News

Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly have today, 23 January 2020 been announced as one of seven areas across the country to accelerate improvements to help mainly older people stay well at home and avoid long stays in hospital.

Today’s announcement takes forward plans set out in the NHS Long Term Plan to enable community teams to respond quickly to peoples’ needs and prevent unnecessary hospital admissions.

The additional investment will see urgent requests responded to within two hours. In addition, support to help people regain their ability to perform their usual activities like cooking meals, washing and getting about will be provided within two days. The quicker response times will help people to remain well, in their own homes and independent 365 days a year.

Helen Childs, chief operating officer at NHS Kernow Clinical Commissioning Group the lead for Embrace (Ageing Well) said, ‘We are delighted to be announced as one of seven sites nationally to lead the introduction of standardised response times and improved outcomes for people.

“Locally, one in four people are over the age of 65; and we know that historically we haven’t always provided them with the best outcome because we weren’t able to provide rapid, timely access to short term community services. Today’s announcement will allow us to accelerate our plans, as part of the Embrace Care programme, to support mainly older people at home.

“This will be better for people, their families and also means that hospital beds are available for the people who need these very specialist services and expertise.”

In future, people like 84 year old Irene who has two long-term conditions and requires a hospital admission to treat a life threatening medical emergency, will very quickly be referred to the community team. As Irene usually lives independently at home with limited support from her daughter, the community team will talk to her about her discharge and what support she will need to safely return home. Within a week, Irene will be discharged from hospital and into the care of her community team.

Phil Confue, chief executive of Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, added, “This investment will significantly boost our plans to transform how we respond to the needs of older people. GPs, ambulance colleagues and partners from across health and care will have a real alternative to seeking a hospital admission – knowing they can request and receive a response within two hours or days based on what people need.

“For example, in the case of Bill, 78 who has an infection which needs to be treated with IV antibiotics; instead of admitting him to hospital, his GP will refer him to his community team who will help him recover at home. The community team will visit Bill to administer his antibiotics and monitor his recovery, calling on other services to support him as required.”

Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly will begin to develop its urgent community response services with the design of the new service model ready for April this year. We anticipate full county roll out by April 2021.

The findings from Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly’s scheme will be shared across the South West so similar schemes will be made available to everyone.

Support services for people with mild to moderate anxiety and depression, including talking therapies, will transfer to Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust from 1 April 2020.

It comes following a request from Outlook South West (OSW) that the existing mental health contract, which it has provided since April 2017, was taken on by CFT which will run until the 31 March 2022.

This request was accepted by NHS Kernow Clinical Commissioning Group.

People will see no change in the way that they receive their treatment and all staff currently working for Outlook South West will transfer to CFT, if they wish.

Dr Adrian Flynn, CFT interim medical director, said: “Outlook South West has always been recognised as a valued and highly successful provider of mental health services in Cornwall.  We are delighted to take on this service and retain the expertise and dedication of OSW by offering them all the opportunity to transfer to CFT.

“The benefits of this decision include a seamless pathway between primary and secondary care for the benefit of people in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly and reducing gaps between services.”

Outlook South West has delivered the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) service in Cornwall since 2008 and through its existing contract with the NHS since 2017. Through the IAPT service, the organisation currently receives just over 16,000 referrals a year from adults across the county. Outlook South West will also transfer its smaller NHS contracts, which include The Suicide Liaison Service, the adult Asperger’s Assessment Service, and a contract to provide specific wellbeing groups for mums suffering from postnatal depression.

Kevin Simpson, Outlook South West director, said: “We are very proud of our achievements as a service. It has grown significantly over the past decade and we’ve been able to help many thousands of people into recovery using evidenced-based treatments, such as CBT. We felt as directors, that in the longer run, the service would be better off being embedded within an NHS organisation. The NHS’ Long Term Plan to further integrate mental and physical health services is one such aspect that will be more seamlessly delivered by an organisation such as CFT. It also means that for local people there will be a closer integration between primary and secondary care services. If that helps to close any gaps between them, then it can only be seen as a positive move for the people of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.”

