Rhuematology waiting times
Due to recent staff capacity issues within the secondary care rheumatology arm of the service there has been an increase in routine appointment waiting times. All vacant posts are being actively recruited to within the Trusts. Urgent referrals continue to be prioritised as per our pathway guidelines and will be seen in a timely manner. Current waiting times for a routine rheumatology appointment is: Routine (weeks) Royal Sussex County Hospital (Brighton and Sussex University Hospitlas NHS Trust) 40 This figure is expected to rise again following a further reduction in clinics from April. Princess Royal Hospital (Brighton and Sussex University Hospitlas NHS Trust) 40 Hove Polyclinic (Brighton and Sussex University Hospitlas NHS Trust) 40 East Surrey Hospital (Surrey and Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust) 11 Crawley Hospital (Surrey and Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust) 14 Horsham Hospital (Surrey and Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust) 15 Queen Victoria Hospital (Queen Victoria Hospital NHS Trust) 24 In order to help manage this, it is imperative that referrers and patients consider the following: Please use the pathway guidance available on the SMSKP website as the service is receiving an increasing number of referrals which can be diagnosed, treated and managed in primary care Clinical Pathways […]
How is the snow affecting our service?
Due to the inclement weather, a number of our clinics have had to be cancelled as staff are unable to travel into work. We are attempting to contact patients directly where possible if their appointment is affected. Currently our known cancellations are: Thursday 1st March: Georgi Dalusio-King – The Vale, Haywards Heath Sam Rajaratnam – Crawley Friday 2nd March: Rahul Pathak – Crawley At this time we are not aware of any further cancellations. We will provide further updates as we get them. If your appointment has been affected then we will contact you in due course to re-book the earliest possible appointment. If you are unable to attend your appointment today please contact our booking team on 0300 303 8063 to rearrange. Our telephone lines are fully operational and will be open 9am – 7pm as normal. If you call out of these hours there will be facility to leave a message.
Self-referral for hand and wrist physiotherapy in Sussex
Following the successful introduction of self-referral for Physiotherapy in Horsham and Crawley last year we are pleased to be introducing self-referral for Hand and Wrist conditions in Horsham, Crawley and some Brighton practices. Find out how to refer yourself for hand and wrist physiotherapy This means you can now access self-referral at any time of day. If you are 17 or older and are registered at a practice in Horsham and Crawley or certain practices in Brighton, you will be able to self-refer into our hand and wrist physiotherapy service. This is a key step in placing patients at the heart of their care. By opening up the entry point for referral we are hoping it will ease access for you, save GP’s time and enable our colleagues in the service to connect with patients much sooner if need be. We believe that you are the expert in your body and how you feel. If you are not suitable for our community service we will also be able to redirect you to the right service for you, usually without the need for you to go back to your GP. We have found when people self-refer to physiotherapy, because we have […]
Self-Referral Quality Improvement Winners 2017
We would like to offer a huge congratulations to our Horsham and Crawley Physio team for winning the SCFT Quality Improvement Award 2017 for the successful rollout of physiotherapy self-referral. This award is so well deserved and reflects the huge amount of effort and team work that went into delivering this. Feedback from patients and GPs alike has been very positive and the project has delivered so much more in improving relationships between primary care and the community service. If you are interested in hearing more about self-referral then you can listen to our Physiotherpy Lead Sally York’s podcast here.
Patients and carers as partners for change – What are we doing?
Originally posted here Our Patient Director, David Gilbert, talks about how the service is meaningfully creating a network of citizens, clinicians and other staff who learn and make decisions together. ‘Patient and public engagement’ has often reduced the role of patients to providing feedback (surveys, focus groups) or being a ‘representative’. The Partnership recognises that people who use our services can be collaborative partners. They are critical friends and insightful supporters who draw on wisdom, born of living with pain and suffering, loneliness and vulnerability, resilience and passion. Their healthcare experiences can lead to a leadership vision of care derived from seeing what’s working and what’s not. Their expertise goes way beyond ‘telling stories’ and is equal to, and different from those within the system. We are growing a network of patient and carer partners (PCPs) and staff who learn from each other to re-frame problems, bring new insights and solutions, shift policy and practice, change dynamics. This aids accountability, transparency, quality and safety. We have a growing band of Patient and Carer Partners (PCPs) working on improvement activities: PCPs on a pain service redesign programme helped to pilot a ‘pain education session’ for new patients and ideas for peer to peer support […]
Learning together at SMSKP conference 2017
Originally posted here Earlier in 2017 Sussex MSK Partnership hosted a conference for everyone who works in the service. Around 200 people came to the two day event. Our theme was learning and innovation. It was organised by our ‘Culture Club’, which is a group of people from across the service – in clinical and non-clinical roles – who champion the values and vision of the SMSKP service and keep us connected to our purpose, values and what matters most as a service, pathways, teams and individuals. It’s part of our ambition in SMSKP to support a network of staff who learn together with citizens. You can hear more about the conference from some of the people involved in organising and hosting it in this video. Along with my colleague Chloe Stewart, Health Psychologist and Self-Management Lead for the Sussex MSK Partnership, we felt we’d like to host a session at the conference about self-management and shared decision making. Our workshop was called ‘The value of values in shared decision making’. What motivated us to host the session? My role is as an Advanced Practitioner, I work specifically with lower limb conditions in the MSK service. I’m really involved with a lot of patients […]
Self referral to physiotherapy services in Horsham and Crawley
Listen to Sally York, physiotherapy lead for Sussex MSK Partnership, describes the roll-out of self referral for physio in central Sussex – and how it’s working for patients and clinicians. Originally posted to the Here website If you are a patient in Horsham and Crawley and would like to self-refer then please visit our physiotherapy page for more information.
