Archive for January, 2014

If your life has been affected by cancer, why not sign up for the next Macmillan Information Centre HOPE course, beginning on Thursday 6 February?
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HOPE stands for Help Overcoming Problems Effectively. It is a course that helps people who have had cancer to get on with life after treatment has finished. The course is based at the Scarisbrick Avenue Macmillan Information Centre, which is a partnership between the cancer charity and NHS Southport and Formby Clinical Commissioning Group.
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HOPE runs over 6 weeks, with each session lasting 2 ½ hours. Macmillan staff along with volunteers Graeme Scroggie and Trish Jolley – who have been affected by cancer themselves – discuss a wide range of topics during the course including:
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• Managing stress and emotional challenges
• Relaxation and physical activity
• Motivation and goal setting
• Identifying personal strengths and building confidence for the future
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A previous participant on the course said: “I found a great benefit from the course, which at first I was uncertain whether or not to attend. After being diagnosed with cancer and receiving treatment, I was left feeling depressed and so sorry for myself but as the course progressed this feeling gradually left me. I am delighted to say I am back to my happy outlook on life. Thank you for your help, understanding and patience.”
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Sue Summerfield, Macmillan Information Centre Manager and one of the facilitators of the course, explains: “Cancer is the toughest fight most of us will ever face but people don’t have to go through it alone. The HOPE course emphasises the strengths people already possess and looks at how to make the most of them.”
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There are places for up to 12 people and the six weekly sessions are a mixture of discussions, some group activities and ideas for people to try when they are back at home.
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To book your place or to find out more telephone the Macmillan Information Centre on , or simply drop in, Monday to Friday between 10am and 4:30pm (except Bank Holidays). The centre is located inside the Community Service Station, PR8 1NW.

North Sefton residents are invited to attend the next Governing Body meeting of NHS Southport and Formby Clinical Commissioning Group (NHS SFCCG), the organisation responsible for buying the majority of local health services.

It is a chance to hear members of the Governing Body discuss and make decisions about local health services on behalf of its member GP practices.

NHS SFCCG holds bi-monthly Governing Body meetings in public. The Governing Body is made up of doctors, nurses, practice staff and other health professionals.

From 12.30pm, people attending can meet members of the Governing Body and ask questions prior to the start of the formal meeting at 1pm on:

Wednesday 29 January – Family Life Centre, Ash Street, Southport

Anyone who would like to come along is asked to call to confirm their attendance.

Macmillan Cancer Information Centre in Southport is inviting people to come along to a special pamper session on Tuesday 21 January from 10am until 12pm.

As well as sampling some special treatments courtesy of Boot’s No. 7, it is a chance for people to find out about the advice and support available at the Scarisbrick Avenue centre for anyone whose life has been affected by cancer. The centre offers a wealth of information for cancer patient, their family, friends, or carers.

The pamper session is a skin care and make up master class offered FREE by Boots No. 7, from the Chapel Street store and the Macmillan Information Centre team . Sessions are designed to help boost confidence and wellbeing as well as being informative. Attendees are taken through a step by step skincare beauty regime and are given a Boots No.7 gift bag to take home.

Sue Summerfield, Macmillan Information and Support Centre Manger, said: “The pamper session is really popular and we have been able to offer them four times a year here at the Macmillan centre. We are really grateful to the Beauty team from Boots for their time and expertise. Everyone who attended went home with a smile on their face, looking fabulous and ready to face the world again!”

Places are limited and are on a first come first serve basis, so booking is essential. To book a place telephone the Macmillan Cancer Information Centre on .

 

All clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) have to make decisions on the range of health services/treatments they commission (buys) for their local population.

NHS Southport and Formby CCG has only existed as an organisation since 1 April 2013. As a result, its policies need reviewing and updating which includes financial decision making.

The majority of services/treatments are commissioned for everyone in Southport and Formby. However some are only clinically effective in very specific situations or for a very small group of patients.

In these cases, the service/treatment is commissioned on a named individual (patient) basis. This follows an assessment to ensure the proposed treatment is clinically effective and that the patient should see a demonstrable benefit from receiving the treatment.

 

About the Commissioning Policy Review

Advances in science mean that treatments offered by the NHS are constantly evolving to keep pace with the invention of new drugs, new treatments and new technology.

As new treatments and services become available, demand goes up and CCGs have to make the tough decisions on how to spend their limited budgets for the benefit of their whole populations.

We do this in a number of ways:

• We prioritise certain treatments and procedures.
• We set “thresholds” (or a defined set of criteria) that a patient must fit before they can be referred for particular treatments or procedures. This is because some treatments only work in very specific clinical situations or for a very narrow group of patients.
• There are circumstances when we can only fund certain procedures or treatments if there are clinical grounds for doing so.

 

What are the main policy changes?

1. Updating the guidance based on new evidence.
2. Adding new services/treatments/procedures that have become available since the old policy was adopted.

Some services have now transferred to NHS Specialised Commissioning which is part of NHS England. To learn more about NHS Specialised Commissioning go to http://www.england.nhs.uk/resources/spec-comm-resources/

 

Which services are affected?

To see where there are changes to a specific service or treatment visit the dedicated Commissioning Policy Review webpage, where you will also find:  

• An easy-to-read explanation of the service area and the new guidance 
• How you can give us your views 
• The full policy document

 

What happens next?

Following a period of clinical and public consultation, the CCG needs to consider:

• Whether it wants to put this updated policy into practice
• If it does want to put it into practice, it needs to find the funds to pay for it from its existing budget. The CCG has two options (1) Put the new policy into practice as soon as possible or (2) phase in over a period of time to reduce the financial impact

Before it can make these key decisions, the CCG needs to seek feedback from a wide range of people – not just doctors and nurses and other health care experts but importantly members of the public and existing patients.

 

As a patient or member of the public:

• You have the right to feed your views into this decision-making process
• Your feedback is needed by 12 noon on Monday 7th April 2014
• All the feedback that is received will be taken into account before a decision is made

To view more details, the draft policy and take part in the online survey please go to: https://www.cheshiremerseysidecsu.nhs.uk/commissioning-policy-review.htm

If you do not have access to the internet and require a copy of this information via post please contact the Customer Solutions team on .

If you are hard of hearing, have sight impairment, English is not your first language or you require this in an easy read format please contact the Customer Solutions team on .