There are 20 million UK residents over the age of 50. This will increase by 36%, to 27.2m, by 2031.
Walking to Health in Alton
This starts every Tuesday at 10:30 am from the bottom car park at Alton Sports Centre. It is designed for people who would like to improve their health and is taken at a comfortable pace. For more details contact Liz Barrie at EHDC on 01730 234067.
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Largest ever NHS Survey gives Patients say on their GP Services
Date: November 27, 2006
This new survey is first time a UK Government has asked patients directly about their experience of accessing NHS services.
Patients to hold the purse strings on £8,000 of GP pay.
Five million patients are to get the chance to have their say on how easy it is for people to see their GP as part of the biggest ever survey on NHS services. The GP Patient Survey, launched today by Health Minister Lord Warner, will reward those GP practices offering patients good access to services.
Posters and leaflets informing NHS patients and staff about the new survey will be placed in GP surgeries over the next couple of weeks, with a postal survey being sent to around 5 million patients in January.
The survey questionnaire will ask about patients experiences of flexible booking, telephone access and opening hours. Questions will cover for example:
Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt said:
"The public has told us that access to GPs is one of their highest priorities, so it's vital we ensure practices can be accessed when the public needs. The GP Patient Survey will provide us with a patient's-eye-view of how well GP surgeries measure-up on flexible booking and telephone access. Patients will also tell us whether they are satisfied with GP practice opening hours. We have invested generously in the new contract for GPs. We need now to make sure practices are responding to patient views on access."
An average practice with a list of 6,000 patients will have the chance to earn over £8,000 in incentives if they are responsive to patients' views on access.
Taking part in the survey is completely voluntary for patients. They will be randomly selected to take part in the survey.
The questionnaire recipient will complete this with advice/help-lines being provided for those individuals needing additional support (eg translation, support for the visually impaired and other special needs groups).
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Helping patients to take control of long-term illnesses
More people across the country with long-term illnesses will soon be able to be supported to have greater control over their conditions, increasing their confidence and improving their quality of life.
In a pioneering approach, the Department of Health has established the Expert Patients Programme as a Community Interest Company (EPP CIC) - the first time a government department has set up a social enterprise organisation.
Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) will be able to commission the EPP CIC to run self-management courses for patients to help them better manage their conditions - and even to train volunteers to run courses in their area.
The new EPP CIC will mean that patients have greater access to courses on how best to manage their illness which can mean that they avoid unnecessary hospital trips. Early findings suggest that through better self-management, A&E attendances have been reduced by over 15 per cent for people who have attended an EPP course. The EPP CIC will also be able to develop new courses and tailor existing courses to increase the number of people who will benefit and to meet changing needs of patients.
Health Minister Rosie Winterton said:
"This is an excellent opportunity for PCTs to help patients in their local area to better manage long-term conditions. By commissioning these courses, they are investing in self-care and empowering patients, increasing social capital and improving community health. Knowing how to best manage a long-term condition reduces the need for expensive emergency care - this is better for patients and for the local NHS."
Harry Cayton, National Director for Patients and the Public, said:
"Self-management is an integral element of care for people with long-term health conditions. The EPP CIC is an exciting opportunity for self-management programmes to be provided more widely across health and social care."
Stephen Jacobs OBE, Chair of the EPP CIC said:
"The EPP CIC will be able to make a difference to the lives of the large number of people living with long-term health conditions. We particularly hope to aim a number of our services towards those in some of the most socially excluded communities - for example, we now have a series of courses for minority ethnic groups translated into nine languages, as well as courses for those who care for others who have a long-term health condition. It is particularly important to work with other health professionals to understand the value of our courses for their patients - a task which the EPP CIC will also undertake."
The Expert Patient Programme Community Interest Company will go live on 1 April, with the aim of increasing the number of course places every year from 12,000 to 100,000 by 2012.
Notes for Editors
1. The Expert Patients Programme Community Interest Company (EPP CIC) will officially go live on 1 April 2007.
2. Internal evaluation data from approximately 1,000 EPP participants indicates that the programme provides significant numbers of people with long-term conditions with the confidence and skills to better manage their condition on a daily basis and a reduction in their use of services:
45 per cent felt more confident that they would not let common symptoms (pain, tiredness, depression and breathlessness) interfere with their lives
38 per cent felt that such symptoms were less severe four to six months after completing the course
33 per cent felt better prepared for consultations with health professionals
16 per cent reductions in A&E attendances
10 per cent reductions in outpatient visits
7 per cent reductions in GP consultations
9 per cent reductions in physiotherapy use
3. The EPP provides a lay-led, group based support for people in the self management of their long-term condition. The programme is aimed at a wide range of people from different long-term conditions and age groups, geographical location and ethnicity. The EPP is delivered locally by a network of trainers and 1400 volunteer tutors with long-term conditions.
4. The EPP focuses on five core self-management skills: problem solving; decision making; resource utilisation; developing effective partnerships with healthcare providers and taking action. The programme offers a tool-kit of fundamental techniques that patients can undertake to improve the quality of their life living with a long-term condition.
