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On National Social Prescribing Day (9th March 2023), find out more from one of our colleagues in the Social Prescribing Link Worker team;
A day in the life of… Our Social Prescribing Link Worker
Hi, my name is Sharon and I’m a social prescribing link worker for Citizens Advice Solihull Borough in partnership with Solihull Healthcare Partnership (SHP). I began this role in December 2019 and I receive referrals from GP’s, Admin staff, Care Navigators and Pharmacists.
People are always asking me; what is a Social Prescribing Link Worker and what can you do? Link workers give people time, focusing on 'what matters to me' and taking a holistic approach to people's health and wellbeing. They connect people to community groups and statutory services for practical and emotional support. We work alongside community assets and if there is a need for a particular service we work with the local community to provide that service. For example, due to COVID-19 many activity groups stopped. We started a coffee morning for those socially isolated patients who were very scared about going out. This has been a great success, people have made friends and are socialising outside of the coffee morning now, one patient found employment and a number of patients would like to now volunteer!
Prior to starting my role, I worked in residential care as a support worker, senior and care home manager. I have also worked and volunteered for Citizens Advice and trained as an adviser. I have also worked as a teaching assistant in a secondary school, working with pupils with learning disabilities. This has given me great knowledge of the care system, and also how to help and listen to the needs of the patients I support. I have a great knowledge of the local services in the area.
My typical day starts at 8:30am where I check my referrals for the day. I will have two new referrals and up to 10 follow up calls to complete. I also have a team meeting to attend every morning.
I spend one hour on my first call to a patient where I work together with the patient to develop a personalised care plan to help improve their health and wellbeing. I will deal with any urgent issues straight away and then spend 12 weeks working with that patient looking at all aspects of their life and what the barriers are to improving their health and wellbeing.
An example of a first call could be a patient who has mental health issues but they may not be getting the support they need. I take the time to listen and find out what is important to them. I would then liaise with the local services they are involved in and help find new services that can support them. I would find out if they needed additional support with benefits, debt, housing, etc, and refer them to the relevant support services. I would also discuss the importance of being active and socialised, and help find the patient something that they would be interested in taking part in. I would also help them access and attend any activity group if this is what is needed.
After completing my two new referrals I would then do my follow up calls, I will phone patients for an update and see what further support is needed. If I have referred someone to a service and they have not heard from that service within a reasonable period of time, I would chase this up for the patient. I may also have news regarding a club or activity they may be interested in. They can update me on any benefit gains and successes they have had.
In between patient calls I update SHP on patients, have meetings with local community services and groups to develop those relationships, so we can work in partnership with them for the benefit of SHP patients and the wider community. For example, during COVID-19 I lead a project called ‘The Tree of Reflection’ that is now on display in Solihull Library. This project was aimed at helping people who had lost a loved one during the pandemic and it was an opportunity for people to come together and start a conversation about the impact COVID-19 has had on all our lives. I worked with the local council, care homes and support services to bring this project to the community, and it will be going on a tour of Solihull and its next venue is the Library in Chelmsley Wood. I also have a huge amount of administration to complete that needs to be accurate and up to a high standard, all my CAB case recording is independently audited. I work with a dedicated team at Citizens Advice who are always there to support me and the patients.
I really feel honoured to do this role. It is a pleasure to help people overcome the many challenges they face in their lives. It is a very challenging role and can be very demanding, but when a patient thanks me for the time I have given them it makes it all worthwhile. I really feel social prescribing is a great example of personalised care.
The future: As a social prescriber I am getting busier by the day and from talking to the community and SHP patients there is a real need for this service. We can help build a stronger connected community and a strong community is a healthy community.
I am also working on community projects with Citizens Advice and these are: Introducing Chatty Benches to Solihull to help reduce social isolation and to improve the mental health of our community; and The Wellbeing Line, for the most isolated people in our community. We refer patients to a befriending service, however there is always a waiting list, so we have a group of volunteers who phone the patients every week until they start receiving calls from the service we referred them to. This ensures that there is someone there if they need any help.
International Women's Day
Happy International Women's Day to all our colleagues, and all the amazing and inspiring women working at SHP and in Primary Care - thank you for all your hard work, dedication and everything you do.
This International Women's Day we're sharing some of our ‘A Day in the Life of’ series featuring just a few of the many talented women at our practice below..
Find out more about International Women's Day online at https://internationalwomensday.com
A Day in the Life of… a Care Navigator
My name is Cathrina and I’m a Care Navigator at Solihull Healthcare Partnership.
The 84-year-old pensioner possibly having issues with addiction to controlled drugs, a mum with an unwell five year-old child, an agitated patient who has run out of anti-depressants and a bereaved family reporting the death of a loved one.
These are just some of the calls that I received in one day as a Care Navigator with Solihull Healthcare Partnership – the largest GP partnership in Solihull, providing care to more than 55,000 patients across six surgery sites.
My typical day runs from 12.30pm until 6.30pm, and it’s an intense afternoon of back-to- back calls from the physically and sometimes mentally, unwell. My role and that of my colleagues, is to listen and safely signpost patients to the most appropriate source of help provided by SHP which can include their GP, a community pharmacist, nurse, minor operations or other community services such as sexual and mental health services.
Many of the calls we receive at our hub based at Shirley Medical Centre may not require the services of a GP, and our role as specially trained Care Navigators is to help ensure patients see the most appropriate healthcare professional or service for their needs.
Loneliness and heartache can’t be cured with a prescription however and it’s a sign of the times that so many of us are suffering with our mental health.
Often the elderly or vulnerable person who has called to see their doctor also wants to just talk.
I took a call from a 94-year-old lady who was also the carer for her husband who had dementia. She couldn’t walk far so found it hard to drop off her repeat prescriptions at her local surgery.
She didn’t have access online and didn’t like to ask either of her daughters for help. She was able to ring us though so it was important to reassure her that her medication would be sent to her pharmacy in good time. But it was also a chance to ask if there was anything that we could help her with and if the surgery's social prescriber could offer assistance.
At the other end of the scale, I had an anxious mum who was worried that her son's had a sore bottom which turned out to be worms. It was a simple case of popping to her nearest pharmacy to obtain medication to treat the whole family, therefore saving a GP appointment for someone more in need.
Many of my calls are patients following up the results of blood tests and referrals or are requesting repeat prescriptions. Some are worried that their pharmacy has not got a particular medication in stock. We can seek the advice of our in-house pharmacy and pharmacy technician team - pharmacists are highly qualified medical professionals with at least five years of training.
Answering the hundreds of calls each day is often like opening Pandora's Box; suicidal patients who are urgently dealt with, a newly pregnant woman booking her first midwife appointment or a call from a Marie Curie specialist nurse dealing with the final days of a patient's life.
It's astoundingly busy and we often bear the brunt of people's frustrations, but helping patients to live their best life is so rewarding and I wouldn't swap my job for the world.
A Day in the Life of… a Physician Associate
My name is Farzana Islam, also known as Sylvia (there is reason for using my middle name but you’ll have to ask me the story when you see me). I am the Physician Associate at Solihull Healthcare Partnership (SHP). I started in June 2020 and have mainly been a part of the acute care team supporting with telephone triage calls alongside GP’s, Advanced Nurse Practitioners, Clinical Pharmacists and Care Navigators.
Many people ask me, what is a Physician Associate? My role supports doctors in the diagnosis and management of patients. I am trained to perform a number of roles including assessing and taking medical histories, performing examinations, analysing test results, and treating and managing acute problems and illnesses in children and adults.
Prior to joining SHP, I started my career as a Registered Nurse in Solihull Hospital’s Acute Medical Unit and then moved to Birmingham Heartlands Hospital A&E department where I met some Physician Associates that got me interested in the role.
I trained as a Physician Associate and on graduating worked in both Secondary Care (Acute Medical Unit/Accident & Emergency) and Primary Care, following which I then worked in a General Practice in Birmingham for over a year.
My typical day starts at 8am with telephone triage calls, which can be everything from patients with chest infections, urine and ear infections to mental health and more – no one day is the same!
Today, for example, I called an urgent ambulance for a very unwell seven-month old baby to go to hospital, admitted a patient to hospital with a suspected Pulmonary Embolism, and gave urgent support to a patient suffering with mental health decline and liaised with the mental health crisis team.
I also have face-to-face consultations following the initial telephone consultations - this can vary depending on the calls we receive on the day and their presenting complaints – and I contact patients to follow up from their recent consultations to find out how they were progressing and if they needed any further treatment.
Due to the latest COVID-19 restrictions, and to protect vulnerable patients and staff members, I also see patients with suspected COVID-19 in the Ambulatory assessment Unit or on a designated car park area on surgery sites. This allows us to ensure they were seen and assessed for how unwell they were and if they needed referring for further treatment and urgent care at hospital.
My typical day also includes working with the pharmacy team and duty ‘on call’ doctors to assess acute patients contacting us with their on-the-day needs, and playing a key part in the team that delivers acute care for patients.
In between patients, I review blood test results, swabs and other investigations, as well as referrals, and go through hospital letters from Consultants to review if any further action is required for the patient as follow up.
It’s a great role and I love being able to provide care for our patients. At the beginning some patients were sceptical of my role and just wanted to see a GP, however once I’ve explained who I am and what I can do, I’ve had nothing but great feedback from patients.
A Day in the Life of a… General Practitioner
Hi, my name is Dr Behl and I’ve been a GP Partner at Solihull Healthcare Partnership (SHP) since 2018.
I’ve been a doctor for thirteen years and a GP for six years. After qualifying from Leicester Medical School, I have worked across the Midlands in different medical specialities before deciding on a career in General Practice.
Although I initially set out to be an acute medical physician, I was finding the pace of hospital life and the quick turnaround of patients on the wards dissatisfying. I was longing to build relationships with patients, following them on their individual journeys and providing the continuity of care which is the cornerstone of General Practice.
I have since developed a clinical interest in Rheumatology, working in a Community Rheumatology Clinic in Birmingham, having completed a postgraduate qualification from the University of South Wales. I assess patients with a variety of joint and muscle conditions, such as Rheumatoid Arthritis, Lupus and Fibromyalgia, amongst many others. Once again, I see patients from all ages and walks of life, sometimes with quite complicated disease which makes this a particularly interesting speciality. The interplay of disease and how this impacts a patient in their home, work and personal relationships is extremely important and with my GP hat on, I feel I can provide a holistic approach to care.
As a GP Partner here at SHP, I am also very involved with all aspect of running a large practice and this is extremely important. Being able to have a career which balances clinical care along with organisational responsibility keeps me intellectually stimulated to remain passionate about general practice and providing the best possible care to our patients.
I also have roles at Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Board within the Workforce team, primarily focussing on recruitment and retention of GP’s at a time where there is a significant shortage of GP’s within the UK. To overcome this, we offer a variety of schemes and programme which I oversee and deliver.
My typical day at SHP will involve starting early at 8am, reviewing my clinics of the day and to see which patients have been booked in and whether any home visits have been allocated. Before the clinic starts, I like to authorise prescriptions and review blood results, but this is not always possible due to the sheer volume of work we deal with.
