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PRINCESS ROYAL OPENS MAJOR NEW DEVELOPMENTPRINCESS ROYAL OPENS MAJOR NEW DEVELOPMENTPRINCESS ROYAL OPENS MAJOR NEW DEVELOPMENT

Eight-year old Shelley Cutler from Laverstock experienced the moment of a lifetime when she handed HRH the Princess Royal a posy of flowers when the Royal visitor came to Salisbury District Hospital to officially open the new development. The Princess Royal spent an hour and half at the hospital where she talked to staff and patients on the Burns Unit and orthopaedic suites, taking in the beautiful views across the Wiltshire countryside. The Princess Royal met elderly patients on the lower level and saw a demonstration on the Odstock Dropped Foot Stimulator – pioneering technology developed in Salisbury that helps peo-ple with neurological disorders walk more effectively. As staff gathered in the link corridor next to the courtyard, the Princess Royal completed her visit unveiling the plaque and received the flowers from an excited Shelley. The new hospital development houses the regional burns ser-vice, three of the five elderly care wards, plastic surgery, max-illo facial outpatients, Medical Photography, Speech Therapy and the Laser Treatment Centre, which all moved from the older southern end of the Salisbury District Hospital site. Two orthopaedic wards, orthopaedic and plastic surgery therapy services and the medical secretaries also moved into the new building in May this year.

50TH ANNIVERSARY OF REHABILITATION AT SALISBURY

Around 90 staff, volunteers and patients past and pre-sent raised a glass to toast the 50th anniversary of the Wessex Rehabilitation Centre at a special celebration at Salisbury District Hospital. And to cut the cake was 90 year old Professor Hugh Glanville. As the leading authority on rehabilitation from the mid to late 1900s, Professor Glanville created the Wessex Rehabilitation Centre in 1956.

Now the Centre treats patients across Wiltshire, Hamp-shire, Dorset, the Isle of Wight and the Channel Isles and specialises in rehabilitation following hand, arm and leg surgery, burns, chronic spinal pain and multiple injuries. Although the centre has a reputation for treating pa-tients with hand injuries, it is also recognised for treat-ing patients who have multiple injuries following acci-dents at home, at work or major road accidents. Around 32-34 new and existing patients are treated in the centre each week for a range of injuries. They can receive, on average, around four to six weeks of inten-sive rehabilitation treatment Prof. Hugh Glanville cuts the cake with Carole Bexon, Head Occupational Therapist, Sue Ford, Nurse Manager and Rosy Goodridge, Senior Physiotherapist

£235,000 INVESTMENT IN STATE-OF-THE-ART OUTPATIENT X-RAY EQUIPMENT

Orthopaedic, burns and plastic surgery patients who need X- rays when they come in for outpatient appointments can now benefit from a £235,000 investment in new state of the art X-ray equipment. The two X-ray machines use the latest digital technology and are located in the new hospital development, close to the orthopaedic, burns and plastic surgery outpatient areas.

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* NHS Carol Service, Salisbury Cathedral, Saturday 16 December 2006 at 3pm * ALL WELCOME

ANNUAL HEALTH CHECK ALL CORE NATIONAL STANDARDS MET

Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust has successfully met all national core standards and performed well around existing national targets in the independent Healthcare Commission’s annual performance ratings. The Annual Health Check replaces the old ‘star rating’ sys-tem for assessing Trusts’ performance and is now tougher and favours a broader assessment of how services are pro-vided for patients and the quality of care and treatment they receive. As part of the Annual Health Check the Trust received an overall Excellent for use of resources. As the Trust received a Fair rating for new targets, it defaulted to an overall Fair for the quality of services. Key to the overall assessment is the focus on ‘getting the basics right’. This is achieved through a number of core

standards, existing national targets and the way in which Trusts have used their re-sources. The Commission then looks at what Trusts have been doing to maintain progress through a smaller number of new targets and topic based reviews. The new targets take into account the drive within the NHS to widen responsibility for improving people’s

health, with hospitals now starting to have a role to play in this area. Although the Trust achieved the smoking indicator, it did not meet the target on processes that help patients who misuse drugs and will also be working to improve its processes for identifying and managing obesity in secondary care. Dr Frank Harsent, Chief Executive of Salisbury NHS Foun-dation Trust said: “The annual health check provides a much broader and tougher assessment than previous systems put in place to measure a hospital’s performance and it is essen-tial that Trusts meet the core standards. In meeting all na-tional core standards at Salisbury District Hospital, we ac-knowledge the enormous commitment and professionalism of our staff.”

