This week’s leadership message comes from Richard Nicholson, Assistant Project Manager for Global Health Partnerships

Posted on: 17 February 2023

This week’s leadership message comes from Richard Nicholson, Global Health Partnerships. Richard talks about the work of the team, including Jonathan Brown (Associate Director for Workforce, Planning and Strategy, Tim Gill (Programme Manager, Global Partnerships) and Karen Poole (Associate Director for West Yorkshire Local Maternity and Neonatal System), along with Dr John Paul Bagala (Strengthening Health Workforce Capacity through Global Learning Lead, Regional Coordinating Hub-East Africa) and Dr Henry Muwonge (Country Lead, Uganda, UUKHA) who have been instrumental in bringing this exciting collaboration of countries together.

Local Maternity and Neonatal System holds Virtual Clinical Grand Rounds with Uganda

Richard Nicholson Hello, my name is Richard.

The first Neonatal Virtual Clinical Grand Round of the year between the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Local Maternity Neonatal System (LMNS) and clinicians from Kampala Metropolitan LMNS and six Regional Centres of Excellence in Uganda took place on 10 February.

Following a needs analysis in both countries in 2022, a series of priority topics was identified for a future Grand Round, which will be co-hosted by one site in West Yorkshire and the Uganda UK Health Alliance. This collaborative approach not only shares valuable knowledge and practices in both directions, but also fosters closer relationships between specialists in the two countries for mutual benefit.

Last Friday’s topic “Infection Control Strategies in NICUs (neonatal intensive care units)” was kindly hosted by Dr Pamela Ohadike and Sister Joanne Richardson of Calderdale & Huddersfield Foundation Trust, and Dr Akullu Vicky and Sister Jane Ngamito Opio of Arua Regional Referral Hospital in the West Nile Region of Uganda.

These virtual learning sessions enable clinicians to share best practice and exchange knowledge by discussing various cases of mutual interest. As one presenter noted, “this was a great opportunity for us as presenters to share our practice and challenges, and secure opportunities for support.”

Infection Control Strategies in neonatal intensive care units - Teams meeting screenshot With at least 90 attendees from 30 different organisations, the topic of the day was shared across two presenting organisations and benefited from lively discussions and engagement in the Q&A session. The post-session feedback from participants was positive, with:

97% stating that their knowledge had increased
95% of responses thinking their practice will change as a result of the session
100% agreeing that teaching from the session would positively impact on the care provided to patients
Described as “informative” and as “a very enriching discussion”.

The programme

Health and care staff working at an neonatal intensive care unit in Uganda The Strengthening Health Workforce Capacity through Global Learning (SCALE) programme focuses on building health workforce capacity in maternal, foetal medicine and neonatology through virtual clinical Grand Rounds, clinical fellowships and enabling global placements.

Our LMNS and the Partnership’s Global team will continue to support the implementation of the Local Maternity and Neonatal Systems across Uganda. The Global team and UUKHA are progressing the second phase of the programme by facilitating exchange placements of maternity and neonatal staff between the two countries to further system and institutional collaboration.

“The learning Uganda has acquired through its Ministry of Health from the West Yorkshire and Harrogate LMNS has enabled the country to establish 15 LMNSs with the core objective of strengthening regional accountability and catalysing the delivery of Reproductive Maternal Newborn Child and Adolescent Health Services in the various regions across the country.”

Dr. John Paul Bagala, SCALE Lead, Regional Coordinating Hub- East Africa.

"This partnership came about through an conversation with Jonathan Brown, Associate Director for our People Directorate and Dr John Paul Bagula about how we can share our practice across systems (West Yorkshire and Harrogate and Uganda) in a way that brings about sustainable change and improvement whilst working with limited resources. I am delighted with the work to date and look forward to seeing improved outcomes for women and families both here and in Uganda”. Karen Poole, Associate Directorate, West Yorkshire and Harrogate Local Maternity Neonatal System.

For more information about the project, please contact us at wyicb-wak.wyglobal@nhs.net.

Have a good weekend all.
Richard

What else has been happening this week?

West Yorkshire Allied Health Professional (AHP) Faculty

It’s been a busy couple of months within the AHP faculty. West Yorkshire AHP Faculty alongside Humber and North Yorkshire AHP Faculty led a preceptorship webinar with over 70 attendees. Colleagues have also secured funding and are excited to be able to offer training for all support staff working with AHP in elective care recovery. Services included in the elective care recovery include healthcare that is not an urgent or emergency level of care and is required by people or families for the maintenance of health and the prevention of illness. This can be provided in a hospital, community, physical or mental health services.

Partnership’s children and young people programme

Healthier Together The Partnership’s obesity strategy group is developing a strategy which will adopt a compassionate approach to public health and explore work through tacking health inequalities. This will include influencing a trauma-informed approach to the National Child Measurement Programme.

The West Yorkshire Online Parenting Report – research and insight were launched across the system in January through a lunch and learn session, including the findings of the report and a case study from Kirklees on their online Triple P Parenting Programme.

The long-term conditions (LTC) work for asthma, diabetes and epilepsy across West Yorkshire continues to progress. The asthma workplan has been designed to support the delivery of the care bundle and link with air quality leads to advance housing and health initiatives.

The content of the ‘Healthier Together’ website continues with a Strep A web page launched to provide information for parents and carers. In addition, a focus group with parents and carers to review the autism and ADHD pages took place in January. The feedback will be used to tailor the information on the website accordingly.

Vaping and e-cigarettes – the facts

New materials for you to share or print giving the facts about vaping and e-cigarettes are available on our prevention website pages.

Lift someone out of loneliness

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has launched their new loneliness campaign activity as part of the Better Health - Every Mind Matters campaign.

The campaign primarily aims to reach 16-34 year olds by continuing to encourage them to ‘Lift Someone Out of Loneliness’, knowing that this will likely help their own feelings of loneliness.

This is based on recent research that shows that people in this demographic are at higher risk of feeling lonely compared to other age groups, but less likely to seek advice and support.

If you’re feeling lonely this winter, search ‘Every Mind Matters; for support and advice or go to https://www.nhs.uk/every-mind-matters/lifes-challenges/loneliness/.

Relaunch of the Act F.A.S.T. stroke campaign

On 13 February 2023, NHS England, in association with the Stroke Association, relaunched the Act F.A.S.T. stroke campaign, which highlights that a stroke is a medical emergency and urges the public to call 999 immediately if they notice any single one of the signs of a stroke in themselves or others.

The Act F.A.S.T. (Face, Arms, Speech, Time) acronym provides a memorable way of identifying the most common signs of a stroke and emphasises the importance of acting quickly by calling 999.

Think and Act F.A.S.T. if you see any single one of these signs of a stroke:

Face – has their face fallen on one side? Can they smile?
Arms – can they raise both arms and keep them there?
Speech – is their speech slurred?
Time – even if you’re not sure, call 999.

When Stroke Strikes Act F.A.S.T. Call 999. A stroke is known as a ‘brain attack’. It is a medical emergency that requires immediate attention as every minute is vital. That is why calling 999 is so crucial. Early recognition of symptoms can give stroke patients those extra precious minutes, enabling faster access to specialist treatment and increasing the chances of a recovery which could reduce the long-term effects, such as a disability. For more information visit: https://www.nhs.uk/actFAST

GP online consultation video

The West Yorkshire Digital team have created a short video for our clinicians in primary care to highlight the benefits of the new GP Online Consultation video solution ‘PATCHS’, which is now being rolled out across West Yorkshire. This video features some of our fantastic clinicians, who share their recent experience of using the new solution and talk about what they have found beneficial so far. You can watch the video on the West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership's YouTube channel at https://youtu.be/cH9sI6PrQEI

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