TALKING POINT April 2017 Fit to work and play thanks to Page 10 occupational health! Talking Important changes to Point is your urgent care magazine NHS South Tees Clinical Commissioning Group has and it is only introduced a number of changes as good as to urgent care after listening to local people at a series of you make it. consultation events… It is produced quarterly in The service will be operated by local January, April, July and October Changes to Redcar Minor doctors and nurses from the South Tees each year. Injury Unit opening times area with access to your patient records. Ideas and stories or suggestions Minor injury units (MIU) can assess and There are a number of ways to make to make Talking Point even better treat: minor burns, scalds, infected an appointment: are always welcome. wounds, sprains, cuts, grazes and • Telephone your own GP surgery which Contact the communication possible broken bones. has access to appointments in the and engagement team on If you have a minor injury you can go extended hours GP centres. 01642 854343, extension 54343, to Redcar Primary Care Hospital. Please James Cook or email note, the opening times have been • Your own surgery will always try [email protected]. changed from 1 April 2017 to reflect to meet your needs first but if you patient demand. require an appointment urgently and they can’t fit you in - or if it is more The new opening times are 8am to convenient for you to be seen in the 9.30pm, 7 days a week and include evening or at the weekend, they will Mailing list – still access to x-ray. make an appointment for you at one of the centres. need a hard copy Find out more at www.southtees.nhs.uk/ redcar-miu • Telephone NHS 111 (free phone of Talking Point? number) NHS 111 has access to Easier access to GP appointments in normal hours or in We are reviewing our mailing list appointments the extended hours GP centres. If you as Talking Point is now available need to be seen, they will be able to South Tees patients will be able to access make you an appointment. on the Trust website and on social four GP centres seven days a week from media. It is distributed around the 1 April 2017. • Access online – if your practice offers hospital departments, sent to staff online appointment booking, this will as an e-book and available on the The centres will open from 6pm to be extended to include access to the staff intranet. 9.30pm Monday to Friday and 8am to centres. If you are not sure whether 9.30pm on weekends and Bank Holidays your practice offers online booking, If you don’t need an individual and will be based in: please contact them directly. hard copy any more can you • North Ormesby Health Village please email public relations and What if I have an urgent we will remove you from the • One Life Centre in Linthorpe need after 9.30pm when mailing list. • Redcar Primary Care Hospital the GP centres are closed? • East Cleveland Hospital in Brotton • Simply call 111 and they will direct you How do I access one of the to the most appropriate service. Talking Point is written and new GP centres? Changes to existing walk- illustrated by the communication in centres and engagement team and The centres operate an appointment designed by Octagon Design and based system - you won’t be able to The walk-in centres at North Ormesby Marketing Ltd who specialise just walk-in. (part of Resolution Health Centre) and Eston Grange will close on 31 March in gaining advertising support Having four centres means you will be 2017. The GP practice at Resolution in for magazines so Talking Point offered a choice of where to go and an North Ormesby will remain open for is now produced, packaged, appointment time which may be better registered patients. distributed and delivered at a for you. It also means that you are seen minimal cost to the Trust. promptly and shouldn’t have to wait in Not registered? Find your nearest NHS a queue. doctor by visiting www.nhs.uk. 2 MRI scans to be used as first line to diagnose prostate cancer MRI scans are now being used treatment they need, more quickly, which as the first investigation for the is vital if it’s a cancer diagnosis,” he said. diagnosis of prostate cancer at “By having an MRI first, the subsequent James Cook. biopsy (three or four days later) is much more accurate since abnormal areas of the The news comes on the back of national gland can be targeted. This means that research, published in the Lancet*, fewer biopsies are necessary. We hope which has shown using advanced MRI that in the fullness of time fewer men will nearly doubles the number of aggressive require biopsy and this has been shown in tumours that are caught. the study published in the Lancet. Prostate cancer is the most common “Our aim is to improve the diagnosis and cancer in British men, and yet testing for it management of early prostate cancer is far from perfect. by using the best available techniques Previously, if a man had a high and equipment to deliver the very best prostate specific antigen (PSA) level care for our patients and we will also in the blood he went to hospital for be offering this service at the a biopsy - an invasive procedure that Friarage Hospital when the new David involves taking random samples from MRI Scanner is operational Chadwick the whole of the prostate. later this year.” pictured with However, a biopsy alone can be poor at *A new study by University who is the Trust’s Medical fellow consultant detecting cancer which means the disease College London (UCL) and the Director for Planned Care, Aftab Bhatti can be missed. Medical Research Council (MRC) described the changes as a From the end of January, any man has shown around 25,000 men significant step in the way prostate referred to the Middlesbrough hospital could be spared a biopsy and needless with high PSA levels, which suggest cancer will be diagnosed in the future. treatment, if they were scanned first. A prostate cancer might be present, will “We recognise that this is good practice trial of 576 men across 11 NHS hospitals have an MRI scan, followed by a biopsy. for our patients as it speeds up the found that scans could help one in four Consultant Urologist David Chadwick, whole process, enabling them to get any men avoid further treatment. Top spinal surgeon retires SPINAL surgeon Professor for Spinal Disorders. a local and a national front. Charles Greenough has retired At his leaving celebration Glynis Peat, “You are definitely one of a kind. after dedicating 39 years to spinal services lead, told him: “There Your presence will be missed from is no doubt that you have been 100% the happy whistle in the morning, the NHS. committed to leading and influencing to the “come on let’s get on with Professor Greenough joined the the development of spinal services on it” attitude.” Trust in 1991 when the waiting list for a back pain patient was more than 70 weeks. He led the implementation of the first nurse led spinal assessment clinic in the country which helped reduce waiting times to four weeks. A Clinical Director since 1998, he led the introduction of the first joint rota between orthopaedic and neurosurgical spinal surgeons and the appointment of the first national trainee working across both specialties. More recently, in 2013, he was appointed to the NHS Commissioning Board as the National Clinical Director 3 News from North Yorkshire…. Friarage’s medical and surgical assessment unit shortlisted for national award THE combined medical and surgical • Accident and emergency surgical and medical beds are assessment unit at the Friarage performance being now available for people - which has reduced admissions maintained at the who really need to be Friarage Hospital in a hospital bed. The to surgical wards by more than a • Very high patient key to its success is third – has been shortlisted for a satisfaction with early access to senior national award. excellent feedback decision makers in the hospital.” Since 2013, clinicians have been rapidly Now, the unit has been expanding their medical ambulatory care shortlisted in the ‘acute Alastair McLellan, service which allows emergency patients, service redesign’ HSJ Editor, said, who would usually have to stay in hospital, category in the HSJ’s “2017 is the year the to be treated as outpatients – or even in annual ‘Value in NHS’s drive to improve their own homes. Healthcare Awards’ Dr James the cost-effectiveness The unit, which is staffed by a team of with the winners Dunbar of its care moves from an consultants, GP hospitalists and nurse being announced in important to a crucial factor practitioners, sees hundreds of patients May 2017. in the service’s success. The entries to every month who need urgent diagnostics Consultant in Infectious HSJ’s annual Value in Healthcare Awards and treatment for conditions as diverse as Diseases Dr James Dunbar said: “We provide plentiful evidence that all sectors skin infection and liver failure but are not are a small rural hospital which means of the NHS have recognised this and unwell enough to need an overnight stay we often find solutions to problems by responded appropriately. in hospital (known as ambulatory care). closer collaboration with our colleagues. For the NHS to be affordable it must Since then they have also combined their Our ambition is to provide outstanding operate in a sustainable manner.