Here’s the latest Bulletin from Healthwatch Tower Hamlets
· Do you want to tell us about you latest GP appointment and how well it went?
· Or maybe you just want to let us know why you prefer going to your local pharmacy for your all you healthcare needs.
Patients give us feedback on a range of services. This includes dentists, GPs, as well as community services like day centres. Your feedback helps us to ensure that local commissioners such as the Tower Hamlets Clinical Commissioning Group and service providers such as the Royal London Hospital make service improvements with information from received from you, the patient.
So, if you are home tonight browsing the internet or even at your office desk tomorrow on your lunch break, visit our website and give your feedback on local healthcare services. You may also want to mention us to your friends so they can get in touch if they have had a really good or bad experience.
Get in contact with us via:
· Our website www.healthwatchtowerhamlets.co.uk . You find a service and leave your feedback https://www.healthwatchtowerhamlets.co.uk/your-feedback/
- Call us and speak to a member of staff on 0208 223 8922 or 0800 145 5343
- Email us: info@healthwatchtowerhamlets.co.uk
If you just want general information or you need help accessing services, you can call us on the same numbers above. We are here 9am to 5pm to provide you with the advice that you need to make informed choices with relation to your health, social care and wellbeing needs. Alternatively, you can visit the information and complaints section of our website for more information or fill in your details on our contact us page and someone will get in touch with you.
Do you want to work with the CCG?
If you would like to work closely with the CCG to improve local services, you may want to join a Community Commissioning Panel, running from spring 2016. The panel will challenge, develop and shape health strategy and policy developed within NHS Tower Hamlets CCG and will enable the CCG to improve the quality of health services.
This part-time role will involve attending meetings, working on projects with the CCG’s governing body and playing an integral part in the CCG’s decision making process. The meetings will take place every four to six weeks and last for up to two hours. You don’t need to have experience or specialist knowledge, just be committed to attend all sessions.
If you would like to apply for this exciting opportunity, please visit www.towerhamletsccg.nhs.uk/getinvolved to download the role description and application form, or you can email info@towerhamletsccg.nhs.uk or call 020 3688 2500 for more details. Deadline for application forms is midnight on Sunday 10 January 2016.
What is a Vanguard? 
If you have wondered what this ‘vanguard’ programme is, this overview may help shed some light
Local residents have pointed out us that they don’t understand what people going on about with ‘vanguard’ programme. So we thought, why not explain a little bit about the Vanguards and how it works. In brief:
The new care model vanguards are a key element within the Five Year Forward View, which is a partnership between NHS England, the Care Quality Commission, Health Education England, Monitor, the NHS Trust Development Authority, Public Health England and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.
The Vanguards are individual organisations and partnerships that aim to help with delivering the NHS Five Year Forward View and support improvement and integration of services. There are three vanguard types:
integrated primary and acute care systems– will join up GP, hospital, community and mental health services
enhanced health in care homes– will offer older people better, joined up health, care and rehabilitation services
multispecialty community providers– will move specialist care out of hospitals into the community
Tower Hamlets Integrated Provider Partnership (THIPP) applied and was awarded Vanguard status. See below a description of Tower Hamlets Vanguard model. Also attached to this email (and will be able to provide more detail) is the official NHS England Vanguard document.
Tower Hamlets Integrated Provider Partnership is made up of a collaboration of partners; Tower Hamlets GP Care Group Community Interest Company (representing primary care); Barts Health NHS Trust (the local acute and community health services trust); East London NHS Foundation Trust (local mental health trust) and London Borough of Tower Hamlets (local council and social care).
This partnership will ensure that 270,000 people in Tower Hamlets will be covered and a patients will benefit from having straightforward easy to access health and social care services and a positive patient experience.
Talking with the council
How well has the council engaged with you? Fill in their survey and give your feedback on how well you feel they communicate https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/THcommunity.
The council will also be running a series of focus groups to talk about themes that will come out of the survey. If you want to take part or if you want a paper copy of the consultation, please contact Afazul Hoque via email Afazul.Hoque@towerhamlets.gov.uk
And if you need to relax after all this information…
£1 Yoga session to the rescue
Stifford Centre Health Trainers are giving local women the chance to de-stress. They are offering £1 yoga sessions every Monday evening at the Wapping Children’s Centre.
If you would like to register and attend the sessions, please contact the Stifford Health Trainers Team on 0207 790 3632. Contact them now as space are limited! Please see yoga session address details below
Venue: Wapping Children’s Centre, 15 Chandler Street, Wapping, E1W 2QL
Time: 5:15pm to 6:15pm
Poster attached to this email
More local news…
· Can Do Grants-Next wave of Can Do project has started- up to £500 budget is available to individual community members or informal community groups to support members of the local community to improve health (see poster attached and application form)
· Tower Hamlets Mental Health Strategy Summit- 8th December 2015 1-5pm –An open event to organised by THCCG to review joint strategy on Mental Health and the plans for the future. For more information, contact Caroline.billington@towerhamletsccg.nhs.uk
· Alwen Williams appointed as new Barts Health NHS Trust Chief Executive- as its new Chief Executive- https://bartshealth.nhs.uk/media/statements/chief-executive-of-barts-health-nhs-trust/
· If you or any other residents you know have difficulty getting out and about, then you may want to get in touch with Connecting People Transport Club- the club will take residents out to Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park (Thursday 10TH December 2015) and Geffrye Museum (Wednesday 6th December) in an accessible minibus. To reserve your seat, call Jayne on 0203 069 7401 or Joanne on 075385748.