At 8.40am clinic starts, and this can be a combination of telephone, video and face-to-face consultations, which runs right through to midday. The common conditions we deal with are mental health concerns, which has seen a huge surge since the pandemic, but also musculoskeletal issues, minor illnesses, alongside performing medication reviews and reviewing patients with long term conditions such as diabetes. No two days are the same, which makes it really interesting! Also having the pleasure of consulting with children as well as the elderly, or those patients in pain or in anguish means I am constantly changing and adapting my consultation style and approach throughout the day.
Once clinic is done, I will go and do any home visits if allocated, but if not I will use this time to do the referrals from morning clinic, complete my prescriptions, review blood test results and review letters that we receive from hospital clinics or other health professionals. This does generate a lot of work and tasks, and may involve further phone calls to patients.
I then prepare for afternoon clinic, which usually consists of more ‘urgent on the day’ appointments, which have been triaged by the on-duty team, and planned care appointments, which takes me all the way through to 6.30pm. I usually then continue into the evening to complete any outstanding actions and tasks for follow up from the day, as well as planned care such as reviews for certain groups of patients, including patients with cancer or learning disabilities.
Every day brings with it new challenges, but that’s what makes it such a rewarding job, and every day I enjoy delivering the best care I can to our patients.
A Day in the Life of… a Pharmacy Technician
My name is Kayleigh and I am a Pharmacy Technician here at Solihull Healthcare Partnership (SHP).
I previously worked as a Pharmacy Technician in Boots after qualifying in 2013, followed by an online pharmacy and then joining Monkspath Surgery in 2016 as a Receptionist. I took on additional training and qualified as a pharmacy technician in 2021 in which I then joined the Pharmacy team.
The most frequent question I am asked is, what is a Pharmacy Technician? Pharmacy Technicians play an important role within general practice and complement the more clinical work of our clinical pharmacists.
Pharmacy Technicians (PTs) are healthcare professionals registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council and in general practice, PTs are supporting pharmacists and GPs to focus on advanced skills by undertaking tasks such as medicines reconciliation on discharge, management of prescription queries and repeat requests, helping patients to get the best from their medicines increasing their compliance and concordance, recommend over-the-counter medication using national guidance, improving repeat prescribing processes, including promotion of repeat dispensing and online ordering, minimising clinical risk and aiming to reduce wasted medicines.
My typical day can be anything from monitoring blood test appointments made for patients on blood thinning medication, to assessing safety alerts from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), to managing a request from an appliance provider who is requesting us to order incontinence products.
I love that every day is different. One minute I can be booking a patient in for a complex medication review with a Pharmacist, the next I can be dealing with a query from a patient checking if their hospital changes for medication have come through and medical record is up-to-date to the next, then I can be contacting a hospital to chase the relevant documents before medication can be prescribed for a patient as requested by one of our Doctors, and then I can be sending out a text message to patients to inform them that if they use steroids that they may need a steroid card. It certainly keeps me busy!
I enjoy the role as you can continue to develop your clinical knowledge and skills (I’m currently doing an asthma course so that I can undertake patient reviews in the future), and I get to have direct contact with our patients. It’s so great to be able to go back to patients and tell them their medication is ready, after they have contacted us to follow up on their medication following a hospital appointment. I like ensuring patients have their medication in time and any changes are done - knowing the patients are happy and that we are helping.
A day in the life of… A Service Delivery Manager
Hi, my name is Natasha. I am a Service Delivery Manager at Solihull Healthcare Partnership (SHP) and I’ve worked in general practice for over nine years.
I started in February 2013 as an Apprentice Receptionist at Monkspath Surgery, which I completed within a year, and then became a permanent Receptionist/Administrator. After a few years I became a Senior Receptionist and in 2017 I completed a diploma course in care leadership and management at University.
In 2019, when SHP was formed, I went on to become a Senior Care Navigator and then progressed to become a Management Support Officer in 2020.
I’ve been in the role of Service Delivery Manager since May 2022, and look after two of our surgery sites, Monkspath Surgery and The Jacey Practice. Within the teams at my two surgery sites, there are Care Navigators, Doctors and Nurses, that all help with all patient appointments, whether it’s face-to-face or telephone appointments.
My role as a Service Delivery Manager is a new role at SHP primary care network and is a very varied one, no one day is the same!
My typical day starts at 7.45am, making sure my surgery sites are ready to open at 8.30am, that all the team are on-site and that any sickness cover is arranged, which can sometimes mean I’m covering for a Care Navigator on reception at one of the sites. Working alongside two other Service Delivery Managers covering our other surgery sites, we all ensure the rotas for both clinical and non-clinical teams are achieved.
A typical day also includes working with our HR, Governance, Finance and Communication teams to ensure that all colleagues and patients are updated regularly, as well as supporting with the training needs of the team, especially with new employees.
I also meet with clinical colleagues to discuss care plans with external providers such as District Nurses, Marie Curie and Macmillan Nurses, to ensure we are all providing the best care packages for any terminally ill patients.
As well as ensuring the teams are on-site, I regularly monitor and inspect my surgery sites to ensure that all facilities are in working order, that we comply with all health and safety standards, and that we are monitoring infection control.
Every day is different as a Service Delivery Manager and it can be very challenging, whether that’s helping a patient that’s collapsed in the surgery, supporting a blue light ambulance arriving on-site for a patient or managing staff sickness and dealing with the IT computer systems or internet access.
What I enjoy the most every day is being able to help and support our patients and everyone that I work with, problem solving and finding new ways to improve our patient experiences.
I love to see colleagues that I’ve trained progress in their careers and feeling like I’ve helped them along the way, as well as seeing a patient say thank you to one of our Care Navigators, Doctors or Nurses, and to know that we have provided the best care for the patient and have achieved something together. When it comes to the end of day, for me knowing that both our team and patients are happy makes all the hard work and long hours worthwhile.
Whilst the past three years have been tough for everyone and the challenging times continue, I hope that as Service Delivery Manager here at SHP I can continue to support and help my colleagues and patients, and bring back some happiness in the NHS.
A Day in the Life of a Governance Officer
Hi, my name is Gaynor and I am a Governance Officer at Solihull Healthcare Partnership (SHP).
I have been with SHP for just over a year and a half, and in that time I have had many duties within the organisation, including setting up the governance for and subsequently working at, the very first COVID-19 Vaccination Centre Clinic at Monkspath Surgery back in December 2020, which was ground breaking and I was proud to play a part in.
Since graduation, I have worked in many different industry sectors including IT and Postgraduate Medical Education, before joining the NHS in 2019. My role at that time involved co-ordinating the Extended Access and Anticoagulation programmes across North and South Solihull, where I was first introduced to SHP!
So, what is Governance in healthcare?
It is referred to as clinical governance, “a system through which NHS organisations are accountable for continuously improving the quality of their services and safeguarding high standards of care by creating an environment in which excellence in clinical care will flourish”. It involves monitoring systems and processes to provide assurance of patient safety and quality of care across the organisation.
In General Practice, the Care Quality Commission states governance is a systematic approach to maintaining and improving the quality of patient care and service delivery. It should be given a high priority by all healthcare providers.
As Governance Officer my role is very varied, for example yesterday I was updating our intranet with very important Safeguarding information following the Safeguarding Network Leads Meeting. This included research into the importance of engaging male carers in the prevention of non-accidental injury of children under the age of 1. Today, in conjunction with our new Service Delivery Managers at SHP, I am in the process of writing site information sheets for new colleagues joining the team. Even though all of our sites are based on a standardised operating model, there are subtle differences at our surgery sites, such as where the Fire Marshall jackets are kept.
A key part of my role is also distributing policies via our intranet to colleagues across SHP, which are ever changing due to changes in our processes to improve delivery and/or legislative requirements. For example, we have just received new Information Governance templates from our Data Protection Officer, which I am updating and distributing for SHP.
It’s important that we keep our patients up to date too and one really great way of doing this is via the surgery site noticeboards. One of my responsibilities is to keep these up to date with legislative requirements, such as liability insurance certificates, CQC registration, ICO certificate and Data Protection Policy, as well as health and safety information such as Fire Meeting Point and our Zero Tolerance Policy. We have recently had an emphasis on Abuse and reporting this, along with support pathways for those patients who may be in abusive relationships. We also display NHS Monthly Campaign posters on our patient boards, for example this month it was Chest Pain – Dial 999, and last month it was Cervical Screening and the importance of making timely appointments for check-ups.
As governance is a high priority for SHP, my role is a busy one, but one that I really enjoy. It is great to be part of a team that provides an effective governance framework to support the delivery of good quality care to our patients.
Telephone Access System Update:
What a few weeks it been! Our new telephone call flow has now been live since the 14th February, and since implementing the new system we have seen shorter waiting times, concise and relevant announcements, and fewer menu options.
As we endeavour to make continuous improvements to the patient experience, we would welcome any feedback regarding the new telephone call flow by either completing the patient telephony experience survey, which will be sent direct to patients following their call, OR by getting in touch by email at admin.shp@nhs.net, via the SHP PPG (shp.ppg@nhs.net) or by speaking to a member of our Care Navigation team by telephone or at one of our surgery sites.
Thank you.
General Practice Appointment Data Update - 24/02/23
Following the publication of the latest General Practice Appointment Data (GPAD) yesterday, 23rd February 2023, Solihull Healthcare Partnership (SHP) are pleased to see the practice continuing to perform above the national and regional levels for the number of face-to-face appointments, appointments with a GP and same day appointments for January 2023*.
As published by NHS Digital*, SHP delivered 26,171 appointments in January 2023, of which 61.5% were with a GP, which is 13.8% above the national level and 7.3% above the regional level for the same period. In addition, 78.1% of all appointments in January were carried out face to face, up just over 8% on the national and regional levels for the same month.
51.7% of all appointments in January took place on the same day that they were booked, which is nearly 6.4% above the national level, and 89% of all appointments took place within two weeks (0-14 days), which is 3.6% above the national level for the same month.
Despite the pressures and challenges for General Practice, and continuing high demand with patients contacting us and requests for appointments, it is pleasing to see the practice performing above national and regional levels on a number of areas on appointments from the data published, and whilst we recognises that this data is described as experimental statistics**, we do see the publication of GPAD as an opportunity to demonstrate our primary care activity.
We also know there is still more to do and are working hard on continuing to improve patient access and services, and delivering the best care we can.
We would also like to take this opportunity to provide an update on some of the things we are doing to address the pressures;
- Workforce Recruitment - We continue to recruit into our Care Navigation team to help deal with demand and continue to improve our telephone answering performance.
- Training & Development – We are continuing to further upskill our Care Navigation team with an ongoing learning and development programme, with additional signposting training.
- Telephone Access System Review and Reconfiguration - The new patient telephone journey is now live (from 14th February 2023), with a new call flow process with shorter waiting times, concise and relevant announcements, and fewer menu options. The feedback we received from the SHP Patient Participation Group (PPG) during testing was invaluable in providing us with patient insight to further improve the call flow and telephone audio messaging. We are also continuing to seek patient feedback following their telephone experience with our patient telephony experience survey.
- Digital Access - We continue to review and investigate, with our new Digital Transformation Lead, all available new technology and digital access tools to facilitate an expansion of the digital offering to our patients as soon as possible.
