York health service bosses now in “financial special measures”

The Vale of York Care commissioning Group (CCG) is now is now subject to “financial special measures”.

Dr Mark Hayes announced this evening he is standing down as the leader and accountable officer of the Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG)

Dr Hayes was the Labour candidate in the Selby constituency at the last General Election.

“The Vale of York CCG will be directed to:

appoint a new Accountable Officer with the involvement of NHS England,
involve NHS England in appointments to its Executive Team and the next tier of management and
act on the issues that have been identified related to capacity, capability, financial governance and financial recovery,

with the implementation of a plan that addresses these within a timescale agreed by NHS England”.

The group is responsible for “buying” healthcare from professional organisations around the area (including GPs and hospitals).

The news comes as the CCG admitted a possible cumulative deficit of £13.4m for this year.

It comes a year after doctors supported a motion of no confidence in the management of the Group.

The 2015-16 ratings for all CCGs in the country were also published today, with 10 rated ‘outstanding’, 82 rated ‘good’, 91 rated ‘requires improvement’ and 26 rated ‘inadequate’.

York was rated as inadequate.

There has been a lack of stability in the local NHS over recent years with most recently a crisis developing in the provision of mental health services.

Nationally five trusts and nine CCGs have been put in the intervention regime, which forms part of a long awaited package of “reset” measures designed to get the NHS’s finances and accident and emergency performance back on track.

CCG performance

All York schools to benefit from mental health project

Each of York’s six geographical clusters of schools will now have a dedicated School Wellbeing Worker who will build on the very successful pilot undertaken in 2015/16, and whose results helped secure funding from the national Children’s Mental Health Transformation Programme, ‘Futures in Mind’.

While the pilot project involved three secondary and 17 primary schools, this next stage will involve all York’s schools. Funded by City of York Council (CYC), the schools and the Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), the pilot introduced a new form of partnership working between the council, the city’s Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) and schools, in order to strengthen the emotional and mental health support arrangements for children and young people in school settings.

Although the health and wellbeing of children in York is known to be generally better than England’s average, the CAMHS Executive recognises the importance of giving high quality advice and support as soon as concerns emerge. This exciting project will ensure support is available from confident and capable professionals within the school community.

The School Wellbeing Workers will provide additional mental health capacity and expertise to local authority and academy schools across the city. They will focus on providing training, offering support and advice to pastoral staff, and delivering individual and group work to children and young people. This regular, proactive and consistent mental health resource which is based in schools, works alongside school staff with pastoral responsibility, to increase their confidence and competence as part of a co-ordinated and effective early response to children and young people’s mental health issues and concerns. The new team will also work with the city’s Primary Mental Health Workers and York Educational Psychology Service.

Feedback from young people involved in the pilot included: “I feel like I can share my feelings more, I know that I can talk to people. We have talked about solutions, it makes me feel like I can open up to everyone, it makes me want to come to school far more, it has improved my mood, it has made my self esteem go up and makes me want to get up in the morning.”
(more…)

York residents less happy with care services

Suicide rates up

In York the most recent figures show that a total of 30 people died by suicide in York in 2013, decreasing to 16 in 2014 before increasing again to 28 in 2015.

A report published this week raised other concerns about care services in the City,

“Delayed transfers of care from hospital, and those which are attributable to adult social care of NHS care and those which are attributable to adult social care have risen slightly since last year and, although they have not returned to poor levels seen 2013/14, York remains above (worse than) the national, family and regional average for these indicators”.

The overall satisfaction level for people who use care and support services shows a decrease from last year (64% down from 67% in 2014/15) and a sustained fall since 2013/14, with York performance now slightly below the regional and national averages.

There were two indicators where York had significantly worse outcomes compared with the England average: hospital admissions for self-harm for people aged 10-24 and hospital admissions for tooth decay for children aged between 1 and 4 years.

Available local data on self-harm for this age range shows that 80% of admissions were females, the largest group were females aged 15-19 and there were a number of young people with multiple admissions in the year. A self-harm needs assessment has recently been carried out to enhance understanding of this issue within the City.

There were 117 admissions for tooth decay in York over a three-year period and based on the England average only 83 would have been expected.

The figures are being discussed at a Council Executive meeting later today

Help Shape York’s Alcohol Strategy

City of York Council along with other partners are seeking views on a new city-wide alcohol strategy for York.

It is hoped that the strategy will influence more people to be aware of how to drink responsibly and to make positive lifestyle choices around alcohol so that individuals use alcohol safely and sensibly. In addition it is hoped that people will make informed choices about drinking alcohol and approach the issues that alcohol can bring within our communities and families in a positive way.

The York alcohol strategy has been written by colleagues from City of York Council; Public Health England; Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group; Safer York Partnership; Lifeline; North Yorkshire Police; York Hospital Trust. The strategy covers a five year time period and York’s Health & Wellbeing Board will be responsible for it.

The city currently uses a large amount of resource to deal with alcohol related issues, like the harm that alcohol has on the health and wellbeing of people and the crime and disorder it contributes to. The ambulance service, the hospital’s emergency department, police, fire service and members of the public routinely deal with the consequences of alcohol.

