Tag: Health and wellbeing

Children’s services at St John’s hit again over festive period

To ensure patient safety, the children’s short stay assessment unit at St John’s Hospital in Livingston will not open on the weekends before Christmas and New Year. The decision was taken as a result of ongoing staffing and recruitment issues which mean there are not enough doctors available to cover overnight and weekends, coupled with late notification of clinician unavailability.

Parents are not being asked to do anything differently. If they require health care or advice over the weekends, they should take the normal steps of calling NHS 24 on 111. They will either be directed to an out-of-hours GP or referred on to the most appropriate place.

Children will still be assessed and treated in the Emergency Department and a paediatric consultant will be available on call 24/7. If a child needs to be admitted to hospital, a transfer to the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh will be arranged.

Maternity and neonatal services at the hospital are unaffected.

The short stay assessment unit will not open on December 23rd and 24th, however normal service will resume on December 25th, Christmas Day.

The same arrangements will apply the following weekend, with the unit not open on January 30th and 31st, before returning to normal on January 1st, New Year’s Day.

Jacquie Campbell, Chief Officer of Acute Services, NHS Lothian, said: “Despite our best efforts, we have been unable to reliably secure the levels of staffing required on the festive weekends to guarantee a safe service. The safety of our patients must be our top priority and for that reason the unit will not open. This is the safest option for the children of West Lothian and normal service will resume at the start of each week.”

NHS Lothian says it is working closely with the Scottish Ambulance Service, NHS 24 and local GPs to ensure the provision of a safe and reliable service.

NHS Lothian moves to treat waiting time issues

NHS Lothian is creating an innovative partnership with Scottish Government to help boost performance and improve patient care across the health board. The partnership, which will also work with the Edinburgh Integrated Board, is creating a Whole System Dynamic Review and Targeted Analysis at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh to help tackle delayed discharge and waiting times.

The move comes as health boards across Scotland begin to suffer extreme winter pressures. Earlier this week NHS Lothian recorded the worst performance for A&E waiting time targets since the publication of weekly figures began almost three years ago.

The collapse in its figures follows last month’s admission by NHS Lothian that acute hospitals had been under-reporting waiting times. The latest weekly figures show  just 77.3% of patients were dealt with within the four-hour target.

In an attempt to address this the new partnership, which will also work with the Edinburgh Integrated Board, is creating a Whole System Dynamic Review and Targeted Analysis, at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, to help tackle delayed discharge and waiting times.

Jim Crombie, Deputy Chief Executive, NHS Lothian, said: “Like a number of other health boards, NHS Lothian is experiencing significant winter pressures across our whole healthcare system. There are a number of contributing factors, including the increasing complexity of cases presenting at emergency departments and significant numbers of delayed discharges.

“This new way of working will allow us to zoom in on processes and procedures, not just in the Emergency Department, but across the acute care system to help improve patient flow through our hospitals.”

The group will provide enhanced support and resources to analyse systems across the board in a bid to improve the patient journey through the hospital.

A set of Whole System Indicators will be created to help boost and measure performance and attainment.

Mr Crombie also reminded patients of the need to ensure they seek the right care, in the right place, at the right time for them. He added: “It could be that self care at home or a consultation with a pharmacist or GP is best when you are feeling under the weather or for many common illnesses.

“As the winter chills bite, so do the numbers of slips, trips and falls. But it is important to remember that these kind of injuries can be treated at the Minor Injuries Unit at the Western General Hospital, rather than a lifesaving emergency department.”

 

NHS 24: More support for teenage mental health

An enhanced mental health service aimed at supporting teens in Scotland was unveiled yesterday at NHS 24’s Annual Review. The programme, which will promote the benefits of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) for improving mental wellbeing for the over 16s,  and delivered via NHS 24’s Living Life service , will initially be piloted in a single health board area.  Continue reading NHS 24: More support for teenage mental health

Edinburgh’s brightest minds needed for Active Ageing Challenge

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Entrepreneurs and start-ups across Edinburgh are being given the opportunity to win a slice of a £100,000 prize fund, designed to support the development of technology that will help people to thrive in older age.  Continue reading Edinburgh’s brightest minds needed for Active Ageing Challenge

Leeann Dempster: “football has the potential to be an enormous force for positive social change”

Football focus on mental health

Mental Health Minister Maureen Watt has praised the work being carried out by Hibernian FC to promote well-being and bring people together through physical activity. The Minister visited Easter Road to hear about the public social partnership with the Hibernian Community Foundation and NHS Lothian and the steps they are taking to reduce the stigma surrounding mental health. Continue reading Leeann Dempster: “football has the potential to be an enormous force for positive social change”