Jackie Pendleton, NHS Kernow chief officer, said: “We would like to thank Outlook South West, who has provided NHS access to the talking therapies service and other mental health support through its existing contract since 2017, for its work and the positive impact it has made to the lives of people in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly and its professional and dedicated approach.”

This is the time of year when coughs and colds are circulating along with other nasty bugs that can stop your Christmas celebrations in its tracks.

Many people end up at hospitals with minor injuries that could often be treated more quickly elsewhere or at their own home.

People can make sure they are prepared for illness or injury if it strikes by stocking up on over the counter remedies such as paracetamol for aches and pains, rehydration powders for stomach upsets and antiseptics for cuts.

It’s also worth making sure you add plasters, bandages, a thermometer and tissues to the shopping list.

A well-stocked medicine cabinet will help avoid making unnecessary trips to find a pharmacy or shop that is open over the Christmas holidays and in some cases prevent a journey to the minor injuries unit.

Pharmacists offer year round advice and have private spaces where you can talk in confidence if you wish. They can also prescribe an emergency supply of medication if any visiting friends or relatives forget to renew or bring with them a supply of their regular medication.

Dr Iain Chorlton, chairman of NHS Kernow Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “We want everyone to have a happy and healthy Christmas.

“During this time of the year too many people turn-up at hospitals with minor injuries and illnesses when they could get quicker, more appropriate treatment elsewhere.

“We need to keep the emergency department free for people who need urgent medical attention for serious illness or injury and potentially life-saving care.

“No one wants to be ill over Christmas but winter and socialising over the festivities often brings with it coughs, colds stomach bugs and flu, which is why it’s important to stock up the medicine cabinet and so you can make sure you can return to your celebrations as soon as possible.”

Visit kernowccg.nhs.uk/choosewell for details of all services, opening and waiting times.

Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (CFT) has met all the requirements of a warning notice issued by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in April 2019.

The warning notice highlighted a number of issues in relation to child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) in the mid and east of the county.

Today’s news follows an unannounced, focussed CQC inspection of CAMHS services in mid and east Cornwall in October 2019.

The CQC were impressed by the systems put in place by the Trust to deliver sustainable improvements to access and waiting times.

Initially learning of the CQC’s concerns, the Trust immediately reviewed and contacted every young person who was waiting for treatment and remains in regular contact with young people and their families.

Julie Dawson, Managing Director said, ‘This announcement is testament to the hard work of staff in both CAMHS teams and the service as a whole. Everyone has worked together, to address the concerns highlighted by the CQC and to deliver quality of care we all want our young people to receive. We have made tremendous progress which is reflected in the outcome of the unannounced inspection.

‘Since March 2019, we have filled the majority of our clinical vacancies and appointed an additional 31 Clinical Associate Psychologists to work across child and adolescent mental health services. As a result, individual caseloads are much smaller. 

‘However, some young people continue to wait, longer for assessment and treatment than we would like but we have a clear plan in place to ensure we meet our access targets by March 2020. I am confident our processes now ensure oversight from team to Board level to make sure every young person is supported and that we will continue to deliver the improvements our young people deserve.’

The St Ives Community Choir has raised funds for the Stroke Association after choir member, Steve Bassett, suffered a stroke. The choir will perform and present a number of cheques to Lanyon Ward at Camborne Redruth Community Hospital (CRCH) on Friday 22 November at 2pm, to say thank you to the staff.

Steve will join 18 to 24 members of the choir, as well as another former patient, Joan Symons, who will perform for patients, staff and visitors, where they will hopefully encourage everyone to sing along.

‘I never, ever thought I’d be a person to have a stroke,’ Steve commented. ‘I’ve been fairly fit my whole life, so I never thought this would happen. This is to say thank you for the way I was looked after and the way I was treated. I want it to bring awareness to people that things can be done after a stroke.’

