Customer Service Excellence award for NHS Scarborough and Ryedale CCG
Published on Feb 26, 2018
NHS Scarborough and Ryedale Clinical Commissioning Group has secured the prestigious Customer Service Excellence Award for the third year running.
The highly-prized accreditation, awarded through the Cabinet Office, was given to the CCG following rigorous independent scrutiny against more than 50 separate criteria relating to how well the CCG engages with patients.
NHS Scarborough and Ryedale CCG scored “compliance plus” in 12 areas and was judged to be “compliant” in a further 42 areas.
The report published by the Customer Service Excellence Body shows continual improvement with more “compliance plus” awarded to the CCG than ever before.
Sally Brown, Associate Director of Corporate Affairs for NHS Scarborough and Ryedale CCG said: “We are thrilled to have received the Customer Service Excellence award for the third year running – it’s testament to the hard work we put in to ensure the priorities and needs of our patients are considered as part of the process to commission local health services.
“It’s particularly pleasing that CSE assessors have recognised our efforts to consult, listen and engage with residents from a range of backgrounds.”
Andy Hudson, NHS Scarborough and Ryedale CCG Governing Body Lay Member and chairman of the CCG’s Communications and Engagement Committee, added: “We are extremely proud to have secure the Customer Service Excellence accolade for the third time and it’s particularly pleasing to have done it with more ‘compliance plus’ marks than ever. It’s huge credit to our staff and shows how much we value patient input in the decision-making process.”
In their evaluation, CSE assessors praised NHS Scarborough and Ryedale CCG for the commitment to putting patients first and the ethos of openness focused around delivering services that patients and communities want and in ways that best suit their needs.
Assessors also credited the CCG for “identifying the needs of disadvantaged groups and to commission appropriate services”, with mental health service users, the LGBT community, young people and older people’s forums among the groups actively engaged by commissioners in the last year.
Read MoreNHS Scarborough and Ryedale CCG backs Stay Well Pharmacy campaign
Published on Feb 26, 2018
NHS Scarborough and Ryedale Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) is backing a national campaign to encourage people to make more use of their local pharmacy to free up GP time for sicker patients and potentially save the NHS around £850 million a year.
Stay Well Pharmacy is a campaign from NHS England which encourages people, especially parents and carers of children under the age of five, to visit their local pharmacy team first for clinical advice for minor health concerns such as sore throats, coughs, colds, tummy troubles, teething and aches and pains.
Dr Greg Black, NHS Scarborough and Ryedale CCG’s clinical lead for medicine, said: “Pharmacists are available to provide expert health advice and in most cases are conveniently located and easy to access within local communities.
“Pharmacists are able to provide help in managing minor illnesses and give health and wellbeing advice, so they are a useful person to see for minor health concerns.”
Community pharmacists and pharmacy technicians are qualified healthcare professionals who are the right people to see if you need clinical advice or over the counter medicines to help safely manage a wide range of minor health concerns.
Pharmacists are trained in managing minor illness and can assess symptoms and recommend the best course of treatment or simply provide reassurance, for instance when a minor illness will get better on its own with a few days’ rest. And if symptoms suggest it’s something more serious, they have the right clinical training to ensure people get the help they need.
With most people living within easy reach of a pharmacy and with many pharmacies offering extended opening hours in the evenings and at weekends, pharmacy teams offer fast and convenient clinical support with no appointment needed. Most community pharmacies (over 90%) now offer a private consultation room, suitable for a confidential conversation, should it be requested.
Using a pharmacy for minor health concerns will help free up GP time for more urgent appointments and help reduce non-emergency A&E visits.
Search www.nhs.uk/staywellpharmacy for more information and to help you find your nearest NHS pharmacy services and opening hours.
Read MoreDecommissioning of gluten free prescriptions for adult patients in Scarborough and Ryedale
From 1 April 2017, NHS Scarborough and Ryedale Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) no longer supports the prescribing of gluten free products to adult patients.
New guidance reflects the changes.
In 2015, the NHS spent £26 million on prescribing gluten free food with £16.7 million spent on 840,000 prescriptions for bread. The current cost of prescribing gluten free products in Scarborough and Ryedale is around £60,000 a year.
The decision to withdraw support for gluten free prescriptions for patients aged 18 and over follows an engagement exercise carried out by the CCG, which resulted in detailed feedback from Coeliac UK and the British Society of Gastroenterology. The CCG also took into consideration the 89 responses to an online survey and 17 responses gathered through face-to-face engagement, more than half of which were from coeliac sufferers.
Dr Greg Black, Governing Body member and Prescribing Lead for the CCG, said: “We would like to thank everyone who responded to the CCG survey and in particularly Coeliac UK who helped ensure the voices of local people with coeliac disease were heard.
“Having taken into consideration all of the feedback we received, along with the evidence available to us, we took the decision to stop prescribing gluten free products to adult patients, mainly due to the significant increase in the quality, variety and availability of gluten free products in supermarkets and via home delivery services.
“We also recognised that the NHS does not provide food on prescription for other groups of patients who have conditions which might be affected by the type of food they eat.
“While we know this decision will not be popular among patients who currently receive gluten free foods on prescription, the CCG’s duty is to manage budgets effectively and take commissioning decisions on behalf of the whole population in our area.”
The CCG will continue to support the prescribing of a small range of gluten free food products to those aged under 18, who have a confirmed coeliac disease diagnosis.
The gluten free products that can be prescribed to those under the age of 18 are:
- Bread (loaves only – not rolls, wraps or other bread products)
- Flour (not flour mix or bread mix)
- Pasta
If a patient has been diagnosed with coeliac disease, they must continue to follow a strict gluten free diet. The CCG recommends patients stick to foods that are naturally gluten free rather than specialist products that have been manufactured to be gluten free. Rice and potatoes are examples of foods that are naturally gluten free that can also be cheap to purchase. It remains important to have a well-balanced diet.
Coeliac UK produces a helpful food and drink directory, which is available free to members (or £10 to non-members). Following the Eatwell Plate model for balanced eating will provide a gluten free diet without need for any specialist dietary foods. This encourages choosing naturally gluten free carbohydrate containing foods as part of a healthy, balanced diet.
Coeliac UK provides useful information on all aspects of the disease, including a directory of gluten free foods and drinks: www.coeliac.org.uk
The NHS website also has useful information about coeliac disease and treatment: www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Coeliac-disease/Pages/Treatment.aspx
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