Clinical outcome letters: why does improving the system matter?
Phoebe Munson, Interim Patient Access Manager in the Sussex MSK Partnership, describes the work to redesign our systems to meet the service commitment of sending clinical outcome letters within seven working days. Since the start of 2017, we’ve been redesigning our system for clinical outcome letters at the Sussex MSK Partnership. A backlog of nearly 7,000 unsent letters (some of which had been in the system for up to seven months) has been reduced to less than 2,000 and the seven day target is now being met for onward referrals. We are working towards achieving this for other clinical outcomes such as discharges and follow ups. Why the seven day commitment matters The reason this is important is that we are a key service through which patients can access diagnostics and specialist advice. Our Advanced Practitioners are able to request diagnostics such as MRIs which ordinarily other clinicians wouldn’t have access to. They can also direct list for surgery and work alongside consultants in a community setting which significantly eases the stress of accessing hospital care for patients. If we do not meet this timeframe for clinical outcome letters for patients who we are referring on elsewhere for treatment we […]
Phone Outage affecting Brighton and Mid-Sussex – Now resolved
Update 11:00 Please be advised we have now resolved all phone issues affecting Brighton, Hove and Mid-Sussex. For details on how to contact us please visit http://sussexmskpartnershipcentral.co.uk/contact/ 10:00 Thank you for your patience while we experience issues with some of our phone lines. We are expecting this to be resolved later today and will keep you updated as new developments arise. We would like to advise you of the following information should anyone need to urgently contact our service: Sussex MSK Partnership Central (Brighton and Mid Sussex) brighton.mskpartnership@nhs.net – or you can call our Crawley and Horsham office on 01273 242 054 if your query is urgent Our next update will be around 12:00
The latest news from our Patient Partners
Recently our patient partners met at Stamner House to reflect on some of the innovative work tey have been doing and will be sharing some of their work at our up and coming SMSKP Conference. Jenny Preece, Jane Watts and Iris Keppler will be sharing with staff how it feels to be a patient partner. We would also like to take this opportunity to share some of the other amazing work that the patient partners have been involved in. Lindsay Whittaker and Lesley Preece are currently working on what being a patient partner involves and developing role descriptions and person specifications using the learning they have gathered from the last years worth of work. This is a key peice of work that will help staff and patients work together well. Lindsay is also involved in the redesign work of the fibromyalgia service. Having patients at the heart of this work enables us to create systems that truly meet the needs of the people they serve. Lesley and Cherry White are also helping to support the pain pathway redesign work. Another of our patient partners, Norman Webster, is a member of our Clinical Quality Group. This group is a key part […]
Service Leadership Recognised for Innovative Work
Sussex MSK Partnership Deputy Managing Director, Natalie Blunt and Patient Director, David Gilbert have been nominated for the KSS leadership awards. The event is an opportunity to open a discussion about working in Communities of Practice. KSS celebrate innovative and transformative project in the health and care systems. The nominations recognise the transformative work that Natalie and David have been doing across the MSK service, which aims to put patients in control of their health journeys. David has been nominated for the Patient and Carer Partners Network – Ley Engagement Award for his work with Patient Partners in Sussex MSK Central. We asked David what this nomination means in regards to his work. “Traditional ways of involving patients – merely as feedback fodder for reports that gather dust on the shelf, or so-called ‘representatives’ slotted into institutionally rigid committee structures – are not fit for purpose, have little impact, waste money and preserve the status quo. If we want to focus on what matters, or enable patients to be more in control, we need to mirror that with opportunities for patients to be at the decision making table. To have real power and influence. I am delighted that the role of […]
Are you a GP who refers to SMSKP?