5. The course enables patients to develop their communication skills, manage their emotions, manage daily activities, interact with the healthcare system, find health resources, plan for the future, understand exercising and healthy eating, and manage fatigue, sleep, pain, anger and depression. Bilingual trainers have been recruited to deliver courses in non-English speaking communities. The course material is available in six different languages. Further developmental work is underway to provide adapted courses for parents of children with long-term conditions, children and young people, carers, prisoners and people with mental health problems.
Here is the Alton and District Branch of the MS Society.
and here is the Basingstoke and Alton Cardiac Rehabilitation Charity.
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Putting mothers and babies first - a new vision for Maternity Services
For the first time, mothers-to-be will have a guarantee that the NHS will provide them with a full range of birthing choices - including home births - and a midwife they know and trust to care for them, said Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt, today.
Launched today, 'Maternity Matters' , the new maternity strategy, has been developed in close consultation with key professionals from the Royal College of Midwives, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, other royal colleges, and the voluntary sector.
The strategy sets out a new national choice guarantee. By the end of 2009, women will be able to have:
- choice of how to access maternity care, women will be able to go directly to a midwife or via a doctor
- choice of type of antenatal care - women will be able to choose between midwifery care or care led by both doctors and midwives
- choice of place of birth - depending on their medical history and circumstances, women and their partners will be able to choose between home births, or giving birth in a midwifery unit or with midwives and doctors in hospital
- choice of place of postnatal care - women will be able to chose how and where to access postnatal care.
Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt said:
"There is nothing more important for any family than bringing a new baby into the world.
"We have carefully listened and will respond to what women and their families have told us they want from maternity services. We have also listened to the professionals, especially midwives and obstetricians, to ensure that the service will be safe. 'Maternity Matters' is the result of that process.
"Our commitment set out today is to deliver "gold standard" maternity services for women. In practice, this will mean that care is designed around the needs of women and their partners from the very beginning of pregnancy through to providing much better and more personal post-natal care.
"The new plan offers minimum guarantees about the level of services that women should expect and which will be used as levers to drive up standards across the country to the levels of the very best.
"We know from a recent survey on maternity services that more than four out of five women described the staff that looked after them as "supportive". We want to build on this so that women truly feel they have a world class standard of service offered to them during their whole pregnancy and that they feel supported, listened to and in control."
Professor Allan Templeton, President of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) said
"The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists welcomes the publication of Maternity Matters and sees this as an opportunity to bring back the spotlight to maternity care in this country. The College will do all it can to implement these recommendations and, through increasing consultant presence, help to ensure that mothers have a normal, safe and satisfying experience in pregnancy and delivery."
Dame Karlene Davis, General Secretary, Royal College of Midwives: "I happily congratulate the Government for its commitment today to this ambitious plan for maternity services.
"We urgently need to turn the plans into reality. The hard work starts now as midwives and others translate this blueprint into real change for every woman. To make that happen, NHS decision-makers in every local area must deliver enough midwives and enough investment in maternity services - and they must make a start on that now."
Belinda Phipps, chief executive of the National Childbirth Trust, said, "The NCT is delighted to see the emphasis on providing choice, especially choice of place of birth and direct access to a midwife. This along with providing women with a midwife they know and trust will make it easier for all women to have the kind of care that will improve their chance of a normal birth, while making sure that medical services are available for the minority that need them. This marks a huge step forwards and gives much needed emphasis on emotional support and empowering parents during one of the most important events in their lives."
Maternity matters is available on the Department of Health website.
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Tomorrow's patients will have information prescribed alongside medicines
From wired.gov
Patients are soon to be prescribed information from their doctor as well as medicines, empowering people to take control of their own illness, under a new initiative launched today by Health Minister Rosie Winterton. As patients only remember on average 10% of consultations, having a list of specific information resources relevant to individual circumstances will help people to seek further information and make choices about their health care.
These individual prescriptions - drawing on local as well as national knowledge and information - will point people to the relevant websites, telephone numbers and support groups for their condition. They will help people with long-term conditions such as cancer, or mental health problems, to stay independent and take control of their illness.
Over the summer the Department has been consulting on the opportunities to increase choice beyond elective care. Many respondents were favour of giving people more choice in other service areas, in particular greater involvement in decisions made about their treatment and care. Easy access to high quality information is essential to support choice and information prescriptions will point people to:
Information about conditions and treatments
Information from voluntary organisations
Where to get benefits advice
Contact details for local and national support groups
Local places to exercise
Internet discussion groups on their condition
Contact details for home care services
Useful books and library locations.
Health Minister Rosie Winterton today launched a series of pilots to trial this new idea, to be run in partnership with voluntary organisations like Cancerbackup and Macmillan Cancer Support. The initiative, which has funding of £1.35 million, will initially focus on cancer and mental health and later on vulnerable older people, and will run until the end of 2007.
