Private hospital introduces GP services in Harrogate

A private hospital in Harrogate has launched a new service offering GP appointments to the public.

The Duchy Hospital, on Queen’s Road, will be offering the appointments with Dr Jason Jones at £100 for a 30 minute appointment.

He said:

“I’m very happy and excited to be joining the team at The Duchy and providing some primary care services.

“Being based within the hospital will also give me access to all the hospital’s facilities, services and consultant colleagues. This should improve the patient journey if any secondary care referrals are needed.”

The news follows reports that people across the UK have been struggle to get GP appointments, particularly face-to-face, following the covid pandemic.

In the Harrogate district, demand for GP services has also risen thanks to extensive house-building in recent years, increasing the population.

A report by Healthwatch North Yorkshire in December found people were struggling to access appointments either over the phone or in person. The service added:

“Several people expressed their concern about digital exclusion for people who can’t access GP and other services online. Others raised issues about misdiagnosis following telephone appointments.

“We know that GP practices across North Yorkshire are working hard to ensure everyone can access the right services for them.”

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Appointments with Dr Jones at The Duchy Hospital are available from Monday, April 25 and can be booked by calling 01423 567136 and selecting option four.

The Duchy’s executive director Rick Sanders added:

“The private GP service is a great addition for our patients at The Duchy. This new service will allow patients to see a GP face to face with easy access to any diagnostic tests, scans or onward referrals that may be required.”

Artizan café in Harrogate expands to second floor

Artizan café, which opened on Cambridge Road late last year, is set to expand to an upper floor.

The floor was initially used for offices and storage space. Due to increased demand, it will now be opened up to the public as an extended café area.

Artizan International was founded by Suzie Hart MBE in 2013.

Ms. Hart will be behind the design of the second floor, which will include the same tiles, mosaics and artisan textures on the ground floor.

The café was introduced to help people with disabilities learn hospitality skills and get into the job market.

Anna Maria Wilson, part-time manager at Artizan café, said:

“It was always in the plan. We are definitely doing it sooner than was anticipated because there was that increased demand.

“We have been so busy, that we needed the extra space. It is beautiful up there, and we aim for it to be more of a tranquil and relaxed area for people to enjoy.”

Although the official date is not yet known, the second floor should be open in a couple of weeks for customers to enjoy.

Specsavers Harrogate to join CUES scheme

Specsavers, vision test

Specsavers Harrogate is joining the Covid-19 Urgent Eye Service (CUES) scheme

Specsavers Harrogate has announced that it will be joining the NHS Covid-19 Urgent Eye Service programme.

Those with urgent eye health issues can visit the store for treatment under the CUES scheme.

The service was launched to reduce pressure on the NHS during the coronavirus pandemic.

Patients with urgent eye issues and in need of treatment will now be able to visit Specsavers Harrogate to have vision checks, which will be covered free-of-charge by the NHS.

Robert May, optometrist director at Specsavers Harrogate, said:

“The Cues scheme has been set up as we have the expertise and equipment in-store to deal with a range of eye-related emergencies.

“We’re seeing around one hundred customers every week through the scheme, which is definitely taking the pressure off the NHS’ services and waiting times.”

You can find out more about the CUES scheme here.

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Tributes to long-serving Harrogate hospital cardiologist

Dr Hugh Larkin, a retired cardiologist and consultant in acute medicine at Harrogate District Hospital for 39 years, has died.

Dr Larkin, who was 78, died on April 1 following a battle with cancer. He leaves behind wife Lynn, children Hugh, Philip, Samantha, Nicola and Tristan and grandson, Hugh.

He joined the cardiology department at the hospital in 1983 and worked through the pandemic until his retirement in January 2021.

Dr Jacqueline Andrews, executive medical director at Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust (HDFT), said:

“Dr Larkin was one of our longest serving consultants, joining HDFT in 1983 and working with us during the covid pandemic where he returned to support his colleagues and patients at a time of great need.

