I’m a member of the Council of Governors for Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT). We met last week for our December development day. The intention was to provide an overview of various strategies and programmes. The health landscape is rapidly changing in Greater Manchester.
One of the key elements of the model is the locality neighbourhood. The axiom behind the model is that we can best improve health outcomes through provision in the community rather through an an over-reliance on hospitals. The locality neighbourhood aims to provide the pathways within the community that enable this to happen.
We’re in the middle of winter pressures that have come early this year. Already, initiatives like the new Single Point of Access clinical triage hub (known as the SPoA) are making a difference. The SPoA has been up and running since mid-November, directing patients who would have likely been conveyed by ambulance, away from our Emergency Departments (ED) and to a more appropriate setting or service which better meets their needs. In the first two weeks, 50-60% of patients referred to the service have been diverted. We expect to see the volume of referrals increase as there is greater awareness of this new option to GPs and the ambulance service. Clearly, initiatives like this emphasise the importance of our community provision.
It would be remiss not to link to the nhs advice on knowing where to go and what to do in terms of health provision at this time of the year.
Our mission
More generally, we looked at MFT priorities and how we were peforming against the targets for the current year as well as looking forward to the coming year.
I think what I take from this work is how much depends on the Trafford provision. We’re not yet where Manchester is with Hospital at Home and district nursing. That has to be a priority and I know it is.
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