Harm to families including domestic violence, child abuse and neglect as well as violent crime, binge drinking, absenteeism from work and lost productivity, drink driving, alcohol related accidents and anti-social behaviours such as public urination, litter and vomit on our streets are all issues associated with alcohol.

The alcohol strategy has four aims:
(more…)

More speculation about future of health services in Acomb

The announcement that the Lowfields school site being considered as a possible location for a new mental health hospital has prompted questions about other health facilities in Acomb

Acomb Garth NHS choices web site review

Acomb Garth (Gables) on Oak Rise already provides mental health services for Acomb. There is no recent report by the CQC commission on Acomb Garth. Acomb Garth was reported to be changing its role with a view to providing dementia care services from March. But little information has subsequently been made public.

The Trust web site still lists it as providing a HQ for community mental health services

No change has been made to registration documentation, with the “NHS choices web site” not even quoting correctly the responsible NHS Trust (now Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust). There is even confusion about the name (Acomb Gables/Garth).

Trust web site Acomb Gables review

The Trust describe the work at the Garth/Gables as follows:

Acomb Gables Recovery Unit is a 16 bed adult inpatient unit, for men and women from York, Selby and the surrounding areas.

This inpatient service works closely with clients, community mental health team, family and friends.

The site offers:

one to one work around psycho-social interventions
an evolving therapy group programme and activity programme
support with activities of daily living and meaningful activity and employment
a wide range of opportunities is made available to access employment; housing; and occupation including voluntary work.

Adjacent to the Garth/Gables is the Acomb Medical Centre.

The Beech Grove GP practice, which is located there, has recently announced a merger with a practice based on Front Street. “It is proposed that the Beech Grove premises, currently in Acomb Health Centre would close and the newly merged practice would be situated at 14 Front Street, Acomb. This is the current premises of Front Street Surgery”. The change is expected to take place in October.

So it appears there will be vacant space on the Oak Rise/Beech Grove site.

Whether this would be a suitable location for a new hospital is another matter.

Transport links in central Acomb are better than Lowfields but neither approaches the range and flexibility of options available in the city centre.

What’s on in York: Helping people with dementia

Dementia

New report confirms muddle & incompetence led to Bootham Park closure

A damming independent report into the closure of Bootham Park hospital, and the subsequent confusion for patients, has been published.

The report author John Ransford concludes,

“If all organisations had worked together in partnership to deliver a plan based on the needs of patients and local people, more suitable solutions would still have been difficult, but surely not impossible to achieve”.

The report heavily criticises the Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group together with the former service provider the Leeds and York Partnership Foundation Trust.

The underlying criticism is of lack of leadership and “joined up” working across the many disparate organisations which are now responsible for health care in the City.

The issue will be considered by a Council committee when it meets on 25^th April.

Another report, by NHS England lists 18 areas where local health managers and contractors failed patients.

“Healthwatch” the patients watchdog also says that “closure of Bootham Park Hospital has been immensely stressful for many people involved and that the impact will continue to be felt for the months to come”.

NB. Following a Care Quality Commission inspection Bootham Park Hospital was closed for “safety” reasons on 1^st October 2015. Some outpatient facilities are being re-established there but it is likely to be 2019 before a new facility is opened to replace the 240-year-old former lunatic asylum

Round the clock care available at York council Extra Care Scheme

Tenants at City of York Council’s Sheltered Housing with Extra Care Scheme, Glen Lodge, will be able to access round-the-clock care and support from this month.

The new scheme will see Glen Lodge’s current extra care provision extended from 7am-11pm, to 24 hours, seven days a week.

With the number of people in York aged 75 and older expected to rise by 50 per cent by 2030, and with the popularity and quality of its current provision at Glen Lodge and extra care services at Auden House, these new plans are part of a city-wide scheme to modernise accommodation for older people.

The programme seeks to address the needs of York’s ageing population by making the best use of existing sheltered housing, by offering people with higher care needs the services and accommodation they need now and in the future.

A planning application has also been submitted to build a further 25 flats and two bungalows on the Glen Lodge site, whose tenants can use the extra care services as their needs change. The application will be considered by the Area Planning Sub Committee on 4 February.

A number of staff from Grove House and Oakhaven – the two council residential care homes which are due to close this spring as part of plans to modernise care and support for older people as part of r the Older People’s Accommodation Programme – will help to deliver the extended care and support at Glen Lodge.

Residents are still awaiting the results of the independent inquiry into the alleged “rat biting” incident at Glen Lodge (more…)

New project helps York children with emotional and mental health needs

To support teachers concerned about children and young people with emerging mental health needs, a new well-being pilot project has been set up in York to explore how to respond to this challenge.

The well-being pilot project is a joint initiative between City of York Council, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) and two clusters of schools, which aims to strengthen the emotional and mental health support arrangements for children and young people.

Alongside the idea that children and young people’s mental health is everybody’s business, additional mental health capacity and expertise is being provided to schools by new School Wellbeing Workers.

These workers will focus on providing training, offering support and advice to pastoral staff, and delivering individual and group work to children and young people.
(more…)

« Previous
1
…
70
71
72
73
74
…
82
Next »