Winners of the Croydon Health Services Nursing Awards. Pic: Croydon Health Services NHS Trust website

Croydon Health Services have celebrated the contribution made by the Trust’s nursing, midwifery and health care assistants to the people of Croydon at their Nursing Awards ceremony.

Ivy Walker, who won the Nurse of the Year Award, began her training in 1971 at Croydon General Hospital and has been dedicated to providing quality nursing care to the people who visit Croydon Hospital over the past forty years.

On receiving her award, Nurse of the Year Ivy said: “I’m ecstatic. I love nursing and always wanted to be a nurse; my mum said I should be become a teacher, but nursing is what I wanted to do. I’m still working as a community nurse in Croydon and still enjoy it immensely.”

Karen Zedgitt was acknowledged as the Midwife of the Year for her work and determination to cater for and prioritise the care of mothers and babies.

She was also praised for her role in ensuring standards are met across Croydon Health Services.

Karen said ” I’m really proud. I’m working with a great team here that is really moving forward with making major improvements to our maternity service”.

Finally, Stephen Timillar won Healthcare Assistant of the Year Award and was recognised for “always going the extra mile” in his work with patients and staff.

Stephen said that he approaches his work every day thinking “do your job with love, passion and compassion… and work hard!”

The winners were nominated by their fellow colleagues and were judged by a panel of non-nursing colleagues and a patient representative.

Zoë Packman, Director of Nursing Midwifery and AHPs said: “International Nurses Day is a great opportunity for us to celebrate our hard working, fantastic staff at Croydon Health Services.”

“We have more than 1000 nurses working at CHS, who all make a big difference to our patients every day, whether they work in the hospital or community.

“Our Nursing Awards are a great way to acknowledge staff who may go that extra mile.”

Tower Hamlets more incidents of VAWG than any other borough in 2012. Pic: Julie Thing

Tower Hamlets has launched a new initiative this week to deal with the issue of Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) in the borough.

The launch took place at a conference on Wednesday May 15 in the Osmani Centre in Whitechapel. The event was set up to offer an opportunity for local residents and professionals working in support services to find out more about the council’s plan.

One of the attendees was Tahira, who works for a local children’s centre in Tower Hamlets, she said: “[Violence against Women and Girls] is definitely a big problem in Tower Hamlets. In fact, just as I was walking into the building I bumped into a mum telling me about a recent incident.”

The conference featured a range of speakers from the Council, VAWG and community sectors, as well as police and other specialist support services. One of the speakers was the Deputy Mayor of Tower Hamlets, Ohid Ahmed who explained that the plan has been developed as a result of high rates of violence against women and girls in the borough.

“Last year there were 6,625 incidents reported and this is higher than any other borough. We want to address this problem.”

Another issue that the Deputy Mayor emphasized was that many incidents go unreported because the victim does not know where to turn to for help and support.

The council’s plan has been set up to expand the understanding of VAWG and its impact, as well as increase support services. The initiative is focused on the following areas: domestic violence, sexual violence, trafficking and prostitution, sexual exploitation, female genital mutilation, so-called honour-based violence, forced marriages, dowry related abuse and stalking harassment.

It is a multi-agency partnership plan which brings together a variety of different organisations so they can work closely together to prevent and support women and girls affected by violence.

The VAWG Strategy Manager, Fiona Dwyer, said that the plan is set up to have a long lasting effect:

“Each year we are going to examine the outcomes and have a look and see where the plan needs to be revised. Where it is working and where it is not working.”

Stop the Incinerator Campaign outside Sutton Civic Centre Pic: Andrew Dickinson

Planning permission for the Beddington Lane South London Incinerator has been granted following months of deliberation and protest.

After a vote on April 24 resulted in a tie, the incinerator was granted the go-ahead at a re-vote at the Sutton Civic Centre on Wednesday May 15.

The Sutton Council Development Control Committee went into the meeting with an agenda that stated “The balance is considered to be clearly in favour of the scheme,” but protesters still gathered outside the centre and stated their case at the meeting.

The incinerator is part of an initiative called the South London Waste Partnership run by four councils, Croydon, Kingston, Merton and Sutton to provide improved waste management services.

The current site is used for landfill for up to 63% of the participating borough’s waste. This operation is run by independent waste transformation company, Viridor, who will also manage the incinerator.

