We would like to inform you that a radio programme entitled “Aftermath Shipman” will be broadcast this Monday 30th January at 8pm and repeated on Wednesday 1st February at 11am.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08bzcd7

 

The programme (which we have not listened to beforehand) will include who Shipman was, what happened immediately after he was arrested and then how our practice helped to regain the trust of its patients and the wider community.

 

I started as a GP on 2nd October 2000 after Shipman has been arrested and it was clear he would not be returning to his old practice at 21 Market Street in Hyde. This was my first job after I qualified as a GP and 2 days later the BBC ran an article describing what had happened. The last paragraph is a very important one where Dr Cumming, our senior Partner, said “It is going to be a good practice, a smoothly-run practice and we are going to regain the trust and confidence of the patients, as far as anyone can”

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/955009.stm

 

This was later to evolve into the “Partnership of Trust” whereby we build confidence and trust by recognising the expertise the patient (and carer) brings to the consultation alongside the expertise the clinician has and the full GP electronic health record (Detailed coded data as well as free text) is shared responsibly with the patient. We started doing this in 2004 at Haughton Thornley Medical Centres (alongside Manor House Surgery and Hadfield Medical Centre in Glossop). We developed a very specific explicit consent process where the focus was not just on access to the records but more importantly (and to keep things safe) we also ensure patients understood what they were signing up for through a simple questionnaire that can take 2 minutes to complete. http://www.htmc.co.uk/GetAccessNow/

 

We went on to develop a practice-based web portal www.htmc.co.uk  whose role was to signpost patients to practice info as well as local, regional, national and international info. We provide specific guidance for a variety of conditions to help patients get the best information easily without having to “Google search” and which relates to what we are doing. We know what is available locally and can build a repository of info with our patients. This was how the practice could extend itself into the online arena where people are and continue to support the “partnership of trust”.

 

Currently, over 6600 patients at the practice now have full access to their whole record which they can share with whom they like. Here is our case study which shows how we achieved “Records Access and Understanding”. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/6931026/HTMC%20documents/CASE%20STUDY%20-%20Improving%20Patient%20Access%20to%20Records%20And%20Understanding%20at%20Haughton%20Thornley%20Medical%20Centres%20-%2012%20years%20experience.pdf  Here are some examples of the takeup we now have for Records Access and Understanding. See http://www.htmc.co.uk/pages/pv.asp?p=htmc0328 for our latest data

 

55% of our total patient population

50% of our patients with COPD

62% of our patients with asthma

58% of all our patients with diabetes

66% of all our patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis

64% of all our patients with low back pain

94% of all our patients with depression or anxiety

55% of all our patients with cancer

68% of all our patients who are registered as carers

95% of all our pregnant women

34% of all our patients with learning disability

55% of all our Bengali patients

 

You can read the impact on patients in their own words here with testimonials they have written http://www.htmc.co.uk/pages/pv.asp?p=htmc0304

 

Soon after we set up the Haughton Thornley Patient Participation Group and appointed a Chair for the group.http://www.htmc.co.uk/pages/pv.asp?p=htmc4 . Since then we have had three PPG chairs – Donald Hunter, Bill Burgoine and the current Chair, Ingrid Brindle. They represented the voice of the practice population and have helped to develop the service both online and in the practice itself. Last year Haughton Thornley Patient Participation Group was voted the best PPG in the UK by the National Association of Patient Participation. Living in the community, they heard first hand how things affected the people around them and their own experience too. The radio broadcast is a discussion between us on what happened, the impact on the community and how the practice regained the trust of those around it.

 

This week in surgery I spoke to a grandson of a lady who was murdered by Shipman. He was one of the 6644 patients with access to his full GP electronic health records. I told him about “Aftermath Shipman” and asked he inform his family and that there is help available including the practice, Victim Support, the local mental health services and of course the wider community. He asked what difference him being able to view the records would be. I explained he now had the opportunity to read what the practice thought, see his own results and conditions and then when he goes away, learn for himself, understand the care plan and make his own mind up using his own mind whether it is right for him instead of having to go to another service provider which increasingly cannot cope. He has a mind and can learn for himself if he wishes. I pointed out to him that he had gained a stone in weight in the past 10 years by just looking at his weight graph – something that was news to him and which he could easily look at with his smartphone or logging in via his computer. He can continue to monitor his weight at home even if I do not see him again for another 10 years. He knows the message is in his record which he can refer to at any time. By sharing with each other, we both gain where he feels more in control of his own health too. He smiled. He got it.

 

General Practice is at a very low ebb. All of us are feeling the brunt of a system and a government that is adding more and more pressure and blame on us for the wider failures in society. I was with the senior leadership including Simon Stevens and Jane Cumming and others this week where I also informed them about the above. Earlier I also contacted Jon Rouse, Chief Officer at Greater Manchester Health Social Care (DevoManc) too. We must stand united and recognise we cannot do this all on our own. But together we can if we support each other and re-invest in the parts of the system that can make a big difference. If anybody would like to know more or would like help to ensure their processes are aligned based on our experience then please get back in touch. We have amassed a great deal of knowledge and experience. I have just published an article entitled “The Paradigm Shift in Healthcare” for Government Computing which describes the transformation needed in the NHS.

 

http://healthcare.governmentcomputing.com/features/the-paradigm-shift-in-healthcare-5723240

 

When General Practice succeeds, the NHS will succeed.

 

Amir

 

Dr Amir Hannan

Full-time General Practitioner, Haughton Thornley Medical Centres, Thornley St, Hyde, SK14 1JY.

Director, Orbit healthcare ltd, our local GP Federation

Co-Chair Greater Manchester NHS Values Group

Member of the Equality Diversity Council, NHS England

Chair West Pennine Local Medical Committee

Chair, Association of Greater Manchester Local Medical Committees

Chairman, World Health Innovation Summit

 

Twitter: @amirhannan

Website: www.htmc.co.uk