“He was a kind, caring and talented doctor who was highly respected by colleagues and patients and he will be greatly missed. Our sincere condolences to his family and friends at this very sad time.”

Born in 1943, Dr Larkin grew up in Glasgow, joining the navy at 16 years old and before studying Medicine at the University of Glasgow.

On graduation in 1974, Dr Larkin became a resident at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary before working at the Western Infirmary and Sydney’s North Shore Hospital.

Dr David Earl, deputy medical director at HDFT said:

“Hugh was a gentle and kind man. He was a wonderful teacher, who was respected as a colleague and friend, and most importantly by the population of Harrogate itself.”

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Sammy Lambert, business development, charity and volunteer manager at HDFT said:

“Hugh was an amazing person and highly thought of by so many people.  He saved so many lives – including my own father. His passing is such a sad loss, but his legacy will live on not only with the funds raised in his memory, but also through the difference he made to so many people’s lives.”

The Larkin family said in a statement:

“Hugh was a cherished husband and loving father; he was a family man in the truest sense of the word and was happiest when surrounded by his wife and children.

“As a family, we knew how much his work meant to him and we were incredibly proud of everything he did as a doctor. We hope his legacy in cardiology, as well as the positive impact he had on the lives of the people of Harrogate, lives on.”

Dr Larkin’s funeral will take place on Tuesday 19 April at 12pm at Our Lady Immaculate and St Robert’s Catholic Church in Harrogate.

Dr Larkin’s family have asked for donations in his memory to go to the cardiology department at Harrogate District Hospital via a dedicated donation page at https://hhcc.co.uk/hhcc-post/in-memory-of-dr-hugh-larkin/

 

Care home managers warn staffing crisis is ‘only getting worse’

Harrogate care home managers have warned the staffing crisis is only getting worse and that it will inevitably cause more bed blocking problems for the NHS.

Sue Cawthray, chief executive of Harrogate Neighbours, described the current situation as “dire” and said she has “never known it as bad as this”.

She said:

“The sector is desperately short of care staff.

“At Harrogate Neighbours we can’t increase our packages for home care and we are struggling to keep our care home above water, with staff having to work extra time to cover spare shifts.”

Susie Harrison, manager at Highgate Park care home and chair of Harrogate and District Registered Managers Network, also said the staff shortages were the “underlying cause” of delays in discharging hospital patients into care homes.

She said: 

“Care homes can’t take any more residents because they don’t have the staff and this means people end up stuck in hospital – that is the reality of the situation.”

Hospital can’t discharge patients

Harrogate District Hospital has confirmed it currently has around 40 patients who no longer require hospital care but can’t be discharged because they do not have a suitable location to continue their recovery.

This latest figure comes after the hospital recently warned it was “very full” and that this was having an impact on waiting times.

As well as the social care staffing shortages, Dr Matt Shepherd, deputy chief operating officer at Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, said covid is also playing a “big part” in the bed blocking problems.

He said: 

“When care homes have had to close due to covid outbreaks, or the service they provide has been affected due to their staff being unable to work after catching the virus or having to self-isolate, we have been unable to discharge patients into their care.

“We know how being in a more familiar location can aid recovery and we are working closely with our partners in social care to ensure patients who no longer require hospital care are able to be discharged as soon as possible.”

There are currently around 1,000 vacant care jobs across North Yorkshire and a recruitment campaign has been launched by North Yorkshire County Council to try address the shortfall.

Make Care Matter campaign

Make Care Matter aims to change perceptions about working in the sector which has endured a major challenge to attract and retain staff long before the current crisis.

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Since the campaign launched in January, 268 job applications have been progressed, with 197 interviews resulting in 91 job placements.

Senior officials at the county council have said this shows some progress has been made, although they added it will take more than a recruitment campaign to solve the staffing problems.

Richard Webb, corporate director for health and adult services at the county council, said government promises to reform how social care is funded and how much staff are paid will be the key.

He said: 

“We have seen a step-change in the care market since summer 2021, with very tough competition in the labour market, which is having a significant impact on care providers being able to recruit.

