Huntingdonshire Health and Care Forum - What You Missed

Huntingdonshire Health and Care Forum - Summary Report

Key Updates & Discussion:

North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust (NWAFT)

We heard from Charlotte Williams, Deputy Chief Executive at NWAFT on the latest developments at their hospitals: 

• Teaching Partner Status: Hinchingbrooke Hospital has been awarded Teaching Partner Status by the University of Cambridge.
• Community Diagnostic Centre: plans for a new Community Diagnostic Centre on Wellington Street, Peterborough, is underway (pending planning permissions). The centre will help reduce waiting times and offer CT, MRI, DEXA scans, phlebotomy, and will offer direct links to hospital pathology services.
• Stamford Hospital Day Treatment Unit: Work is well underway to fit out the new Day Treatment Unit (DTU) at the Stamford and Rutland Hospital site in South Lincolnshire.
• Hinchingbrooke Hospital Redevelopment – there will be additional parking and improved access. Digital is at the heart of the New Hospital Programme ambition to empower patients and staff, develop interoperable and intelligent systems, and smart up-to date infrastructure. With the ongoing Electronic Patient Record development across NWAFT, this will be used as the foundation for new hospital digital development and will be a digital skills accelerator.

Local Patient Participation groups and the public were able to ask questions and share their concerns, which were taken on board.

Examples from GPs:

• Long wait times for patients to be seen/have procedures resulting in patients returning multiple times to the GP to try to expedite or seek further advice on managing ongoing conditions.
• Pushback when requesting patients to be seen, giving us advice to try resulting in multiple contact with us, whereas one appointment in secondary would have resolved the issue.
• Patients discharged with inadequate care plans.

Examples from patients:

• Blood tests taken at Hinchingbrooke – results are not available online to either patients or GP (unless referred by GP).  Addenbrooke's uses “MyChart” where patients can view results. Surgery blood test results are available on NHS app and SystmOnline.  One patient under Hinchingbrooke urology needs regular monitoring of PSA levels but has no way of checking the results quickly online.
• Child referred to Hinchingbrooke A & E by GP for abdominal pain. After waiting for six hours, parents told staff couldn’t identify the cause and advised to speak to GP —(at 4:30 a.m.) when child was still in pain.  Parent asked for complaints form and paediatric doctor was then called – diagnosis and care plan was sorted.

The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR)

• We heard from the NIHR about all the studies that are happening in GP surgeries, care homes and schools in the Huntingdonshire area.

Huntingdonshire Integrated Neighbourhood team

An update was given from the team.