The cost of the new contract means a saving  of approximately £197m over the 25 year contract period when compared to landfill options.

Councillor Derek Osbourne, Chair of the South London Waste Partnership Joint Waste Committee said: “I’m very proud of the deal we have achieved for local people.  This facility is both kind to the environment and it avoids passing on large costs to the taxpayer. Viridor have listened to local people and offered something that makes sense for the entire area.”

Councillor Derek Osbourne, Chair of the South London Waste Partnership Joint Waste Committee

The first vote meeting, April 24, met with considerable opposition to the project due to complaints on environmental and air quality grounds. However, last night, the council stated that the proposals had been independently scrutinised by the Environment Agency concluding that the proposals do not pose any material health risks.

For Croydon in particular, the forecast effects on air quality were found to be insignificant.

The Environment Agency further stated that:  “the additional measures proposed go beyond those the applicants would need to apply if the plant were located elsewhere”.

The report stated that additional chemical treatments had been proposed by the applicant to reduce emissions of nitrogen dioxide to below the guideline levels.

Gordon Ross, Vice Chair of the Stop the Incinerator Campaign and a member of the Croydon Green Party, said that they still have health concerns.

Stop the Incinerator Campaign web-page rallying protest for meeting.

He said that 29,000 doctors across Europe have signed a letter asking for more research to be done into the potential health risks. He added: “To us it seems quite reasonable. It’s not saying never build any more incinerators, it’s saying just to hold off until more research is done.”

Viridor have made a video and published a web-page setting out the advantages of their proposed “state-of-the-art Energy Recovery Facility (ERF) facility.”

It argues that what the campaigners describe as an incinerator would provide: “a safe and cost-effective alternative to landfill. It will also bring forward the completion and restoration of the existing landfill into green spaces and wildlife habitats.”

Viridor describes the incinerator as an “Energy Recovery Facility”

Protesters have also raised concern about the impact on local traffic as the area already has congestion problems.

However, the council argued highways advisers have confirmed that the proposals will generate less traffic than the current landfill site. Gordon Ross commented that protesters find this hard to believe as 75,000 tonnes of ash will need to be transported away from the site.

Concerns about the routes of commercial vehicles have been met with the proposal of lorry routing enforcement measures, but Gordon Ross is not confident that this will solve the problem of heavy goods vehicle traffic.

In an attempt to resolve issues between the applicants and community protesters, a community forum will be formed to discuss issues such as traffic and pollution.

However, Gordon Ross of “Stop the Incinerator” sees this as a PR stunt and alleged that Viridor had not responded to invitations to community forums in the past.

Despite being granted planning permission by Sutton Council, the application will still need to pass through The London Assembly.

As a large-scale proposal, it may be called for further consideration by the Mayor of London Boris Johnson.

The “Stop the Incinerator Campaign” see this as an opportunity to raise the issues again and they hope that the plans can be challenged against a number of points in the London Plan, National Plan and the Metropolitan Open Land guidelines.

They are also calling people in the community to write to the Mayor in the hope that if he receives a considerable number of objections he will take them into consideration.

Mind Tower Hamlets held an event as part of Mental Health Awareness Week. Pic: Lucy Johnson

The Tower Hamlets branch of  Mind, the mental health charity, and the Muslim community group Maslaha are seeking to challenge the stigmas associated with mental illness and reach out to the most isolated and least resourced people in the community.

As part of Mental Health Awareness Week  the local branch of Mind, has hosted a day where residents can try out and hear from various service providers in the borough. “Health and Wellbeing Day” promotes mental health treatment and the importance of maintaining good health.

Abdirashid Gulaid, Support Services Manager at Mind Tower Hamlets, explained the purpose of the event: “The idea is for service users who often are isolated and excluded to come out and tap into these services by either taking information or having some kind of taster sessions.”

One of the many organisations at the event was Maslaha, a social enterprise working to support the Muslim community in the borough.

Project developer Sarah Hobbs explained that the organisation was taking part in the event to raise awareness of the stigmas attached to mental health, and how this is a prevalent issue in the Muslim community.

Hobbs also noted that the communities Maslaha works with are “most isolated, the ones that had least resources available, and the least support available to themselves.”

She also pointed out that it is crucial for mental health professionals to be aware of people’s sensitivities:  “It’s important not only what’s said but also how it’s said and who says it.”

Maslaha also work with local imams and religious leaders to find out what techniques work best for local diaspora communities.

Mental Health Awareness Week runs from 13–19 May.

Pic: London Metropolitan University

A student at London Metropolitan University has been awarded the London Met Student Business Award for a new approach to surgical teaching and training.

Route 4 is designed to cut costs and make it possible for medical students to study at their own pace outside of the labs with a “take home kit.”

The programme includes online material, simulation tools and taught courses — most of which can be followed from home. This offers an alternative to the current approach which limits student opportunities to practice, needing access to sophisticated and expensive training laboratories.

Zahra Charaffdeen, 23, who created Route 4 together with two fellow students from King’s College, spoke of its aims:

“It’s basically offering cheap accessible training for everyone. There are expensive methods in the lab that students, doctors and surgeons find it difficult to get access to, so what we are trying to offer is to make it more affordable.”

Charaffdeen said that students and surgeons often lack the time to do the training, and this can cause problems when faced with real-life scenarios.

“The doctor who’s actually going to suture a wound might not have performed this task for the last year, not even once,” she said. “Others might not have done it before and they didn’t even do the practice before.”

Charaffdeen said Route 4 would create a “safer experience for the patient.”

Route 4 will receive £2,500 in funding, a market research report and space in the London Met Student Business Hatchery, part of Accelerator, London Met’s business incubator.

Interview with Zahra Charaffdeen included in audio news report

Sutton Clinical Commissioning Group Pic: Sean Mullervy

Proposals to change NHS services in South London are one step closer to a public consultation after a vote by Sutton Clinical Commissioning Group. One of the proposals would see Croydon University Hospital downgraded to a “local hospital”, meaning replacement of its accident and emergency unit with an urgent care centre.

The board met on May 9 in Cheam and took questions from members of the public, many of whom were local residents specifically concerned about the potential downgrading of St Helier and Epsom. The first two options recommended by the Better Services, Better Value review process would see both hospitals’ services downgraded.

The meeting was full, and those who could not get in leaned in at the windows. There were heated interjections when board members made the case for proposed changes.

The CCG were keen to emphasise that there were no budget cuts, and that services would be redistributed rather than closed, although the wider review process acknowledges that changes are being sought partly in response to increased financial pressure.

On a day that increased pressure on A&E departments made the headlines, members of Sutton CCG indicated there would be a greater focus on healthcare services provided outside of hospital in order to tackle this pressure. More health visitors would be trained, and there would be more investment in GP and community services.

The point was made repeatedly that “no change is not an option”.

Dr Marilyn Plant, the joint medical director of Better Services, Better Value, said: “We can’t go on as we are. The Health Service is broken and needs to be fixed.”

She argued that patients could be better treated if they were taken to specialist units spread over a greater area, rather than being taken to local hospitals, even though a longer journey time may be involved. She was jeered at several points during her presentation.

Questions from members of the public challenged the board over the quality of the evidence and data used to come to their decision, and the impact of the proposed changes on people in the area, especially in terms of journey times to hospital and the availability of emergency and maternity services at the hospitals.

There was significant opposition at the meeting to the planned changes, and two Liberal Democrat MPs were present to fight the corner of their constituents.

Tom Brake, MP for Carshalton and Wallington, is organising a campaign to protect St Helier. He presented a petition and questioned the recommendations to downgrade the hospital’s services.

Brake said that the performance of the Epsom and St Helier NHS Trust was “markedly better than its neighbours”. He also presented a dossier of comments from local people about why they want to save their local hospital.

If all seven clinical commissioning groups involved vote in favour, then the public consultation process will begin in June.

Background

Clinical commissioning groups are bodies which make decisions about the delivery of NHS services in England. They are composed primarily of GP practices, and every practice in England belongs to a CCG. They are responsible for about 60% of the NHS budget.

This vote is the latest step in a long process. The Better Services, Better Value review has recommended the consolidation of NHS services across five hospitals – namely, Croydon, Kingston, St George’s, St Helier and Epsom. If the proposed changes go ahead, the implementation would begin from April 2014.

The proposals include replacing the five accident and emergency units with three units, and downgrading the other two hospitals to urgent care centres. It would also involve changes to maternity and children’s services, potentially meaning that two of the hospitals could have stand-alone midwife-led units.

Three options have been presented, and were ranked by Sutton CCG in order of preference:

The first, preferred option would both see Croydon, St George’s and Kingston remain as major acute hospitals, with St Helier being downgraded to a local hospital, and Epsom being downgraded to a local hospital with an elective centre. This means that both hospitals would have urgent care centres rather than accident and emergency units. An “elective centre” means the inclusion of an intensive care unit and medical procedures such as endoscopy and lithotripsy.

The second option is similar, but St Helier would have the elective centre, and Epsom would be a local hospital.

The third option would mean that St Helier would be a major acute hospital and Croydon would be downgraded to a local hospital. This option is the least preferred partly because it would be the most expensive, and because the loss of emergency services in Croydon would mean an increased flow of activity to King’s College Hospital in Camberwell.

The difference between an urgent care centre and an emergency department is that the latter would deal with life-threatening situations, while the former would not.

NHS MMR Catch-up campaign

Figures published by Public Health England (PHE) reveal that Hackney has the highest level of measles in London. This comes as a national catch-up programme is launched to encourage MMR vaccinations as cases of measles continue to rise across the country.

The PHE statistics claim that there have been twenty-eight cases of measles in Hackney from December to March this year. According to Jose Figueora, Deputy Director of Public Health for Hackney, the outbreaks have mainly affected a nursery and a school.

Measles is a highly infectious disease that causes the sufferer to develop cold like symptoms and a red rash. There is no specific treatment; instead people are encouraged to take preventive measures by getting children vaccinated with an MMR injection.

The MMR jab faced a lot of criticism in the 1990s, as research wrongly linked it with autism. The link has been discredited, but the negative publicity meant many chose to not get their children vaccinated in the late 90s and early 2000’s. Experts believe this is responsible for the resurgence of the infection since 2007.

Dr Sohail Bhatti, Director of Public Health for Hackney, said: “The cases of measles in Hackney have been mostly isolated in one area of the borough and have affected large families with a number of susceptible children, who have contracted the virus from their siblings.  Hackney is working with nurseries, schools and parents along with GPs, Homerton University Hospital and community leaders to help spread the message about the importance of immunisation as well as promoting clinic timetables and raising awareness of the symptoms associated with the measles.

“Measles is a highly infectious disease and anyone who has not had two doses of the MMR vaccine is at risk. GP surgeries, health visiting/school nursing teams and children’s centres can all provide additional information and advice. You can also look on www.nhs.uk/vaccinations.”

Protest outside the Sutton Civic Centre Pic:Andrew Dickinson

At a meeting held at Sutton Civic Centre on Wednesday evening 24 April, councillors were unable to reach a decision on  whether or not to approve the go-ahead for a waste incinerator on Beddington Lane. The vote resulted in an equal tie.

Sutton’s council plan to build an incinerator within the area that will generate heat and electricity. The company Viridor will run the operation in conjunction with the South London Waste partnership. But the council’s proposals have met with opposition. Locals are questioning the level of demand for this type of waste disposal and many are concerned about the health implications.

Some critics of the incinerator are running a Stop the South London Incinerator campaign to direct their concerns to the council and to inform the wider community of the environmental implications.

Head of the campaign, Dave Petterner, argued that the incinerator was a way for the council to gain profit, rather than think about the welfare of local residents. Petterner said: “My concern is that Viridor is building this incinerator purely from a profit point of view.”

He added “Historically, incinerators are placed in poor and highly polluted areas.  Croydon is a borough that has been ignored for a long time,  with poor health statistics. They are just adding to a bad situation and making it worse”.

A local man from Sutton, who works in the waste management sector and wished to remain anonymous, argued: “Why not incinerate? The new incinerators are virtually pollution free, it is a product that will be efficient and productive as long as people recycle”.

The council will meet again for a revote, but a date has not yet been set. Protesters say they will continue to campaign in the meantime.

Save Lewisham A&E meeting Pic: Lucy Johnson

At a meeting at Goldsmiths College on Thursday April 26 , speakers from the health professions and the local community restated their commitment to protect Lewisham Hospital services from being downgraded.

Contributions at the meeting were made from invited guests and members of the public. Speakers sought to make connections with NHS campaigners in London and more widely across the UK, as well as with other public services facing changes and cuts, including the fire service.

A banner taped up on stage in the Great Hall read, “A victory for Lewisham Hospital is a victory for everyone.”

Louise Irvine, a local GP and Save Lewisham Hospital campaign chair, said that the campaign was “still alive and kicking and strong and growing” and that they were “looking at wider issues threatening the NHS”.

There are currently two judicial reviews looking into Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt’s decision to approve changes to NHS services in the area. These changes would include the downgrading of Lewisham Hospital’s accident and emergency department and maternity unit. The first judicial review is being led by Lewisham Council and is challenging the government as to whether it has the right to make changes to Lewisham Hospital. The second review, which is being prepared by the SLH campaign, is based on the four tests which must be met before any reconfigurations can be made to NHS services. In a statement issued in January, Mr Hunt said that the recommendations have passed these four tests, while the campaigners say that none of the criteria have been met.

These four tests are that any proposed changes must have:

• support from GP commissioners
• strengthened public and patient engagement
• clarity on the clinical evidence base
• and consistency with current and prospective patient choice

In response to the prospect of a judicial review brought by Lewisham Council a spokesperson for the Department of Health said: “The clinical interests of patients in south east London were at the heart of the Secretary of State’s decision making process, and as a result he followed clinical advice to keep open the A&E in Lewisham.”

The DoH added: “However, some changes need to be made to ensure that patients in south east London will be able to rely on the NHS for years to come. We are confident that the Secretary of State and the TSA acted within their powers, and will vigorously defend the claim from Lewisham Council.”

Although changes to health services in the area will not be made until the judicial reviews have been heard, Louise Irvine said that “even if we were to win a reprieve for Lewisham Hospital, those threats will still be there.” But she added, “I feel positive because…there is a groundswell developing and we’re going to hit them really hard with a mass movement.”

Tony O’Sullivan, who is a children’s consultant for Lewisham Healthcare NHS Trust, said that “this issue for Lewisham isn’t going to be solved overnight, and it’s part of a huge assault on the NHS up and down the country,” claiming that “if they can close Lewisham Hospital down, they can close any hospital down.” He said that, although the decision to downgrade Lewisham had been disheartening, the spirits of staff at the hospital were buoyed up by the support shown by the local community.

Earlier in the day, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt had spoken on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, citing “bad out-of-hours provision” from GPs as one reason that admissions to A&E departments have risen. Irvine responded by saying, “I’m a GP. We’re completely worked off our feet with the huge workload we have, and I don’t think to blame GPs for the demand on A&E is appropriate. I think we have to talk about investing properly in A&Es and not closing them.”

Campaigners are organising a “Hunt for Hunt” on 15h June, in which residents of Lewisham will be taken by bus to the Health Secretary’s constituency in South West Surrey, in order to stage a demonstration.

Demonstration Poster Pic: Stop the Incinerator

A demonstration is expected in Croydon against the building of a waste incinerator at Beddington Lane on Wednesday evening 24 April. Campaigners plan to congregate outside the Sutton Civic Centre where the council is making the final decision on whether to go ahead with the project.

Waste incineration is championed by the government as a cheap alternative to sending rubbish to landfill sites, as well as a way of producing fuel. There are already thirty waste incinerators in the United Kingdom and there are currently plans to build a hundred more around the country.  Other European countries have operated waste incinerators successfully for many years.

Critics, however, point to the fact that countries like Norway and Sweden have found they have not had enough waste to burn and have been forced to import waste. UK household waste has fallen in past years, as recycling has increased, which has also led some to question the logic of the scheme.

The anti-incinerator campaigners point out that the Beddington Lane area already suffers from high levels of pollution. They fear this will increase, resulting in higher health risks to the local population.

The proposed construction at Beddington Lane is part of a broader project known as the ‘South London Waste Plan’. Croydon, Sutton, Kingston and Merton councils  intend to move away from landfill waste and follow central government policy to build incinerators.

The Stop the South London Incinerator campaign has been backed by the Green Party with a pledge of £2,000 for their fighting fund.