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Berwick Area Heart Support Group
April 2005 Newsletter
Next meeting 6th April 2005 at The Day Hospital, Berwick Infirmary. Guest speaker Graeme Gillespie, Clinical Phychologist at North Tyneside General Hospital will give a talk on the health benefits of relaxation for heart patients.
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Our speaker at the March Meeting was David Shell, who is a modern Matron at Berwick Infirmary.
I hope I didn't miss the explanation between a modern matron and an old fashioned one, but I'm not sure where the modern bit comes in. Whilst listening to David's talk there is no doubting that he is very qualified, and experienced , but the job seems to be more administrative now than I imagined a matron's job to be, but he has plenty of medical experience to help him make those decisions.
David started his nursing career in 1976 as an auxiliary nurse at Newcastle General. In 1980 he became an enrolled nurse, and did some of his training at Berwick. He later concentrated on Mental Health work. In 1991 he worked at Sheffield mainly on Orthopaedics, spending some time at St. Jimmy's. He later returned to the Newcastle area and was a Charge Nurse at the RVI.
Over the next few years there were big changes in Health working practices, and job specification and responsibilities. David went to Wansbeck where he stayed for about 5 years, mainly on nights giving early assessments on patients, prior to the arrival of the Doctors.
In 2004 he came to Berwick in his current role, and is responsible for three hospitals, Berwick, Alnwick and Rothbury.
In his current role he sits on many management committees on medication, various diseases, drug assessment, training packages for nurses, patients discharge, falls and accidents on hospital property and how to prevent them, and probably one that on everyone's minds due to media attention is cleanliness and hygiene including MSRA checks. On recent cleanliness check by an outside body, Berwick scored 4 out of 5 (5 being the max.). Most of the points lost were due to the exterior of the building i.e. condition of the paint and stone work, something the management have little control over.
David did say that Rothbury are to get a new hospital. A site has been earmarked on the other side of the river to the location of the current hospital. With sympathetic landscaping it will blend into the hillside.
On the subject of current duties performed at Berwick, and why so many people seemingly receive little or no treatment, before being 'sent down the road', David did say that all patients are assessed before travelling on, and maybe on occasions this assessment is made once a patient is in the ambulance, and it makes sense to travel south rather than come back to Berwick. This was due to lack of qualified staff at Berwick. Berwick has no Pathology Lab, so samples cannot be tested quickly enough to help Doctors make a decision as to the best treatment. Infact the list is endless as to what is not at Berwick, and in all cases all the required medical expertise like paediatrics, special care, intensive or high dependency beds etc. etc. etc. are available 'down to road' whether it be Wansbeck, RVI, The General, The Freeman or North Tyneside or across at the Borders.
Some tests like X-rays can be done at Berwick. The X-rays can, if required, be sent down the phone for advice by Radiographer, or will be at the receiving Hospital by the time the patient arrives. Some changes at Berwick Infirmary, (I've tried to write this several ways and it seems to read wrong), so I will try again. Dewar Ward has been renamed Cheviot Ward, and Tweed Ward is now Dewar Ward. Cheviot is now a rehab. Ward for strokes and orthopaedics. As from April 4th there will be a Macmillan Room in Dewar Ward.
Accident and Emergency is very operational. The staff are well qualified in this field, with many of them having qualified in specialist subjects. This all aids the running of a successful department. Some other changes which have already taken place or are about to are Eye surgery and cataracts and Cardio echoes, done by visiting technicians.Video links for treatments. This is where a patient has had surgery at one of the major hospitals, and returns to Berwick for recovery. The Consultant is able to check on progress via the video link. Trials for this were done in the Hebrides.
Some other subjects under consideration are visiting times, cross contamination, and protected meal times for patients when there is no visiting is allowed either by relatives or medical staff.
This is a personal observation but this already happens at the Borders. When I was an inpatient it was open visiting, but just this week I have been there visiting, and there are hand sprays every where, and visiting is between 4 and 7 only.
David then went on to answer many questions posed by those present. Many were expressing some of the fears many of us have about the current role of our hospital and our Doctors.
Wally
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Wally's Yarn
I've had a few months off and I'm not' back to speed' as they say. Just a couple of things I've noticed recently.
With their mother two young kids visited their Granny, for Sunday lunch. Mum helped Granny to serve the kids their lunch and returned to the kitchen to fetch something. Whilst away the little boy started to eat, and on her return Mum said to the boy, "Michael have you forgotten something?" Michael said, "No" Mum said, "At home we say grace before we eat, should you not do the same at Granny's?" "We don't have to pray at Granny's" said Michael, "She knows how to cook properly"
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Two middle aged men stood at the bar drinking when the most beautiful female imaginable, aged about 22, walked past. Both men passed comment to each other on her beauty, the slightly younger one continued the conversation suggesting what he would like to do with her given the chance. He then said to his pal," What would you do if you had the chance, with a woman as beautiful as that?" The other said," I am not too old to appreciate beautiful women, nor that the grass is greener and all that stuff, but I am just slightly too old now to climb the fence"
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The boss of a big company needed to call one of his employees about an urgent problem with one of the main computers, dialed the employee's home phone number and was greeted with a child's whisper.
