LPT News - Stakeholder Bulletin - Issue 8

News from LPT
…providing integrated community health, mental health and learning disability services
No.8: February 2014
Contents
Ashby Consultation
This is the latest briefing from LPT, where we share service news and developments.
More information and regular updates are available on our website
www.leicspart.nhs.uk and by following our Twitter feed @LPTnhs.
Consultation underway – Ashby and District
Hospital
Young Carers ID
The public are being invited to have their say on proposals to make Ashby
community health services fit for the future. We are asking people to pick one
of two options and provide their comments on the future of the community
health services provided from Ashby and District Hospital. The consultation,
organised by LPT and West Leicestershire Clinical Commissioning Group, will
run until Sunday 6th April. The consultation document and additional
information is available here.
Stonewall success
Two public meetings have been arranged and the details are below.
National mental health
pilot
Boosting Physical
Healthcare
New Rehab service
Meeting with third
sector
Employment Support
Single referral
Super Weekend
Quality Improvement
Nasal Flu Pilot
Research role for CEO

5 March 2014, 2.30pm – 4pm, The Royal Hotel, Station Road, Ashby-DeLa-Zouch, Leicestershire, LE65 2GP (registration and refreshments from
2pm)
 5 March 2014, 6.30pm – 8pm, The Royal Hotel, Station Road, Ashby-DeLa-Zouch, Leicestershire, LE65 2GP (registration and refreshments from
6pm)
For printed copies of the consultation document and questionnaire, with a
Freepost reply address, please call the Engagement Team on 0116 295 4183 or
email [email protected]
LPT wins bid with police to spearhead national
mental health pilot
LPT, with Leicestershire Police, has won a share of £25 million government
funding to increase the number of mental health nurses working in police
stations and courts.
Staffing changes
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Leicestershire’s is one of 10 national pilots, announced by Care and Support Minister Norman Lamb, to
trial a new liaison and diversion service - a system of ‘timely’ healthcare support for people with mental
ill health who come into contact with the criminal justice system. The plan is to increase specialist
support for young people, people with learning disabilities - particularly autism, and for older people with
mental health issues, including dementia. Find out more in our media release.
Pioneering work to boost physical health of mental health patients
LPT is pioneering a new system that could improve the long-term physical health prospects of mental
health patients nationally. The Leicestershire Physical Health Register was developed to ensure people
prescribed anti-psychotic drugs for conditions such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder have regular
checks on their physical health. These conditions increase the risk of developing potentially life-limiting
illnesses such as heart disease and diabetes. The register works by triggering reminders and monitoring
take-up of regular checks. We are piloting the new register with newly prescribed patients from this
month. It was developed by specialist mental health pharmacist Dolly Sud, consultant psychiatrist Dr
Manjunath Minajagi and consultant pathologist Dr James Falconer Smith. Dolly said: “Regular health
monitoring is vital. The potential positive impact of the register could be significant.” See our media
release for more details.
Young Carer’s ID launched in new joint venture
A new ID card scheme for young carers was launched on the 12 February. This is a joint venture between
LPT, Leicestershire and Rutland County Councils, Leicester City Council and Barnardo’s Carefree Services.
The ID cards will identify young people as carers and inform medical professionals that the person they
care for has given consent for them to discuss issues including their condition, medication and prognosis.
It will give young carers the authority to communicate important information about the person they care
for with medical professionals. Also, if the young carer is involved in an accident, through the card, the
emergency services would know that there is someone at home who is dependent on them. It is
estimated that more than 200 young people in the Leicestershire, Leicester City and Rutland area could
benefit from one of the cards. See media release for further information.
LPT increases ranking in Stonewall index
We are actively championing Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) rights within our workplace.
LPT’s position is rising on the Stonewall Workplace Equality Index. The index is Britain’s leading tool for
employers to measure their efforts to tackle discrimination and create inclusive workplaces for lesbian,
gay, bisexual and transgender employees. Since 2005 nearly 1000 major employers have taken part in
the Index, using Stonewall's criteria as a model for good practice. Since we first entered the Index in
2010, steady progress has been made to improve our ranking year on year. Our position has risen 10
places up since the last submission. Stonewall stated “This is a very good result and LPT should be proud
of their achievements”. See our media release for more details.
New rehab service to launch in summer
Following a recent tender process we are very pleased to announce that we have secured the
opportunity to develop a new rehabilitation service within our adult mental health division. The new
service will provide up to eight places for men requiring support within a locked environment. The beds,
based at The Willows are expected to open in the summer. Creating this new service will mean we can
provide support for local people and reduce the number of patients who would ordinarily have to go out
of area to receive this specialist type of care. Look out for more details later in the year.
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Voluntary and community organisations meet regularly with LPT
We invited charities, support groups and voluntary community sector groups to an informal meeting
with the chief executive Dr Peter Miller in January. These meetings will now take place quarterly at a
venue in Leicester with a member of the LPT board. They are an opportunity for volunteers, charity and
support workers of Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland to hear updates on recent local health service
developments and to ask questions. Dr Peter Miller said: “I was very pleased to meet local charity,
volunteer and support members of our communities last month. Their contribution is a vital aspect of
the trust’s delivery of service; they are an important supporter of our community services and we value
their contribution highly”.