A reminder that our current online access enables the ability for patients to;
- Order and review current/past medication
- Review allergies and adverse reactions
- Review vaccination status and obtain a COVID-19 passport
- Book appointments for routine/scheduled appointments mostly during our extended access GP sessions, 6:30pm-8:00pm, Monday to Friday. Given the significant demands placed from face to face and telephone interactions as popular ways for patients to access our services and for patient safety, this service offer is limited whilst we continue to work on solutions to make our digital access safe and sustainable.
- Community Pharmacy Consultation Service (CPCS) - To improve access for patients to GP appointments, we continue to use schemes such as referrals to the Community Pharmacy Consultation Service (CPCS), and have recently recruited an additional Clinical Pharmacist to enhance the support and improve delivery of the scheme.
We are continuing to prioritise patients by clinical need, and provide care and services for as many people as we can, and with our multi-disciplinary team working alongside our GPs, patients can access the care they need from the right healthcare professionals at the most appropriate time.
Notes:
*Data shown is for the period of January 2023 from General Practice Appointment Data (GPAD) - Appointments in General Practice - NHS Digital - which is collected from our GP System Supplier and published by NHS Digital (NHSD).
**GPAD is described as experimental statistics and as a result has a number of limitations. NHSD has an explanation of those limitations here https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/appointments-in-general-practice/appointments-in-general-practice-supporting-information.
The publication presents details of patient appointments that are recorded in the GP appointments system, rather than the totality of interactions. It should not be considered to be a complete view of general practice activity, workload or capacity. Activities such as reviewing test results, referrals and so on, as well as all extended hours and weekend appointments, are not included in this data.
GP Appointment Data Breakdown for SHP for January 2023*:
Total Appointment: 26,171
Number of Same Day Appointments – 13,532, 51.7% of appointments in January took place on the same day they were booked
Number of appointments within 2 weeks (0-14 Days) – 23,309, 89% of all appointments were within 2 weeks
How the patient was seen (e.g. in person, by telephone):
20,441 - Face-to-face appointments, 78.1% of all appointments in January were carried out face to face.
5,412 – Telephone appointments, 20.7% of all appointments in the month were carried out by telephone
Who patients were seen by (GP, nurse, other HCP):
16,087 appointments were carried out by a GP, 61.5% of all appointments were with a GP.
10,084 appointments were carried out by other Healthcare Professionals at the practice, 38.5%.
Community Pharmacist Consultation Scheme
SHP participate in an approach to improve access for patients to GP appointments. The aim is to direct patients to the most appropriate healthcare professional, which may be a GP or a pharmacist.
If your symptoms could be resolved by a booked consultation with your local pharmacist instead of the GP, you will be given a same-day referral to a local community pharmacy.
SHP takes part in the Community Pharmacist Consultation Service (CPCS), which includes Astwerwell Pharmacy in Shirley and is expanding to more community pharmacies local to our surgery sites.
We think this is a good thing. Once you see how great your local pharmacist is – they are highly trained and skilled clinicians experienced in treating minor illnesses – we don’t think you’ll look back.
This will also help us to free up GP appointments for people with more complex health needs and ensure that everyone gets treated at the right time, by the right healthcare professional.
We are keen to hear what you think and will be listening to your comments and feedback about your experience of using this service.
You can give comments and feedback - Click Here
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Take the worry out of weaning...
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NEW Telephone Access System Reconfiguration – Going Live!
As you may be aware, we have been working hard on improving the experience we provide to patients when contacting us by telephone by reconfiguring our call flow and audio messaging.
We are pleased to announce the new patient telephone journey will be live from Tuesday 14th February 2023, and we are excited to be introducing a new telephone call flow process with shorter waiting times, concise and relevant announcements, and fewer menu options.
The feedback we received from the SHP Patient Participation Group (PPG) during testing has been invaluable in providing us with patient insight and input into improving the call flow further. As a result of the SHP PPG feedback, we have made further improvements, including;
- Creating two new call centres for test results and prescriptions
- Tailoring the audio announcements and comfort messages to be specific to the patient’s needs
- Changing the audio announcement to state press 2 for appointments or cancellations, and
- Refreshing the on hold music following a choice of music options presented, to name but a few...
Whilst we are excited to go live with our new call flow on Tuesday, we will continue to review and seek feedback to further improve our telephone access system. Therefore, if you would like to give us feedback on your experience using our new telephone call flow, please get in touch using our online feedback form at https://solihullhealthcarepartnership.nhs.uk/patient-feedback-2/, by email at admin.shp@nhs.net, via the SHP PPG or by speaking to a member of our Care Navigation team by telephone or at our surgery sites.
Solihealth Community Hub at Monkspath - Providing urgent, on the day appointments to patients in Solihull
Solihull Healthcare Partnership (SHP) are part of Solihealth. Solihealth is the collaboration of the five Primary Care Networks (PCNs) that combined to make up the Solihull Locality. Solihealth is the PCN led Solihull Primary Care provider collaborative that enables delivery of whole locality based services for Solihull. Current services that we deliver at whole locality scale include specialist Dermatology service and the recently commissioned Community Access Hub at Monkspath, commissioned by NHS Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Board (ICB), to provide additional same day appointment capacity through to April 2023.
What is the Solihealth Community Hub?
Solihealth are delivering a new cross-PCN, multi-disciplinary urgent access service, commissioned by NHS Birmingham and Solihull ICB, where appointments are booked directly by the Practice teams.
We have come together as Primary Care Networks (PCNs) in Solihull to develop this service to improve access and care for all patients under Solihealth, which commences from the 6th February 2023, and is delivered from Monkspath for South Solihull and Hurst Lane Clinic for North Solihull.
The Solihealth Community Hubs offer additional same day, urgent access appointments to patients throughout Solihull with linkage to GP records for improved continuity of care and safety.
The appointment types include face-to-face, telephone and virtual appointments booked by the GP Practice teams and Care Navigators, ensuring appropriate access to the right clinician through the most appropriate platform.
Why is this important for patients?
At this time of unprecedented healthcare needs of patients, pressure on GP practices and frustrations of patients, this service has been set up to try and improve care for the patient population in Solihull.
The overall aims of the Solihealth Community Hubs are;
- To improve access for our patients so they are more likely to get timely access to care and we can provide additional capacity of appointments for patients.
- The whole health and care system is under pressure. We hope to work with our partners in the wider NHS and social care to ensure patients are seen by the right person first time, avoid admission wherever possible and that we work up in a joined up way for the benefit of patients.
Who works at Solihealth Community Hub?
This service has been headed up by the PCN/practice multidisciplinary teams, Clinical Directors and the central Solihealth Team. There is a multi-disciplinary team working at the Solihealth Community Hub, brought in to specifically to provide additional same day appointment capacity, and to work alongside existing practice healthcare professionals who are working additional sessions on their days off.
The Solihealth Community Hubs will provide additional clinical capacity through GP's and a clinical multi-disciplinary team.
Can patients access the service directly?
All appointments for the Solihealth Community Hub are managed by the Care Navigator/Reception teams for each surgery within the PCN's.
Which patients can use the Hub?
The Solihealth Community Hub at Monkspath is for Solihull Healthcare Partnership (SHP), GPS Healthcare, Rural and South Central Solihull PCN’s. There is an additional site at Hurst Lane to cover the North Solihull PCN.
How are appointments delivered?
Appointments are delivered through a combination of virtual (telephone, video) and face-to-face appointments when clinically required.
For the latest patient information, updates and news, visit solihullhealthcarepartnership.nhs.uk or our social media (facebook.com/SolihullHP & @SolihullHP), and for Solihealth visit https://www.facebook.com/SolihealthGP
General Practice Appointment Data Update - 02/02/23
Solihull Healthcare Partnership (SHP) continues to work hard to deliver care for our registered patients, and as we see high demand with patients contacting us and requests for appointments continue, our GP's and all healthcare professionals are working longer and harder than ever before, seeing more patients face to face, as well as offering telephone appointments, every week.
Following the publication of the latest General Practice Appointment Data (GPAD) on the 26th January 2023, we are pleased to see the practice continuing to perform above the national levels for the number of face-to-face appointments, appointments with a GP and same day appointments for December 2022*.
As published by NHS Digital*, SHP delivered 19,873 total appointments in December 2022, of which 64.8% were with a GP, which is 16% above the national level for the same period. In addition, 78.1% of all appointments in December 2022 were carried out face to face, up 9.8% on the national level for the same month.
49.8% of all appointments in December took place on the same day that they were booked, which is nearly 2% above the national level, and 89% of all appointments took place within two weeks (0-14 days), which is 4% above the national level for the same month.
Despite the pressures and challenges for General Practice, it is pleasing to see the practice performing above national levels on a number of areas on appointments from the data published, and whilst we recognises that this data is described as experimental statistics**, we do see the publication of GPAD as an opportunity to demonstrate our primary care activity.
We also know there is still more to do and we are continuing to work hard on improving patient access and services, and delivering the best care we can.
We would also like to take this opportunity to update you on some of the things we are doing to address the pressures we are experiencing;
- Workforce recruitment - We continue to deliver on our recruitment plan for our Care Navigation team to help deal with demand and improve our telephone answering performance, with new starters in October to December.
- We are continuing the further recruitment of additional health professionals aimed at supporting GPs, including Physician Associate, Social Prescriber, Clinical Pharmacist and Pharmacy Technician.
- Training & Development - Our Care Navigation team are trained to ask questions to direct all callers to the most appropriate resource. We are continuing to further upskill our Care Navigation team with an improved training and development programme, as well as additional support for wellbeing and retention.
- Telephone Access System Review and Reconfiguration is in progress to improve call flow and telephone audio messaging, and to ensure we improve the patient journey.
The SHP Patient Participation Group (PPG) are currently testing the new telephone call flow (from 19th January 2023), and the feedback they are providing is being used to fine tune the system, ensuring we improve the patient experience with shorter waiting times, concise and relevant announcements, and fewer menu options.
- Digital Access - We continue to review and investigate all available new technology and digital access tools to facilitate an expansion of the digital offering to our patients as soon as possible.
Our current online access enables the ability for patients to;
- Order and review current/past medication
- Review allergies and adverse reactions
- Review vaccination status and obtain a COVID-19 passport
- Book appointments for routine/scheduled appointments mostly during our extended access GP sessions, 6:30pm-8:00pm, Monday to Friday. Given the significant demands placed from face to face and telephone interactions as popular ways for patients to access our services and for patient safety, this service offer is limited whilst we continue to work on solutions to make our digital access safe and sustainable.
- We are improving our web site to support patient access, with the support and engagement from NHS Birmingham and Solihull ICB, and the SHP Patient Participation Group, to achieve this.
- Clinical capacity is enhanced with extended access, with additional evening (Monday to Friday, 6.30pm-8pm) and weekend (Saturday, 9am-5pm) pre-booked appointments.
- We continue to use schemes such as referrals to the Community Pharmacy Consultation Service.
We are continuing to prioritise patients by clinical need, and provide care and services for as many people as we can, and with our multi-disciplinary team working alongside our GPs, patients can access the care they need from the right healthcare professionals at the most appropriate time.
We continue to be hugely grateful to our patients for their understanding, patience and kindness.
Notes:
*Data shown is for the period of December 2022 from General Practice Appointment Data (GPAD) - Appointments in General Practice - NHS Digital - which is collected from our GP System Supplier and published by NHS Digital (NHSD).
**GPAD is described as experimental statistics and as a result has a number of limitations. NHSD has an explanation of those limitations here https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/appointments-in-general-practice/appointments-in-general-practice-supporting-information.
The publication presents details of patient appointments that are recorded in the GP appointments system, rather than the totality of interactions. It should not be considered to be a complete view of general practice activity, workload or capacity. Activities such as reviewing test results, referrals and so on, as well as all extended hours and weekend appointments, are not included in this data.
NEW Telephone Access System Reconfiguration
Telephone Access System Reconfiguration is in progress to improve call flow and telephone audio messaging, and to ensure we improve the patient journey for our registered SHP patients...
Our new telephone call flow is coming soon! As we continue work hard to improve the patient experience, we are excited to be introducing a new telephone call flow process with shorter waiting times, concise and relevant announcements, and fewer menu options.
The SHP Patient Participation Group (PPG) are currently testing the new telephone call flow and the feedback provided will be used to fine tune the system, ensuring we improve and provide the best possible patient calling experience.
Please keep an eye out on web site, social media and at our surgery sites as we will be keeping you informed of when the new call flow will be live!
#shpppg #PPG #thankyou #patientfeedback
SHP Patient Participation Group A.G.M.
Photo-caption: Dr Lupoli speaking at the SHP PPG A.G.M., 19th January 2023.
Solihull Healthcare Partnership performs above regional and national levels (30/11/22)
Solihull Healthcare Partnership (SHP) welcomes the publication of General Practice Appointment Data (GPAD) on Thursday 24th November 2022, and is pleased to see the practice performing above regional and national levels for the number of face-to-face appointments, appointments with a GP and same day appointments for October 2022*.
SHP recognises that although this data contains important information, it is described as experimental statistics and as a result has a number of limitations. It does not show all the work happening within SHP, totality of GP activity and workload, the complexity of activity, delivery and breadth of services offered, or provide an indicator of the practice quality or patient care.
We see the publication of GPAD as an opportunity to demonstrate our primary care activity and pressures, using appointment data in combination with insights and data from a wider range of sources.
We will continue to regularly review the data to support improvements in data quality, and as part of the delivery and implementation of our Intensive Support Plan, which has been developed with the NHS England Primary Care Transformation Team with the aim of improving services to SHP registered patients.
As we continue to see high demand with patients contacting us and requests for appointments, our GP's and all healthcare professionals at SHP are working longer and harder than ever before, seeing more patients face to face, as well as offering telephone appointments, every week.
SHP are delivering more appointments than ever with 28,815 appointments in total in the month of October, up 20% compared to the same month last year. Around 97% of all appointments were attended in October 2022, of which over 50% were with a GP, up nearly 7% on the national level for the same period.
78% of all appointments in October 2022 were carried out face to face, up 7% on the national level for the same month, with 41% of all appointments taking place on the same day they were booked and 83% of patients seen within two weeks (14 Days).
Dr Lupoli, Chairman and GP Partner for Solihull Healthcare Partnership, said: “Despite the growing pressures and challenges for General Practice, we are pleased to see the practice performing above regional and national levels on a number of areas on appointments from the data published. We know there is still more to do and we are continuing to work hard on improving patient access, whilst delivering the best care we can.
“We would like to reassure our patients that we are continuing to prioritise patients by clinical need, and provide care and services for as many people as we can, and with our multi-disciplinary team working alongside our GPs, patients can access the care they need from the right healthcare professionals at the most appropriate time. We are working hard to deliver the care our patients need.”
Notes:
*Data shown is for the period of October 2022 from ‘Appointments in General Practice: Practice Level Data’, as published by NHS Digital from General Practice Appointment Data (GPAD) - Appointments in General Practice - NHS Digital
On 24 November 2022, NHS Digital (NHSD) published practice level data as laid out in the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care’s “Our Plan for Patients”. This data has been added to the existing monthly Appointments in General Practice publication using the data collected from GP System Suppliers. It contains a breakdown of data including time between booking and appointment date, total appointments, how the patient was seen (e.g., telephone or in person) and who patients were seen by (e.g., GP or nurse).
Data shown below is for the period of October 2022 from the ‘Appointments in General Practice: Practice Level Data’, as published by NHS Digital from General Practice Appointment Data (GPAD), which is collected from our GP System Supplier:
GP Appointment Data Breakdown for SHP for October 2022:
Total Appointment: 28,815
Breakdown of time between booking and appointment date:
Number of Same Day Appointments – 11,869, 41.2% of appointments in October took place on the same day they were booked
Number of appointment within 2-7 Days – 5,866, 20.3% of all appointments were within 2-7 Days of booking
Number of appointments within 2 weeks (0-14 Days) – 23,950, 83.1% of all appointments were within 2 weeks
How the patient was seen (e.g. in person, by telephone):
22,509 - Face-to-face appointments, 78.1% of all appointments in October were carried out face to face.
5,846 – Telephone appointments, 20.2% of all appointments in October were carried out by telephone
Who patients were seen by (GP, nurse, other HCP):
14,483 appointments were carried out by a GP, 50.2% of all appointments were with a GP.
14,332 appointments were carried out by other Healthcare Professionals at the practice.
GPAD is described as experimental statistics and as a result has a number of limitations. NHSD has an explanation of those limitations here https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/appointments-in-general-practice/appointments-in-general-practice-supporting-information.
The publication presents details of patient appointments that are recorded in the GP appointments system, rather than the totality of interactions. It should not be considered to be a complete view of general practice activity, workload or capacity. Activities such as reviewing test results, referrals and so on, as well as all extended hours and weekend appointments, are not included in this data.
.
NHS Healthy Start
Update from Solihull Healthcare Partnership (SHP) - 13/10/22:
We are continuing to work hard to deliver care for our registered patients, whilst seeking solutions to the considerable challenges of general practice and increased demand, and delivering our plan to continue to improve our patient access.
An Intensive Support Plan has been developed and agreed between NHS England Primary Care Transformation Team and SHP, which is being delivered and implemented from July 2022 to December 2022, with the aim of improving services to SHP registered patients by the end of December 2022.
We are continuing to see high demand with patients getting in touch and requests for appointments, with our GP's and all healthcare professionals at SHP seeing patients face to face, as well as offering telephone appointments, every week.
From April to June 2022, we delivered a total of 48,441 appointments, which is an increase of over 22% compared to the same period in 2021. Of the 48,441 total appointments from April to June this year, 28,682 were Doctors’ appointments, a 10% increase compared to the same period last year.
All our doctors, healthcare professionals and every member of the SHP team are working harder and longer than ever before, as we continue to deliver on the breadth of services we offer.
We understand our patients’ frustrations when they have difficulties accessing our services and are sincerely sorry when we hear that patients are reporting unsatisfactory experiences. We want the same as our patients, access to high quality and timely care, and we share patients’ frustrations when this can't be delivered.
Our telephone answering performance from our Care Navigation team dealing with patient requests for appointments improved significantly in August 2022, with a total of 14,290 Care Navigator calls answered, with the average number of calls answered per day at 650 and an average wait time to be answered of 11 minutes and 31 seconds.
In September 2022, unfortunately the improved performance we saw in August was again impacted due to high Care Navigator sickness levels, resulting in a total of 11,832 Care Navigator calls being answered, with the average number of calls answered per day at 563 and an average wait time to be answered of 23 minutes and 45 seconds.
Whilst we were pleased with the improved telephone answering performance in August, we fully acknowledge that patient access continues to require improvement. We know there is more to do and are continuing to work hard with the NHS England Primary Care Transformation Team on implementing the actions of our Intensive Support Plan and to make the levels of telephone answering performance sustainable.
We also continue to work with our partners, including NHS Birmingham and Solihull ICB and Solihull Council, as well as SHP Patient Participation Group, to achieve this.
We would like to reassure our partners and patients that we are continuing to do everything we can to improve patient access, and to update you on some of the things we are doing to address the pressures we are experiencing;
- Workforce recruitment - We continue to deliver on our recruitment plan for our Care Navigation team to help deal with demand and improve our telephone answering performance, and now have a twice-monthly schedule for new starters and their induction.
- Further recruitment of additional health professionals aimed at supporting GPs continues, including Physician Associate, Clinical Pharmacist and Pharmacy Technician. In October 2022, we have further added the role of Mental Health Nurse.
- Training & Development - Our Care Navigation team are trained to ask questions to direct all callers to the most appropriate resource. We are continuing to further upskill our Care Navigation team with an improved training and development programme, as well as additional support for wellbeing and retention.
- Telephone Access System Review and Reconfiguration is in progress to improve call flow and telephone audio messaging, resolve intermittent technical issues following patient feedback and to ensure we improve the patient journey.
- Digital Access - We continue to review and investigate all available new technology and digital access tools to facilitate an expansion of the digital offering to our patients as soon as possible, however this must align to our key strategy of clinical triage and care navigation to ensure that clinical need remains the main determinant of priority to the service and that care is delivered by the most appropriate clinician. This then ensures the clinical safety of the service.
- We are improving our web site to support patient access, with the support and engagement from NHS Birmingham and Solihull ICB and the SHP Patient Participation Group, to achieve this.
- Appointment scope and capacity review is in progress to ensure our patients see the right healthcare professionals at the appropriate time.
- Clinical capacity has been enhanced with extended access, with additional evening (Monday to Friday, 6.30pm-8pm) and weekend (Saturday, 9am-5pm) pre-booked appointments.
- We have increased our utilisation of schemes such as referrals to the Community Pharmacy Consultation Service, with 1,025 referrals to the Community Pharmacist Consultation Service from July to September 2022.
We are continuing to prioritise patients by clinical need, and provide care and services for as many people as we can, and we are working hard to deliver the care our patients need and to deliver our intentions of wanting to provide the best care we can as an organisation whilst recognising these challenging times.
We are hugely grateful to our patients and partners for their understanding, patience and kindness.
Child Nasal Flu Vaccines (08/10/22)
We are continuing to deliver our flu programme and are continuing to invite you to book your child, aged 2-3 years old, for their nasal flu vaccine.
You will receive an invitation with a link to book your child’s nasal flu vaccination at one of our surgery site clinics in October, November and December by text*or will be contacted by phone.
If you are unable to attend on the dates specified, or if you have a query or wish to decline the flu vaccination and let us know so we can update your records, please email us at shp.registrations@nhs.net.
*Please note if you receive an invite via text message the link to book expires after 48hours, after which you will be sent a further invite to book.
Flu Vaccine - Walk-In for those at risk
Flu Vaccines - Walk-In Tomorrow for those at Risk
If you are a registered SHP patient aged 18 to 64 who has a long term condition such as asthma or diabetes, we are running a walk-in session for flu vaccines tomorrow (Saturday 1st October 2022), between 1.30pm-4pm, at our Grove Surgery, Shirley Medical Centre and Haslucks Green Medical Centre sites.
We are seeing an increase in cases of flu, so don’t delay, get your flu vaccine and get protected for the winter!
BANK HOLIDAY CLOSURE
Following the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and arrangements relating to her lying in state and subsequent funeral, the Government has confirmed that Monday 19th September will be a Bank Holiday.
