In this weeks’s edition…
- KSS Patient Safety Collaborative Kent launch
- Kent County Council up for six top local government awards
- The Health Foundation: Innovating for Improvement
- Save the date: Smart Care in Paediatrics Workshop 13th February 2015
- Diabetes Professional Care Show: 11th – 12th November 2015
- NHS England’s Patient Online Webinar Series
Hydration innovation
Around 200 people a year die of dehydration or malnutrition in a care home or hospital. Dehydration is also implicated in falls, pressure ulcers, urinary tract infections and acute kidney injury. It’s estimated that proper hydration would save the NHS nearly £1 billion every year by reducing hospital admissions and helping guard against ill health.
NHS England’s Five Year Forward View (5YFV) sets the NHS the challenge of providing more support for frail older people living in care homes. Already one in six people aged 85 or over are living permanently in a care home. It’s a group of people growing in number and for whom the NHS and social care are not yet always providing the best care. This results in some people becoming permanent care home residents who might not have needed to. And a growing number of avoidable hospital admissions from hydration related causes.
5YFV proposes a new model for enhanced health in care homes. It sees a three-way partnership between care homes, the NHS and local authorities. This will lead to new shared models which “have been shown to improve quality of life, reduce hospital bed use by a third, and save significantly more than they cost”. It’s the only new model of care proposed in 5YFY that doesn’t require some degree of reconfiguration.
Pioneering
The health of older people living with frailty is a priority area for us. Care home residents are a significant number within this group. Our programmes will bring about better health and healthcare for care home residents, with less reliance on hospital services.
A key element to the work is hydration . We are supporting Dr Sarah O’Callaghan’s (Clinical Lead, NE Hants & Farnham CCG & Voluntary Hydration Facilitator at Frimley Park Hospital) work to reduce the number of people affected by dehydration in care homes across the patch and she will present her “Hydrate in care homes” project at our dementia collaborative next month. Academic evaluation of the project suggests that introducing “Hydration Champions into a home offers a fast and inexpensive means of highlighting hydration as one of the major factors care home staff need to be aware of every day”.
We are also working with Hydrate for Health who have a number of pilots taking place in Kent, Surrey and Sussex. Their “Hydrant” is a hands-free drinking system for people with limited mobility struggling to drink without help. Currently this work is at proof of concept stage, with data pre and post pilot being analysed to understand its capacity to improve health and well-being.
Seminar series
Our 2015 seminar series launched last week. A packed room heard from renowned organisation change and leadership development consultant Myron Rogers about how to implement innovation successfully. We’ll hold more seminars between now and July; watch this space for more details.
Kind regards
Guy Boersma
Managing Director, KSS AHSN
KSS Patient Safety Collaborative Kent launch: Thursday, 5 February 2015
[Kent Surrey Sussex Patient Safety Collaborative]
Join the KSS Patient Safety Collaborative to hear about their plans so far and help them to design the programmes so they help you to achieve your priorities for patient safety. Registration is free, and a free buffet lunch is provided.
The event is open to anybody who has an interest in patient safety, including patients, carers, members of the public, health professionals, social care workers, academia and industry. If you would like to come along or would like to find out more, email us at psc@kssahsn.net
For further event information, please click here.
Kent County Council up for six top local government awards
[Kent County Council Media Hub]
The shortlist for the 2015 Local Government Chronicle (LGC) Awards has been announced with Kent County Council scooping six nominations:
- Housing
- Partnership
- Driving Growth
- Business Transformation
- Efficiency
- Kent County Council is also nominated in the Health and Social Care category for its work over two years, led by Public Health, in designing a system that can help towards evaluating joined up care for the frail elderly across the county.
The Health Foundation: Innovating for Improvement
[The Health Foundation]
The Health Foundation has £1.5m available for up to 20 teams to test and develop innovative ideas and approaches to improving health care delivery in the UK.
As part of their Innovating for Improvement programme they are looking for projects that aim to improve health care delivery and/or the way people manage their own health care through the redesign of processes, practices and services.
For further information and how to apply, please click here.
Save the date: Smart Care In Paediatrics Workshop 13th February 2015
[South East Health Technologies Alliance (SEHTA)]
Date: Friday 13th February 2015
Venue: Holiday Inn Gatwick, Povey Cross Road, Gatwick
Duration: 10:00 – 17:00
Cost: Free to attend
Places are limited so early booking essential
This event is for: Paediatricians, researchers, academics and health technology businesses with products/services applicable to paediatrics
For more information and to register, please click here.
Diabetes Professional Care Show: 11 – 12th November 2015
[South East Health Technologies Alliance (SEHTA)]
SEHTA Need Your Views! Enter the survey to win an iPad Mini
SEHTA is delighted to announce its partnership with Diabetes Professional Care – a totally new conference and exhibition designed by healthcare professionals for healthcare professionals. This event will take place at the Barbican Exhibition Halls in London on 11th & 12th November 2015. Diabetes Professional Care will include a comprehensive conference programme featuring eight streams covering all aspects of diabetes care and research.
Please click here to be directed to the survey. For further event information, please click here.
NHS England’s Patient Online Webinars Series
[NHS England – Patient Online]
NHS England’s Patient Online team are hosting as series of webinars to support practices, CCGs and CSUs with implementing online services, appointments, repeat prescribing and records access; which is included in the GMS/PMS contracts. You can ask questions, learn from other practices and find out how to access support locally. The webinars will run twice-weekly, starting 21st January 2015 for 30-45 minutes.
For more information and registration, please click here.