Steve had his stoke in February 2017, where he was left paralysed on his left side. His recovery took place on Lanyon Ward where he spoke very highly of the ‘absolutely fantastic’ staff that took care of him, and of his Stroke nurse, Aimee who he said ‘helped me get to where I am today.’

12 months after his stroke, Steve’s wife bought him a set of water colours and he took up painting – something he had never done before.

Steve will personally present an additional cheque of £250 to the hospital from paintings he has sold, as well as donating four framed paintings which he has done whilst in recovery.

Steve commented: ‘I realise how lucky I am. When you’re on a stroke ward you realise what it could’ve been like. I still can’t walk properly and I don’t have full use of my left side, but I realise I’m very lucky. If the paintings can give inspiration to one person, I’d be over the moon.’

More people are surviving strokes than ever before, but it is still one of the leading causes of death in the UK.

On 23 October, SUDEP Action Day, Epilepsy Action Australia welcome the launch of the SUDEP & Seizure Safety Checklist to health professionals in Australia.

In collaboration with SUDEP Action, this launch will see this Checklist be the first free clinical tool available across Australia, to support health professionals discuss and monitor risk factors with their epilepsy patients. 

With epilepsy affecting approximately 250,000 Australians, Epilepsy Action Australia and SUDEP Action have been working in partnership since 2017, to help improve the knowledge and awareness of mortality risks in patients, as well as those professionals that treat them. First by sharing essential epilepsy risk information, and now with the SUDEP & Seizure Safety Checklist.

SUDEP Action has always welcomed collaborations with organisations in the UK and across the globe, to support increasing awareness of epilepsy risks and mortality. However, this is the first formal collaboration in Australasia to join forces to tackle these issues using existing resources and knowledge.

SUDEP Action CEO, Jane Hanna OBE added that, “We are thrilled to be showing how this UK and Australian partnership, now in its third year, has brought value to the SUDEP and Seizure Safety Checklist and to the people who use it. It’s through this strong shared motivation to work together, we will hopefully avoid many sudden, and preventable deaths.”

This is echoed by Dr Rohit Shankar MBE, the Clinical lead for the Checklist who commented “The Checklist has had unconditional support by the research, clinical and patient communities, and most of all, the bereaved families seeking to make a difference. The Checklist stands testimony to how structured person-centred holistic communication can be a powerful intervention, to prevent the dreadful outcome of death due to epilepsy and is a vanguard tool in our fight against epilepsy mortality. “

The SUDEP & Seizure Safety Checklist was originally developed in Cornwall (UK) as a collaboration between SUDEP Action and Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust in 2015, and is supported by leading experts.

As well as supporting improved communication and management of epilepsy risks alongside general wellbeing, the Checklist also provides the latest research on epilepsy risks to clinicians, boosting their own professional education. Research findings have already shown that these discussions are potentially lifesaving.

Epilepsy Action Australia is the largest provider of services to people living with epilepsy. CEO Carol Ireland, commented, “The award-winning SUDEP & Seizure Safety Checklist is a tool for clinicians to support conversations on epilepsy risks and SUDEP, helping to monitor their patient’s overall wellbeing and changes in risk factors. We are also encouraging patients to alert their clinicians about the Checklist, as going through it can provide them with more knowledge around seizure risk management and hopefully some peace of mind. This is such a positive progression.”

The Checklist has already won numerous awards and is used by over 750 UK clinicians. Most recently, at the British Medical Journal (BMJ) Awards 2019 receiving high commendations from the judging panel, on not only the Checklist, but also the patient-facing safety app, EpSMon, as being “both original and ground-breaking and will have a major impact in improving care for patients and their families.” 

For further information about the Checklist: www.sudep.org/checklist (UK) and www.epilepsy.org.au/sudep-checklist (Aus)

For information on epilepsy risks and how to reduce them visit: www.sudep.org or www.epilepsy.org.au

Two staff members from Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust have been working extremely hard to transform their lives to get active and live well. Here are their stories:

“My name is Julie Wotherspoon and I work as an Executive PA at Carew House, Bodmin.