Following National NHS England guidance, the practice will be closed on Monday 19th September, and will reopen at 8:00am by telephone and 8.30am at our surgery sites on Tuesday 20th September 2022.
Prescriptions: Please ensure you order and collect your medication as soon as possible.
For life threatening medical emergencies, such as chest pain or breathlessness, dial 999.
For medical issues and queries, dial 111.
If you need support at this time, call 0800 915 9292 or 0121 262 3555 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You can also contact the webchat service at Helpline - Birmingham Mind
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
We are all deeply saddened to hear that Her Majesty The Queen has passed away.
Our thoughts are with the Royal Family at this time.
AUGUST BANK HOLIDAY CLOSURE
The practice will be closed on Monday 29th August 2022.
We will reopen at 8:00am by telephone & 8.30am at our surgery sites on Tuesday 30th August 2022.
Prescriptions Reminder: Please ensure you order & collect your medication well-ahead of time.
For life threatening medical emergencies, such as chest pain or breathlessness, dial 999.
For medical issues & queries during the bank holiday period, dial 111.
We would like to wish all our patients a Happy August Bank Holiday!
Heatwave - Top ways to stay safe
As the hot weather continues, below are some top ways for staying safe when the weather is hot;
- Look out for those who may struggle to keep themselves cool and hydrated. Older people, those with underlying conditions and those who live alone are particularly at risk.
- Close curtains on rooms that face the sun to keep indoor spaces cooler and remember it may be cooler outdoors than indoors.
- Use cool spaces if going outdoors.
- Drink plenty of fluids and avoid excess alcohol.
- Never leave anyone in a closed, parked vehicle, especially infants, young children, vulnerable adults, or animals.
- Try to keep out of the sun between 11am to 3pm, when the UV rays are strongest.
- If you have to go outside in the heat, walk in the shade, apply sunscreen and wear a wide-brimmed hat.
- Avoid physical exertion during the hottest parts of the day.
- Make sure you take water with you if you are travelling.
- During warm weather, going for a swim can provide much welcomed relief. If you are going into open water to cool-down, take care and follow local safety advice.
The NHS web site has lots of useful information at Heatwave: how to cope in hot weather - NHS (www.nhs.uk)
Birmingham, Solihull and Black Country Diabetic Eye Screening Programme
SHP's Move 22 Challenge Completed!
MOVE 22 - Challenge complete!
We’ve completed our Sport Relief's Move 22 challenge, to complete 22 miles over the 12 days of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, as a relay between our surgery sites.
Over the past four days the team at SHP have continued to take on the challenge, and have successfully walked a further 12.62 miles, run 4 miles and cycled 2.8 miles .
In total over the 12 days of the Commonwealth Games, Team SHP have successfully completed 65.71 miles – a huge well done and thank you to all the members of the SHP team who took part voluntarily and completed their part of the challenge in their time off. Also a special thank you to Mahira Patel for joining Team SHP and taking part in the challenge by cycling 2.8 miles with her dad, Dr Bilal Patel, walking alongside.
We have completed this challenge to raise money for Sport Relief, so we would be so grateful for any donations you can make, if you can, to this fantastic charity. You can still donate online via our JustGiving page at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/solihull-healthcare-partnerships-move-22-challenge - Your donation will help tackle inequality, improve mental health and help young people to survive and thrive.
Thank you again to those who have donated so far. We have exceeded our target and would love to raise as much money as possible for this great cause if we can.
Thank you
@SportRelief @ComicRelief #CommonwealthGames #move22challenge #NHS #B2022 #TeamSHP #BSOLActive
SHP's Move 22 Challenge Continues - Day 8...
Team SHP are continuing their Move 22 challenge, moving 22 miles over the 12 days of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, to raise vital funds for Sport Relief.
Today saw another leg of the Move 22 challenge relay completed, with our Governance, Finance and Communications teams walking from Solihull Healthcare Partnership's Monkspath Surgery to Dickens Heath Medical Centre and back, covering a total distance of 5.32 miles.
This latest leg forms part of our Move 22 challenge to help raise money for Sport Relief, so however much you can spare, please donate if you can at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/solihull-healthcare-partnerships-move-22-challenge - Your donation will help tackle inequality, improve mental health, and help young people to survive and thrive.
Thank you again to those who have donated so far, we have exceeded our target and would love to raise more for this great cause!
#thankyou
@Sport Relief @Comic Relief #CommonwealthGames #move22challenge #NHS #B2022 #TeamSHP
#BSOLActive
SHP's Move 22 Challenge Continues
SHP Take on the Move 22 Challenge for Sport Relief - And we’re off!
Queens Baton Relay - Tuesday 26th July 2022
Shake Up Your Summer!
This summer, Better Health have again teamed up with Disney to help get kids active throughout the holidays by playing free 10 Minute Shake Up games.
This year the games are inspired by some of their favourite characters from Disney’s Encanto and Frozen, and Disney and Pixar’s Lightyear, and Marvel’s The Avengers!
Building on eight successful years, the 10 Minute Shake Up campaign aims to inspire children to build confidence in being active, develop new and longer-term physical skills and, most importantly, have fun! We know that children and young people need 60 minutes of physical activity a day, so we have chunked up activities into 10 minutes to help make getting active be easy and fun.
There are loads of games to choose from, all drawing influence from some of your kids’ favourite characters. The games are free, easy to pick up and play and will give kids loads of things to do during the summer holidays. The Disney sports quiz has also been updated and re-launched on the website to help parents find sports and activities their children might enjoy.
So what are you waiting for? Search ‘10 Minute Shake Up’ today or visit www.nhs.uk/healthier-families/activities/10-minute-shake-up
Patient Update (18/07/22):
Dear patients,
We are working incredibly hard to deliver care for our registered patients, find solutions to the challenges of general practice and increased demand, and to deliver our plans to continue to improve our patient access, as quickly as possible.
We are continuing to see unprecedented high demand with patients getting in touch and requests for appointments. GP's and all other healthcare professionals at SHP are seeing patients face to face, as well as offering telephone appointments, every week, as we have done throughout the pandemic.
From January to March 2022, we delivered a total of 60,341 appointments, which is an increase of over 15% compared to the same period in 2020 and a 10% increase compared to the same period in 2021. Of the 60,341 total appointments from January to March this year, 42,216 were Doctors’ appointments; and in the past two months over 52% of all GP appointments have been face to face.
We understand our patients’ frustrations when they have difficulties accessing our services and are sincerely sorry when we hear that patients are reporting unsatisfactory experiences. However all our doctors, healthcare professionals and every member of the SHP team want the same as our patients, access to high quality and timely care, and we share patients’ frustrations when this can't be delivered.
Every member of the SHP team are working harder and longer than ever before, with the GP Patient survey results showing;
- 71% found the receptionists helpful
- 94% were given a time for their last appointment
- 70% say the healthcare professional they saw or spoke to was good at giving them enough time
- 73% say the healthcare professional they saw or spoke to was good at listening to them
- 73% say the healthcare professional they saw or spoke to was good at treating them with care and concern
- 85% were involved as much as they wanted to be in decisions about their care
- 86% had confidence and trust in the healthcare professional they saw or spoke to, and that
- 87% felt their needs were met during their last general practice appointment.
Also following our recent full and robust inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), we received a rating of “Good” in Safe, Effective, Caring and Well-led, and have been officially acknowledged and given an Overall rating of “GOOD”.
Whilst we are pleased with some of our GP Patient survey results and our CQC Overall ‘Good’ rating, we fully acknowledge that patient access requires improvement, and are continuing to work hard with our stakeholders, including the commissioners of primary care for Solihull, Solihull Council and the SHP Patient Participation Group, to achieve this.
We know there is more to do and we are committed to implementing actions to deliver the recommendations from the CQC report and address concerns highlighted in the GP Patient survey results, and improve our responsiveness and access as quickly and as safely as we possibly can, so we can continue to provide our registered patients with the best care we can as an organisation.
We would like to reassure patients that we are doing everything we can to improve patient access, and to let you know some of the things we are doing to address some of the pressures we are experiencing;
- We are continuing to recruit new members of staff into our Contact Centre and Care Navigation team to help deal with demand, as well as constantly monitoring our telephone system to try to respond to the maximum number of callers we possibly can.
- Our Contact Centre team are carefully trained to ask questions to direct all callers to the most appropriate resource. We are continuing to further upskilling our Care Navigation team with a programme of additional training and development to support our clinicians, and to ensure our patients see the right healthcare professionals at the appropriate time.
- Telephone Access System Review is in progress to improve call flow, resolve intermittent technical issues following patient feedback and to ensure we improve the patient journey
- A digital access review is currently underway to support implementing new technology and digital access as soon as possible, including the reintroduction of Online Consult.
- Further recruitment of additional health professionals aimed at supporting GPs. These other professionals include Physician Associates, Clinical Pharmacist and Social Prescribers.
- Clinical capacity has been enhanced with extended access, with additional evening and weekend appointments.
General practice has delivered 35 million more appointments over the last year compared to the year before. We continue to remain open and we would encourage our registered patients to come forward with any worrying symptoms or health issues they may have.
We are continuing to prioritise patients by clinical need, and provide care and services for as many people as we can, and we are working hard to deliver the care our patients need and to deliver our intentions of wanting to provide the best care we can as an organisation recognising these challenging times.
We are hugely grateful to our patients for their understanding, patience and kindness.
Dr Arturo Lupoli, GP Partner and Chairman for SHP
Patient Update (14/07/22):
We are continuing to deal with high levels of staff sickness absence due to illnesses and rising cases of colleagues ill and isolating with COVID-19. We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience this may cause to patients due to the increase in unexpected staff sickness.
We would ask if you could be patient with our staff, who are trying their best to assist you. Our team of Care Navigators are working hard across all our sites, dealing with patients face-to-face at our surgery site receptions and answering telephone calls, and our clinical teams are continuing to work tirelessly to see any many patients as possible.
Given the rise in COVID-19 cases, please can we remind you to wear a face mask at all times while visiting us at our surgery sites, unless exempt, and not to visit any of our surgery sites if you have any symptoms of COVID-19 or have tested positive. This will help protect the staff and patients.
Thank you for your patience, understanding and kindness.
Hot Weather Alert
Stay hydrated
Wear sun cream
Look out for those who may struggle to keep themselves cool and hydrated
Patient Information (08/07/22):
Dear patients,
We are currently dealing with high levels of sickness absence, in both our clinical and non-clinical teams, due to illnesses and rising cases of staff members isolating after testing positive for COVID-19. We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused to any patient that may have experienced long telephone answering times, or had their appointment cancelled or rescheduled due to an increase in unexpected staff sickness, and we hope this is a temporary situation.
We would ask if you could be patient with our staff, who are trying their best to assist you. Our team of Care Navigators are working hard across all our sites, dealing with patients face-to-face at our surgery site receptions and answering telephone calls, and our clinical teams are continuing to work tirelessly to see any many patients as possible.
Given the rise in COVID-19 cases, we would also like to remind you to wear a face mask at all times while visiting us at our surgery sites, unless exempt, and if you have any symptoms of COVID-19 or have tested positive please do not visit any of our surgery sites, unless you have been called by a clinician for further assessment at our Ambulatory Assessment Unit at Blossomfield Hub, as this will help protect our staff and patients.