GOOD RATING FOR MANAGEMENT OF ADMISSIONS Admissions management at Salisbury District Hospital has been rated as Good. This includes admission to the right bed or ward, availability and use of beds and the patient’s length of stay.

Annual Health Check—What is Assessed:

The core standards focus on a wide range of systems that ensure clinical risks are managed effectively and that hos-pitals use patients’ views and experiences to develop ser-vices. Cleanliness, hygiene standards and issues around dignity are just some of the aspects covered within seven key themes that make up the Core Standards: These are: Safety, Care Environment and Amenities, Clinical Cost E f f e c t i v e n e s s , Governance, Pa-tient Focus, Acces-sible and Respon-sive Care, Public Health.

Existing national targets take into account waiting times, cancelled operations and delayed transfers of care. Use of resources focus on financial manage-ment and reporting with an emphasis on efficiency, ef-fectiveness and value for money. The three topics covered in the review section cover Medicines Management, Hospital Admis-sions and Diagnostics.

EXCELLENT DIAGNOSTIC SERVICES

Diagnostic services at Salisbury District Hospital have re-ceived an Excellent rating in the independent Healthcare Commission’s assessment of all acute hospitals’ perform-ance in this area. The assessment covered pathology, radi-ology and endoscopy. There were a total of 14 indicators which have been drawn together within three main themes, the patient’s experiences, clinical quality and the efficiency and management of the service.

GOOD RATING FOR HOSPITAL MEDICINES MANAGEMENT The Trust has been rated as Good for medicines management in the independent Healthcare Commission’s assessment of all acute hospitals’ performance in this area. The assessment covers a wide range of topics from medicine reviews and information for patients, to processes, systems and staff training. There are a total of 27 in-dicators, which have been drawn together within three main themes, patient focus, clinical focus and efficiency and capability. The overall score is translated into one of four categories common to reviews. These are weak, fair, good and excellent.

PSYCHOLOGICAL SUPPORT

Specialist knowledge and expertise of the Salisbury District Hospital psychology team attracted a £400,000 grant from the Wessex Cancer Trust to pilot teaching programmes for NHS staff who can offer additional psychological support to cancer patients and their families.

NHS staff at all levels in Wiltshire, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, West Sussex and East Dorset will take part in the three-year project. At the end of the pilot there will be a net-work of staff who are better trained to identify problems and provide different levels of support.

Staff across the region will have a better understanding of the psychological impact cancer can have on patients and their families. As part of the evaluation process, the research team should have a clearer idea of what types of psychological sup-port these patients need.

Dr Kate Jenkins said: “This pilot project will have a number of benefits for cancer patients and their families. NHS staff in their day-to-day contact with patients are in an ideal position to spot any potential problems and provide help and support.”

“This pilot will enable Salisbury psychologists to train a net-work of existing staff across the region to provide different lev-els of support within their own hospital environment. It will also pro-vide research-ers with the i n f o r m a t i o n that they need to get a clearer idea of what types of psy-chological sup-port these pa-tients need.”

BONFIRES BARBECUES AND CELEBRATIONS

Burns Unit staff continued their campaign to warn people about the dangers of bonfires, barbecues and celebrations. Each year staff use Christmas, bonfire night and warm summer nights to provide seasonal awareness.

Burns Unit Staff Nurse Kirsty Escott said: “ Most years the hos-pital will see a small number of people with some form of burn and eye injury caused by fireworks. There is also considerable potential for serious burns injuries and these are nearly always caused by someone using petrol, paraffin or other flammable liquids to light bonfires and barbecues.

She added, “Burns injuries are amongst the worst for people to cope with. Apart from the immediate pain and suffering, a serious burn injury can mean weeks and weeks in hospital with permanent scarring to follow so it's important that people follow advice. It’s also impor-tant now over these winter months when people could turn to flammable liquids to light garden bonfires”.

EXCELLENT RATING FOR HOSPITAL ON FOOD AND CLEANLINESS

Salisbury District Hospital has again been given top marks for cleanliness and the quality of its food in a na-tional report by the National Patient Safety Agency.

The report follows assessments made earlier in the year by patient and public represen-tatives who form Patient Environ-ment Action Teams (PEAT). Hospitals were rated using a grading system of Excellent, good, accept-able, poor or unacceptable. To receive an excellent grading, the Trust had to demonstrate that it provides high standards that almost always meet patient needs and generally exceed expectations.

This is the sixth year running that Salisbury District Hos-pital has received a top rating in the cleaning category and the fifth for its food.

