Hartlepool & Stockton Health - Latest news

Upcoming training and events

5/24/2019

There’s a range of training taking place over the next few weeks including:
Our AGM - Tuesday 25 June

BLS and Anaphylaxis
Wednesday 19 June, 1.30pm
Thursday 11 July, 9.30am
Monday 12 August, 6.30pm

Extended access induction evening
Monday 24 June, 6.30pm
Monday 19 August, 6.30pm

Clinical peer group
Monday 23 September, 6pm

Book your place here.

Meet the team - Karen Heath

5/23/2019

Meet Karen Heath, one of our fantastic care co-ordinators based in Stockton.

Can you tell us a little bit about your role?
I am currently the care coordinator for Yarm Medical Practice and work three days a week. The key part of our role is to visit patients who are frail or at risk of becoming so.

In conversations with the patients we learn about what is working for them and where they would benefit from some support. The support required depends on the patients’ needs but some examples may be that they require a Mobility Assessment, care at home or information about social activities in the area. Occasionally a patient may want to try an activity but feel unable to do this alone and I will offer to accompany them to their first visit.

What do you enjoy most about your role?
I enjoy meeting the patients and get a lot of satisfaction from hearing how they have benefited from my intervention. I have started a coffee morning/drop-in in the practice so that patients know they can come and speak to me or socialise with others. This has proved a great method for keeping in touch with patients and an opportunity for them to ask for further assistance when required.

I enjoy working for H&SH as I feel I am working for an aspirational agency that is making a positive to people’s lives.

Where did you work before joining H&SH?
When my children were at senior School I returned to work running fundraising events such as assault courses and quizzes for the NSPCC and when I was 40 I qualified as a children’s social worker and continued to work for the NSPCC at Catterick Garrison for over ten years.

What did you want to be when you were younger?
When I was younger I had thoughts of being a newsreader, dancer or florist. I didn’t follow any of these aspirations but at 14 I represented my school in a Eisteddfod performing a recitation, at 17 I danced on stage at the City Hall in Newcastle in a musical called Witness and I took flower arranging classes.

What do you do outside of work?
My husband is retired and he is currently a puppy walker for Guide Dogs for the Blind and is training ‘Willis’ who is thirteen months old. Willis a golden Labrador who we are enjoying taking for long walks in the area. I enjoy baking especially when cakes work - but I couldn’t take part in the Bake Off as I would be too stressedI My main interest is holidays and I have been fortunate to travel to several countries including India, Japan and Canada.

National nurses day

5/12/2019

Today is national nurses day, an opportunity to celebrate the fantastic work that nursing staff do every day. As a small gesture to show them how much we appreciate them we've sent every one of our 36 H&SH nurses and HCAs a personalised card.

Our nurses and HCAs are incredibly important to our organisation, our stakeholders and the local community - thank you!

Five things you need to know about our care coordinators

5/9/2019

Often known as social prescribing, our Care Coordination service helps patients to focus on the important social and mental factors that affect their health. Here’s five things you need to know…

Singing and social prescribing

5/6/2019

Carl Gowland, our Head of Operations felt "thoroughly uplifted" when he recently visited a free social singing group organised by our lovely Care Coordinator Rose. The group also celebrated a 91 yrs young birthday. Social prescribing works!

Lucy’s Casebook 1

5/2/2019

Urgent care and Extended Access services will see a different cohort of patients to general practice - most will have decided that their care needs are pressing. As a consequence, it's likely that GPs will see more patients who are experiencing a sudden deterioration in their health and conditions that would be considered rare in regular practice.

In response to this we are creating a series of articles on some of these conditions including classic and not so classical presentations. The first issue of Lucy’s Casebook is on Testicular Torsion. Other casebooks in the series will include Sepsis, Aortic Aneurysms and Paediatric Resuscitation. Feedback on these and if they are useful would also be welcome.

Read Lucy's casebook issue 1 - testicular torsion.

Sepsis training success

5/1/2019

We’ve now finished the delivery of our sepsis training and 152 of our practice teams are now sepsis aware! Designed and delivered by our medical director Simon Stockley, we’ve delivered sepsis awareness training primarily to GP receptionists and practice leads.

The training was really popular, with a high demand for spaces. We even had requests from neighbouring CCGs who were interested in attending. The project will now be evaluated nationally to see if the training will be rolled out further. We’ll keep you updated.

The impact of our care coordinators and social prescribing

4/4/2019

In this short film our locality manager Debby Sutcliffe, talks about the important role of our care coordinator and the impact they have on patients.

Training opportunities

4/4/2019

We’ve got a number of events and training sessions over the next few months including:

Clinical peer group - Monday 13 May
BLS and Anaphylaxis training - Tuesday 14 May

For more details on our upcoming events visit https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/hartlepool-amp-stockton-health-16491455726

The launch of '7Day' - the new name for extended access

4/1/2019

At the end of last year we secured the contract to deliver the extended access service for a further two years. We’re delighted to update you that we’ve rebranded the service to make it more patient focused.

7Day launched on 1 April and we’ll be providing our stakeholder practices with pop up stands, posters and digital materials to help you promote the service and the new brand.

If you need any further information please contact Carl Gowland.