accidents and can be found on the charity’s website by going to http://www.avma.org.uk/.
Concern over Barts and The London NHS Trust’s responses to patient safety alerts
Hackney LINk has expressed concern about a report indicating that as of 7 June 2010 Barts and The London NHS Trust had failed to confirm compliance with 19 patient safety alerts issued to NHS trusts by the National Patient Safety Agency.
The LINk will be writing to the Chief Executive of the trust to request an explanation.
NHS trusts are supposed to report to a Central Alert System when the actions recommended by the alerts have been implemented. Implementation of such actions by the given deadlines was one of the ‘core standards’ set by the Department of Health (until ‘core standards’ ceased to exist in April).
The charity Action Against Medical Accidents (AvMA) has found out through a Freedom of Information Act request which trusts had failed to confirm as of 7 June 2010 that they had complied with alerts for which the deadline had passed.
Its report indicates that 29 out of the approximately 400 trusts in England had failed to confirm compliance with 10 or more alerts.
Barts and The London NHS Trust had failed to confirm that it had complied with 19 alerts, making it joint fifth worst in terms of the number of alerts outstanding.
Ida Scoullos, Chair of Hackney LINk, said: “Barts and The London NHS Trust provides around 50,000 episodes of care for City and Hackney residents each year. We therefore want to know why it had still got so many alerts outstanding, despite an earlier report on the issue, and what action it is taking to tackle the problem.”.
The report ‘Implementation of Patient Safety Alerts’ was published on 13 August 2010 by the charity Action Against Medical Accidents and can be found on the charity’s website by going to http://www.avma.org.uk/.
New headquarters for NHS City and Hackney
NHS City and Hackney and its provider arm Community Health Services have
moved to new respective headquarters. The moves are part of the Bigger, Brighter, Better programme, and to allow for building of the South West Hackney Primary Care Resource Centre on the St Leonard’s Hospital site.
NHS City and Hackney’s new headquarters is at Clifton House, Worship Street, in Shoreditch. All commissioning and corporate teams are based at this location.
Community Health Services are now headquartered at Defoe Building, Hackney Community College, with a dedicated entrance on Hoxton Street. While Defoe Building is principally a staff headquarters, some clinical services may be offered there at a later date.
The moves follow the successful relocation of Locomotor and the Pain Service to Well Street in May. As previously advised, the move of The Ivy Centre (Community Sexual Health Services) to Shepherdess Walk has been delayed until autumn 2010.
NHS City and Hackney CEO Jacqui Harvey said: “It has been a real exercise in timing and logistics; moving more than 900 staff to four different locations. We’ve had to accommodate minor changes along the way, but the decant project has been a success.”
Several community health services remain onsite at St Leonard’s for the short-term; Foot Health, Community Dentistry, ACRT, Primary Care Pyschology and Learning Difficulties. Wheelchair Services is also remaining onsite, rather than moving to John Scott Health Centre. There will be moves for these services later in the programme.
Jacqui said: “We appreciate it has been a period of change for local patients, and thank them for going on this journey with us. These moves allow us to realise the longer-term goal of providing care closer patients’ homes through the South West Hackney Primary Care Resource Centre.”
New publication informs patients and families what standards to expect from the regulation of their NHS hospital
Following the introduction of a new law, all NHS hospitals in England must now be licensed by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). To be licensed hospitals must show that they are meeting new essential standards of quality and safety. CQC continuously monitors them to make sure standards are kept or improvement action is taken. Now CQC has published a leaflet which informs patients, their carers and families, what they can expect from the essential standards. The leaflet also explains how important it is that patients or their carers tell the regulator about their experiences, both good and bad, to help CQC make the right decisions. Called ‘What standards to expect from the regulation of your NHS hospital’ the leaflet can be read or downloaded from the CQC website.
At the same time the CQC website publishes an up-to-date directory of all licensed NHS hospitals. You can now look up the current status of any NHS hospital trust in England.
The licensing of NHS hospitals is just the first step in a programme which will see new essential standards of quality and safety gradually rolled out across all health and adult social care services in England. In October this year all adult social care services must be licensed by CQC and providers must demonstrate they are meeting essential standards of quality and safety; so too must all providers of independent healthcare. You can find out more about the programme and how it affects the care you and your family receives by visiting CQC’s website at www.cqc.org.uk. Or you can contact the Care Quality Commission on 03000 616161.
Public Views on End of Life Care in North East London
The People’s Platform is made up of representatives of the local involvement networks (LINks) and members of the public, we have been asked to talk to people in North East London to find out your views on the services and support that is currently provided to support people at the end of their lives.