“The county council and the NHS have put additional funding into the sector to help sustain services, manage covid-19 and, recently, to support the workforce, including a one-off pay bonus for 16,000 care workers.

“Whilst the council welcomes the government’s proposals for changing how much people pay for care, we also want to see national action to help stabilise care providers and to improve the pay and status of care workers.

“In the meantime, we work closely with our care providers and NHS colleagues to ensure that as many people can go home from hospital as soon as is safe and feasible to do so.”

Harrogate hospital staff to join Parkrun to commemorate national lockdown anniversary

Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust staff are set to join runners on the Harrogate Parkrun to commemorate the anniversary of the first national lockdown.

Staff will join volunteers on the Stray on Saturday, March 19, to help set up the course and help participants achieve their personal best.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson implemented the national lockdown on March 23, 2020, in an effort to protect the NHS from being overwhelmed by covid.

William Greenwood, HDFT adult community service manager and volunteer at Parkrun, said:

“Parkrun was founded on a principle of improving mental wellbeing, the physical side of it was almost secondary.

“It is all about starting the weekend on a positive note, meeting new people, taking part in a walk or run and finishing with a slice of cake and a coffee.

“Within the event itself there are lots of micro communities who all support each other.

“It is an event that is open to absolutely everyone. Every week you will likely see people walking or running with their dogs, pushing prams, supporting visually impaired people.

“Some will complete in the run in under 20 mins and others will finish in over an hour, but thanks to the tail walker no one ever finishes last and the volunteers stay to cheer everyone to the end.”

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The NHS and Parkrun already have close ties, many members of staff taking part weekly as volunteers or runners and some GP practices prescribing attendance to Parkrun events for its health and social benefits.

Next Saturday, the first 300 runners through the finish line will be gifted a sustainable Harrogate Hospital & Community Charity tote bag full of healthy goodies.

For more information on the Harrogate Parkrun, visit the event website.

New environmentally friendly business to open in Ripon

New business opens in Ripon

The Green House, Ripon

A new environmentally and ecologically-focused business will open in Ripon next week 

The Green House, at 11 North Street, is being opened on Tuesday by Patricio Maglio, one of Ripon’s hornlblowers, and his partner Rebecca Crallan.

With a planet-friendly ethos, the store will sell home and garden supplies designed to have minimal impact on the environment. 

Patricio Maglio

Patricio Maglio

Ms Crallan said:  

“Our aim is to make it easier for people in the city and surrounding villages to make greener choices without compromising on aesthetics or function,

“We have done our research on refillables that do the job, along with plastic-free sponges that don’t disintegrate and compostable cloths that have a luxury feel.”

Harrogate start-up launches sustainable skincare range

Anna Daniels

Anna Daniels

Harrogate firm Josie Rose has launched a luxury overnight face mask.

Anna Daniels founded skincare brand Josie Rose in 2019 and has now entered the emerging ‘skin minimalism’ market with its first product: a hydrating retinol overnight face mask.

The new product has already appealed to local retailers, such as Hoopers in Harrogate, and sells direct to the consumer via its website.

Anna Daniels, managing director and founder said:

“Multifunctional products such as our overnight face mask deliver great results due to the concentrated formulas, this enables a simpler skincare and beauty routine, saving customers time and money and of course meaning less products, which is a more sustainable option.

Harrogate firm wins major NHS contract

A Harrogate-based company has won an NHS contract to scale up remote patient monitoring across Scotland.

Under the three-year contract, Inhealthcare will provide technology to enable people to record relevant information in the comfort of their own homes and relay readings to NHS teams for analysis.

inhealthcare CEO Bryn Sage

The technology is being rolled out across Scotland’s health boards. The service can be used to manage illnesses including hypertension, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, heart disease, diabetes, depression, malnutrition, cancer and Covid.

