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Welcome to the October 2019 edition of the Bulletin – the newsletter from the Better Care Together (BCT) partnership, which is responsible for transforming health and social care in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland (LLR).
This newsletter
The Better Care Together partnership includes local NHS organisations working alongside local authorities in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland and a range of other independent, voluntary and community sector providers. The partnership’s aims are to keep more people well and out of hospital; move care closer to home; provide care in a crisis; and deliver high quality specialist care. This newsletter details some of the progress being made and how you can get involved and have your say.
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Major funding boost for Leicester’s hospitals
The government has announced that University Hospitals of Leicester will receive an investment of £450m to fund a massive development programme. There have been plans in place for the works since 2014, but before now the Trust has not been given the level of funding that it needs. The plans include a new maternity hospital and a dedicated children's hospital at Leicester Royal Infirmary.
John Adler, chief executive of Leicester’s Hospitals said: “We are ecstatic to hear that we will benefit from major national capital funding to invest in our local hospitals. This will allow us to fulfil our ambition of creating the local hospitals that our patients and staff deserve and can be proud of. This money will allow us to realise a major programme of investment to transform our hospitals and improve the way that we deliver care.”
The £450m allocated is scheduled to create:
• A new maternity hospital and dedicated children’s hospital at the Royal Infirmary
• Two ‘super’ intensive care units with 100 beds in total, almost double the current number
• A major planned care treatment centre at the Glenfield Hospital
• Modernised wards, operating theatres and imaging facilities
• Additional car parking.
The proposal is to move all acute care (where a patient receives treatment for a severe injury or illness, an urgent medical condition, or during recovery from surgery) to the Leicester Royal Infirmary and Glenfield Hospital. The plans would see a doubling of intensive care capacity for the most critically unwell patients. This addresses a long- standing shortfall in this area. Some non-acute health services would be retained on the site of Leicester General Hospital.
Karamjit Singh, chair of Leicester’s Hospitals, said: “On behalf of our trust board, I would like to say how pleased we are that the need for major investment in our hospitals has been recognised. This success is testament to the hard work of all those involved in developing our plans and to the fantastic support we have had from local stakeholders.”
Find out more about the plans, which will be consulted on, on the website of Leicester’s Hospitals.
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Progressing plans to move the children’s heart service
Plans to move the specialist children’s heart service from Glenfield Hospital to the Leicester Royal Infirmary have come a step closer. The board of University Hospitals of Leicester has now approved the full business case for the planned move of the service.
Proposals for the move were begun following a national review of such services in 2014 by NHS England. This review set out a series of national standards to which all such centres should comply. This included requirements for a minimum number of specialist surgeons, a minimum number of operations carried out by each surgeon, and the need for co-location with other children’s services.
The full business case document outlines how much investment is required by Leicester’s Hospitals in order to meet NHS England standards. It includes figures on how much money will need to come into the Trust and how much will need to be spent in order to increase the amount of operations to the minimum levels outlined within the standards.
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More GPs for local practices
A total of 14 GP vacancies in practices in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland have been filled as a result of an international recruitment scheme that aims to reduce reliance on locum doctors.
The doctors have each attended a comprehensive training programme to aid their transition into UK medical practice. Before commencing work in local practice they will be registered by the General Medical Council like all GPs practicing in the UK, while they must also achieve a certified medical language skills qualification. The doctors have moved to the UK from Spain, Lithuania, Greece, Latvia and Hungary to establish themselves as permanent salaried GPs locally.
Currently Leicester’s universities are fully subscribed with students wishing to become GPs. This means that the demand is there and with more practices converting to training practices, there will be more training options for graduates locally, who will hopefully stay in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland after completing their training.
Dr Nil Sanagee, clinical lead on the international GP recruitment programme, speaking on behalf of the three clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland, said: “This is fantastic news for our local practices and patients. This is only the start of the plans we have to recruit more GPs into primary care. It takes five years to graduate from medical school. Meanwhile those practices who have recruited an international GP will gain training status and will be able to train more and more GPs in the future.”
GP recruitment has historically been a challenge across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. Primary care has had to be heavily reliant on locum doctors as many of the current workforce are either reaching retirement or are still in medical training and this scheme responds to the GP workforce challenges we face.
Sharon Clay, managing partner of The Banks Surgery in Sileby, said: “We are delighted to have recruited two GPs through the international GP recruitment scheme. Many of the doctors already spoke good English and had experience of working as GPs in their own countries. The most exciting part for us was that many candidates shared the same values as us in terms of patient care and were strongly committed to the NHS in the UK.”
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New public and patient involvement group takes shape
Thank you to everyone who applied to join the new Public and Patient Involvement Assurance Group and play an important role in local healthcare.
The group is being set up so that local people can review feedback and opinions received about healthcare and decide if their views have been listened to and considered. The first of two workshops has been held to meet the applicants in the final phase of recruitment. The second is due to be held at the end of October.
The Better Care Together partners in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland invited people passionate about health and social care to volunteer their time and apply to sit on this new group. We have been really pleased with the enthusiasm of people who have come forward. At a very exciting yet challenging time in the history of the NHS it is more important than ever to have the help of vibrant and creative people, who can help to ensure that local care is designed around the needs of patients.
Members of the group will hold their first meeting in November. They will review information and assure themselves that the views of public and patients have been sought and considered when services are redesigned and delivered. Proposals to be considered include future services provided at the three hospitals in Leicester and other improvement plans for services in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.
Depending on the outcome of the second workshop, there may still be capacity for a few more members to apply to join the group. If you are interested, please email BCTComms@westleicestershireccg.nhs.uk and we will forward an application pack to you.
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Citizens’ Panel coming soon
We are developing a Citizens’ Panel, to complement the other ways that people can already get involved in healthcare. By sharing your feedback and opinions, panel members will be able to help us to design and deliver care that takes into account what matters to people.
The panel will be launched in November and once established will be representative of the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland population. Anyone will be able to join the panel, as long as they are registered with a GP in Leicester, Leicestershire or Rutland and are over 16. The panel is currently being designed for people who can give a few minutes each month to complete online surveys, polls and questionnaires. The panel will be accessible through all mobile devices, so people can get involved even while on the move.
There will also be opportunities for people to volunteer more time and occasionally come along to a focus group on a topic that interests them. We will let people know what has been done with the information and provide updates on what is happening in health and care. We will be actively recruiting people to join the panel in the next few weeks so that it embodies the views of everyone.
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Share your news
We know that there are loads of great examples of innovative and integrated ways of work happening right across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. If you have a story that you would like to share in these newsletters please send us details.
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