We want to talk to you if you have recent experience of end of life care services as a patient, a carer, or a member of the general public with views that you would like to give us. What we mean by ‘end of life care,’ is care for people who have an illness that means they are nearing the end of their lives.
We would like you to tell us your story, or give us your views and ideas, so we can write a report to give to the people who decide what services should be provided. We will pull together all the different stories and ideas and write a report for the commissioners (the people who buy the services) which will recommend the best way forward from the point of view of the people of North East London.
We are very interested in your views and experiences but we do not need to collect your name or contact details, so everything you tell us is anonymous.
We know that talking about these experiences can be difficult and upsetting, but what you tell us matters, it will help to develop better services in the future. We want to hear from you about what works well and what doesn’t work so well. We want your ideas and suggestions about improving end of life care, provided by social services, NHS or the voluntary sector in North East London.
To download the questionnaire please click here.
Please send the questionnaire or direct any enquiries below.
End of Life Care Project contact details:-
Jenny Sharp, People’s Platform, 81, Commercial Road, London E1 1RD
Jennifer.sharp@thpct.nhs.uk Or ring on 020 7092 5375
Sue Balmer: Mobile: 07525264024 sa.balmer@googlemail.com
Update on patient safety alerts
We reported previously that Hackney LINk had expressed concern about a failure by the Homerton Hospital to confirm compliance with patient safety alerts issued to NHS trusts by the National Patient Safety Agency.
In its reply to a letter from the LINk the hospital had failed to identify the two alerts for which it had still not confirmed compliance.
The LINk then sent a follow-up letter asking the hospital to identify the two remaining alerts and, in the absence of a response, obtained the information itself by submitting a Freedom of Information Act request directly to the National Patient Safety Agency. The LINk then received a letter from the Homerton containing an apology for its failure to reply to the LINk’s follow-up letter and an explanation of what was being done about the alerts.
ELECTION FOR HACKNEY LINk – August 2010
Declaration of Result of Poll
E = Elected
The number of ballot papers at this election was: 82
The number of rejected ballot papers: 2
The new Hackney LINk Steering Group therefore is:
1) AKSOY, Aliriza
2) ALEXANDER, Malcolm
3) AZIMI, Simin
4) BENARD, Gloria
5) BENJAMIN, Nicola
6) COLLINS, Tish
7) DAVIES, Peter
8) FORD, Maureen
9) JEFFERS, Velda
10) MURGRAFF, Shirley
11) OSAIGBOVO, Florence
12) OZE, Ike
13) RAWLINGS, Andrea
14) REID, Denise
15) VIDAL, Michael
The Hackney LINk election was independently counted and verified on Monday 2nd August 2010 by the Electoral Services team at the London Borough of Hackney. We would like to thank all of the candidates that stood for election and congratulations to those of you that were elected.
Please note all of our meetings are open to the public including the Steering Group and Working Group meetings, and as a member you are welcome to attend the training and events that we put on.
Hackney LINk Hustings
The Hackney LINk Hustings Event was held at Fellows Court Community Centre. In total 48 people attended. The candidates spoke for 2 minutes on why they should be elected. The second half of the event on Care Closer to home had panel members Dr. Deborah Colvin, Chair of the Local Medical Committee, Steve Gilven Director of Primary care at NHS City and Hackney and Ashley Brooks, NHS London Patient Champion. Hackney LINk Member's were given the chance to direct questions to the panel on a number of issues.
'It was generally a well planned event. I found it informative and involving.' Hackney LINk Member.
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| Hackney LINk Hustings Event |
Hackney LINk Annual Report 2010
We are delighted to introduce the Hackney Local Involvement Network’s annual report for 2009/10.
Please click here to view the report.
St Leonard’s Redevelopment
NHS City and Hackney would like to update you on their plans to transform St Leonard's hospital site into a Primary Care Resource Centre where local people can access a range of services.
Some health services based at St Leonard’s Hospital are moving off-site, to allow for construction of the South West Hackney Primary Care Resource Centre.
Update on Community Health Services Moves
NHS City and Hackney recently advised of a series of health service moves, in connection with the redevelopment of St Leonard’s Hospital. There is one significant change to this schedule, which patients should be aware of:
The Ivy Centre – Community Sexual Health services was to move to 100
Shepherdess Walk, N1 7JN in late May 2010. Due to delays with building works, this date has now been moved back to summer. An exact move date will be announced in due course.
