\n This bill proposes to significantly change the way your voice is heard as a patient and the means by which you can feed back to health and social care services about the care you\u2019ve received.\n<\/p>\n
\n The proposed reforms included:\n<\/p>\n
\n \u2022 the abolition of NHS England (NHSE), pulling functions directly into the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), including transferring some powers directly to the Secretary of State\n<\/p>\n
\n \u2022 the reconfiguration of certain duties of integrated care boards\n<\/p>\n
\n \u2022 changes to statutory data functions and the single patient record\n<\/p>\n
\n \u2022 abolition of Healthwatch and the creation of a new DHSC patient voice function.\n<\/p>\n
\n As the months progress and the current political shenanigans settle down, I will keep you informed of progress, particularly around the concept of bringing the patient voice under the control of those who are providing and delivering services.\n<\/p>\n
\n This is something Healthwatch throughout the country is opposed to, as we never want to see another \u2018Mid Staffs Crisis\u2019 \u2013 one of the worst hospital care scandals of recent times and a primary reason for establishing a completely independent patient voice.\n<\/p>\n
\n Alongside all of this upheaval within the NHS at present, our hospital colleagues have faced the additional impact of being ranked in league tables.\n<\/p>\n
\n In Norfolk, it can easily look as though none of our hospitals are performing well, with the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (NNUH) ranked 91st, the James Paget University Hospital (JPUH) ranked 127th and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, King’s Lynn, (The QEH) coming in second from last, at 133.\n<\/p>\n
\n League tables rarely paint a comprehensive picture of the performance of a care service, and can leave patients who rely on those services feeling despondent.\n<\/p>\n
\n So, to combat these results, I believe it is worthwhile to highlight some of the major successes across Norfolk.\n<\/p>\n
\n The Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital recently doubled its robotic-assisted surgery capacity, with the arrival of two new da Vinci Surgical Robotic systems.\n<\/p>\n
\n These advanced robots enable complex procedures to be carried out by surgeons, while minimising the risk of complications for patients and, in turn, improving recovery times.\n<\/p>\n
\n The NNUH now has the joint-most surgical robots on a single site in the East of England, making the hospital a leader in technological innovation in healthcare.\n<\/p>\n
\n Over in Gorleston, through the adoption of a local screening programme, the James Paget University Hospital has now detected previously unidentified cancers in more than 100 patients across Great Yarmouth and Waveney.\n<\/p>\n
\n This enables patients to receive treatment at an earlier stage, increasing their chances of a successful recovery.\n<\/p>\n
\n The Lung Cancer Screening Programme is offered to people aged 55 to 74 who are current or former smokers and are therefore at higher risk of lung cancer.\n<\/p>\n
\n So far, 25,000 people in Great Yarmouth, Gorleston, and Lowestoft have been reached, and people are being urged to take up the offer of the service if contacted, so as many eligible patients as possible can begin the treatment they need.\n<\/p>\n
\n The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, King’s Lynn, also adds to the success of services that we can access.\n<\/p>\n
\n It has recently been ranked among the top 10 NHS trusts in England for clinical research, according to national performance data.\n<\/p>\n
\n Teams at The QEH are now working on a number of high-profile national studies, including ways to improve recovery and mobility in older patients following hip fractures, looking at new therapies for chronic skin conditions and trials testing new treatments to improve heart health.\n<\/p>\n
\n For patients in West Norfolk, this means access to ground-breaking treatments and more convenient care that can be delivered locally, rather than having to travel further afield.\n<\/p>\n
\n Despite all the doom and gloom that we hear about in relation to the NHS, I would suggest that Norfolk is batting above its weight and we should be proud of the achievements that are being made to improve all our outcomes.\n<\/p>\n
\n If you would like further information about any of the successes, please contact us and we shall put you in touch with the appropriate Trust.\n<\/p>\n
\n Alex Stewart is chief executive of Healthwatch Norfolk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This bill proposes to significantly change the way your voice is heard as a patient and the means…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":604567,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[102,2960,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-604566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=604566"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604566\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/604567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=604566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=604566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=604566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}