There has been an explosion of digital innovation within primary care over recent months, particularly where maintaining contact between practices and their patient populations is concerned. But what about joining up practices with other practices, within Primary Care Networks (PCNs) and GP Federations, as well as other cross-sector organisations, to enable secure information sharing across care providers? This week’s podcast features GPs Dr Susannah Thompson and Dr Eleanor Holmes from TyneHealth GP Federation who, together with Nigel Walker, CDO and Co-Founder of leading data security provider CyVolve, share a fascinating insight into the transformative approach they are taking in North Tyneside to truly put patients at the heart of integrated care pathways; how they are able to safeguard security around the sharing of information and ultimately, finally, break down the barriers of silo working.
Introductions (44 secs)
All about TyneHealth GP Federation (1 min)
The extended access service (1 min 47 secs)
The birth of CyVolve and their mission (2 mins 22 secs)
CyVolve’s role in supporting safe information sharing (3 mins 7 secs)
Sharing the right information, at the right time, with the right people (6 mins 5 secs)
Motivating multiple practices to trust in the technology (7 mins 30 secs)
The challenges faced by CyVolve (8 mins 4 secs)
Bringing benefit to business continuity during the pandemic (8 mins 50 secs)
What are the key differences of the CyVolve technology? (9 mins 20 secs)
How is information stored? (10 mins 34 secs)
What types of data are being managed? (11 mins 20 secs)
Handling pushback (12 mins 12 secs)
The TyneHealth Covid-19 resource hub (14 mins 11 secs)
What has been the impact of the new system being in place? (15 mins 7 secs)
Lessons learned from CyVolve’s perspective (16 mins 3 secs)
Finding out more (17 mins 16 secs)
To find out more and to get in touch with Susannah and Eleanor at TyneHealth:
The TyneHealth website is here
Dr Eleanor Holmes (GP / QI & Communications Manager)
A case study published by CyVolve on their work with TyneHealth (n.b. same title as the podcast: 'Patient Data: Who Holds The Key?')
The CyVolve website for more info about NHS secure collaboration can be found here
This time of year is ordinarily an extraordinarily busy period for practices with the onset of ‘business as usual’ winter pressures but what is the effect of the additional impact Covid presents, while business is not running as normal? In the third of our Practice Index Practice Manager panels, now seasoned podcast professional Nicola Davies joins Ben, along with fellow Practice Manager Michele Petrie and GP, executive coach and speaker, Dr Rachel Morris, to discuss the challenges leadership teams face right now, what low morale means in practice day to day and critically, what can be done to maintain staff resilience during this period of long term uncertainty.
Welcome to the panel (38 secs)
An introduction to Michele (49 secs)
All about Rachel (1 min 24 secs)
Morale right now in general practice (2 mins 10 secs)
Why is morale so low? (3 mins 24 secs)
Pressure from the top and the influence of the media (3 mins 46 secs)
Summarising the contributing factors (4 mins 18 secs)
What does a stressful working environment look and feel like in reality? (5 mins 20 secs)
The power of social media (7 mins 5 secs)
What can practices do to find a way through? (8 mins 21 secs)
The zone of power (10 mins 36 secs)
Recognition, reward, and the importance of saying “thank you” (11 mins 24 secs)
Long term impacts of low morale and maintaining wellbeing (13 mins 4 secs)
Pulling together as a team (14 mins 38 secs)
Standing in the shoes of a practice leadership team (15 mins 24 secs)
Coping strategies (17 mins 13 secs)
Rachel’s advice for self-care and sustaining resilience (19 mins 31 secs)
The link to Rachel’s I am not a frog podcast is here
The Covid-19 team wellbeing toolkit Rachel refers to can be found here
Episode 228 - Podcast – Jessica Hollingsworth & Nick Sharples – Digital group consultations
Group consultations are a relatively new concept in primary care, but one GP has taken this a step further and in the wake of the pandemic, has introduced digital group consultations at her practice. Dr Jess Hollingsworth of Linthorpe Surgery in Middlesbrough, in partnership with podcast favourite Nick Sharples of DNA Insight, saw that there was a need to better support patients recovering from Covid. Together, they decided that giving patients access to an online consultation, in the company of other individuals also struggling with the long term impact of the virus, might offer some much needed insight into its effects, whilst giving them a safe route of access to an individual consultation and to a potential network of support going forwards. Here, they talk to Ben about how the idea came about, the preparation that is required, how the consultation works in practice and what the impact has been overall on the patients that have taken part.
Introductions (34 secs)
Making the transition to virtual group consultations (55 secs)
The definition of a digital group consultation and its structure (1 min 29 secs)
Timings and patient consult allocation (2 mins 25 secs)
Which patient group/s were targeted and why? (2 mins 53 secs)
What preparation is required? (3 mins 21 secs)
The role of the facilitator (4 mins 7 secs)
Governance and consent (4 mins 46 secs)
Recommended group size and numbers (5 mins 56 secs)
A group consultation in practice (7 mins 21 secs)
After care (8 mins 26 secs)
How social prescribing link workers can help (9 mins 40 secs)
Patient feedback (10 mins 30 secs)
Reflections from a practice perspective (11 mins 40 secs)
Technical challenges (12 mins 34 secs)
Which online platform works best and why? (13 mins 19 secs)
Lessons learned (14 mins 36 secs)
Advice from Nick for practices who are in setting up a digital group consultation (15 mins 43 secs)
The Personalised Care Institute and the support and training on offer (17 mins 12 secs)
Where can I find out more about virtual group consultations? (18 mins 28 secs)
Further support for patients recovering from Covid-19 (19 mins 14 secs)
A link to the case study on Linthorpe Surgery’s digital group consultation pilot (which Nick references) can be found here
We are proud of the many inspirational stories that are shared and the fascinating people who feature on our podcast and none more so than this week’s guest, GP Rebecca Farrington. Rebecca works within an almost truly unique role as a GP with a special interest in asylum seeker mental health, within a specialist hub in Salford, Greater Manchester. The challenges faced by asylum seekers and refugees within the UK cannot be underestimated and the impact on mental health and wellbeing is significant. Here, Rebecca talks to Ben about these challenges in more detail, the dynamics of her role, the difficulties Covid has presented and how other providers can ensure the best care for this particularly vulnerable population, in their own areas of the country.
Introduction (29 secs)
Rebecca’s journey (41 secs)
How ‘typical’ is Rebecca’s role (2 mins 25 secs)
Life as a GP with a special interest and the model of care (2 mins 41 secs)
Are there other support frameworks for refugees and asylum seekers? (4 mins 12 secs)
The challenges faced by those seeking asylum in the UK (6 mins 5 secs)
How can GPs provide a better service? (7 mins 1 sec)
Why specialist health services make such a big difference (7 mins 50 secs)
The impact of Covid (10 mins 7 secs)
Doing things differently post Covid (12 mins 16 secs)
Advice and support on reaching out to the vulnerable populations in your area (13 mins 8 secs)
The importance of high-quality interpretation (15 mins 35 secs)
More information on the vital work and the services offered by Rebecca and her team (and Rebecca as a practitioner) can be found as follows: