UCLPartners and Newham CCG pave the way for next phase of partnership
Over the past four years UCLPartners and Newham Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) have been working in close partnership to improve the health of the Newham population.
Since the partnership began in 2013, seven research projects have been undertaken to address the priority health needs in the borough. Now these research projects are reaching their conclusion, UCLPartners and Newham CCG are set to enter the next phase of their partnership, through the delivery of a gold standard improvement academy for Primary Care.
Improvement projects undertaken over the last four years have focussed on key health problems affecting the population of Newham. They are cardiovascular disease (CVD), low birth weight, diabetes, mental health, GP development and dynamic populations.
Standout achievements from the partnership programme include:
- Emotional resilience peer mentoring delivered to 12,000 young people
- A new CVD referral template made available in all GP practices across the borough
- A 33% increase in glucose tolerance testing uptake for women who had gestational diabetes
In addition, the GP development work that has taken place in the borough has enabled staff in GP practices to implement QI projects that have freed up 1,855 clinical hours per year to care for patients and 4,508 hours of administrative time per year to focus on improving patient experience.
At a celebration event held last week, Steve Gilvin, Chief Officer for Newham CCG and Professor Martin Marshall, Primary Care Development Programme Director for UCLPartners, shared forward plans that aim to make the incredible achievements had so far sustainable.
In the next phase of Newham CCG and UCLPartners partnership an Improvement Academy will be launched. The Academy will offer a wide range of training and development opportunities to primary care staff of all disciplines in the borough. Training will focus on upskilling staff, enabling them to increase time to care for patients. It will also provide all staff with access to successful procedures and resources that have been created over the course of the four-year programme.
Speaking about the next phase of the partnership, Steve Gilvin said:
“Our partnership programme has helped us to gain a better understanding of the nature of the health issues in our borough and we’ve begun working on solutions. I am excited by the impact this work has had on improving the quality of primary care in Newham and now the Improvement Academy will allow us to take these solutions forward. We’ll be supporting primary care staff to use Quality Improvement to make changes in their practices. We hope that by teaching these new skills we can improve care for the people of Newham”