Parents, children and young people in West Sussex are wanted to help shape our ‘urgent care’ services
Thursday 5th August, 2010
People in West Sussex are being given the chance to shape children’s health services for the future.
The local NHS wants to hear from families who have used or experienced urgent care services for young people in West Sussex.
Their views will be considered by a group of NHS doctors, nurses and other health professionals, who are currently working together to look at new ways to further improve children’s urgent care services. To help their work they want to hear from people who have first-hand experience of what is currently available in the county.
Anyone who volunteers to get involved will be able to have their say on current services and help the team of health professionals to look at what would help to improve the quality and experience for children, young people and their families when they need emergency or urgent care.
Local people can help
Dr Tim Fooks, NHS West Sussex Clinical Board member and local GP said: “When a child is ill, parents need to have prompt access to both timely advice and to high quality care that is appropriate for their child’s condition. We know that our doctors and nurses, in both GP practices and hospitals, provide an excellent service to poorly children.
“However, we are committed to building on and improving our existing services so that if a child becomes sick in West Sussex they will always be seen at the right time, by the right person in the right place. Understanding more about how our emergency and urgent services operate together and how they are being used across the whole area is a vital starting point in this work and this is where local people can help.”
NHS leading the way
The project is being led by NHS West Sussex and the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement on behalf of NHS organisations, including hospitals, GPs and community teams in West Sussex.
Currently if you need urgent medical help there are a number of options in West Sussex. You can call 999, go to A&E or visit an Urgent Treatment Centre or Minor Injury Unit or call your GP or NHS Direct.
Lorraine Mulroney, Lead Nurse Advisor at NHS West Sussex, explains: “We know that families can sometimes find accessing NHS services complicated and confusing and we are looking at the ways in which families access Urgent Care Services in West Sussex to improve their experience along their NHS journey. But to get the real picture we want to hear from families who have used health services in the county and who want to have a say on how they can be improved.”
A virtual group of people wanted
Sue Pumphrey, Engagement Manager for NHS West Sussex added: “We hope that parents, children and young people will come forward so that we can set up a virtual group of people who have used these services. We can then share findings with the group, get their views and develop ideas. We would love to hear from anyone interested and enthusiastic.”
Anyone who wants to get involved should email Sue Pumphrey on: publicengagement@westsussexpct.nhs.uk or call us on 01903 708045.
We can achieve better care for children
Dr Fooks continued: “We are finding that people’s experience can sometimes result in a number of visits or calls to different places at a time when tensions and anxiety levels are high.
"Getting earlier decisions about what treatment and care is required and getting consistent co-ordinated advice and support will make sure that we help children and young people to recover as quickly and as safely as possible. By working together, with valuable input from those who care, we believe we can achieve these aims”.
Frequently asked questions
What services are included in the Urgent Care Pathway project?
All of the emergency and urgent care services for children and young people are included.
This means right from how we promote self care and choice, to community pharmacies, GPs and primary care (including out of hours GP services), community and universal children’s services (such as health visitors and school nurses), minor injuries units, urgent treatment centres, ambulance and 999 services, NHS Direct, acute hospitals (assessment units, A&E and inpatient wards).
It will also look at care provided after the emergency or urgent care episode, we want to make sure that we help children and young people recover as quickly and safely as possible.
It does not include children’s mental health services, neonatal and maternity services or planned surgical services.
Who is leading the project and what other organisations are involved and how?
NHS West Sussex and the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement are facilitating and coordination this project on behalf of NHS organisations, such as our hospitals, GPs and community teams in West Sussex and across county borders.
The acute trusts we are working alongside are Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust, who operate Worthing Hospital and St Richard's Hospital in Chichester, Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, who operate The Princess Royal in Hayward Heath and The Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital in Brighton, Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust, who operate East Surrey Hospital in Redhill and The Queen Victoria Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in East Grinstead.
We have wide stakeholder engagement process which will identify and communicate with all of the other organisations who need to have their say.
What are the main stages of the project?
The first part is what we are calling the ‘diagnostics and data’ phase which will focus on analysis of demand patterns and building an understanding of the existing service models and to measure their quality and effectiveness.
From this understanding we will enter the ‘developing models of care’ phase will be where we work from the analysis and alongside clinicians and the public to build a picture of the pathway model which is both high quality and sustainable for the NHS in West Sussex. At this stage we will also run pilots or test projects to assess their potential impact locally.
The third part is ‘evaluate and consult’ phase is where we begin to evaluate all of the test projects and findings from the previous phases. We will also discuss the findings widely to inform the early development of the strategy and implementation plan.
The ‘develop final strategy’ phase is where the final business cases and strategy will be pulled together in preparation for implementation 2011/12.