Georgia Nelson, senior business development manager at Inhealthcare, said:

“Winning this contract represents another major validation of technology-enabled care and provides the foundations for many more citizens to benefit from improved health and wellbeing at home and better quality of life.”

Send your business news to contact@thestrayferret.co.uk

‘Exponential’ growth in demand for North Yorkshire children’s mental health services

Mental health services for children are struggling to cope with an “exponential growth in demand” since the pandemic, NHS bosses have admitted.

The warning comes amid concerns the volume of children being referred for treatment could be “just the tip of the iceberg”.

A meeting of North Yorkshire County Council’s young people’s scrutiny committee was told despite increased mental health provision for children across England’s largest county, NHS waiting lists were soaring with the majority of children waiting for three months to be seen.

The extent of the issue in North Yorkshire has been exposed less than a week after a national Nuffield Trust and Health Foundation study revealed the impact of covid-19 had led to an unprecedented increase in demand for mental health services for children.

It warned a generation of children are at risk of being left behind because of a combination of soaring waiting times for services and the pandemic’s disproportionate impact on their mental health.

Rising waiting times, including for urgent cases, have come despite the Government’s response including £79 million nationally to accelerate previous plans to improve children’s wellbeing and mental healthcare provision in education and healthcare settings, as well as other initiatives.

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Tees Esk and Wear Valley NHS Trust bosses told the scrutiny meeting its community-based mental health team was now treating more than 2,500 children across the county, and referrals to its services had risen from about 100 a month at start of pandemic to more than 300 a month during 2021.

NHS and council health bosses emphasised the children’s mental health system was under great strain, exacerbated due to difficulties recruiting and retaining staff and increasing numbers of complex cases.

The meeting heard there had been a particular spike in the number of youngsters needing help for eating disorders.

Councillors were told just one in four of children found to need “urgent” help for eating disorders were being seen within the one-week national standard.

Councillors said they feared children, and in particular pre-school age and teenagers, had not had the normal chances to develop social skills during the pandemic, the impact on their mental health could be in the years to come.

Escrick councillor Richard Musgrave said: 

“I am deeply concerned that we are seeing the tip of the iceberg at the moment in terms of children’s and young people’s mental health.”

Selby councillor Stephanie Duckett added: 

“Rather than being at the peak of the problem we could just be at the start.”

In response, a boss for the NHS trust said it was forecasting an increase in demand for children’s mental health services over the next five years, but declined to reveal the extent of the expected rise.

788 Harrogate hospital patients were sent back to care homes without covid test

Almost 800 Harrogate District Hospital patients were allowed to return to their care homes without being tested for covid, it has been revealed.

Figures obtained by the Local Democracy Reporting Service provide the clearest picture yet on how patients were moved between the hospital and care homes – a practice which is believed to have fuelled infections amongst the most vulnerable.

The figures show a total of 788 patients were discharged into care homes without being tested between March 2020 and November 2021.

But the hospital says it has followed national guidance on when to carry out tests and that “patient health and safety is our primary concern”.

It also said the figures will include patients who were tested before arriving at the hospital, although it added “we do not record this information”.

Russell Nightingale, chief operating officer at Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, said: 

“During the covid pandemic, steps were taken to ensure patients could continue to be looked after in a safe environment – this was especially important for vulnerable and elderly people.

“A policy was introduced on April 15, 2020, requiring inpatients who were being discharged from hospital to a care home to have a covid test.

“Only patients who had received a negative covid test were discharged.

“If they tested positive, infection prevention measures were put in place for the individual to prevent the virus from spreading and so that the patient could be treated appropriately.

“They would remain in hospital for the required period before they were discharged.”

However, this approach did not apply to patients attending appointments or the emergency department who were allowed to return to their care homes without being tested.

And crucially, the testing of inpatients was only introduced by the government in April 2020 – almost three months after the first covid case was detected in England and when there was no protection from vaccines.

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It is thought covid was transmitting at a much quicker rate than was known at these early stages in the pandemic, and once inside a care home it often spread to residents with devastating consequences.

