End of Year Giddiness or is it hysterics

With less than 2 hours to go I along with almost all Practice Managers in the country are checking that everything we have to do for end of year is done… excluding the accounts of course which is for another day including the tax man and his RTI submissions. (Reminder to self..must make that call to Tina at B W Medical Accountants)

Never before have we had to tick so many boxes, look at so many systems and report to so many different bodies…

Tick lists, check lists, coded lists and even a list of those things we think has been done but not received acknowledgement for.

Hairdresser this week will be shocked when she see’s the amount of grey hair I have.

The best thing….  Going shopping this weekend… We are free…. Well for another week anyway until we are hit with next years targets.

Yes,  we in general practice don’t just see patients (that’s for the clinicians), the rest of us have to run a business.

On a positive note we have uploaded our patient survey (after meeting with the patient group) onto the website.  The practice team and the patient group are very pleased with the results. As one of our patient group said ‘overall a very positive report’

Tomorrow is another day and  I am taking part in a 'day in a life of' survey.  Not sure how this will work but I do believe every hour I need to upload where I am and what I'm doing..  I can tell them now.. sitting with Joanne biting our nails to make sure the figures have gone through so that we can get paid....  then off to the CCG Executive meeting and then off to meet the new NHS England Chief Executive - Mr Simon Stevens. Now that should be interesting !   I think the giddiness and hysteria is going to last a while longer.

And breathe....

  

Sunderland Young Carers...Simply amazing

End of year and so many things to do. Targets to hit and end of year reports to be completed.

I usually decline invitations to meetings at this time of year but when the email came around from Sunderland Young Carers inviting me to their conference I put the pen down, shut off the computer and went along.

No-one warned me to take a hanky.

The conference was held in the Sandhill Centre and was open to all professionals organised by the Young Carers themselves. The purpose of the meeting was to bring together all relevant agencies, to raise awareness and share ways of working together.

I must say it got me thinking all weekend and I’ve put this on to the monthly practice agenda.

Young carers are young people aged 5 (yes 5) – 25 who help to look after a family member due to a long term illness, disability, mental health illness or addiction. Young carers may take on extra responsibilities at home such as cooking, cleaning or often they may worry about the person they care for.

You may be surprised at how many of our young children are Carers.  The Carers Centre say the numbers could be 2/3rds more than is registered with the centre.

Some children who are carers cannot get their homework in on time, some need to keep their phone on whilst in school in case they need to go home, whilst some are late every day.  If the school is aware of this they can give the young carer a school card.  The card helps teachers make allowances. There is so much support and if you think your child or someone you know is a young carer I would encourage you to point them in the direction of Sunderland Young Carers 0191 5493768.

The practice is actively asking patients if they are a carer or care for someone.  We are not being nosey,  all we want to do is direct you to those who can support and help you.

Same with the young carers, we need to do more to identify them. I’m looking for idea’s on what more we can do as a practice. If you come up with something then please get in touch with me by email. 

If you are a mother/father and worried about letting others know, please don’t be.  There is so much support for you all. 

Thank you Sunderland Young Carers, you are amazing and its young people like you that make this City and the world a better place J 

Photograph Sunderland Young Carers and Sharon Hodgson MP

Stop and Think just for a minute.

I wonder how many of your have been watching BBC2 ‘An hour to save a life’. For those of you have have not I must say you are missing out at just how fantastic our emergency services are.

After watching you realise this is what A&E is all about. Life threatening situations with only an hour to save a life.    I do hope people see A&E for just that, Accidents and Emergencies and when using the services stop to think just for a minute....

Stop and think can this be dealt with by other means.. self care, GP, Pharmacies.  Some people are quick to say they went to A&E because they couldn’t get an appointment. I am beginning to challenge this back.  I am looking at our reports coming in, looking at the times of the visits, our capacity in the practice and calculating  the cost.  I am even actively contacting patients.  I have some good examples of patients having an appointment with the GP yet still going the same day to A&E. Dental problems going to A&E.  I’m not sure if others know that all Dentists have an emergency out of hours service just like the GP’s. As some of you may know I work voluntary for the Ambulance Service as a first responder and hey ho my bleep has just gone off alerting me to ‘high demand’ and at full stretch. 

On a positive note it’s nice to see some of our health service providers being put forward for the ‘best of health awards’ that’s being run by the Sunderland Echo.  It seems a long time since we were winners of the GP Practice of the Year Award.  Here at Westbourne we would like to wish everyone who’s nominated good luck and you should be proud of your achievement.  Its also good to see one of our local pharmacies up for an award.  Well done to Jaz and the team at Penshaw Pharmacy.