Employment support for patients
Research shows that for most people work is beneficial to health and wellbeing. However, returning
back to work after recovering from mental illness can be a challenge. LPT recognises the difficulties
people may face and has partnered with employment specialist Aspiro to actively support people back
into the workplace. Aspiro is an experienced Leicester based employment service and specialises in
helping people with mental health problems access work and volunteering opportunities. Their staff
provide expert advice and guidance to support employment issues. The service is available to residents
of Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland who are using or have previously used secondary mental health
services, whether in work or not who need support with employment. People can refer themselves
directly to the service. For more information contact Aspiro on 0800 098 8708 or [email protected]
Single referral for families, young people and children’s services
Need to make a referral to LPT’s Families, Young People and Children’s Services? We have made it easier
for you to make a referral to our services, avoiding the need to navigate complex systems and multiple
points of contact. You can now make a referral to Families, Young People and Children’s Services by
downloading one single form and simply sending it to us by either: emailing: [email protected] ; By
post to: FYPC Referrals. Families, Young People and Children's Services, Leicester Partnership NHS Trust,
Bridge Park Plaza, Bridge Park Road, Thurmaston, Leicester, LE4 8PQ or Fax:0116 2958302; download
the most up to date referral form now from www.leicspart.nhs.uk/fypcreferrals If you have access to
Systm1, you can make your referral through the child health module (Leicester, Leicestershire and
Rutland CHS) . For more information about our services please visit www.leicspart.nhs.uk or ring 0300
3000 007.
Super weekend success
Staff from LPT were involved in two ‘super weekends’ at the beginning of January. The first two
weekends of the year are normally the busiest for urgent care. The super weekend initiative was
organised in a bid to tackle the bottleneck of patients which can often build up over the weekends at
the Leicester Royal Infirmary's A&E department and the urgent care centre. The scheme saw more
consultants, senior doctors, nurses, pharmacists, physiotherapists, drivers and other staff on duty to
bring down waiting times and increase the number of patients discharged. Over 98 per cent of
patients who visited were treated within four hours. The target is 95 per cent. LPT’s community health
staff worked very hard to ensure that patients who required either community-based healthcare or a
community hospital bed were supported to access this care as quickly as possible, which helped ease
the pressure on the acute and emergency services.
Quality improvement at Bradgate making real progress
Good progress is being made with the Quality Improvement Programme (QIP), which we put in place
following a Care Quality Commission (CQC) visit to the Bradgate Unit last summer. The QIP centres on
improving the patient experience and delivering high quality patient care across our services.
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A significant amount of work is underway including a large recruitment programme to employ over 40
new nurses at the Bradgate, plus additional therapeutic liaison workers, occupational therapists, ward
admin staff and two physical health nurses. We are also changing the skill mix so that our adult mental
health wards are staffed to a ratio of 60:40 qualified to unqualified staff (moving from 40:60 qualified to
unqualified). We are pleased that the CQC noted an improvement during their return visit in the autumn
and there is real momentum and motivation to make long term, sustainable changes at the unit.
It’s important to note that any lessons from serious incidents or concerns raised by the Coroner are
feeding into our improvement process; this is to ensure we are addressing any changes needed in a
systematic and appropriate way. Work is progressing really well. The QIP is not a quick fix solution and
some of the improvement work we are focusing on will of course take us time to develop and implement
– as it is important we get it right. We will keep you updated with progress with a new QIP newsletter.
The first issue will be out later this month.
28,000 local children have benefited from national nasal flu pilot
LPT has completed a 14 week national pilot programme to deliver the nasal flu vaccine to primary school
children for Public Health England. The flu team of nurses has visited 213 primary, independent and faith
schools across Leicester City, East Leicester and Rutland. The vaccine was offered to 54,954 parents
of primary school children, and of those, 28,652 were vaccinated against the flu – giving an uptake of
52.1%. Suzanne Leatherland, project lead with LPT, said: “The dedication and commitment of the team
has been outstanding throughout the programme and credit and thanks should be shared with all staff
involved. Particular thanks also to the schools for their help and cooperation in delivering the pilot.”
Chief exec to chair clinical research network
Dr Peter Miller has been appointed chair of the National Institute for Health Research Clinical Research
Network (NIHR CRN). The CRN helps to provide the infrastructure that allows high-quality clinical research
to take place in the NHS, so that patients can benefit from new and better treatments, and we can learn
how to improve NHS healthcare for the future. Peter has extensive experience in research leadership and
management having held influential roles in the regional CLAHRCs and with the Nottingham Institute of
Mental Health. For more information about the NIHR CRN visit their website
LPT Staff changes
Dr Pete Cross has been appointed as our new director of finance, performance and information. Pete had
been acting in to the post for 10 months and was formerly LPT’s deputy director of finance. He holds
significant NHS experience having previously worked in both health provider and health commissioning
roles. He fought off tough national competition to secure the role.
Nicky Mawer is our new head of communications. She took up the role in January after a competitive
recruitment process. Nicky joined LPT in 2004 and has been a member of the communications team
for over seven years. She began her communications career in the private sector, working in public
relations. Nicky has also worked in advertising and direct marketing.
Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust (LPT) provides a range of health and wellbeing services mainly for people living in Leicester,
Leicestershire and Rutland. Our Trust serves a population of one million people and and employs around 5,400 staff working in
community health services, adult mental health services, families, children’s and young people’s services and learning disabilities
services. For more information visit www.leicspart.nhs.uk or follow us on Twitter @LPTnhs
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