"It is a testament to their unwavering commitment to providing the best possible care to patients" - visit to Bury walk in centre

I recently visited the team at Bury walk in centre.  They’ve had a difficult time of late due to mounting staffing pressures, which has meant the centres at Bury and Prestwich have been having to close on some days.  

There has been some uncertainty around the future of the centres following a review of urgent care across Bury but Bury Clinical Commissioning Group has recently announced that the centres at Prestwich and Bury will remain operational until at least 31 March 2018, whilst further plans are formulated.  The CCG has been working with Pennine Care and GP provider BARDOC to develop proposals to stabilise service delivery at both centres until this date.  As a result, Prestwich is now being managed by BARDOC and Bury will continue to be managed by Pennine Care.  This is a welcome move, as it means our staff will be able to continue to safely provide a consistent service to local patients. 

 

Just to confirm the opening hours are as follows:

• Bury walk in centre: 7am to 3pm*, seven days a week - First floor Moorgate Primary Care Centre, 22 Derby Way, Bury, BL9 0NJ
• Prestwich walk in centre, 12pm to 8pm*, seven days a week - Fairfax Road, Prestwich M25 1BT

* The last appointment is 30 minutes prior to closing to enable staff to appropriately and effectively assess people.

 

We will continue to support the team whilst the urgent care review is ongoing.  I recently met with the Bury North MP James Frith to talk about the walk in centres and what efforts the trust is taking to ensure they remain open.  It was a positive discussion and one I am sure will be revisited once future plans are confirmed.

 

Despite the challenges facing them, the clinical and management team have shown great resilience and determination.  They shared many examples of where staff have gone over and above to make sure the centres could open.  It is a testament to their unwavering commitment to providing the best possible care to patients.  

Thank you,

Martin

Martin Roe

Chief Executive (Acting)

My visit to the Bury Community Mental Health Team

I went to visit the Community Mental Health Team in Bury based at Humphrey House this week, it was a chance to learn more about what they do and understand the challenges they are facing.  

For those who don’t know, Community Mental Health Teams (often called CMHTs) support people living in the community who have complex or serious mental health problems.  This includes people with severe depression, anxiety, psychological difficulties and psychotic symptoms.  CMHTs are multi-disciplinary teams made up of mental health nurses, social workers, occupational therapists, support workers and consultant psychiatrists who work with the team.  

It was clear that the Bury team are incredibly committed to providing the best care they can to patients, but they are feeling the pressure of increasing caseloads and finding that patients have got more complex needs.  The team talked a little about how more service users are now using the illegal drug Spice, which seems to be a growing problem across Greater Manchester and has been widely reported in the Manchester Evening News recently.

Given that the clinical challenges are demanding enough, I formed the view that there is more that we can do to improve the working environment particularly in relation to medical records, IT and car parking.  I will be raising the issues at the next Executive Director team meeting with a view to prioritising better infrastructure support.

I just want to thank the team manager Dawn Parker and her team for giving up their time to meet with me and for their honesty in the challenges they are facing.   Their commitment to patients was clear to see and they have to make some really difficult decisions on a daily basis in order to keep people safe and manage the service effectively. 

The exec team will be conducting more visits around the trust on a regular basis and will share updates with staff via the blog. 

Thank you

Martin 

Martin Roe, Chief Executive (Acting)

Mental Health Awareness Week (MHAW) 2017 runs from Monday 8 to Sunday 14 May.

It is a national campaign by the Mental Health Foundation. This year's theme is ‘surviving or thriving’, which aims to shift the focus away from mental ill-health to explore how you can thrive in life with good mental health.

Visit the Pennine Care website for lots more information on mental health.