News
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Services to Farnham Award
'Hearty congratulations' go to our Chairman George Alford who was presented with his award at a ceremony held by Farnham Town Council on 26th February. George’s citation relating to the Friends reads as follows:
‘As President of the Friends of Farnham Hospital and Centre for Health, George used his excellent knowledge of health services and structures, to help the Trust in making the best decisions for Farnham Hospital and the local community.’
Acknowledgement was also made George’s hard work with the Dempster Trust, Victim Support and Farnham Rotary Club.
Welcome to Mary Probert....
The Friends of Farnham Hospital have a new President, Mary Probert, who will be known to many people who work at the Hospital as she was a key player in the new build in 2003. Hospital Manager and Project Manager for the PFI, Mary was responsible for planning and implementing the hospital as we see it today. Since retiring Mary has taken on the role of Governor at Frimley Park Hospital and for the past several years has volunteered as a committee member for the Friends. We are delighted she has accepted the role of President and look forward to working with her.
Welcome to George Alford.......
The Friends are delighted to announce they have a new Chairman, George Alford who will be taking office on 1 July 2017, following the retirement of Diana Martin who has been in post since 2012.
George kindly accepted the post at the Friends AGM held in April and comes to the role with a wealth of information and experience both in the finance and health sectors. With a Financial Services background and currently working as an advisor to the Department of Health, his valuable expertise and knowledge within the NHS and finance will help shape and develop the future of the Friends for the next generation. ' The Friends will be in good hands.'
The Friends committee very much look forward to working with George, networking within the local community and raising funds to ensure the patients and staff at Farnham Hospital and Centre for Health are provided with essential equipment over and above that which is provided for by the NHS.
If you wish to become a member or join the committee, then please contact: farnhamhospitalfriends@gmail.com
June 2016 - Friends of Farnham Hospital donate ECG machine to The Ferns Medical Practice
The practice has recently taken delivery of a new ECG machine kindly donated by The Friends of Farnham Hospital.
Their President, George Alford, made the donation on behalf of The Friends to Dr Margie Ardagh, GP Partner, Sister Oonagh Atkinson and Healthcare Assistant Gill Gilliam. The ECG machine is available at the practice to assist the doctors with the diagnosis of cardiovascular problems. Once again, thank you very much for the donation. The partners, staff and patients are very happy.
April 2016 - Sky-Factory ceiling panels fitted recently in the Specialist Dentistry Department at the hospital. The panels project a relaxation response which is widely considered to be an anti-dote for stress and an important element in maintaining stable health as well as creating conditions supportive of the healing process. (Extract from Sky-Factory white paper) - see www.skyfactory.com for further information.
Happy, healthy, at home in Farnham - Farnham’s out-of-hospital care project
Farnham’s GPs know that people often prefer to be treated at home or in their community, and only be
admitted to hospital if this is the best choice for their ongoing care.
And that is exactly what the town’s out-of-hospital care project aims to do - to keep patients well, and out of
hospital, for as long as possible.
Family doctors have been looking at ways to work more closely for some time, and the Happy, healthy, at
home programme – which is finding better ways of providing health and social care across North East
Hampshire and Farnham – is enabling Farnham GPs to take their plans forward.
Project aim
The project wants to help patients feel confident about managing their own health. The long term goal is to
have truly integrated – joined up – health and social care services across Farnham, where patients get the
right help at the right time by the right teams.
How will this be done?
An important first step in making this aim a reality is putting measures in place so patients don’t have to
keep repeating their medical history.
Staff will start to work more closely together, often literally by sharing the same building, but also having
better communication and ways of working. Their time and expertise will be utilised more effectively, for
example pairing skills to the work needed, matching capacity to demand, and sharing back office functions
that are currently duplicated across the five practices (such as administrative services).
This joined up way of working extends beyond the town’s GP practices – it will also cover community
nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, mental health service, social care teams, specialist
nurses and local voluntary services.
What is happening now?
The Farnham Integrated Care Team (ICT) is already up and running, and brings professionals together
every week to discuss and coordinate the care of patients with complex needs.
A ‘hub’ is being developed at Farnham Centre for Health to allow the various health and social care teams
to be permanently located together, thereby improving communication and working relationships.
Within the hub a suite of consulting rooms are being developed to provide medical and nursing services
that will be shared between the Farnham GP surgeries.
Specifically, Farnham GP surgeries are also working towards redesigning how services are provided
locally, including:
- Improving access to on-the-day GP care by sharing workload between GP surgeries and utilizing
the hub to deliver this. The longer term aim is to provide an 8am-to-8pm service Monday to Friday,
with the potential for this to be extended in the future. The Hub is scheduled to open in the late Autumn.
