I am writing this following last week’s South East Coast Clinical Senate and Strategic Clinical Networks (SCNs) stakeholder and planning event. For those who weren’t there, you can access the slides from the day and learn more about the four Strategic Clinical Networks which cover:
- cancer
- cardiovascular disease (heart, stroke, renal and diabetes)
- maternity, children and young people”s services
- mental health, dementia and neurological conditions
They complement our objective of spreading existing best practice faster and getting new innovations adopted quicker. And we complement the SCNs’ vision of providing “prioritised advice, strategic planning and quality improvement support to drive out inappropriate variation to improve quality and outcomes of patient care”.
So it is helpful to reiterate the commitment to joint working between the Clinical Senate, SCNs and KSS AHSN. By working efficiently and effectively together we will avoid duplication and play to each others’ strengths. We will support the Strategic Clinical Networks to succeed by providing full access to the Enhancing Quality & Recovery processes and events to spread existing best practice and by providing better arrangements for industry liaison, identifying new innovations and speeding up their path from innovator’s bench to patient bedside.
KSS AHSN, the Clinical Senate and the SCNs share an interest in research and involving both patients and the public in shaping healthcare. We will all seek to establish a strong alliance with Health Education England in Kent Surrey and Sussex to support workforce development as innovation transforms patient pathways. Working with universities and ensuring the adoption of research following robust evaluation is another area of potential collaboration.
For further information on the Clinical Senate and the SCNs please contact Deborah Tomalin, Associate Director, South East Coast Clinical Senate and Strategic Clinical Networks, NHS England.
Final countdown to KSS CLAHRC bid
Following a tremendous effort by colleagues from across the region, led by Sube Banerjee, our Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) bid is nearing completion. We will be submitting the application to NIHR by the deadline on Monday 13th May through the lead NHS organisation, Sussex Partnership NHS FT. Pledges of support and matched funding have been received from many NHS organisations and from all eight universities involved in health related activities, as well as from KSS AHSN and Health Education England KSS.
A one-page summary of our proposals can be found here. This has been a truly collaborative undertaking across KSS and we have identified significant areas of research strengths along the way, forging new partnerships which will stand the region in good stead for the future.
Kind regards
Guy Boersma
Managing Director (interim)
Kent, Surrey & Sussex Academic Health Science Network
Are accident and emergency attendances increasing?
Pressures on accident and emergency (A&E) departments hit the headlines last week, with the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition trading statistics across the despatch box at Prime Minister’s Question Time. But what are the facts about A&E attendances?
Figure 1 shows trends in attendances in English NHS A&E units over the past 26 years. The topline trend shows that for 15 years – from 1987/8 to 2002/3 – attendances were essentially unchanged at around 14 million per year. But in 2003/4 they jumped – by nearly 18 per cent – to 16.5 million, and rose to 21.7 million by 2012/13. This is an overall rise of around 7.5 million (a 50 per cent increase) over the past decade.
Read more.
NHS England announces plan to tackle A&E waiting times
NHS England has told its local area teams to prepare a plan by the end of the month to tackle waiting times in A&E departments, including how primary care and other services can ease the rising pressure on emergency services. NHS chiefs also said today that they will publish a plan over the next week about how they will support local commissioners and when they will intervene if a CCG is failing to control demand for urgent care services. The move comes after a political row over waiting times at A&E departments, with Jeremy Hunt blaming ‘poor primary care provision’ for a rise in A&E attendances since the 2004 GP contract allowed GPs to opt out of out-of-hours care provision.
Read more.