Category: Health

ERA have been asked to circulate a link from the NHS asking for voluntary and community organisations to fill out a survey to gather the community’s thoughts and feelings on healthcare in the borough to help inform their new charter.  You can find out more and participate in the survey at:   Hillingdon Community Health Charter :: North West London ICS (nwlondonicb.nhs.uk)

The Trust is currently facing significant pressure on services, and unprecedented attendances at our Emergency Department (A&E) at Hillingdon Hospital leading to extended wait times for patients seeking assessment and treatment.

The safety of our patients and our staff is always our top priority and we are working through who needs our help as quickly and as safely as we can. We must prioritise treatment for patients with life threatening conditions and injuries.

The Emergency Department is not always the first place to come when you require medical attention, and the alternatives can get people seen quicker and in a more appropriate place. If your condition is not life threatening, visit NHS 111 online in the first instance, contact your GP, contact a local pharmacy for advice, or visit an Urgent Treatment Centre.

If you are directed to alternative care facilities, please accept the advice of our teams, as this will be in your best interest, and they are prioritising patients who are in desperate need of medical attention.

If your condition is not life-threatening, please help the NHS by:

• Visiting 111.nhs.uk or call 111 if you need urgent medical help and are not sure what to do. You can also ring 111 to get straight through to mental health advice.
• Being ready to collect your family or loved ones from hospital as soon as they are medically well enough to leave. Hospital is not the best place to be once someone is ready for discharge.
• Not coming to the Emergency Department with minor injuries, as you will be signposted elsewhere.
• Using your local pharmacy if you can – they can help with a range of minor health issues including colds, skin problems and earaches. Every area has a late opening pharmacy and most have consulting rooms where you can ask for advice in private. Go to the NHS website to find your nearest open pharmacist.
• Contacting your GP practice or visit their website to get help. GP practices can arrange for you to speak to or see a GP or another healthcare professional. If you need help outside of normal hours, check your practice website for extended or enhanced access.

Remember, only call 999 in the event of a serious or life-threatening emergency.
See more advice about which service is most appropriate for your needs.

Hillingdon Health and Care Partnership (HHCP) has committed to developing a Community Health Charter.  The intention of this document is to set the standard for how HHCP will involve residents and Hillingdon’s community in the design and development of its work.

The NHS North West London Involvement Charter can be found within NHS North West London’s Involvement Strategy.

HHCP want to involve residents, and our voluntary and community sector in Hillingdon, to ensure that the standards set out in the charter reflect the views and experiences of those living in the borough.  To get involved in the creation of the Community Health Charter, please share your views by completing this survey.   Alternatively, if you would prefer to share your views by other means, or would like to access the survey in another language, please contact: james.connell@nhs.net.

The London Borough of Hillingdon has formally granted full planning permission to build the New Hillingdon Hospital.

This comes after the Greater London Authority gave stage two approval for the plans.

We continue to work with the New Hospital Programme to agree next steps for the business case.

To read more about the announcement, visit our website

The latest edition of the Hillingdon for All newsletter can be viewed here:
HCV October 2023

North Connect is one of your local NHS Primary care networks (PCN) with a network of 7 local GP practices working together to enhance and deliver patient care. Primary Care Networks were established in 2019 under a five year framework which is due to be reviewed in 2024/25.

Our North Connect PCN network is led by two Clinical Directors, Dr Diviash Thakrar of Acre Surgery, and Dr Martin Hall of Devonshire Lodge Surgery and covers approximately 52,000 residents in Northwood, Northwood Hills, Eastcote, Harefield and parts of Ruislip. GP practices are working together with community, mental health, social care, pharmacy, hospital and voluntary services in their local areas in groups of practices known as primary care networks (PCNs). The North Connect member practices are Acre Surgery and Carepoint Practice (based at Northwood Health Centre), Acrefield Surgery in South Ruislip, Devonshire Lodge in Eastcote, Eastbury Practice in Northwood, The Harefield Practice and The Mountwood Surgery in Northwood.