- Developing nurse-led chronic disease management teams aimed at improving the quality of care for
patients with illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease and asthma
- Setting up a shared diagnostic service where patients can have their blood tests, ECGs, and other
tests carried out on behalf of all of the practices
- Sharing other nursing services such as vaccinations, family planning and wound management.
New services in the pipeline
As part of this redesign of services, GPs are looking to develop a number of new services to further
improve patient care, focusing of both prevention of ill health and safe, effective and caring management of
current ill health.
These new services include:
- A home visiting service coordinated between GPs and community nurses
- A GP-led complex elderly team that will work closely with the Care of the Elderly Day Assessment
and Treatment Centre at Farnham Centre for Health, consultant geriatricians from Frimley Park
Hospital and Farnham ICT
- A scheme aimed at identifying patients whose needs are increasing, with a view to improving the
quality of care provided to them, as well as reducing unnecessary A&E attendances and admissions
to hospital. A GP will be assigned to Farnham ICT to help achieve this
- GPs will also be reviewing referrals to ensure that all non-urgent referrals to specialists are actually
necessary, that the patients are seeing the right person, and that resources are being used
appropriately
- A prevention and self-care programme targeted at patients at risk of developing diabetes, with the
aim of preventing them from developing the condition.
Have your say
The project team will be keeping patients informed of developments and welcome feedback on what it has
planned. The wider Happy, healthy, at home programme is also looking for patients who want to get involved in the
design and delivery of services like these to become Community Ambassadors – ordinary people who can
help the team shape the future of health and care services in our community.
For more information on how to become a Community Ambassador, or Farnham’s out-of-hospital care
project, please email the Happy, healthy, at home team on nehfvanguard@nhs.net.
Festive Fun
The Friends Committee, with the Deputy Mayor of Farnham John Ward and his wife Deputy Mayoress Gillian, distributed presents to 63 in-patients at Farnham Hospital on Tuesday 22nd December. At a poignant time of year for some, this was a happy, festive occasion. The Committee, Mayor and Mayoress chatted to patients, their friends and relatives as they toured the hospital wards - followed by mince pies and tea!
Winter Wellbeing
What is Farnham Making Connections?
It is a support service provided by Age UK Surrey. It helps those over 50 to enrich their lives by getting involved in activities in Farnham and the local area. It provides people with the opportunity to help them keep fit, make new friends, learn new hobbies and avoid loneliness.
Age UK Surrey's aim is to provide the support people need to develop their confidence where it is needed and to help them access activities that encourage happy and independent lives within their local community.
The Friends of Farnham Hospital and Centre for Health are involved in the setting up of this initiative - please see the above website for further details.
New President for the Friends
The Friends are delighted to announce that they have a new President, George Alford, who was unanimously voted in at the AGM held on 21st April. George, a local man, has a background in Health and Finance and is committed to helping the community of Farnham and its surrounding villages. The Friends are looking forward to working with him in helping to improve the care and wellbeing of the patients by providing extra equipment and facilities above those which are funded and provided for by the NHS.
Invitation to workshop on Befriending
The Friends were invited to take part in a facilitated workshop aimed at supporting existing and future Befriending Services across Farnham, Surrey Heath, Rushmoor and Hart.
The workshop focused on:
Identifying what training and support Befriending Services need. Exploring what works well in Befriending. Sharing examples of best practice within the group. Planning a programme of free training to support groups, staff and volunteers.
The initiative was funded by Surrey Heath and North East Hampshire and Farnham Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) and delivered by the local Councils of Voluntary Services for Surrey Heath, Rushmoor, Hart and Farnham.
The Friends will be working with the Hospital/Age Concern and Assist regarding Befriending Services and will publish updates in the months to come.
25 November 2014
Two members of the committee were invited to attend North East Hampshire and Farnham Clinical Commissioning Group's "Be Part of Something Important" event held on 25th November. The Agenda included: Delivering the 5 year strategy: Working session 1 - how I can be involved? Working session 2 - What we can achieve together? Commitments for the future and Next steps and closing reflections. The Friends pledged to: work with the North East Hampshire and Farnham Clinical Commissioning Group to help fulfil their aims and objectives for the local community and to continue to help support both the integration and urgent care programmes. For further reading please go to: http://www.northeasthampshireandfarnhamccg.nhs.uk/news-events/events/be-part-of-something-important. Since taking part in the above, the Friends have also been invited by NEH&F CCG to join the following projects - the Community Bed Review, and Making Connections. We also take part in the Networking sessions regularly organised by Voluntary Action South West Surrey.