"Hello."
"Is your daddy home? " he asked.
"Yes," whispered the small voice.
"May I talk with him?"
The child whispered, "No."
Surprised, and wanting to talk with an adult, the boss asked, "Is your Mommy there?"
"Yes."
"May I talk with her?"
Again the small voice whispered, "No."
Hoping there was somebody with whom he could leave a message, the boss asked, "Is anybody else there?"
"Yes," whispered the child, "a policeman."
Wondering what a cop would be doing at his employee's home, the boss asked,
"May I speak with the policeman?"
"No, he's busy", whispered the child.
"Busy doing what?"
"Talking to Daddy and Mommy and the Fireman," came the whispered answer.
Growing concerned and even worried as he heard what sounded like a Helicopter through the earpiece on the phone the boss asked, "What is that noise?"
"A hello-copper" answered the whispering voice.
"What is going on there?" asked the boss, now truly alarmed.
In an awed whispering voice the child answered,
"The search team just landed the hello-copper."
Alarmed, concerned, and even more then just a little frustrated the boss asked, "What are they searching for?" Still whispering, the young voice replied along with a muffled giggle:
"ME."
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Border Marches
The Border Marches take place on Sunday 15th May 2005. and some of the employees of General Mills Berwick " Jus Rol " are looking for sponsorship to raise funds for our heart group, I have included sponsorship forms with the newsletter.
In the past we've had quite generous annual grants which have covered most of our costs of the newsletters, leaflets stationary ect. This year the grants have dried up and we are having to find our own funding so any help you can give in raising sponsorship, (however little) would be appreciated.
Terry
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NHS finds the plot.
Integrated health and Social Care Plan for Berwick
Terry and I were invited by Northumberland Care Trust (NCT) and the Northumbria Health Care NHS Trust to attend, on your behalf, a large workshop in the Maltings on 3rd March. The meeting included a whole range of health professionals and many voluntary people like us.
We heard some very well done talks from NHS experts and a lot from 'the floor' about the problems of Berwick, sitting as we do, not always comfortably on the Border.
Berwick has an increasing number of older people to care for, and this is more significant than in many other parts of the country. The greater number of older people means more chronic disease. Deaths from heart disease have gone down dramatically in the last few years, and Northumberland has done particularly well, but the big killer is still heart disease and the underlying arterial disease, rather than cancer. The drop nationally in 'arterial disease deaths' has been due largely to more people giving up smoking. (Of the 50% fewer deaths from arterial disease, about 50% of these were because people stopped smoking.) This picture will continue to change for the better as heart disease is brought more under control and if people take avoiding action.
Because we are farther away from big centres, and a sizeable number of us live in the country, it is difficult to deliver high quality health care without a large amount of travel. "First aid" emergency care for heart attack has improved significantly, but keeping emergency cases in Berwick is not a safe option. The quicker that you are in intensive care with all the facilities the better. Some services, however, are much better if they can be provided locally. For us this can mean rehab, stopping smoking, breathing and diabetic clinics. Some routine tests can be done locally, but accurate laboratory tests and those requiring latest scans and assessment can only be delivered where the equipment and trained personnel are situated.
We heard an interesting account of the sensible services being provided in Community Hospitals, Rothbury, Alnwick and Berwick Infirmaries, and the devoted effort to provide X ray cover. The ambulance service and A&E cover (co-locate Primary Care and A&E at Berwick and Alnwick ) and skill development and workload all need co-ordination.
There is a major concern in Northumberland over "NHS Direct". The review of future plans for 'out of hours' GP cover, is due to report very shortly. "In future, GPs will be mostly female and 80% of those in training now at Newcastle are women and we must get conditions of service right if we want to recruit them."
One message from the floor was repeated many times. The two sides of the Border should talk and make maximum use of NHS services in order to minimise travel and to provide best care locally for chronic problems. This message applies across the board, not just to those services affecting heart patients. Us older folk cannot monopolise the health service. There are great strengths in Berwick GP surgeries and a great Family Centre, and expert pharmacists locally, that can all be built on. We should play a part as a group and as individuals. Chronic conditions like ours require us also to build up our own expertise.
Phil
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Recipe of the Month
Chicken Salad
3 1/4 cups chicken, cooked, cubed, skinless
1/4 cups celery, chopped
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/8 tsp salt
3 Tbsp mayonnaise, lowfat
In a large bowl, combine all ingredients with
chilled chicken and mix well.
Makes 5 servings.
Yogurt Salad Dressing
8 oz plain yogurt, fat free
2 Tbsp dill, dried
1/4 cup mayonnaise, fat free
2 Tbsp chives, dried
2 Tbsp lemon juice
Mix all ingredients in bowl and refrigerate.
Makes 8 servings.
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