We would like to thank you for your patience, understanding and kindness.
Dr Lupoli, GP Partner and Chairman
Please continue to wear a face covering in our surgeries (04/07/22)
With COVID-19 infection rates on the rise, we would like to remind patients that they are asked to continue to wear a face covering at all times while visiting us at our surgery sites. Although face masks are no longer mandatory in indoor public spaces, we ask that patients continue to wear a face mask, unless exempt.
Please help to keep staff and others safe, and continue to reduce the risk of infection.
Thank you.
Patient Information (20/06/22):
A reminder to our registered patients to only attend Hospital for their blood tests if specifically directed by a Clinician and it is stated on the form, or as requested by the hospital team.
Thank you.
JUNE BANK HOLIDAY CLOSURE
The practice will be closed on Thursday 2nd & Friday 3rd June 2022.
We will reopen at 08:00am by telephone & 08.30am at our surgery sites on Monday 6th June 2022.
Prescriptions Reminder: Please ensure you order & collect your medication well-ahead of time.
For life threatening medical emergencies, such as chest pain or breathlessness, dial 999.
For medical issues & queries during this period, dial 111.
We would like to wish all our patients a Happy Bank Holiday!
A huge CONGRATULATIONS... (16/05/22)
A huge congratulations to the Solihull Healthcare Partnership Nurses team for successfully completing the #MoonWalk London 2022 charity event, which took place on Saturday (14th May 2022).
Patient Update 16/05/22:
Following the power cut to Shirley Medical Centre last Tuesday (10th May 2022), we can confirm that all systems have been restored and our Contact Centre has now returned to Shirley Medical Centre.
Once we were informed by Western Power that there was a power cut affecting Shirley Medical Centre and no other surgery sites were affected, we were able to implement a plan to ensure we maintained continued access for patients through the redeployments of the clinical teams (Doctors, Nurses, Physician Associate and Pharmacists) and non-clinical teams (Administrators and Care Navigators) to our other sites.
With the support and assistance of the whole SHP team, Birmingham and Solihull Clinical Commissioning Group and the telephone provider we were able to ensure that no services or appointments were cancelled during this period, and the Contact Centre was efficiently rehoused at our Monkspath Surgery and Grove Surgery sites.
We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused to patients during this time.
On International Nurses Day (12th May 2022), find out more from one of our colleagues in the Nurses Team;
A Day in the Life of a… Practice Nurse
Hi, my name is Calum and I’ve been a Practice Nurse for Solihull Healthcare Partnership (SHP) for the past year and a half.
I’ve been a registered nurse for eight years and after initially qualifying I worked at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham in ambulatory care. However I always had a desire to work in primary care in the community, so switched to working as a Community Nurse and then became a District Nurse for six years. During this period I completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Community Care, which enabled me to develop my skills in order to manage more patient cases and a nursing team in order to provide high quality care in the community. In addition, it enabled me to assess a wide group of patients ranging from acute to long term conditions and palliative care. During this time I had close contact with the Solihull GP practices and decided I would like to take on the role of a Practice Nurse, as many of the skills I learnt as a District Nurse were transferable and I really enjoy the continuity of care by being able to assess and review patients on a regular basis, with the opportunity of building a rapport with patients.
When starting with SHP my role was as a Treatment Room Nurse, and I was supported to go on and complete a Postgraduate Certificate at University in the fundamentals of practice nursing. This covered a wide range of skill and knowledge necessary to fulfil the role of Practice Nurse.
In my role as a Practice Nurse, I work with a wide and diverse patient population, and as part of SHP’s multidisciplinary team. I deliver a wide range of care to our patients, making every day different. This starts by assessing the patient holistically during our consultation, using my skills and experience gained over a number of years and education to gather a detailed history, assess the patients’ needs, discuss treatment options and deliver a plan of care for them.
Some of my typical day duties include delivering nationwide immunisation programmes such as child and adult immunisations, travel immunisations and the more recently the COVID-19 vaccination programme, as well as delivering patient education, health promotion, disease prevention and lifestyle advice, leg ulcer assessments and treatment, sexual health and contraception, phlebotomy, minor illness clinics, all types of wound care acute, chronic, postoperative and the removal of sutures and clips. In addition, I manage long term conditions such as diabetes, assess patient observations including blood pressure (BP), pulse, oxygen saturation, temperature, ECG, urinalysis and administer different types of medicines and educate patients on their use of medications.
There is no such thing as a typical day for a Practice Nurse, however my day will generally involve face-to-face appointments with approximately 28 patients on a shift, depending on what care is required. I work a variety of shift patterns and across multiple surgery sites that form part of the SHP Primary Care Network. I may spend one day seeing a particular type of patient group, such as a leg ulcer clinic or child immunisations, and then go on the next day to assess patients with a variety of concerns in a general clinic where each appointment is a different need.
In a day I can deliver everything from wound care, performing observations such as BP and ECG, taking blood sample for reviews and administering vaccinations for travel to administering a range of medications, performing diabetes reviews, assessing patients with minor illnesses, discussing patient blood results and providing lifestyle interventions to improve their condition. As part of every day I also perform a variety of checks, such as checking emergency equipment, ensuring medicines are stored correctly and safely, and ensuring infection control standards are maintained.
As a Practice Nurse my role and responsibilities are constantly changing, which makes every day different. As well as maintaining my medical knowledge and skills, and adhering to the standards set by the Nursing and Midwifery Council, I attend further education training courses in order to deliver even more effective care to a wider and more complex patient group. SHP have also supported my current training course, a Post Graduate Certificate in Independent Prescribing, which means when completed I will be able to prescribe medicines to certain patient groups, resulting in increased patient access to timely prescriptions and continuity of care.
To find out more about the roles and multidisciplinary team of professionals at SHP that play their vital part in patient services, visit our web site at www.solihullhealthcarepartnership.nhs.uk
BANK HOLIDAY CLOSURES:
- Monday 2nd May
- Thursday 2nd – Friday 3rd June 2022
Patient Update (11/04/22):
We are still continuing to deal with high levels of sickness absence due to winter illnesses and cases of staff members isolating after testing positive for COVID-19. We therefore apologise to any patient that may have experienced long telephone answering times, and continue to hope this is a temporary situation.
Our team of Care Navigators are working hard across all our sites, answering telephone calls and dealing with patients face-to-face at our surgery site receptions.
We would like to remind patients that they are asked to continue to wear a face covering at all times while visiting us at one of our surgery sites. Although face masks are no longer mandatory in indoor public spaces, they are still compulsory in all GP practices and healthcare settings. Infection Prevention and Control requirements state that patients must continue to wear a face mask, unless exempt.
We continue to have a range of measures in place to keep patients and staff safe, including regular cleaning of patient areas and social distancing, and any patients with COVID-19 symptoms should not attend our surgery sites.
We will continue to keep you updated and thank you for your patience.
EASTER BANK HOLIDAY
EASTER BANK HOLIDAY CLOSURE:
TELEPHONE LINES CLOSURE FOR TRAINING TODAY
Our telephone lines will be closed from 3pm-6.30pm today (Thursday 7th April 2022) for staff training and development, as part of our action plan to deliver improved patient access, and will reopen tomorrow from 8am on Friday 8th April 2022.
Our surgery sites will remain open as usual from 8.30am to 6.30pm.
For life threatening medical emergencies, such as chest pain or breathlessness, please dial 999
For medical issues & queries during this period, please dial 0300 555 9999.
Thank you for your patience.
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Anyone showing symptoms of COVID-19 should not visit a healthcare setting
This will help protect our staff and patients.
Visit http://nhs.uk/coronavirus for more information on COVID-19 symptoms, and what to do if you or your child has them.
Independent Review into the access issues at Solihull Healthcare Partnership - Recommendations & Actions (Latest update:30/03/22)
Following the Independent Review into the access issues at Solihull Healthcare Partnership by the NHS Birmingham and Solihull Clinical Commissioning Group (BSOL CCG), a set of recommendations were put in place.
These recommendations, along with the latest update of the action plan, can be viewed here: Action Plan - Recommendations from the SHP Access Review - Patient Update 30.03.22
For future updates on the Action Plan, visit this page.
Spring COVID-19 Booster Vaccination Programme (24/03/22):
Patient Update (11/03/22):
We are continuing to deal with high levels of sickness absence due to winter illnesses and further cases of staff members isolating after testing positive for COVID-19 this week. Therefore, we apologise to any patient that may have experienced long telephone answering times, and continue to hope this is a temporary situation.
Our team of Care Navigators are working hard across all our sites, dealing with patients face-to-face at our surgery site receptions and answering telephone calls.
Also to update following on from last week’s patient communication regarding reports of some patients experiencing intermittent telephone technical issues, we are working with the telephone system supplier to resolve this as quickly as possible. Thank you to those patients that have fed back to us directly on their experiences, this has been invaluable as part of our investigation.
We will continue to keep you updated and thank you for your patience.
Patient Communication (04/03/22):
Independent Review into the access issues at Solihull Healthcare Partnership - Recommendations & Actions (Latest update:18/02/22)
Following the Independent Review into the access issues at Solihull Healthcare Partnership by the NHS Birmingham and Solihull Clinical Commissioning Group (BSOL CCG), a set of recommendations were put in place.
These recommendations, along with the latest update of the action plan, can be viewed here: Action Plan - Recommendations from the SHP Access Review - Patient Update 18.02.22
For future updates on the Action Plan, visit this page.
“Cervical screening saves lives” says national campaign
Today (14th February 2022) the Department of Health and Social Care, together with NHS England and NHS Improvement, are launching a Help Us Help You – Cervical Screening Campaign, to highlight the benefits of cervical screening and remind people that that it can help stop cancer before it starts. The campaign encourages those eligible for screening - women and people with a cervix aged 25-64 - to respond to their cervical screening invitation letters and to book an appointment at their GP practice if they missed their last one.
Two women die every day from cervical cancer in England. Yet it is one of the most preventable cancers and getting screened can help stop it before it starts. Screening helps prevent cervical cancer by checking for a virus called high-risk HPV which causes nearly all cervical cancers. This is the best way to find out who is at higher risk of developing the cervical cell changes that over time could potentially lead to cervical cancer. Any cervical cell changes can be treated, preventing cervical cancer. Don’t be alarmed if you have HPV as it does not mean you have cervical cancer - it’s a common virus that most people will get at some point in their lives.
It has been estimated that in England, cervical screening prevents 70% of cervical cancer deaths and that if everyone attended screening regularly, 83% of cervical cancer deaths could be prevented.
Women and people with a cervix aged 25-64 are eligible for screening. Those registered as female with their GP practice are invited for routine screening every three years if they are aged 25-49 and every five years if they are aged 50-64. Those registered as male will need to request an appointment from their GP or a local sexual health clinic.
The campaign provides information and tips to those who may be worried or embarrassed about cervical screening. These include:
- For most, cervical screening tests are not painful. But if you are worried that you may find the test uncomfortable, remember you are in control and can ask to stop at any time.
- Discuss your concerns with your nurse, you can ask for a smaller speculum or the nurse can advise you on different positions to make it more comfortable.
- If you want to make sure a woman carries out your test, you can ask for this when you make your appointment.
- You might want to wear a skirt or dress or a long jumper, which you can keep on during the test. If you forget to do this, don't worry - you'll be provided with a disposable modesty sheet to cover yourself.
- Ask your nurse about breathing exercises, as these can help. Take a podcast or music to listen to - this may help you relax or distract you.
- Cervical screening only lasts a few minutes, and you only have to go once every 3 or 5 years depending on your age. It's a few minutes that could save your life.
For more information, visit www.nhs.uk/cervicalscreening
COVID-19 PATIENT UPDATE: (11/02/22)
In line with the easing of Government restrictions, Solihull Healthcare Partnership (SHP) will be implementing Level 3 of its COVID-19 Response Action Plan. This will ensure the safety of both patients and staff, whilst restoring and maintaining a local and responsive primary care service for our patients.
What does moving to Level 3 mean for patients?
When patients contact our carefully trained Care Navigator team, they will be asked to first discuss the reason for the call and any screening questions regarding their health concern or condition/s, so they can assess the most appropriate way to provide their care and ensure it is provided by the most appropriate health care professional.
All appointments with clinicians will continue to initially be telephone or video call appointments.
Face-to-face appointments will continue to be available to all patients where there is a clinical need and if a patient requests a face-to-face consultation they may be offered one, if appropriate, following Care Navigation.
Will I be able to attend one of the surgery sites to make an enquiry?
From Monday 14th February 2022, our surgery sites will be open from 8:30am to 6:30pm, Monday to Friday (excluding Bank Holidays), for patients to ask in person about booking an appointment, repeat prescription requests and for general queries.
A reminder that all sites are closed on Wednesdays from 12:30pm to 1:30pm, as part of our ongoing staff training and development, which is a priority to ensure we continue to improve service delivery and patient care. Our telephone lines remain open throughout the training and in the event of urgent patient needs, we can still be contacted.
We continue to have a range of measures in place to keep patients and staff safe from COVID-19, including regular cleaning of patient areas and social distancing.
Patients are asked to continue to wear a face covering at all times while visiting us at one of our surgery sites. Although face masks are no longer mandatory in indoor public spaces, they are still compulsory in all GP practices and healthcare settings. Infection Prevention and Control requirements state that patients must continue to wear a face mask, unless exempt.
Currently suspected or confirmed COVID-19 patients are being assessed by Virtual Consultation and if necessary, referred to the Ambulatory Assessment Unit at the SHP Blossomfield Hub if a further face-to-face assessment is required.
Individuals with COVID-19 symptoms, a positive PCR test or who meet criteria for self-isolation should not attend our surgeries and continue to follow public health guidance.
Does the Level 3 mean we can’t have a face-to-face consultation?
No. All patients will continue to receive an initial telephone triage call by a clinician. The telephone triage call will be to address their healthcare needs, whether that is advice and guidance, a prescription or a referral to other healthcare professionals and services. If following this call, the clinician requires a further assessment, they will be invited for a face-to-face appointment at one of our surgery sites, as appropriate. Face-to-face appointments continue to be available for patients if appropriate and there is a clinical need.
What services will be affected as a result of moving to Level 3?
We will continue to operate the majority of services, as we have been throughout the pandemic, including consultations with healthcare professionals, immunisations, cervical screening, cancer care and chronic disease management of high risk patient groups.
As a consequence of moving to Level 3, routine appointments for planned procedures will be restored, such as joint injections, some minor operations, phlebotomy services, NHS health checks and routine face-to-face reviews.
How do patients access us?
We are still open and here for our patient population, as we have been throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and prioritise delivering care and services based on clinical needs.
If patients need medical advice or treatment, they can call us on 0121 705 1105. Our telephone lines are open from 8am to 6:30pm, Monday to Friday (excluding Bank Holidays).
COVID-19 Vaccinations
If eligible for a first, second, third or COVID-19 booster vaccine, patients are being asked to book as soon as they can when invited. It is vital as many people as possible get protected and boosted as soon as possible. We are delighted to be continuing to be playing our part in undertaking the largest vaccination programme in the history of the NHS. We are delivering this programme, alongside continuing to be open and managing our patients other clinical needs.
Thank you
Our staff are working hard to provide patient services and care, and we would like to thank our patients and colleagues across the Solihull locality for their continued support, patience and understanding as our services continue to adapt and change during these challenging times.
Our primary goal is to continue to ensure both patient and staff safety, and to provide primary care services to our patient population.
Monkspath Vaccination Centre Has Moved to a New Entrance (09/02/22)
The team at the Monkspath Vaccination Centre continue to deliver the COVID-19 vaccination programme, following Government guidelines, to Solihull Healthcare Partnership (SHP) and GPS Healthcare registered patients, care homes and healthcare workers.
The Monkspath Vaccination Centre Team are continuing to make good progress with administering vaccines and by the end of December 2021 they had administered over 115,000 COVID-19 vaccines*.
We are currently inviting patients to come forward and have their first, second and booster vaccines that are due, and offering those who are 12-15 years old either their first or second COVID-19 vaccine. We have also started to invite those aged 5-11 years who are at risk or are part of a household that is immunosuppressed to receive their vaccine, as well as continuing to invite women who are pregnant to get vaccinated.
The Monkspath Vaccination Centre has also moved to its new home, behind the Solihealth Winter Access Hub at Monkspath. The same friendly vaccination team are there to welcome patients at the Vaccination Centre’s new entrance to the right of the Monkspath Surgery building and they are continuing to work hard to deliver the COVID-19 Vaccination programme.
For the latest patient information, updates and news, see our web site and social media (facebook.com/SolihullHP & @SolihullHP)
*COVID-19 Vaccines administered from 16th December 2020 to 31st December 2021
Patient Update (09/02/22):
Solihealth Winter Access Hub at Monkspath - Providing urgent, on the day appointments to patients in Solihull.
Solihull Healthcare Partnership (SHP) are part of Solihealth. Solihealth is the collaboration of the five Primary Care Networks (PCNs) that combined to make up the Solihull Locality. Solihealth is the PCN led Solihull Primary Care provider collaborative that enables delivery of whole locality based services for Solihull. Current services that we deliver at whole locality scale include specialist Dermatology service and the recently commissioned Winter Access Hub at Monkspath, commissioned by Birmingham and Solihull Clinical Commissioning Group, to provide additional same day appointment capacity through the busy winter period until the end of March.
What is the Solihealth Winter Access Hub?
Solihealth are delivering a new cross-PCN, multi-disciplinary urgent access service, commissioned by Birmingham and Solihull Clinical Commissioning Group. Appointments are booked directly by the Practice teams.
We have come together as Primary Care Networks (PCNs) in Solihull to develop this service to improve access and care for all patients under Solihealth, during the busy winter period until the end of March 2022.
The Solihealth Winter Access Hub is based at Monkspath on the previous Monkspath Vaccination Centre site, which has moved to its new home behind the Hub, and offers additional same day, urgent access appointments to patients throughout Solihull with linkage to GP records for improved continuity of care and safety.
The appointments are initially telephone first consultations booked by the GP Practice teams and Care Navigators, ensuring appropriate access to the right clinician through the most appropriate platform. If there is a clinical need, patients will also be seen face-to face at the Monkspath Winter Access Hub.
Why is this important for patients?
At this time of unprecedented healthcare needs of patients, pressure on GP practices and frustrations of patients, this service has been set up to try and improve care for the patient population in Solihull.
The overall aims of the Monkspath Winter Access Hub are;
- To improve access for our patients so they are more likely to get timely access to care and we can provide additional capacity of appointments for patients.
- The whole health and care system is under pressure. We hope to work with our partners in the wider NHS and social care to ensure patients are seen by the right person first time, avoid admission wherever possible and that we work up in a joined up way for the benefit of patients.
Who works at Solihealth Winter Access Hub?
This service has been headed up by the PCN/practice multidisciplinary teams, the PCN
Clinical Directors and the central Solihealth Team. There is a multi-disciplinary team working at the Monkspath Winter Access Hub, brought in to specifically to provide additional same day appointment capacity, and to work alongside existing practice healthcare professionals who are working extra sessions on their days off.
The Solihealth Winter Access Hub has Locum GP's, Advanced Nurse Practitioners, Care Navigators and non-clinical staff to help run the service.
Can patients access the service directly?
No. All appointments for the Solihealth Winter Access Hub are managed by the Care Navigator/Reception teams for each surgery within the PCN's.
Which patients can use the Hub?
The Solihealth Winter Access Hub at Monkspath is for Solihull Healthcare Partnership (SHP), GPS Healthcare, Rural and North Solihull PCNS. There is an additional site at Richmond Road Medical Centre to cover the South Central PCN.
How are appointments delivered?
Appointments are delivered through a combination of virtual (telephone, video) and face-to-face appointments when clinically required.
The Winter Access Hub is envisaged to add an additional 1,000 appointments a week to help manage the demands placed during the winter period, and is a 12 week service which started last month and runs until the 31st March 2022.
For the latest patient information, updates and news, visit this page on our web site, see our social media (facebook.com/SolihullHP & @SolihullHP), and for Solihealth visit https://www.facebook.com/SolihealthGP
Photo caption: Solihealth Winter Access Hub
Patient Communication (3/2/22):
We have been asked the question by a member of the Patient Participation Group (PPG) for Solihull Healthcare Partnership (SHP), the voice of our registered patients, if SHP is being sold? We can confirm this is NOT the case.
We are deeply saddened and concerned to hear that misinformation and rumours are being circulated to this effect, as they could cause anxiety, alarm and distress to patients.
We are however grateful to the official SHP PPG for alerting us so that we were able to respond and allay any patient concerns.
For the latest patient information and news, visit this 'Latest News' page on our official SHP web site and social media (Facebook: facebook.com/SolihullHP & Twitter: @SolihullHP), and by joining the official SHP Patient Participation Group at https://solihullhealthcarepartnership.nhs.uk/patient-participation-group/ or by email shp.ppg@nhs.net
IPC guidance remains
Following this week’s Government announcement that from next Thursday (27 January) face coverings will no longer be mandatory in public places, we want to remind patients that the UK Health Security Agency's infection prevention control (IPC) guidance remains in place for all staff and patients in GP practices, dental practices, optometrists and pharmacies to ensure that everyone is protected. Please continue to wear a face covering to keep staff and other patients safe when visiting our surgery sites, unless you are exempt.
A Message on behalf of Solihull Healthcare Partnership Patient Participation Group (PPG):
Did you know…?
SHP are participating in a new approach to improve access for patients to GP appointments. The aim is to direct patients to the most appropriate healthcare professional, which may be a GP or a pharmacist.
If your symptoms could be resolved by a booked consultation with your pharmacist instead of the GP, you will be given a same-day referral to a local pharmacy.
SHP is taking part in the Community Pharmacist Consultation Service (CPCS), starting with Astwerwell Pharmacy in Shirley and expanding to more community pharmacies local to our surgery sites.
We think this is a good thing. Once you see how great your local pharmacist is – they are highly trained and skilled clinicians experienced in treating minor illnesses – we don’t think you’ll look back.
This will also help us to free up GP appointments for people with more complex health needs and ensure that everyone gets treated at the right time, by the right healthcare professional.
We are keen to hear what you think and will be listening to your comments and feedback about your experience of using this service.
You can give comments and feedback - Click Here
How to access us and ask for help?