The aim is to build on existing primary care services and enable greater provision of proactive, personalised, coordinated and more integrated health and social care for people close to home. Clinicians describe this as a change from reactively providing appointments to proactively caring for the people and communities they serve. Since the NHS was created in 1948, the population has grown and people are living longer. Many people are living with long term conditions such as diabetes and heart disease or suffer with mental health issues and may need to access their local health services more often. Our PCN has recruited a growing workforce of pharmacists, mental health workers, health and wellbeing coaches, social prescribers, physiotherapists and other clinical roles that will deliver services for patients across the neighbourhood and help them if they need to access other health or social services if needed.

So far we have held two roadshows taking health services into the community, working with our partners and offering on the day blood pressure readings, booking health checks, and letting people know about the new services available such as social prescribing and health and wellbeing coaching. Our most recent Community Roadshow was at Emmanuel Church, Northwood HA6 1AS on 5th September, where we had 482 patients from all practices within the PCN attending for health advice and check-ups, with 474 blood pressure readings completed.

Each GP practice has a Patient Participation Group (PPG) which is a group of volunteer patients who work together to improve services and patient experience. PPGs are often looking for new members and some practices have a PPG application form on their web site if you want to join. Alternatively, contact the Practice Manager at your local practice to find out how to get involved in your local PPG.

Information on your PCN as it develops will be sent out through your GP practice so watch their websites and communications for updates and information. New websites are in the process of being built so you’ll find a new and updated practice website soon.

The latest edition of the Hillingdon for All newsletter can be downloaded here:
HCV JUN 2023

The proposal to bring together most routine inpatient orthopaedic surgery in north west London in a new centre of excellence at Central Middlesex Hospital has been given the go-ahead by NHS North West London. This follows a 13-week public consultation involving almost 2,000 people.

The diverse contacts and relationships made through the consultation remain central to this project’s successful delivery, and we now wish to assemble patient and carer working groups to support specific elements of the centre’s implementation.

The first of these is a transport working group. A key area raised in the public consultation was travel times, journey complexity and costs. This working group will meet to evaluate progress towards the collective goal of a transport solution that is ready and tested for the new Orthopaedic Centre opening in November 2023.

You are invited to an introductory webinar where we will provide more detail about working groups and opportunities for patient/public engagement.

This webinar will be held on Tuesday 20 June from 5.30pm – 7.00pm. You can register your interest here.

We hope to engage a diverse range of participants including, patients, carers, those facing specific challenges in accessing orthopaedic services, people from black, Asian and other minority ethnic groups, and at least one representative from each of the eight north west London boroughs.

Thank you and we hope to see you on the 20 June at 5.30pm.

Communications and Engagement
The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

The latest H4All newsletter can be read at

https://www.h4all.org.uk/_files/ugd/68f19f_f8045cf980954785a96bf2982bfd16e4.pdf

From 7am on Tuesday 11 April to 7am on Saturday 15 April, doctors at many NHS Trusts will be on strike, including The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. NHS services will be under a huge amount of pressure, so it is important for our residents to know where to go if they need help during this time.

Junior doctors make up almost 50% of all NHS doctors, and play a vital role in providing care for patients. During the four-day strike, hospitals will be doing everything they can to keep disruption to a minimum, prioritising patients who need urgent and emergency care.

Planned tests and hospital appointments may be changed or rearranged and we are keen to get this message out to the residents of Hillingdon.

For patients that have an appointment next week: If you have not been contacted, please attend your appointment as planned. The NHS will contact you if your appointment needs to be rescheduled due to strike action. Your care will not be stopped, but it may be delayed.

For non-emergency health needs, there are alternative NHS services available that can help get you the care you need:

NHS 111: Fully trained health professionals are available, 24/7, to help if you need medical help or advice, or you are unsure about whether you should go to hospital. You can contact NHS 111 online, or by calling 111.

Your GP: The majority of practices in north west London will remain open during the strike, though many will be under increased pressure. Do continue to attend your GP and dental appointments unless you have been contacted and told otherwise.

It is important that patients who do need urgent medical care still continue to come forward, especially in emergency and life-threatening cases.

By doing what you can to look after yourselves and others, and checking in on vulnerable family members and neighbours, you can help us make sure that the doctors who are on duty can provide care to patients who need it most.

Video: Message for the public about the upcoming industrial action

 

 

Communications and Engagement

The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust