Todmorden U3A welcomed back Kate Moreton-Deakin to speak at its March general meeting. Previously, Kate had talked about her role as a Deputy Lord-Lieutenant of West Yorkshire. This time she spoke about her day job as Associate Director - Corporate Social Responsibility with Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust.

Kate started her professional life as a nurse and rose to become Associate Director of Nursing. She has gone on to distinguish herself in senior positions in a number of different areas. These have included such diverse activities as the redesign of services and clinical work redevelopment processes to working alongside industry on Iraqi healthcare reconstruction.

Kate showed a video of extracts from the 2010/2011 annual report which highlighted the major achievements of the Trust. These included a drive to make services safer for patients and to continue to make substantial reductions in hospital acquired infections. The Trust has made significant improvements over the years but its aim is to eradicate infections and continues to work towards this. As part of its commitment to keep services local, a new service for heart patients has been launched – percutaneous coronary intervention (angioplasty) - which means patients can be fitted with a stent at Calderdale Royal Hospital instead of travelling to Leeds.

Kate told her audience that things aren't always got right and this was recognised. The national inpatient survey and the local feedback the Trust gets, tells it where it needs to focus attention. Patients' advice is taken and built into the Quality Improvement Strategy which helps towards the aim of providing safe, effective and personal care for all patients.

Additionally, people are more involved in managing their own health through the Co-Creating Health Project. Since the programme was launched in 2007, more than 160 people in Calderdale and Kirklees have had their lives transformed, through developing the knowledge, skills and confidence to help them manage their condition, with the support of a specially trained team of clinicians and voluntary tutors.

On the change from Primary Care Trusts to GP funding, Kate said that region-wide advisory panels were being established that mirrored the PCT executive so that experience was retained. She hoped that this would ensure an uninterrupted programme of care.

Questions followed and the practice of allowing all-day patient visiting was raised in respect of patients' much-needed sleep sometimes being disturbed. Kate replied by saying that there is no "one size fits all" solution to this. Whilst patients are placed in suitable accommodation, where possible, if a patient has visitors who have travelled a long distance, or is near the end of their life, it is not appropriate to restrict visitors.

Kate was asked if notice was taken of patient feedback after treatment. Kate said that in addition to monitoring during treatment, volunteers independent of the Trust visit patients just before discharge and record their views of their stay. This is then discussed by the ward team and so health professionals learn through direct feedback, the patients' experience of receiving treatment, which in turn informs their practice.

One questioner expressed appreciation of the improvement in hospital service that had been apparent to him in the last 10 years and congratulated Kate, her team and all the teams on recent awards of excellence and Trust's high national ranking, but asked what impact the proposed government legislation would make on the Trust. Kate opened her reply with the observation that her cynical self had concluded that whoever had designed the new legislation had no experience of the Health Service. In some ways a policy without a policy. However, she went on to say that with goodwill and sensible decisions by the management, she did not see why the new proposed structure could not work well. In fact, many changes were already being made in anticipation of the legislation. An additional difficulty was that this was coming at the same time as severe financial cutbacks.

Financial acumen at management level was the concern of one questioner and assurance was given that this is the case. The new Chair has worked for KMPG (a leading global network of auditors) and the non-executive directors have business experience.

Kate finished this part of her presentation by pointing out that the Trust is a membership organisation and that anyone can join. Members and the Membership Council are a vital link with the local community. Joining the Trust as a Foundation Trust member is a voluntary role and demonstrates support and interest in our hospitals and their future. In turn members help the Trust to learn and grow as an organisation and to continuously improve its services. Membership is available online at www.cht.nhs.uk Follow the links.

Rita Olley made a plea on behalf of the Senior Moments Concert Party.

Wanted: as soon as possible a pianist/accompanist for the Senior Moments Concert Party, gender unimportant. We have bookings up to Christmas and we wish to fulfil them.

Requirements are a daft sense of humour and a dedication to the cause. We go to Care Homes in the area and give approx. an hour long show of song, dance and stupidity. We cannot promise you any payment, only hard work, fun, a sense of achievement and satisfaction. We give concerts on average once a month and are much appreciated. Our programme can range from Keep the Home Fires Burning to Old Macdonald had a Farm, any wrong notes played would add to the fun and be much appreciated .

Please PLEASE help us. Contact Rita Olley 01706 819926.

 

University of Third Age, Todmorden website

 

Previous U3A reports on the HebWeb

HebWeb News - Fair Trade Movement (Feb 2012)

HebWeb News - Fancy a cruise to the Antarctic? (Feb 2012)

HebWeb News - Gail Allaby, U3A's Queen of the Underworld (Dec 2011)

HebWeb News - September meeting report - Report of meeting about Walking the Pacific Crest Trail

HebWeb News - August meeting report - Bolton Abbey

HebWeb News - May and June meeting report - Keep Learning: Live long and prosper and the role of the Lord-Lieutenant

HebWeb News - April meeting report - Belt and Braces - An Everyday Guide to Risk and Chance

HebWeb News - March meeting report - Growing Old in the Twenty-First Century