We are still open and here for you. We are continuing to provide services as we have been doing throughout the pandemic, and prioritise delivering care and services based on clinical needs.
If you need medical advice or treatment, please call us on 0121 705 1105 or, for non-urgent advice or treatment, visit our website or one of our surgery sites.
By Phone
You can call us on 0121 705 1105. Our telephone lines are open from 8am to 6:30pm, Monday to Friday (excluding Bank Holidays).
You will be asked to first discuss your condition/s over the phone with a trained Care Navigator to assess the most appropriate way to provide your care, which may include a face-to-face consultation, and ensure it is provided by the most appropriate person.
In person
You are able to access us face-to-face by visiting one of our surgery sites to ask in person about booking an appointment, repeat prescription requests and for general queries.
From Monday 8th November 2021, our sites will be open from 8:30am to 6:30pm, Monday to Friday (excluding Bank Holidays):
- Shirley Medical Centre
- The Jacey Practice
- Haslucks Green Medical Centre
- Grove Surgery
- Monkspath Surgery
- Dickens Heath Medical Centre
This ensures we are able to prioritise our focus on patients being able to access us through our telephone system when the demand is at its highest and support improving patient access for the majority of patients.
All sites will continue to be closed on Wednesdays from 12:30pm to 1:30pm, as part of our ongoing staff training and development, which is a priority to ensure we continue to improve service delivery and patient care. We are also dedicated to continuing to further upskill our Care Navigators with a programme of additional training and development to support our clinicians, and to ensure our patients see the right healthcare professionals at the appropriate time.
Our telephone lines remain open throughout the training and in the event of urgent patient needs, we can still be contacted. There is minimal impact on service delivery and no impact on appointments. This time has been chosen to coincide with the period of the day when our Doctors and healthcare professionals are conducting essential face-to-face appointments with housebound patients.
We continue to have a range of measures in place to keep you safe from COVID-19, including regular cleaning of patient areas and social distancing. Please ensure you wear a face covering when visiting us at one of our sites. If you have a disability or condition which means you cannot wear a face covering or cannot communicate with someone who is wearing a face mask, or require other adjustments before your appointment, please let us know ahead of your arrival.
Individuals with cough, cold or flu like symptoms, COVID-19 symptoms or who meet criteria for self-isolation, should not attend our surgeries and stay at home. You should continue to follow public health guidance and if you have a clinical need your appointment will be by telephone or video, for patient and staff safety.
Please be polite and respectful, our GPs and practice teams are available and working hard to support you, your family and friends health and care needs.
Go online
Online services currently provide patients with access to their medical records, repeat medication ordering and COVID-19 vaccination status. Using the service will help you to manage your own health and access healthcare features whenever you need to.
You can visit our web site, and order repeat prescriptions and access your medical records on the NHS App and Patient Access – To access and find out more visit: https://solihullhealthcarepartnership.nhs.uk/online-services/
Our Online Consult facility is currently unavailable for patient safety online and clinical governance reasons. We are in the process of reviewing our online services to improve patient access and services, and will keep patients updated via our web site and social media.
Did you know?
You can visit your local pharmacy (Find a pharmacy - NHS (www.nhs.uk) for clinical advice on minor health concerns.
And for urgent issues or out of hours, you can also call the NHS on 111 or go online to seek NHS advice 111.nhs.uk (NHS 111 online)
Our staff are continuing to work extremely hard to provide services and care, and we would like to thank our patients for your continued support.
#HelpUsHelpYou
Solihull Healthcare Partnership Announces New Winter Plans
From the 12th October 2021, Solihull Healthcare Partnership (SHP) will, as part its winter plans, be offering our patients face-to-face consultation for the vast majority of patient encounters, as well as a new winter pressures service at the new SHP Blossomfield Hub.
After months of planning and preparation, we will be offering patients more choice with our winter pressure plans, meaning that;
- SHP Patients will be offered face-to-face consultation for the vast majority of patient encounters. Consultations will only be by telephone or video if the patient reports symptoms and signs of suspected or confirmed COVID-19, or elects to receive a telephone or video call. Our carefully trained Care Navigators will ask screening questions during their telephone or reception desk encounter to determine if the appointment is appropriately face-to-face, as well as the patient being given an indicated time for their appointment.
- For the last 18 months, we have been offering predominantly urgent on the day appointments in order to meet patient demands due to the COVID-19 pandemic. From the 12th October, patients will be offered more choice of booking appointments in advance. Through effective care navigation by our Care Navigation team, patients will be offered urgent or routine pre-bookable appointments, and will be able to book appointments 2, 7 or 14 days ahead or routine appointments in advance.
- We are also planning to offer further online appointments, where appointments will be available for patients to book with a clinician through our Care Navigation team.
- We are dedicated to continuing to further upskill our Care Navigators with a programme of additional training and development to support our clinicians, and to ensure our patients see the right healthcare professionals at the appropriate time.
- The way we all access and receive health services has changed, and our Care Navigators also have the ability to sign post our patients to supported community services such as the community pharmacy consultation scheme, emergency eyes assessment clinics, social prescribers, mental health support and acute secondary care services to ensure the patients obtain the right healthcare support for their symptoms.
- We will also have a new winter pressures service for our patients at the new SHP Blossomfield Hub from the 12th October, located at the previously named Blossomfield Surgery site. In order to anticipate and support with the additional demands of acute illnesses this winter, we will have enhanced clinical capacity with allied healthcare professionals joining the clinical team. The SHP Blossomfield Hub will be operated by Advanced Nurse Practitioners, Nurses specialising in minor ailments, Physicians Associates and be overseen by GPs. The Care Navigation and clinicians’ team will be able to identify patients that can be directly booked in for face-to-face appointments at the SHP Blossomfield Hub. Please note this service will not be for walk in or emergencies, or act as an alternative to A&E, however it will provide additional appointments to assist with the Winter Pressures.
- The SHP Blossomfield Hub will also provide an Ambulatory Assessment Unit for confirmed or suspected COVID-19 patients. All patients with suspected COVID-19 related symptoms will primarily be assessed and managed by remote consultations by clinicians at all SHP sites. If a clinician requires a further face-to-face assessment for confirmed or suspected COVID-19 patients, to determine if they can be managed in the community or require a hospital assessment, the patients will be booked into the Ambulatory Assessment Service. At this point the patient will be directed to a separate entrance called the AAU, where they will be initially triaged and assessed by a Healthcare Assistant before being reviewed by the SHP Blossomfield Hub Doctor. The AAU will facilitate the cohort of patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 being effectively managed in the community, whilst maintaining patient and staff safety with infection control.
- In order to restore and recover primary care, SHP is dedicated to ensuring patient continuity particularly for groups of patients with chronic health conditions, cancer and on the gold standard frame work for palliative care. When patients contact us, our Care Navigators will ensure patients are booked with the relevant healthcare professional from their surgery site or preferred clinicians to facilitate continuity for patients. In addition, nursing and allied healthcare professionals, alongside dedicated non-clinical teams, will be affiliated to sites to support patients with continuity.
- Our Acute Care Team continues to grow with the recruitment of new members. The Acute Care team consists of GPs, allied healthcare professionals such as Physicians Associates, Physiotherapists and Advanced Nurse Practitioners, as well as the dedicated Contact Centre Care Navigators, who are the frontline SHP staff who are pivotal in ensuring our patient sees the right healthcare professionals at the appropriate time. The new SHP Blossomfield Hub is an extension of the Acute Care team and the additional resources will support and manage the demand from the winter pressures ahead.
- In addition, we are continuing to deliver our action plan to improve patient access. As well as recruiting and training Care Navigators, we are constantly monitoring and reviewing our telephone system to try to respond to the maximum number of callers we possibly can. We are planning to make further changes to improve telephone answering, which will take effect from the 18th
Whilst the GP's and all healthcare professionals at SHP are continuing to see patients face-to-face, as well as offering telephone appointments, as we have done throughout the pandemic, we are delighted to announce these changes as part of our winter pressure plans and the enhanced face-to-face capacity we can offer our registered patients, including the new SHP Blossomfield Hub service.
We are continuing to prioritise patients by clinical need, and provide care and services for as many people as we can, and every member of the SHP team are working harder than ever to allow us to deliver the primary care patients need, and to deliver our intentions of wanting to provide the best care we can as an organisation recognising the challenging demands on General Practice.
PATIENT REMINDER
Patient Information:
The highest priority for the NHS remains the safety of staff, patients and visitors.
While COVID restrictions ended in many settings in England from 19 July, everyone accessing or visiting healthcare settings must continue to wear a face covering (unless they are exempt) and follow social distancing rules.
Public Health England’s infection prevention control guidelines and hospital visiting guidance are therefore set to remain in place for all staff and visitors and across all health services including hospitals, GP practices, dentists, optometrists and pharmacies to ensure patients and staff are protected.
Read the infection prevention control guidance in full at:
COVID-19: infection prevention and control (IPC) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
SURGERY CLOSURE FOR TRAINING:
Solihull Healthcare Partnership (SHP) Patient Participation Group (PPG) Update:
Patient involvement, engagement and communication is of utmost importance to Solihull Healthcare Partnership (SHP); in order for us to work together to improve patient outcomes and experience of the services we deliver.
SHP has a single PPG that covers all of our sites, with a growing membership and exciting plans for the future. The Interim Chair of the PPG also joins our Board meetings on a monthly basis.
By definition, a PPG is a group of patients, carers and GP practice staff who meet to discuss practice issues and find a way forward, together. The patients’ voice is paramount and SHP fully recognise this and support collaborating with our patients.
SHP is a single practice with a single SHP PPG. We share the national vision of the PPGs purpose, including;
- To act as a critical friend
- To give patients and practice staff the opportunity to meet and discuss topics of mutual interest.
- To provide a means for patients to become more involved and make suggestions about the healthcare services they receive.
- To explore issues from patient complaints and patient surveys, contribute to action plans and help monitor improvements.
- To contribute feedback to the practice on National Patient Survey results and Friends and Family Test feedback to propose developments or change.
- To support health awareness and patient education
We welcome new members to join the SHP PPG and any anyone who would like to get involved can join via our website at https://solihullhealthcarepartnership.nhs.uk/patient-participation-group/
COVID-19 UPDATES
Prescription Ordering
We are receiving a high number of phone calls to request prescriptions which is increasing the wait on the phone system.
Can we remind patients that we do not accept prescription requests over the phone for safety reasons.
For ways to order your prescriptions please visit our prescription page.
Phlebotomy
Blood tests request forms generated by healthcare professionals at all GP practices can no longer attend any site within the University Hospitals Birmingham Trust. This includes Solihull, Heartlands, Good Hope and Queen Elizabeth Hospitals.
If you require a blood test that the healthcare professionals at SHP have requested, you will be booked in for an appointment at our community Hub at Monkspath Surgery with one of our phlebotomists.
Blood test request forms completed by a hospital- based healthcare professional will be carried out in the outpatient department only.
Patients aged under 16 years are still able to attend Heartlands Hospital to access phlebotomy services through a booked appointment. The telephone numbers to arrange this after you have received a request form from a doctor are:
Heartlands Hospital: 0121 424 1528
Birmingham Children’s Hospital: 0121 333 9304