16 May 2013 - Got a fracture? Wait for fraction of time at MIU

Residents of Worcestershire are being reminded to use the Minor Injury Unit (MIU) at their local Community Hospital.  

Recent data provided by Worcestershire Health and Care Trust, who run the community hospitals and Minor Injury Units, show how the average waiting time to be treated by a professional is just 14 minutes (at Bromsgrove’s Princess of Wales). The Trust, along with other organisations in the county are urging people to use their local MIU to ease strain on the accident and emergency departments at Worcester, Redditch and Kidderminster.

Matt Stringer, Head of Community Care Services for Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust, said:

“It’s really important that you get the care and treatment you need in the most appropriate place, which for sprains, fractures and minor burns, is in your local Minor Injury Unit. Some residents may be put off the drive to their nearest community hospital but that could still be a lot quicker than waiting at the Worcestershire Royal, Alexandra of Kidderminster hospitals.”

Waiting times at the minor injury units have gradually been getting lower and lower over the last year and now the average time for someone to be discharged after being treated is just 42 minutes. The units can treat back injuries, bites or stings, wounds and minor head injuries.

• Bromsgrove MIU, Princess of Wales Community Hospital: 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday and 12pm to 8pm at weekends

• Evesham MIU, Evesham Community Hospital: 8am to 11pm, seven days a week

• Malvern MIU, Malvern Community Hospital: 9am to 9pm, seven days a week

For more information on your nearest community hospital please visit: http://www.hacw.nhs.uk/our-services/community-hospitals/

13 May 2013 - Public supports vision for more care at, or closer to, home

The vast majority of those who attended recent engagement events held by the county’s main provider of community and mental health NHS services are in support of its strategy to care for more people in or closer to home.

Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust have just completed a round of hour-long events across the county which together attracted around 100 people. The sessions were a chance for attendees to hear more about the Trust’s plans for the future. In particular the Trust is aiming to reconfigure some of its services so they can care and treat more people in or closer to the place where they live. This will in turn reduce avoidable admissions to acute hospitals and ease some of the strain on those services.

Trust managers also outlined their vision for the future of the county’s five community hospitals. They want them to be used more effectively, which will mean the sites in Pershore, the Princess of Wales in Bromsgrove, Malvern, Tenbury and Evesham are equipped and designed to provide a greater variety of day treatments and other activities e.g. IV therapies and blood transfusions as well as the inpatient services they currently offer. The new treatments wouldn’t require people to stay in the hospitals overnight or be admitted to in-patient wards, and so this, combined with the vision to care for more people in or closer to home, could lead to community hospitals running with fewer beds but more variety of treatments than currently provided in the longer term.

Discussions with commissioners about the exact future configuration are still on-going and no decisions have been taken but results of a questionnaire handed out at the events shows support for the Trust’s direction of travel. It asked whether people supported the vision for more care in or closer to home, and whether they remained supportive if that had the potential for leading to fewer beds. Just over 90% of those who completed the questionnaire said they were in favour of care in or closer to home, with 60% in support if that led to a bed reduction. 

Jim Bulman, who attended one of the events and who also chairs one of the Trust’s patient forums, said: "I find the attitude of the Trust towards the treatment of people in their own homes very reassuring. It has been well thought through. People will be much happier about this when they realize that they will be treated at the very nearest location to their homes so it is simpler for family and friends to visit them."

Shan Moule, Chair of Princess of Wales League of Friends group, added: "These are indeed exciting times for health care in Bromsgrove. Patients will be able to return home and or be treated in their homes which we understand has so many benefits. We are extremely proud of our flagship hospital and think this can only have a positive effect on healthcare across the county."

Sarah Dugan, Chief Executive of Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust, said "the engagement events were an opportunity for the Trust to talk to members and the general public about the future of services and how they could change in response to meet patients and service users’ aspirations, and the financial challenge being faced: She added: “The events were part of our ongoing discussions with local people about how we might change and the response across all the events for our future direction and strategy was really supportive. As a healthcare economy we know that a lot of people go to hospital even when this may not be best place for them to receive treatment and care. We have been and continue to develop our community-based services and feel that where safe and appropriate people would prefer to receive care and treatment in or closer to home and certainly that is backed up by the response from the engagement events. We also want to reinforce how important our community hospitals are to us as a Trust and what we have suggested will, we believe, enhance the role they play."

9 May 2013 - Stroke patients 'very satisfied' with aftercare

The majority of stroke patients in the county said they were very satisfied with the advice and support provided to them after leaving hospital.

The Community Stroke Service (CSS), provided by Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust has just had the results back from a county-wide questionnaire, completed by all patients who were seen on one or more occasion.

Click here for more information. 

Community Stroke Service

Chance to hear more about Trust’s plans for the future

The NHS Trust which provides community and mental health services for Worcestershire is inviting residents to a series of events outlining how it plans to meet future challenges and expectations.

Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust, the main provider of mental health services and which runs the five community hospitals across the county, is holding ‘Planning for the Future’ events, starting next week, to providing residents with more information about its vision and direction of travel.

Managers at the Trust will talk about the emphasis on providing care in or closer to home and broadening the range of services and treatments available from local community hospitals. The Trust is also focused on helping people to stay healthy, supporting patient’s to recover following illness, and working in a more integrated and joined up way with partners.

The hour-long events will include a short presentation followed by a question and answer session when the audience can pose queries to members of the Trust’s management team. Health Trainers, who provide quick health MOTs, for example checking blood pressure, will be at each event.

Sarah Dugan, Chief Executive of Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust, said: “What we will be talking about is our high level vision for how some of our services may look in the future. We feel it is right that we share this now to begin to get more feedback from people who have used our services, or who may access them in the future. We certainly feel that caring for more people in or closer to home and enhancing the kinds of services available in community hospitals is the right thing to do, but it’s critical that we hear from our communities to find out more about what they think.”

Event details: