In addition the NHS Commissioning Board is setting up a customer contact centre.  They will be dealing with calls regarding primary care, for example calls about GP practices or registering with a dentist.  For more information, please go to: http://www.commissioningboard.nhs.uk/contact-us/

The new PALS service will be open from 8.30am to 4.30pm Monday to Friday and will be based at Douglas Mill, Bradford.  The service can be contacted on 0800 0525 270

The NHS locally is asking people to help them in the task of planning a new service for the whole of West Yorkshire by sharing their experiences of unplanned or urgent dental services in their area. 

There are currently five services across West Yorkshire providing unplanned or urgent dental care. These services are for people:

• Without a regular dentist who need treatment or
• Who need treatment urgently but cannot access their regular dentist, for example during a bank holiday.

The contracts for the five services, which were managed by the primary care trusts covering Airedale, Bradford, Leeds and Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield, come to an end in March 2014. A new service needs to be provided across the whole of West Yorkshire.

All treatment for life threatening dental emergencies is accessed through the 999 service and will continue to be.

Dentist David Wood, who is leading the work to look at the new service, said: “We are really keen to hear from people to ensure we create the right service for the future.

“There are benefits to having a West Yorkshire-wide service for patients and these will include increased choice. People will no longer be limited to accessing the service in their own district – for example Kirklees - but will have choice across West Yorkshire. This could be an advantage if you live and work in different areas, and need to see a dentist urgently.

“We are asking residents across West Yorkshire to let us know their views before April 26. These views will then be assessed, along with information about clinical quality and financial sustainability, to plan the new service to start in spring 2014.”

• More information can be found here
• Unplanned or urgent dental services - how the services currently operate.  Find out more here
• The survey is available at www.tinyurl.com/UrgentDental
• Alternatively you can call 01484 464025 to request a printed version.

Dr Judith Hooper, Director of Public Health for Kirklees said: “Flu can cause serious illness in pregnant women and in the most severe cases can put the lives of expectant mums and their unborn babies at risk. This is because the woman’s body and immune system is adapting to accommodate the growing baby and is therefore less able to fight off the flu virus.”

Pregnant women who catch flu are at increased risk of serious complications such as bronchitis and pneumonia. And by not having the vaccine, mothers could put the baby at risk of premature or still birth.

“When you are pregnant with your child you want to do what is right for your baby and some mothers-to-be worry about the vaccine. It is safe for mother and baby and can be given at any stage of pregnancy. In fact, having a flu jab while pregnant will also automatically protect your baby against this dangerous illness because the antibodies you develop are passed to your baby and will last during the first few months of your baby’s life,” added Dr Hooper.

“In addition, many pregnant mothers already have children at home and with a family to look after cannot afford to fall ill. So getting the jab not only protects the mother and unborn baby, but also their loved ones too.”

This year, pregnant women are also being urged to get the whooping cough vaccination to give their baby the best protection against whooping cough, following a national outbreak of the disease, as very young babies are at the greatest risk of serious complications. Women who are 28 weeks pregnant or more should contact their GP practice to get vaccinated, or speak to their midwife.

Rebecca Robinson, 32 from Huddersfield is 29 weeks pregnant with her first baby: “I intend to have the vaccines as soon as possible to protect both myself and my baby from flu and whooping cough this winter and to give my baby the best possible start,” said Rebecca.

During the 2011/12 flu season approximately 5238 pregnant women registered with a GP practice in Kirklees but just over a fifth of these women (20%) had the flu jab.

There are four groups of people most at risk from flu – pregnant women; people with long term health conditions; carers and people over 65 years.

There are additional ways people can protect themselves and those around them from flu. Good hand hygiene – the ‘catch it, bin it, kill it’ technique – reduces the spread of germs. This means carrying tissues, covering coughs and sneezes with a tissue, disposing of the tissue after one use, and cleaning hands as soon as possible with soap and water or an alcohol hand gel.

Pregnant women can ask their midwife or GP practice about a flu jab or call NHS Direct on: 0845 46 47 for more information.

Kirklees PCT has started consultation with the 300 patients who use the Greenside branch surgery regularly and who may be affected by this change to help them decide if they want to stay with Dr Reddy and use his town centre surgery or transfer to one of the six other GP practices in the local area. 

Dr Reddy wishes to close the branch surgery because he believes his patients’ needs will be better met at his main surgery. Whilst a number of appointments are offered at the Greenside branch, the majority of appointments and all clinics continue to be held at the main Greenhead Road site - which can be reached by bus and car from the Wakefield Road area.

Mark Jenkins, Head of Primary Care Contracting at NHS Kirklees, said: “We understand why Dr Reddy wishes to close the branch surgery in order to invest his time in the main site, and we want to make sure any patients affected will have all the information they need to make the best choice about who delivers their primary healthcare in future. 

