This month we are highlighting spread sites in Northampton and Dudley along with our partners the British Lung Foundation and Coventry University
Right care, right time, right place...... Making Waves is a programme designed to increase the value from the resources allocated to healthcare by utilising existing community assets, improving clinical involvement and stronger patient involvement through devolved shared decision making. They are examples of how local services can evolve and become sustainable by ultimately delivering better health, better patient care and improved NHS efficiency. For additional details or a discussion about how you could make it happen in your health economy contact paul.dodd@northstaffs.nhs.uk
A new model for COPD is Making Waves
Our story so Far........Northamptonshire Health Foundation Trust are the lead organisation partnered with Northamptonshire Carers who manage the daily running of the project. In July ’16 The Project Manager Louise Shaw was appointed, followed quickly by the appointment of Pat Downer the Project Coordinator. Both these posts are managed by Northamptonshire Carers who support unpaid family Carers in Northamptonshire.
The launch of Breathing Space was held on 21st September 2016 and was attended by 65 members of the community, 30 with COPD including Carers and 35 professionals. We had 12 stakeholder Information Stands, 2 Workshops - Singing4Breathing Choir performance and workshop & Respiratory Exercise demonstration by Breathe Easy train and 2 Therapy Demonstration Stands
We were absolutely delighted with the numbers of people who attended the launch but most of all by the overwhelming enthusiasm and engagement by the people with COPD and informal Carers and by the stakeholder organisations participation.
Clinical Engagement. Formal arrangements with Dr James Findlay, a GP with specialist interest in Respiratory conditions were put in place in August, alongside that of Dr Mike Scanlan, mental health consultant and therapist whose role is to deliver psycho social support. Mikes Acceptance and Commitment Therapy approach is offered as a one to one therapy to help people increase psychological flexibility to manage anxiety, depression, anger, phobias and traumatic events which can be associated with COPD exacerbations. This was followed by a service level agreement in October to include a presence at the groups by a RESTART Respiratory Nurse. A strong relationship with Northampton General Hospital Respiratory consultants is being built and we hope that they will inform and become involved in delivery as the service moves forward.
Nene Clinical Commissioning Group (NCCG) have shown great support for the project recognising the close links to the aims of their new Sustainable Transformation Plan (STP). Seed funding from The West Midlands Respiratory Improvement Programme is supplemented by CQUIN funding for Patient Activation Monitoring, the results of which NCCG will be looking to in evaluating outcomes related to self-management of long term conditions and wider effects of social prescribing and person centred support planning which are intrinsic to Breathing Spaces methodology. Breathing Space were invited to present to NCCG Governing Board 15th Nov ’16 and received an enthusiastic round of applause with great hopes that the project will be a tangible delivery tool for new models and approaches to health and wellbeing.
Airtime is a weekly group which supports members of the community with COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) and related conditions. The project is coordinated by Nina Gee, who has recently joined the Dudley CVS Integrated Plus team. The main aim of the project is to reduce social isolation and take pressure off the NHS by reducing hospital admissions relating to the disease. The concept is that by providing an environment for people to meet and to have a weekly focus, they are more equipped to manage their symptoms and to feel a greater sense of belonging to their local community. There are also six other clinics currently running in the Midlands as part of the ‘Making Waves’ spread programme supported by the health Foundation and provided by the West Midlands Respiratory Improvement Programme. Dudley Airtime is still developing but has already had a great response from service users who enjoy the activities and opportunity to mingle. They enjoy a wide range of activities such as Tai Chi, seated yoga, singing and art therapy plus a free buffet lunch, quizzes and bingo. The sessions are fun and informative.
I work for the BLF as their Service Development Manager for the Midlands region. Having worked closely with the project since it started in Coventry , I have really enjoyed getting to know the new sites over the past few months. I have visited Dudley, Daventry, Wolverhampton and Birmingham South groups so far, and met with most of our provider partners. All of the groups are different and reflect their communities, but what unifies them all is a shared vision to improve the lives of people living with respiratory conditions. This echoes the work of the BLF and I am proud to be a part of the project. If I haven’t visited your site yet, then please get in touch, I can offer support regarding patient engagement, and on-going support to sites on a bi-monthly basis. Using our self-management materials that we have produced for the project, I have been able to deliver short information sessions built around our award winning COPD Patient passport. This is our ten top tips guide to learning how to manage COPD and staying in control http://passport.blf.org.uk/ You can contact me at sarah.gray@blf.org.uk
MAKING WAVES EVALUATION
The focused objectives for people with COPD are: Increased mental well-being, Improved ability to self-manage, Improved take up of low cost/ highly effective treatment e.g. smoking cessation and pulmonary rehabilitation, Emergence of a new model of service and Reduction in unplanned admissions.
STOP PRESS - Great News on Evaluation
The evaluation of the Making Waves Project will start in January 2017. The University Evaluation Team were excited, not to mention greatly relieved, to receive word that the evaluation processes and protocols have been reviewed favourably by Coventry University Ethics Procedures, but most importantly through NHS ethics. Here Vicky Lord, Northamptonshire evaluation support, and Alan Taylor, who is leading the evaluation, are seen with just one of the necessary documents that had to be prepared – the 110 page Evaluation Protocol! During the remainder of December the University Team will be preparing all the necessary paperwork for each of the seven sites to obtain valuable quantitative and qualitative data with which we can evaluate the impact that the Making Waves project has had on the lives of people with COPD. We’ll also be gathering stories of changes in peoples lives, as well as insights into how improvement and change happens (or doesn’t!) within NHS services.
Alan commented, “The whole team put an enormous amount of effort into completing a broad range of guidance and clarifying procedures, and we asked several Professors, who are experts in their field, to help us make sure our paperwork was the best it could be. And it paid off … with just minor amendments to a couple of forms, we’re ready to go.”
Late news......Groups celebrate Christmas 2016 !
CONTACT INFORMATION
For more information about the programme please contact Paul Dodd; Paul.dodd@northstaffs.nhs.uk
Coventry ‘RIPPLE’ - Please contact Janelle Kingham for more information:mailto: Janelle.kingham@uhcw.nhs.uk
Wolverhampton ‘TWIRL’ - Please contact Claire Morrissey for more information: WOLCCG.WCCG@nhs.net
Dudley 'AirTime' - Please contact Nina Gee for more information: nina@dudleycvs.org.uk
Northamptonshire ‘Breathing Space’ - Please contact Louise Shaw for more information: louises@northamptonshire-carers.org
Nottingham NorthEast - Please contact Rebecca Archibald for more information: respiratory@rushcliffecvs.org.uk
South Birmingham 'Love your lungs' - Please contact Jennifer Jones Rigby for more information: jennifer.jonesrigby@healthexchange.org.uk
South Lincolnshire - Please contact Nick Blake for more information: Nick.Blake@SouthLincolnshireCCG.nhs.uk
The Making Waves evaluation and communications team can be contacted via Sophie Krumins.
Making Waves is a Health Foundation spreading improvement programme that is being funded and delivered by the West Midlands Regional Respiratory Improvement programme. (Health Foundation is a charity working towards improving the quality of UK Healthcare)
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