Willow Tree Family Doctors News Blog

Sustainability and transformation plans (STPs) have just been submitted by  NHS organisations in different parts of the country outlining the future of health and care services in their area. Ours involves the whole of North West London and involves the NHS services and the Local Authorities planning ways in which they hope to come together to deliver health and care in a more intelligent and integrated way, bridging the gap between social care and health services.  One of the principle themes now is cooperation rather than competition, which has  driven the way we work over the last 4 years (in, some would say, a very destructive and dysfunctional way). The other themes are, of course, diminishing resources - both money and people - and rising and changing patterns of demand and how to provide good quality care under these circumstances.  There will be a lot of re-balancing budgets and reshaping the types of services offered. There is simply no possibility of ca...

If you want urgent (unplanned) medical help where do you turn to – your GP, A&E,   a Walk In Centre , an Urgent Care Centre,   Minor Injuries Unit, or Out of Hours GP service, ring 999 or 111 ? In hours and Out of Hours the choices are rather different. This multiplicity of choices and the different options in each area makes for a very confusing picture and it is no wonder people often go to less appropriate places. There is a lot of duplication and very poor communication so that you have to repeat your story and there no access to your complete medical record held at your GP practice and the information about your urgent care contact may not filter back to the GP or other people involved in your ongoing care. You may be seen by a doctor or a nurse or another type of professional. And the cost is high; attendance at A&E is rising inexorably and you’ll have seen the headlines showing that the system is breaking and unsustainable in its present form. We ne...

Information Processing We in Brent CCG are part of the  North West London Collaboration of Clinical Commissioning Groups which is engaged on a huge project to integrate health and social care across the 8 boroughs of North West London ( Whole Systems Integration Pilot ).  A fundamental part of this is to link the information systems so if you are seen in A&E, General Practice, Hospital Outpatients, Community clinic, wherever, that appropriate levels of information flow across to enable safe, efficient care. Some of this information also needs to tell Social Services what you need to have in place when you are discharged from hospital, the Ambulance crew to understand your essential medical history in an emergency, the Palliative Care team to help give the most appropriate care and all the Community teams to coordinate their care properly. Surprisingly, most of the IT systems do not speak to each other and so there is duplicati...

It's that time of the year when all children get ill with coughs, colds and other viral infections often accompanied by fevers, vomiting and rashes and they can feel really miserable and distressed.  As adults we've all been through these infections and  as a result  our immune systems now give us resistance, so even if we get ill we usually don't feel so bad. And we can understand and know we'll feel better in a few days but a young child doesn't know this. When we see a sick child with a high fever it can be extremely worrying for a parent to know if it is part of a more serious illness and what should be done to make your child better. The NHS 111 service has produced a very useful booklet to help:                                                When should I worry? Signs of potentially more serious illness: Your child is drowsy or irritable . (...

There is a multiplicity of services in this increasingly fragmented NHS. Where do you go when you're ill?  With A&E waiting times typically of several hours and likely to get worse this winter, it seems many choose that option. But is it the best? If you you haven't had an accident and it's not an emergency (chest pain, collapse, loss of consciousness etc) then probably not.  Many people visiting A&E are making the wrong choice and are delaying the care of more urgent cases. Should they instead have chosen a walk-in centre, urgent care centre, GP out of hours service, visited a pharmacist or checked what to do on-line? So, how to choose, if you're not sure?  A good starting point is to ring NHS 111  which has a directory of all local services. If it's not urgent and they are busy, you may have to wait a while until someone calls you back. You will be asked about your problem and a computer will help the adviser to decide ...

...but find it hard? Don't we all! (of course if it was easy, nobody would be unfit, overweight and smoke) NHS Choices website has made it somewhat easier and we at Willow Tree Family Doctors recommend it!  It has a growing collection of excellent mini-sites dealing with tackling these life enhancing (and life preserving) self imp rovement programmes with excellent tips and free apps to download to your mobile phone to help become and remain motivated.  There is just so much advice out there - everyone is cashing in (and trying to get your cash!) and you don't know who to listen to, with new fads every weeks. NHS Choices has sifted through the information and makes a great place to start, for instance with its review of the current popular diets  . The advice on NHS Choices is all non commercial, evidence based and reliable, drawn up by experts and the programmes offered are realistic and really can help. With all the recommended programmes and changes you will n...

We are sorry, but due to recent changes, we are no longer allowed to countersign UK passport applications. The Gov.UK website explains who can sign the applications: Who can sign forms and photos Personal relationship The countersignatory must: have known the person applying for at least 2 years be able to identify the person applying, eg they’re a friend, neighbour or colleague ( not just someone who knows them professionally ) They can’t be closely related or involved with the person applying, eg: related by birth or marriage be in a relationship or live at the same address as the person applying The sentence above we have emboldened explains that we can no longer sign as just knowing you as your doctor but we have to know as a friend, neighbour or colleague. Further, doctors are no longer in the list of trusted professionals - we have been relegated from our previous position "of being people of good standing in the community". We wonder what ...