“We are liaising with the six other local practices to make sure they are able to accept any patients who choose to register with a new GP. We will consult with patients about registering with a new practice and will be making sure they are able to be registered with a high quality GP service and that their medication regimes can continue.” he added.

On 24^th October, the teams of specialist nurses will visit local B&Q stores on their Diamond Days to raise awareness of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) and Meticillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA), they will provide supporting information and advise on and how the infections can be detected, prevented and managed. 

The teams will be available in store between 9am and 4pm at the following B&Q stores:

Dewsbury B & Q Store at Wilton Street

Halifax B & Q Store at Shroggs Road

Huddersfield B & Q Store at Leeds Road Retail Park

The initiative which is being run across Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield districts will see the introduction of an information card for a person who is affected by one of these infections. The card will allow the person to become more involved in their care and provide healthcare workers with an easy method of identifying a person who has had CDI and/or MRSA, helping them with the prescribing of the appropriate antibiotic treatment.

Jacqui Elliott, Infection Prevention and Control Nurse at Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield NHS said: “CDI and MRSA infection is preventable however the infections can be the cause of serious illness and on rare occasion serious consequences. The local initiative will provide supporting information booklets and cards for the individual affected and to local health professionals, they will receive advise on signs and symptoms to look for and how to manage the conditions. We hope by raising awareness we will help the person to be more aware of their condition, and reduce the numbers of people who are affected by these conditions.”

Read about how we've put patients at the centre of everything we do, our partnerships and financial report.

We would love to hear your views by taking just a few minutes to complete the on-line questionnaire via the following link:

www.kirklees.gov.uk/jsnaevaluation

The survey closes on Friday 19 October, so don’t miss this opportunity to have your say.

The changes have been discussed and agreed through the Mid Yorkshire Health and Social Care Partnership Programme Board* and the Mid Yorkshire Overview and Scrutiny Committee. They involve:

• Relocation of the neuro rehabilitation service from Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield to Dewsbury and District Hospital (taking place this week)
• Development of specialist eye services at Pontefract and at Dewsbury (taking place at the end of September)
• Development of centres of excellence for elective orthopaedic surgery at Pontefract and Dewsbury (taking place in January/February 2013)

This follows a four week engagement exercise which took place during the summer this year where proposals were set out, questionnaires were circulated to patient groups and members of the public, and two public meetings were held.

Stephen Eames, Interim Chief Executive of The Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “These changes will pave the way for us to develop centres of excellence in ophthalmology, orthopaedics and neuro-rehabilitation.

“They will improve the efficiency of the services and help us to make much better use of the hospital buildings we have available, particularly Pontefract Hospital which is currently under-used.
“They are also intended to reduce unplanned transfers of people from the Wakefield district to Dewsbury and improve services for rehabilitation and older people at Dewsbury.

“We were very pleased to see that people mainly reported a very positive experience of using these services but will be looking at any improvements we could make in line with suggestions, including to the appointment system and clinic waiting times.”

Chris Dowse, Shadow Accountable Officer for NHS North Kirklees Clinical Commissioning Group, added: “We ran a four week engagement exercise about these changes during the summer. We are very grateful for all the feedback we had from local residents, patients and other interested parties, which we have considered carefully before deciding to proceed with the changes.

The majority of people who responded agreed with the case for creating centres of excellence and the value of having expertise in one area. We know that this is important if we’re going to make sure patients get the best possible results from their treatment. By bringing the inpatient neuro-rehabilitation service, into Dewsbury Hospital, alongside the existing stroke rehab service, this gives us a really strong centre with excellent clinical links. With more planned orthopaedic surgery taking place in Dewsbury and improved services for patients with eye problems, this is good news locally and confirms the integral role that Dewsbury Hospital continues to play within the Mid Yorkshire area.
“ We have discussed the feedback with the Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee for Health and Social Care who, I’m pleased to say, agreed to us proceeding with these service changes that will bring a number of benefits for local people.”

Neuro-rehabilitation (recovery from a nervous system injury or condition)

This service helps people with complex neurological disabilities resulting from stroke, brain injury, multiple sclerosis, spinal paralysis, peripheral nerve and muscle diseases and conditions such as motor neurone disease. This is a regional service – serving a catchment area from East Yorkshire to Todmorden in West Yorkshire.

The agreed changes to neuro-rehabilitation will take place this week and involve moving the 12-bed inpatient service from Pinderfields to Dewsbury and District Hospital to be located alongside stroke rehabilitation services. This would create a specialist rehabilitation centre able to deliver better care and improved outcomes for patients recovering from stroke and various neurological conditions.

An additional outpatient neuro-rehabilitation clinic will be provided at Dewsbury and outpatient services will still be provided at Pinderfields. The extra outpatient neuro-rehabilitation clinic at Dewsbury would improve access to services for people in Kirklees and Calderdale.

As part of the relocation, the Trust has reorganised some wards to create units that have a clear focus on specific needs instead of patients being dispersed across several general wards. In addition to the dedicated rehabilitation, reconfiguration has allowed for the development at Dewsbury of a dedicated elderly care (medical) ward.

The reorganisation optimises the use of beds to enable people to be treated in the best place by the most appropriate clinical team which will mean they are less likely to stay in hospital for longer than necessary.

Orthopaedics (bones and joints)

Changes to the orthopaedics service will start later this month and see Pontefract Hospital developed as a major centre for planned inpatient orthopaedic surgery for patients across the Wakefield district. Dewsbury and District Hospital would also be developed as a specialist centre for orthopaedics. There will be no changes to current outpatient appointment arrangements, with appointments provided in all three hospitals - Pinderfields, Pontefract and Dewsbury.

Specialist orthopaedic work will continue to be done at Pinderfields, including emergency, children’s and complex orthopaedic work.

One of the major advantages of this change will be to reduce high levels of referral to the independent sector by increasing productivity achieved as a result of extending theatre days and weekend working. Last year of 860 hip and knee replacement operations, 431 were sent to the independent sector (requiring people to travel further afield and diverting money out of the NHS).

Relocation also frees up capacity at Pinderfields to manage urgent medical and/or surgical admissions. There are also clinical safety benefits of separating elective and non-elective orthopaedics as it reduces infection risks and the likelihood of cancellation of planned surgery due to urgent demand.

Ophthalmology (Eye Care)

Changes to eye care services are scheduled to take place early in 2013 and involve glaucoma, medical retina and cataract services moving from Pinderfields Hospital to Pontefract Hospital. This would allow the macular degeneration service to move from Clayton Hospital (which is due to close) into Pinderfields.

The changes create a centre of excellence for Glaucoma, Medical Retina and Cataract services at Pontefract to complement the service at Dewsbury which will also be enhanced. Wakefield residents will have the choice of using either service. Some specialist services for people with these conditions will be retained at Pinderfields.

The changes allow for expertise and specialist equipment to be deployed across the three sites to enhance the service and reduce the need for multiple diagnostic appointments.

The relocation of this service supports wider plans to optimise Pontefract Hospital and to develop its role as a centre for diagnostics and planned treatment. It also creates space at Pinderfields to accommodate the Trust-wide age related macular disease (ARMD), which retains this in a location that is central to the whole of the Mid Yorkshire patch.

The ophthalmology service carries out about 18,000 to 20,000 outpatient appointments and surgical procedures each year.

During October, smokers in Kirklees are being encouraged to take part in the first ever mass quit attempt launched by the Department of Health – Stoptober.

We know that if you can stop smoking for 28 days you are five times more likely to stay smokefree, and Stoptober leads smokers through a detailed step-by-step programme to help them achieve this goal.

NHS Kirklees, Locala Stop Smoking Service and Kirklees Council are supporting the brand new stop smoking campaign in a bid to get people to quit.

Dr Judith Hooper, Director of Public Health for Kirklees Council and NHS Kirklees said: “Stoptober is an excellent way for Kirklees smokers to join forces and take positive steps on their journey to stopping smoking. Using the resources available online, ordering the Stoptober pack and with the support of Locala stop smoking services, people across Kirklees will have more support than even before and have the chance to experience the many benefits that stopping smoking can bring.”

The new campaign includes a preparation pack, 28-day Quit Calendar and Health and Wealth wheel. Smokers will also receive support and encouragement through a daily messaging service, inspiration from celebrity mentors, and expert advice via:

Stoptober app (available via Smartphone)
Motivational text messages
Facebook page

As well as the financial benefits of stopping smoking, those undertaking the 28 day programme will experience physical improvements including a better sense of smell and taste and more energy. Longer term, those who stop smoking reduce their risk of heart disease and lung cancer as well as protecting others from their secondhand smoke.

Smoking is one of the biggest causes of premature death in Kirklees and each year it accounts for over 100,000 deaths in the UK and one in two long-term smokers will die prematurely from a smoking disease. 1 in 5 Kirklees residents smoke, although the majority of these smokers would like to stop and Stoptober will provide further support to help this to happen.

Stoptober 2012 kicks off on Monday 1 October and runs for 28 days.

Stoptober packs can be ordered at smokefree.nhs.uk/Stoptober. For more support with stopping smoking contact the Locala Stop Smoking Service on 01924 351498.