A key aspect of moving the MSK service forwards is to support the day to day working of GPs and improve the way we support primary care with appropriate resources and education as well as improving our communication and relationships with primary care. We have a wealth of ideas and ambition which we hope to put to good use but would like to hear more about your experiences and what sort of support with education we can provide. We have created a survey for GP’s working in Brighton, Crawley, Horsham and Mid-Sussex. If you refer your patients into the Sussex MSK Partnership then we would like to hear from you. The survey shouldn’t take more than 5 minutes to complete and is a chance to share your views on how you find using the service, whether you’re satisfied with communication, and if you have any preferences for future educational events. This is really important to us as without this input we are not able to shape our service around what is needed most. Click here to take the survey If you are a patient and would like to share your feedback then please share your feedback with us here
Council Chairman Christian Mitchell to open new facilities at Horsham Hospital
The musculoskeletal (MSK) department at Horsham Hospital has been improved so that patients can see a wider range of specialists and be diagnosed and treated more quickly and closer to home. The service treats people with a wide range of muscle, bone and joint conditions, such as arthritis, back pain and sports injuries. 15 new treatment rooms have been opened and the seven existing rooms, waiting areas and facilities have been refurbished. The improvements mean that patients can see a wide range of specialist doctors and therapists and where possible can receive scans all in one visit. This reduces the need for repeat visits and means patients can be diagnosed and begin treatment sooner. A new rheumatology infusion suite opening later in the year also means that local people will no longer need to travel to East Surrey Hospital in Redhill for their treatment. The hydrotherapy pool has also been improved, providing aquatic physiotherapy, and the gym has been refitted. The Sussex MSK Partnership runs all the NHS MSK services across central Sussex. This significant investment and refurbishment of the Horsham clinic is a key part of their plans to radically improve MSK care for all patients with better, quicker […]
New facilities at Crawley Hospital offer better care for patients with muscle, bone and joint problems
The musculoskeletal (MSK) department at Crawley Hospital has been improved so that patients can see a wider range of specialists and have problems diagnosed and treated more quickly and closer to home. The service treats people with a wide range of muscle, bone and joint conditions, such as arthritis, back pain and sports injuries. Seven new treatment rooms have been opened and the 16 existing rooms, waiting areas and facilities have been refurbished. The improvements mean that patients can see a wide range of specialist therapists and doctors and in many cases can receive tests and scans all in one visit. This one-stop-shop reduces the need for repeat visits and means patients can be diagnosed and begin treatment sooner. A new bone density scanner has also been installed in the Crawley clinic meaning patients no longer have to travel to Redhill for these scans, which are often used to diagnose osteoporosis. The service is provided by the Sussex MSK Partnership which runs all the NHS MSK services across central Sussex. The £2.1m refurbishment of the Crawley clinic is a key part of their plans to radically improve MSK care for all patients with better, quicker care available closer to home. […]
SMSKP Service Review
The Service review for the Sussex MSK Partnership, written by Natalie Blunt, Deputy Managing Director, and can be found using the link below: http://sussexmskpartnershipcentral.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/November-Service-Review.pdf The review covers the last 6 months and highlights the performance of the service, in numbers and qualitative feedback, but also provides updates on key areas such as co-located working, estates, workforce, patient partners and service culture. More information can be found in the Service Review, linked above.
Find your Right Track to Wellbeing
Do you want to get out and about more, but find aches or pain with your muscles, joints or bones stopping you? You’re not alone. Around 10 million adults in the UK live with conditions such as back, hip, or shoulder pain, osteoporosis or arthritis. Doing what matters to you, whether that’s meeting friends, shopping, getting active, or learning a new skill, can improve your wellbeing. The Sussex MSK partnership (Central) is developing new ways to help patients look after themselves and manage their own conditions. One part of this is to work with The Fed and other local voluntary organisations on a project called ‘Right Track’. This project is about helping people to find local activities that will keep them active and ‘out and about’ in the community. It will also find out what helps and gets in the way of patients looking after themselves better. The Right Track team held an Open Day on Tuesday 12 April at Dorset Gardens Methodist Church that aimed to provide information, advice and taster sessions on how people could manage daily life with their condition. The event was lively, informative and fun. About 60 patients and carers came and 14 organisations ran […]
The new Brighton Diagnostic and Treatment Centre at the American express Community Stadium
The Brighton Diagnostic and Treatment Centre is a new patient facility that has recently opened at the American Express Community Stadium. This is part of the five year plan for the Sussex Musculoskeletal (MSK) Partnership to create multi-professional clinics in the community. In order for the service to deliver this change, it is necessary to have the space to bring in a whole team of health professionals which include consultants, extended scope practitioners (specialist physiotherapists, podiatrists and occupational therapists) and nurses. In one location we are able to offer consultation appointments, X-ray and MRI imaging. The service aim is to improve the quality of care for patients with MSK conditions, but will also put patients in control of their health care journey and offer a service which is tailored to their needs. The new clinic location, at ‘The Amex’, offers 6 new fully equipped consultation rooms with the capability for live viewing of x-ray and scan images. Should a patient require an X-ray whilst attending an appointment at the Brighton Diagnostic and Treatment Centre, there is our own in-house X-ray facility. Additionally, we can also offer MRI imaging in our Mobile MRI Scanner – often seen parked outside the treatment […]