The 2006 White Paper Our Health Our Care Our Say contained a commitment to introduce Information Prescriptions for everyone with a long term condition or care need by 2008. Also published today was 'Making it Happen', a report updating on progress made with the White Paper.
Speaking at a visit to Oldchurch Hospital in Romford, Rosie Winterton said:
"We are all busy people. We don't want to have to trawl through endless websites or publications to find the help we need. We want to be able to lay our hands on the right information and advice as quickly as possible, and this is even more important when you have a long-term condition and every minute is precious. People have told us that they wanted information that meets their needs as individuals - not according to organisational boundaries.
"I want to help patients to help themselves. Better access to information at the point of diagnosis and throughout the care pathway will empower people to manage their condition more effectively, taking greater control over their own lives."
Joanne Rule, Cancerbackup Chief Executive said:
"We are delighted to be involved in this excellent initiative. As a charity specialising in providing information to people affected by cancer, we are very aware of the difference being informed makes to a patient's life. Receiving a cancer diagnosis can be extremely frightening. Being offered accurate independent information will help people regain some control about their treatment and cancer journey."
Peter Cardy, Chief Executive, Macmillan Cancer Support, said,
"This is a pioneering scheme and we are really pleased to be involved. Cancer patients have a variety of information needs - a cancer diagnosis can be sudden and involves decisions about treatment and care, and information prescriptions would be very welcome. Macmillan has already begun working in this area and we are looking forward to drawing on our experience to help shape the structure and delivery of this service.
"We know there is a great need for information out there - Macmillan's latest research has shown that three quarters of cancer patients wanted information on their medical condition and, sadly, one in six patients were not able to get it. Hopefully information prescriptions will address this unmet need."
Notes to editors
1. Rosie Winterton announced a series of pilots running until the end of 2007 to further develop the policy. The pilots will focus firstly on cancer and mental health, and later on older vulnerable people and other long-term conditions. More details about the pilots will be announced later this year.
2. The 2006 White Paper 'Our Health Our Care Our Say' committed the government to introducing Information Prescriptions (ch 5.24). 'Making it Happen' progress report can be found on http://www.dh.gov.uk/.
3. Cancerbackup produced two reports which provide a valuable contribution to the development of Information Prescriptions:
Information Prescriptions 'From Theory to Practice' Workshop report, August 2006, developed by a partnership of Cancerbackup, Ask About Medicines and the Association of British Pharmaceutical Industry. Cancer Information Maze: Report investigating access for people with cancer, November 2005, developed by a partnership of Cancerbackup, Ask About Medicines and the Association of British Pharmaceutical Industry. Both available from http://www.cancerbackup.org/
4. Public enquiries to 020 7210 4850.
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Burnham - New patient champ to drive action to end waiting
Department of Health News Release (2007/0101) issued on 4th May 2007
New patient champion to help end waiting announced as new figures show waiting at record low.
A new champion to put patient views at the heart of efforts to transform the NHS and deliver the Government's target to reduce waiting times by 2008 was announced by Andy Burnham, Health Minister today. As the Patient and Public Champion, Neil Betteridge, Chief Executive of Arthritis Care, will have an important role understanding and reflecting patient views as policy is implemented across the NHS. He will work closely with local NHS, key stakeholders and patient groups.
The announcement coincides with new figures published today that show ongoing reductions in outpatient and inpatient waiting times, putting the NHS firmly on track to deliver a maximum wait of 18 weeks from referral to start of treatment by the end of 2008.
These figures show that:
- 701,000 patients are waiting for surgery -a decrease of 457,000 since March 1997 and the lowest figure since data was first collected on this basis in September 1987;
- The NHS continues to deliver the 13-week outpatient and 26-week inpatient maximum waiting time standards established in December 2005;
- Over 99% of patients are waiting less that 11 weeks for their first outpatient appointment and 98% of patients who need surgery are waiting less than 20 weeks.
These improvements are the result of a combination of record investment, the hard work of NHS staff and changes in the way the NHS works.
Andy Burnham said:
"Our commitment to improving the NHS means that by 2008 all patients will be assured of faster treatment. Not simply another target, 18 weeks captures the whole patient journey - from referral to start of treatment - with many patients seen even more quickly than that.
"This will be a major achievement for the NHS - making it more streamlined and productive as well as leading to a much better experience for patients - and helps change people's lives by improving care and cutting unnecessary delays.
"I'm delighted to appoint Neil Betteridge as patient champion for this important policy. He has an outstanding track record of speaking up for patients and his appointment underlines how we want the NHS transformed into a truly patient led service."
Neil Betteridge said:
"I'm delighted to be asked to take up this important role on behalf of all patients. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for patients and the public to help shape the future delivery of services.
"As the NHS changes, it is crucial that patients are right at the heart of any improvements. My role will be to keep the target focused on people.
"Currently many people with long term conditions, such as arthritis, are in long queues and the wrong queues - that's why the Government has set the 18 weeks target. For the first time in nearly 60 years, this initiative will I hope bring an end to waiting in the NHS.
Information about Arthritis Care can be found here at Arthritis Care.
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