8 9 Staff at the new hub for planned eye surgery at Edgware Community Hospital are excited about their innovative vision for providing local eye care. The new hub, with two theatres running alongside each other, is set to contribute towards an additional 3,000 procedures carried out every year across the sector, reducing waiting times for some patients who need sight-saving operations. Run by the RFL, the hub primarily provides treatment for adults who have common, low complexity conditions such as cataracts. The hub additionally has the facilities to manage corneal, glaucoma and oculoplastic conditions. Rohit Jolly, clinical service lead for ophthalmology at the RFL, said: “We are proud of this hub. We provide a high standard of care to patients in welcoming surroundings, being mindful of not overcrowding the clinical space and maintaining a calm environment. The consultant surgeon will meet the patient before, during and after surgery and the same nurse accompanies the patient from arrival to discharge, providing a personalised approach to care.” Following several years of closer working between North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust and the RFL group, we are now looking at how we could come together as one organisation. We believe it would enable us to go further and faster in improving services for patients and improving the health of our local community. North Mid has been a clinical partner with the RFL group since 2017 and we have been in a formal partnership since 2021. Our experience has shown that we can achieve more together than we can apart, delivering better care for local people and more opportunities for our staff. Over the coming months we will be developing plans for North Mid to merge into the RFL group alongside BH, CFH and the RFH. Our hospitals would continue to provide the same local services. However, by coming together as one, we expect to be able to deliver: Merger with North Mid Non-clinical staff also play a vital role within the unit, ensuring patients navigate the pathway seamlessly. From the receptionists to waiting list co-ordinators everyone is highly valued. The team’s hard work is clearly paying off as theatre utilisation has risen significantly. Staff have the flexibility to accommodate urgent cases and the co-ordinators go to great lengths to fill any slot that might suddenly become available. Another string to the bow for the team is their strong relationship with the community. Rohit added: “We’ve made sure we are firmly engaged with our GPs and optometrists in the primary sector, running education events and providing feedback. It’s really important for us that they know the level of service we offer and that patients will be treated within a few weeks of referral.” Helen Richards, 65, from Potters Bar, attending for her second cataract operation, said: “My son is getting married in the summer and I want to see it all properly so that’s been a big incentive for me, as well as being able to read again for pleasure. The team here are wonderful and I’m very relaxed coming back today six weeks on from my first procedure, which took just 15 minutes in theatre. If I had a third eye that needed doing I’d come back here!” • reduced waiting times • improved access to specialist care locally • better joined-up community services • greater opportunities to benefit from the latest medical research and trials of new treatments • more coordinated action to help people stay healthy, with screening and early intervention services tailored to our different communities. The plans we are developing will form a business case which will then need to be approved by both trusts’ boards and NHS England. We are working to have the business case completed by summer 2024 and to bring the organisations together in autumn 2024. We’re talking with our staff, patients and local communities to explain our plans so they can help shape the improvements made possible by our new shared future. Find out more on our website – royalfree.nhs.uk/about-us#NMUH-merger Rohit (pictured right) with colleagues from the eye surgery hub Yvonne Goddard (pictured centre) and organisers Each patient is re-checked prior to surgery A clearer future for patients A wellbeing week held at BH culminated with staff taking centre stage to reveal hidden talents in a very special event dubbed ‘Barnet’s Got Talent’. The talent show featured several singing, acting and dancing acts from across the hospital who performed in front of a packed crowd in the lecture hall. The show was hosted by Yvonne Goddard, divisional director of nursing for medicine and urgent care (MUC). Yvonne was supported by her MUC colleagues, Karen Kirwilliam, Kathleen Riley, Susan Ball, Kelly O’Sullivan and Goreti Duarte. Bev Thomas, BH director of nursing, Dr Sarah Fowler, consultant geriatrician and clinical lead for BH’s acute assessment unit and Ife Akinyemi, BH head of quality governance, had the tough job of judging the acts and picking a winner. Despite strong competition, including ED consultant Russell Durkin’s much praised rendition of the aria Where’er you walk, by Handel, it was dementia lead Doris Ajayi who scooped first prize for her impressive and moving acting. Karen Kirwilliam, head of nursing for medicine and Barnet’s Got Talent urgent care, said: “Doris made a huge impact. She played an elderly woman with dementia who was lost in the hospital and there was lots of audience interaction. The story she told encompassed all the values of the trust and was extremely heartwarming. “Everybody who took part in the show deserves a massive thank you because they were instrumental in making the event the success it was.” Consultants Radhika Rampat and Zine El-Housenni Anne Marie Williams, the sister in charge of the unit, described how the team work to the patient’s needs. For example patients can walk to and from the theatre but equally, if needed, they can be wheeled in and out on a bed. She said: “We don’t talk about ‘routine’ surgery here. Every patient is treated as an individual.” “ We don’t talk about ‘routine’ surgery here” Traditional dancing trio from ITU Doris Ajayi, BH dementia lead, won first prize
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