News

The NHS report recently published, came after a nine-week review by independent peer and surgeon Lord Darzi, who was asked to identify the current failings in the health service.

The report highlights some of the following key findings:

• Long waits in A&E likely to be causing an additional 14,000 more deaths a year
• The state of the NHS is not entirely due to what has happened within the health service, but also because the health of the nation has deteriorated 
• Rising levels of illness risk economic prosperity, with 2.8 million people unable to work because of poor health
• Higher cancer mortality rates than other countries
• Although hospital staff numbers have increased since the pandemic, the number of appointments and procedures hasn’t
• The NHS has been starved of capital investment

If you have accessed the department with a poorly child in the last 2 years, we would like to hear from you.

The Leicester Children’s Emergency Department is a 24 hour facility located on the Leicester Royal Infirmary site. Patients can walk-in for treatment, be referred there by contacting NHS 111, or be taken by ambulance.

We are running a short survey alongside colleagues at Healthwatch Leicester and Healthwatch Leicestershire to understand families’ experiences of using the service. The survey takes around 5 minutes to complete, or we can send you a hardcopy. 

Your feedback is anonymous and will be used with that from other people, to write a report on people’s experiences of accessing childrens’ emergency care

Please share your experience and make a difference!

To order a hardcopy call 01572 720381 or email info@healthwatchrutland.co.uk 

Our project to understand people’s experiences of the communications they receive when moving between NHS services is continuing through August.

We’d like to hear how you have found the process of referrals from the GP practice to hospital care, diagnostic tests (and getting back the results), discharge from hospital care to GP & any medications involved etc. 

This could include communications by letter, text messages, phone calls or use of apps for organising appointments or patient transport or medications.

Hollie was interviewed by Rob Persani for Rutland and Stamford Sound recently. You can hear what she said about the project in this short clip from the interview:

Our online survey takes about 5 minutes to complete, or we can send you a hardcopy or easy read version if preferred. We are also offering an in-person chat or half hour telephone call if anyone would prefer to talk in a bit of detail about their experiences.

To request a hardcopy or easy read survey please email info@healthwatchrutland.co.uk or leave a message on 01572720381.

NHS Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Integrated Care Board (LLR ICB) is asking for people’s views on the care people can expect to receive towards the end of their life.

Working closely with other local organisations, the LLR ICB has developed ‘Our All-Age Palliative and End of Life Care Strategy’, and is seeking the views of patients, family carers, staff, the public and wider stakeholders, to ensure that the strategy reflects the needs of local people.

The strategy will inform the development of local services in the future, and its purpose is to make sure that people who are in the last stages of their lives receive the care they need to keep them independent for as long as possible, to be comfortable, that their dignity and wellbeing is maintained and that they can die in a place of their choosing and with proper support for families and carers.

In developing the strategy, the LLR ICB worked closely with local organisations involved in providing palliative and end of life care, their staff, local voluntary organisations and other partners. They also spoke to people receiving end of life care and to their relatives, and their experiences have been invaluable in helping to develop the strategy.

Key priorities have been identified for the next five years, to improve the equity, access, quality, personalisation and responsiveness of services for people at the end of their lives and for their loved ones.

People will have until Sunday 22 September 2024 to share their views in the following ways:

• Visit the LLR ICB website and completing a questionnaire:
• Email your views to: llricb-llr.beinvolved@nhs.net 
• Telephone: 0116 295 7572 to ask for a paper copy of the questionnaire or to receive information in a different format
• Write to: Freepost Plus RUEE–ZAUY–BXEG, End of Life Engagement, Leicestershire and Rutland Integrated Care Board, Room G30, Pen Lloyd Building, Leicestershire County Council, Leicester Road, Glenfield, Leicester LE3 8TB

Healthwatch Rutland has been in the news this week as we highlighted delays both in creation of the local Dental Access Plan, and in securing a new provider to improve appointment availability in Rutland.

At a meeting of the Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee for Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland (LLR), our Chair Janet Underwood talked about the unaffordability of private dentistry for many people and relayed your experiences of trying to get an NHS dental appointment in Rutland: 

“Some people are in pain … absolutely desperate. They are ringing here, there and everywhere and can’t get one”

Janet also drew attention to the fact that Rutland has the lowest rate of access to NHS dentistry of all the areas of LLR, with just 20% of people in the county having dentistry funded by the NHS in the second half of last year. 

The NHS has been promising a local Dental Access Plan as part of the overall 5 Year Plan published last year. This is waiting for creation of an Oral Health Needs Assessment to identify pockets of need and plan actions to address them. This Assessment, which was originally planned for Autumn last year, now won’t be available until after August 2024.

Meanwhile, the long-awaited process to procure a new dentist to increase appointments in Rutland is moving slowly, with new provision realistically expected to begin in 2025.

To find out which dentists may be offering NHS care in our area use Find a Dentist on the NHS website

If you have been unable to get an appointment for urgent dental care call NHS111 for help or access 111.nhs.uk

To tell us about your experiences of accessing dentistry in Rutland, leave feedback:

The NHS is asking people in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland (LLR) to join a conversation about stopping gluten-free products on prescription.

The Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Integrated Care Board (LLR ICB) has launched a six-week public consultation and is keen to understand the impact of stopping the prescribing of gluten free bread or flour each month, on patients and their families. 

Patients diagnosed with coeliac disease and dermatitis herpetiformis are currently prescribed a maximum of eight units of gluten-free bread or flour per month. Prescriptions for gluten-free products are taken up by approximately 1,300 people across LLR.

The public consultation, which closes on Sunday 25 August 2024, will inform future decisions made by the NHS as to whether it should continue to prescribe gluten-free products.

The LLR ICB’s proposals are based on a number of factors, including the increased availability of gluten-free foods. In the past gluten-free foods were less easy to obtain, so they were made available from local pharmacies via prescription. However, with an increased awareness of coeliac disease and gluten intolerance, as well as a general trend towards eating less gluten, there is greater availability of these foods in many supermarkets and online. Improvements have also been made to food labelling so that it is easier to see whether ordinary foods are free from gluten. 

Paper copies of the questionnaire can also be requested by emailing: llricb-llr.beinvolved@nhs.net or by telephone: 0116 295 7532.