BREAST CARE SUPPORT Breast cancer patients were able to pick up new tips and enjoy each other’s company and support as part of the annual lunch held by staff at Salisbury District Hos-pital for past and present patients.

The annual lunch started 20 years ago to provide addi-tional support for breast cancer patients away from the hospital. This year the lunch coincided with national Breast Cancer Awareness Month, with over 140 woman meeting up in the Stockman’s Lounge at the Livestock Market to share their experiences.

Specialist nurse Shirley Holmes said: “ This really is a unique social event as it involves patients supporting others through what can be a traumatic and anxious time in their lives. We provide hospital support and in-formation throughout a patient’s course of treatment and beyond, but often breast cancer patients just need that additional support and contact with someone who has been through a similar experience themselves. It’s such a positive and cheerful day for new and existing patients with many still coming back since the first lunch in 1986.”

PROMOTING GOOD HEALTH

National Inpatient Survey

As part of the national inpatient survey, the Trust has had an excellent response from the 850 questionnaires sent out randomly to patients who had had at least one overnight hospital stay last July. The Trust is now analysing the information and will develop action plans if needed. More information will be on the Trust’s website early in the New Year.

Salisbury Drs Kate Jenkins, Nigel North with Tina Wellman– Hawke from Wessex Cancer Trust

NHS Foundation Trust Membership

Who can be a member? Local people aged 16 or over from the parts of North Dor-set, the New Forest, Wiltshire and all of the Salisbury District Council area which form our general and emer-gency catchment area (please see catchment map).

Patients from outside this area (or their carer) who have been treated in the Trust’s specialist services. These are plastic surgery, burns, cleft lip and palate and spinal inju-ries.

Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust staff who hold a sub-stantive, fixed term, temporary or honorary contract in excess of 12 months.

Why should I join? Members have a real opportunity to influence the plan-ning of their local hospital and shape the future develop-ment of local health services.

Elect governors and, if interested, stand in elections for the Council of Governors. Governors act as a direct link between the hospital and the community.

As members, local people can tell us about their needs and expectations. Our staff members can tell us what their needs are in order to maintain and improve on the high standards of care they provide, as well as their own personal development.

What do I need to do next? Help us to ensure that the priorities of local people and our staff are the priorities of your local hospital. Co n t a c t : I s a b e l Ca r d o s o , M e m b e rs h i p M a n a g e r , Te l : 0 1 7 2 2 3 3 6 2 6 2 e x t . 4 3 9 0 , or W e b s i t e : w w w .s a l i s b u r y. n h s . u k .

E n c o ur a g e yo u r f r i e n d s a n d n e i g h b o ur s to J O I N U S a s m em b er s

Robert Coate was elected as a governor in March 2006. A retired Army officer, he subsequently spent eight years working as a senior civil servant in the Ministry of Defence at Upavon. He is now President of Wiltshire St John Ambulance. Robert is married to Sarah, a recently retired physiotherapist who used to work in the Physiotherapy Outpatients Department at Salisbury District Hospital. They have two sons, one of whom teaches in a comprehensive school in London.

SALISBURY NHS FOUNDATION TRUST - SOUTH WILTSHIRE RURAL CONSTITUENCY

Kate Beaumont was elected as a governor in March 2006. She qualified as a nurse in 1985 and has worked in the NHS ever since. Kate is now a Patient Safety Manager with the Na-tional Patient Safety Agency. She is also a parent governor at Bishop Wordsworth’s School. Kate has four children.

Bill Rogers was elected as a gover-nor in March 2006. He works as Di-rector of Process Improvement and Quality for Convergys, and is also a Church of England Priest in the Forest and Avon Team which covers villages from Bramshaw to Downton. He is married with two children.

Sara Willan was elected as a governor in March 2006. She was previously a non-executive director of the Salis-bury Health Care NHS Trust Board from 1997 to 2004, Sara has lived in Teffont since moving from London in 1995. She is Vice Chairman of the Wiltshire Blind Asso-ciation, where she has been a Trustee since 1997 and is also an elected member of Salisbury District Council, rep-resenting Fonthill and Nadder Ward since 2000. She is married with two daughters.

Chris Horwood was elected as a governor in March 2006. Throughout his career he has worked as an in-vestment banker, most recently as a managing director at JP Morgan Chase and was a non-executive director of Stokes Forgings for a number of years, until it was sold in 2006. Chris has a number of voluntary roles, including the Prince’s Trust and the Cardiomyopathy Association. He speaks four languages, and is currently doing a Masters Degree in Property Investment. He is married with three children.