April 2017 Funding for off-island medical travel for mainland appointments From 1st May, patients who are travelling from an off-island to a mainland appointment will be able to reclaim the cost of the inter-island leg of their journey. Healthwatch made a case for funding after hearing from some off island residents. NHS Kernow Clinical Commissioning Group has agreed that the cost of inter-island travel is covered by NHS funding for IOS medical travel under the Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme. This scheme covers travel to the mainland, therefore the new off-island funding arrangements do not cover trips for appointments on St Marys. See page 7 for details of how to reclaim costs. In this issue: News: Medical travel booking New on-island clinics New style of Care Quality Commission place based work Council update on Park House How to reclaim off-island travel costs Healthwatch News Healthwatch Open Day 26th April with Addaction Books for children and young people Call-out for feedback: experience of cancer patients accessible Scilly
Every Comment Counts Tell us what you think about health and social care services for Scilly. Healthwatch Isles of Scilly acts on collective feedback. We find out what is important to you, and tell the people who plan and provide services. Questions? We can tell you where to get help to resolve a problem and find sources of information and advice. Everything we do starts with what you tell us. We go the extra mile to make your comments count. Keep in touch: Sign up for newsletters and bulletins. Leave your comments and observations at any time: in person, by email, or via the talk to us form on our website www.healthwatchislesofscilly.co.uk Like us on Facebook
Medical travel bookings From 1st April there has been a single contact point for all medical travel bookings. Wherever your appointment is or whoever it is with, the Patient Transport Office at Treliske will book your transport. Call 01872 25 22 11 or email rch-tr.patienttransport@nhs.net Non-emergency patient transport consultation There was a great deal of interest locally in the consultation, earlier this year, about routine patient transport, including arrangements for patient from Scilly. We hear that there was a good response to the survey and public engagement events across Cornwall and IOS and the results are now being analysed. As soon as we hear of the outcome, we ll let you know. New on-island clinics NHS Kernow is looking to reduce overall IOS patient travel to the mainland, where appropriate. Changes to Dermatology and Ophthalmology services will shortly be introduced. In Dermatology, more screening will be carried out at St Marys Health Centre, and there will be a see and treat skin surgery for some conditions which are not time critical. The new service is for registered patients aged over 16. General Opthalmology clinics on St Marys will be increased, including provision of local glaucoma diagnostic services, using specialist equipment provided by St Marys League of Friends. Care Quality Commission place based work The CQC is developing a new approach to inspections, and have selected Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly to work with them to develop a place based approach. They hope this will enable them to identify issues, risks or priorities to do with care quality across a health and care system. The CQC is undertaking a review of inspection reports, local teams and existing work patterns, and will hold interviews with both local Healthwatch organisations later this month. Update on Park House residential services The Council of the Isles of Scilly recently issued an update: In March the Council regrettably had to announce the possible closure of Park House Residential Services due to an acute shortage of staff which posed a risk to the safe care of residents. Following this announcement, and a subsequent public meeting, we received lots of community and media attention and this has generated more interest in job vacancies at Park House. In addition to this, we have identified single person accommodation and agreed a market supplement payment for care workers to make the roles more attractive. As a result of this activity, it is likely that a stable workforce will be in place within the coming months. Consequently, our immediate safety concerns for the service have reduced and there are now no plans to close Park House Residential Services in June. The safe care of residents is our overwhelming priority and we will continue to review our staffing levels to ensure that we can provide this. The provision of safe, sustainable residential care on the islands remains a priority for the council. However, whilst we have seen improvements, and an amazing level of support, the underlying challenge of recruitment remains. Maintaining the service will require further hard work from council staff and continued support from the community. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our staff at Park House for their dedication during this difficult time and also the residents and their families for their patience and understanding. 3
Healthwatch News You said Keep up to date with what we re doing via our website, on the section Our Work. There is a short description of issues we are working on and timelines for some completed and ongoing tasks in You said: We did. Or pop down to our open day to find out more (see over). We did Current priorities are: Medical travel Watching brief on short, medium and long term Adult Social Care provision System transformation: making sure you have your say in changes to the way health and care services are provided Working with Children and Young People Facilities for people with a physical or sensory disability Supported exercise programmes for recovery, prevention, and managing a chronic illness Experience of cancer patients Dental treatments Everything we do starts with what you tell us Your comments and observations are very important, so please keep in touch. We are also a source of useful information and can help you to find your way around health and care systems. Call-out for feedback Experience of cancer treatment Have you, or someone you re close to, received treatment for cancer? Would you be willing to let us know about the overall experience and tell us what works well and what might help? You can call in or drop us a line. Please let us know if you would also like to join a small discussion group with other patients, friends and family members. We would like to build up a picture of the experience from diagnosis through receiving treatment, and look at the information and support which is available. Call in, phone 01720 423037, or email contact@healthwatchislesofscilly.co.uk Accessible Scilly We have been working on a snapshot view of how accessible Scilly is to people with a disability or sensory impairment. Our report will cover getting to and from Scilly, getting around Scilly and accommodation for visitors. Do you have experience of getting to and from, and around and about, which we could include? We d like to include positive examples of businesses and services which have particularly good facilities for people with a disability, so if you know of, or are, such a service, please get in touch. Call in, phone 01720 423037, or email contact@healthwatchislesofscilly.co.uk 4
Healthwatch News Our Board of Directors Our small team of hard working Directors is pleased to welcome Penny Penn-Howard to the Board, adding to their collective wisdom and experience! Your Healthwatch Directors are: Paul Charnock, Julia Day, Chris Douglas, Jane Hurd, Barbara Jones, and Penny Penn-Howard. Board meetings are held every two months and members of the public are welcome to attend the first part of the meeting which deals with our work plan. Meeting dates and agendas are displayed in the office window, also on our website, along with full meeting minutes. Information for children and young people We have been working with members of the Student Council, Sarah Shave (school), Gina Smith (School Nurse) and Linda Thomas (Librarian) on health and wellbeing information for children and young people. There are lots of ideas about the type of information young people look for and where and in what format they require it, and there is further work to do. As a first step, Healthwatch has ordered a number of books, including fiction titles, which will be placed at school and at the library. Linda has also ordered in new books from the Reading Well list for the St Marys library. Look out for them soon. Call-out for recommendations Can you recommend anywhere to stay on the mainland while attending hospital? We d love to hear about friendly and affordable accommodation, including self-catering for longer term stays. We can include your recommendations in our accommodation leaflet. 5
Open Day 26th April 10 am - 2 pm Come and join us at the Healthwatch office for a cuppa and a chat. Ask us things, tell us things and browse useful information. This months guest is Steve Slade, Recovery Coordinator for Addaction. He will be on hand to tell you about his work and the support available for drug and alcohol problems. 6
How to reclaim costs for off-island medical travel The new NHS scheme is for the inter-island leg of a mainland medical trip. The Council of the Isles of Scilly runs a concessionary fare scheme which supports eligible off-island residents and includes four Health Special Passes per year. These passes are only to be used for medical appointments on St Marys, when travel is outside of scheduled boat times. NHS Kernow tells us that patients should arrange their inter-island travel and claim a repayment as follows: 1. When off-island residents call RCHT Patient Transport to book their travel from St Mary s to the mainland they can request a reference code for the off-island element of their travel. Patients travelling to the mainland and back over two days or more will receive a reference code that will entitle them to the reimbursement of a Scheduled boat fare only. Patients travelling to the mainland and back in the same day will receive a reference code that will entitle them to the reimbursement of either a Scheduled boat fare or a Special boat fare dependant on the time of their travel. 2. The patient will pay for their own off island transport and submit a claim to the CCG for reimbursement of travel costs: a) The claim will be made using a standard claim form and must include the reference code issued by RCHT and the receipt for expenses incurred. b) Claims can be made up to three months after the date of travel but will not be back dated to earlier than 1 May 2017. 3. Payment will be made by cheque and will take up to 6 weeks. Originally, NHS Kernow intended the scheme to commence on 1st April, but it took longer than expected to get everything in place. Anyone incurring costs for inter-island travel, on their way to a mainland appointment during April, can make a claim on the existing HC5(T) form under the Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme. Forms can be downloaded from the Department of Health website, and are available at Healthwatch. We have pointed out some complications regarding boat and flight schedules, especially in winter, and have received assurances that the system will be kept under review. We will monitor progress of the scheme and welcome your feedback. 7
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