“I have recently been inspired by a work colleague who completed the Couch to 5k programme. I decided that I would set myself the challenge to get fitter and lose weight in preparation for my summer holiday.

“I started in June by simply going for a short run every other day.  My aim was to complete the nine week Couch to 5k programme before I went on holiday. 

“I prefer to run first thing in the morning before work when it is cooler and I run along the Camel Trail in Wadebridge. If you haven’t been there you should; it’s great and during my early morning runs I saw lots of wildlife and enjoyed the fresh air which felt so good for my health and wellbeing.

“Couch to 5k is an app you can put onto your phone and it gives a nine week exercise programme.   It is like having your own personal trainer and my ‘trainer’ was called Michael Johnson.  You start with brisk walking with a little a running and the aim is to gradually build up to running 5k in 30 minutes.

“Sounds too hard?  Considering that I haven’t ran since I was at school – 45 years ago, I feel I am doing fairly well and in August I managed 5k in half an hour.   

“There have been lots of benefits too.  I have lost a few pounds and have dropped a dress size! The other positives are that I have more energy.  I don’t want to run a marathon but I am aiming to run regularly to keep fit.

“I would encourage anybody of any age or fitness level to complete this programme.  You can down load this for free by logging into app store on your mobile phone and search for Couch to 5k. You can do it!”

“My name is Sophie Scott and I am Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust’s Healthy Eating Champion.  I was inspired by Jess and Rach, who are our Health and Wellbeing Leads to eat well and for me this meant swapping a few of my favourite snacks for healthier options.

"My top five favourites have been:

• Breadsticks instead of crisps (I love the sticks with sesame seeds!)
• Making my own granola for breakfast and stopping buying shop-bought cereals that can be full of sugar (see my recipe below)
• Instead of a sandwich I make a salad to take to work and pack it full of seeds, olives, and tinned pulses such as chick peas or butter beans – it’s really filling!
• I have been trying out the sugar free sweets (not quite as tasty) but Aldi and M&S offer  delicious alternatives
• For a healthy snack, I have swapped cheese, cake and biscuits for either an avocado, hard-boiled egg, home-made granola with fat free yogurt or dried fruit; dates are gorgeous.

"Of course I haven’t given up chocolate and crisps completely but what has been really surprising is that the less I eat of them the less I want, and that is after 40 years of eating them most days!”

Sophie’s granola recipe

        Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons of oil
• 2 tablespoons of honey
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
• 300g (11oz )of porridge oats
• 50 g (2oz) of sunflower seeds
• 50g (2oz) of pumpkin seeds
• 110g (4oz) of either flaked almonds/chopped walnuts/chopped cashew nuts (or nuts of your choice)
• 110g (4oz) raisins or chopped apricots/dates or other dried fruit of your choice.

(you can also  add other things such as  sesame seeds or coconut flakes depending on your preference!)

Method

• Mix the oil, honey and vanilla essence in a large bowl.
• Tip in all the ingredients (excluding the fruit) and mix well until coated in the oil/honey/essence mixture.
• Spread out onto a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes at 150/300/Mark 2
• Remove from oven, stir and add the dried fruit
• Bake for a further 15 minutes
• Cool and keep in an air-tight container.

A remarkable £4,500 was raised at this year’s Bodmin Community Hospital summer fete.

After having to postpone the fete in June due to unforeseen circumstances, the Bodmin Community Hospital League of Friends, who organise the event each year, rearranged the fete for Saturday 21 September.

The £4,500 raised at the event will go onto provide equipment and additional services to Bodmin Community Hospital which are not usually supplied by the NHS.

The annual fete was opened by author Jill Murphy, aided by Bodmin Town Crier, Terry Williams and Matthew the Balloon Man.

As she does every year, Tina Roberts, otherwise known as ‘Firebird’ give her time, talent, music and entertainment to MC the fete completely free of charge, and this year added another talent to her cast of stars: her young quadriplegic son, Bobby Roberts. Bobby opened the proceedings by playing “‘World in Union’ faultlessly on his keyboard which left not a dry eye in the house”, according to the hospital’s League of Friends.

Susie Gore, Chairman of the League of Friends said: “The fete could not have gone ahead the second time around without the help of Cornwall Council, Bodmin Town Council and Midas, who all worked together to ensure the rose garden of the old St Lawrence’s Hospital site was available for the hospital fete prior to being developed.

“We are so grateful to so many. To Jill Murphy, whose presence at the fete was delightful and so much appreciated, especially by all the young and not so young Worst Witch fans. To Tina and to all the organisations who helped, including, Norman Trebilcock of FLEET (the land ambulance charity), to the Bodmin Lions and Rotary Clubs who did a wonderful job helping to set up and dismantle the gazebos, tables and everything else. To the young performers who were all outstanding: Bodmin Town Youth Band, Future Youth Dance and Bodmin Musical Theatre Company, to the Bodmin Army Reserves who erected two of their gazebos to shelter the band and who helped with dismantling. 

“We would also like to thank Jenny Hick, the dog show judge who turns out every year to make this event so popular; the Kernow Party Karts team; face painter, Louise Wadsworth;  Matthew Adams, the Balloon Man and the fire engine team – all who braved the weather to put on a great show.

“Many thanks to all the wonderful Friends who baked a second time around and who came to help on the day; to all the local businesses who donated plants, cup-cakes, scones, prizes and so much more. Thanks to the staff at the hospital who, despite their busy jobs, set up a wonderful selection of stalls and games; to all friends and families and last but not least, the brave public who came to spend their hard earned cash, generously making the fete against all odds a very successful and enjoyable day”

Thank you to the following businesses who supported the Bodmin Community Hospital fete: Mid Cornwall Brokers, Howdens, West End Motors, Hawkins Motors, Bodmin Flooring Centre, Gynn Construction, WTW Cinemas, North & Mid Cornwall Advertisers, Bodmin Funeral Directors, Eventzuk Marquees, Midas, Sharps Brewery, Pencarrow, Marlin Rosettes, Moor Pets, Wadebridge Wines, Ruses Gas, Bodmin Nursery, Pinsla Nursery, Trelawney Garden Centre, Brandon Hire, Bridge Bike Hire, Malcolm Barnecutt Bakery, St Austell Brewery, Williams Dairy, Trevathan Farm, Jai the Jeweller, RJ Bray & Son, Sundown by ROCS, Auto-Graph Signs, Golden Fry, Aruba Blu, Jai the Jeweller, Torch Fire Protection, Peter Ford Electrics and Phoenix Print.

In just over three months, 70 supporters recognised the value of therapeutic horticulture, and donated a total of £16,220 to support the ‘Grow Outdoors’ campaign, exceeding the initial target of £12,000.

‘Grow Outdoors’ was launched to raise money to go towards raised beds, sensory planters, and a blackboard wall for outdoor art expression and therapy at Sowenna – Cornwall’s first child and adolescent mental health unit.

Every pledge that was made will enable the young people to plant, nurture and sow herbs, flowers, fruits and vegetables. The £4000 beyond the target will help fund more gardening packs so Sowenna staff can keep running horticultural therapy sessions for as long as possible.

Dr Sebastian Rotheray, CAMHS Crisis and Inpatient Consultant, commented: ‘The importance of ‘green therapies’ for young people with mental health difficulties is well established. Having a well-developed and nurtured green space at Sowenna will be of a great holistic benefit to the unwell young people receiving treatment at the hospital.’ 

Sowing seeds and tending to plants is a process that not all of us experience, but is something that can have massive benefits to mental wellbeing. Nurturing something bigger than you gives a sense of stability and control.

Having these resources at Sowenna will make a massive difference to young people and their recovery. By nurturing plants, the patients will learn to nurture themselves, and invest in the beauty of their lives – they are planning for a future.

Sowenna opened earlier this month and is now supporting its first patients.