410 care home deaths in North Yorkshire

Since the start of the pandemic, a total of 410 covid deaths have been reported by North Yorkshire care homes which have had to deal with PPE and testing shortages, as well as ever changing government guidance on visiting restrictions.

Harrogate hospital said it was not impacted by the testing shortages.

But Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Andrew Jones said the government did recognise there were “challenges” with testing as he also praised staff at the hospital for their efforts during the pandemic.

Mr Jones said: 

“It seems clear to me that the staff at Harrogate hospital sought to deal with patients in the safest and most practical way during the pandemic.

“This must have been extremely difficult for them particularly in the early days of the pandemic when the world was fighting against something new and about which medical science knew little but could see it was deadly for many.

“There were also challenges with protective equipment supply, testing capability was still limited and hospitalisation rates were high.

“The description they have given about their testing regime would seem to most people to be practical and credible with patient safety at its heart.

“I want to again put on record my thanks to the clinical staff and also to the non-clinical support staff for ensuring the highest standards of patient care in unprecedented circumstances.”

NHS writes off £13m in Nightingale hospital beds cost

NHS managers have written off £13 million after beds bought for Nightingale hospitals could not be used for patients on other wards.

The seven Nightingale sites included a facility at Harrogate Convention Centre — which cost £31.6 million to set up and run. However, it didn’t treat a single covid patient.

According to NHS England accounts, the beds bought for the sites were “bespoke beds for field hospitals” and did not meet the requirement for existing hospitals.

The figure also includes storage costs at the facilities.

The accounts say:

“After the closure of the Nightingale hospitals, it was deemed that the beds could not be used in any other existing hospitals as the specifications were not to the current standard as implemented in all hospitals.

“These beds are now subject to renewed plans for redeployment to the new field hospitals.”

The NHS has set up Nightingale surge hubs as part of its response to the Omicron covid variant. However, St James’ University Hospital in Leeds was chosen over Harrogate for a facility.

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The 500-bed hospital at Harrogate Convention Centre was one of seven Nightingale hospitals set up at the start of the covid pandemic in March 2020. It was dismantled last year.

An inquiry revealed that of its £31.6 million costs, £17 million was spent on building and dismantling works, £10.4 million on running costs and £4.1 million on equipment.

A further £1.1 million was spent on security and around £500,000 on cleaning and food.

Members of West Yorkshire Joint Health Overview Scrutiny Committee launched the inquiry into the hospital after raising questions over why it was not used to treat any covid patients and how it would have been staffed if needed.

The committee concluded that while these questions remain unanswered, the need for the Nightingale hospitals across the UK showed there was insufficient critical care capacity in regular hospitals.

Last chance to have you say on quality of Harrogate hospital care

Time is running out for people in the Harrogate district to have their say on how they feel about the care they receive at local hospitals.

Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Harrogate District Hospital and Ripon Community Hospital, is carrying out a survey aimed at improving services and quality of care.

The survey runs until Monday and will be used to improve the experience for patients, highlight areas where the trust performs well and identify the areas where it needs to improve.

Matt Graham, the trust’s director of strategy said: 

“HDFT’s last strategy was created in 2014 and during this time the trust, the NHS, and our communities have changed significantly.

“The covid pandemic has meant that over the last two years we have had to adapt to the pressures we have faced and this has impacted upon the services we have been able to offer. It is important we now look to the future and create a strategy which delivers on our top priorities – to provide the highest quality of care for the people in our communities and the best possible experience for our patients.

“We need to get the perspective of our patients, carers and other members of the community so that we can understand what issues are important to them.

“We will then use this feedback to improve the care we offer over the next five years so that we are well placed to meet the opportunities and challenges of the future.”

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The trust has also conducted a focus group this month in collaboration with Healthwatch North Yorkshire.

The one-hour session gave people the opportunity to learn about why the trust is refreshing its strategy, comment on feedback received to date, and have their questions answered.

You can take part in the online survey here and for more information on attending a focus group email hdft.strategy@nhs.net.