Locomotor (physiotherapy and the Pain Service) has successfully moved to its new home at 52B Well Street, E9 7PX. It now sees patients at this site, Homerton Hospital and John Scott Health Centre.
Headquarters staff for Community Health Services are continuing their move to Defoe Block, Hackney Community College, Hoxton Street, N1. This move will be completed in July. NHS City and Hackney’s Commissioning and Corporate Services staff will move to Clifton House, 75 – 77 Worship Street, EC2A 2EJ in staggered moves during June and July.
The Foot Health Department and Community Dentistry will stay at St Leonard’s Hospital for the remainder of 2010, before moving to the new South East Hackney Primary Care Resource Centre on Kenworthy Road, E9 5TD in spring 2011.
Hackney MP takes up concern over future of emergency services
Hackney MP Meg Hillier has written to Mike O’Brien, Minister of State for Health Services, seeking a response to the concern of Hackney LINk about the long term future of accident and emergency care and maternity care at the Homerton, following her meeting (along with Diane Abbott MP) with the Minister last Autumn.
The LINk has raised the concern in a report on the proposed changes to hospital services in north east London.
The NHS in north east London is proposing to reduce the number of hospitals providing accident and emergency, critical care and maternity delivery services in the sector from six to five by removing these services from King George Hospital in Redbridge.
But in its ‘pre-consultation business case’ it indicates that clinicians have a preference for having just four accident and emergency departments in north east London in the longer term – implying that another hospital could eventually lose its accident and emergency and maternity services.
The business case also contains a ‘non-financial options appraisal’ which appears to indicate that, if these services were to be removed from another hospital in addition to King George, Homerton would be the most likely candidate.
Ida Scoullos, Chair of Hackney LINk, said: “No one is saying there is an immediate threat to accident and emergency or maternity services at the Homerton. But this business case gives Hackney residents good reason to be concerned about the longer term. That’s why we are pressing for reassurance that the NHS will not bring forward further proposals which could lead to the closure of these services.”
The LINk is also concerned about the current proposals to concentrate children’s surgery into fewer units. It fears that the Homerton might be prevented from continuing to provide urgent surgery for children in the age range 12-15 where the relevant professionals and the families agree.
Ms Hillier said: “I welcome the close scrutiny that Hackney LINk undertakes on behalf of all users of health services in Hackney. I continue to champion the Homerton as a local hospital and welcome the report.”
Note:
The picture above shows Meg Hillier MP with LINk representatives Ida Scoullos and Michael Vidal and a copy of the Hackney LINk report. Ida Scoullos is Chair of Hackney LINk and Michael Vidal chaired the Hackney LINk Acute Services Working Group.
To view the report, please click here
Archived News Articles
Latest news
Next Steering Group Meeting:
Date:
Thursday 2nd September 2010Time: 16:00 - 18:00
Venue: Hackney LINk
Unit A (1st Floor) Ment House,
1B Mentmore Terrace
Hackney
London E8 3DQ
Please click here for a map.
An agenda for this meeting will be available soon.
Hackney LINk Election Results
The new Hackney LINk Steering Group is:
1) AKSOY, Aliriza
2) ALEXANDER, Malcolm
3) AZIMI, Simin
4) BENARD, Gloria
5) BENJAMIN, Nicola
6) COLLINS, Tish
7) DAVIES, Peter
8) FORD, Maureen
9) JEFFERS, Velda
10) MURGRAFF, Shirley
11) OSAIGBOVO, Florence
12) OZE, Ike
13) RAWLINGS, Andrea
14) REID, Denise
15) VIDAL, Michael
Please scroll down to read the article on Hackney LINk Election Results.
Hackney LINk Anonymous Phone Line
Tell us about your experiences of Home Care Services
0800 977 4426
Frustrated with your home care agency or care worker? Get it off your chest! Leave us a message and tell us about your home care experiences.
We will use this information to make recommendations to improve home care services in Hackney.
Meeting Room for Hire in Hackney
If you are looking for hiring a meeting room in Hackney for your events or meetings, then click here for more information.
Download
- Download the Hackney LINk leaflet.
- Hackney LINk Annual Report 2010 here.
Hackney LINk Newsletter
- April - June 2010 Issue here.
- January - March 2010 Issue here.
- Issue 2 - September 2009 here.
- Issue 1 - August here.
Hackney LINk Forum Launched
Please visit our Hackney LINk Forum to post and respond to topics.
Sign up as a member of Hackney LINk now!
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