The new £12m Stanley Primary Care Centre welcomed its first patients...

THE new centre, in Clifford Road, brings together a wide range of services under one roof in a modern healthcare environment. It is home to Stanley Medical Group, Drs Partha and Mallika, X-ray and ultra sound, adult physiotherapy, minorops, podiatry ,a child development centre and children’s therapy services.

The centre – which will help to regenerate Stanley town centre – was designed to make a strong architectural statement.

Feedback from visitors has been very positive. It has included the following comment, which was written in the centre’s new comments book: “Very impressive building with excellent facilities. Very futuristic design and a big improvement from last clinic.”

David Gallagher, Director of Partnerships and Services, said: “We are absolutely delighted that the centre has opened and are really pleased with the way it has been received by the people of Stanley and the surrounding area.

“We are committed to ensuring that the people of Stanley receive high-quality health services from the centre and hope that it proves to be a huge asset to local people for many years to come.

“The centre was also built to make a strong architectural statement and contribute to the regeneration of Stanley town centre. It certainly makes an impressive impact on the town centre.”

Inspections awarded Community Hospitals in County Durham and Darlington top marks for privacy and dignity, food and environment...

THREE community hospitals – The Richardson Hospital in Barnard Castle, Sedgefield Community Hospital and Weardale Community Hospital in Stanhope – all achieved the maximum standard in the recent Patient Environment Action Team (PEAT) inspections. They are all owned by NHS County Durham, but services are provided by County Durham and Darlington Community Health Services.

Established in 2000, the inspections check NHS hospitals and units in England with more than ten beds. Since 2006, they have been over seen by the National Patient Safety Agency.

Inspection teams look at standards within three main categories: Environment, Food and Privacy and Dignity. Each site is givenarating–excellent, good, acceptable, poor or unacceptable.

Each inspection is carried out by a Patient Environment Action Team which consists of patients; local people; NHS staff including nurses, matrons, doctors, catering and domestic service managers; executive and non-executive directors; dieticians and estates managers.

Jan Connor, Modern Matron at Sedgefield Community Hospital, said:“The team at Sedgefield is delighted with the PEAT report. I believe the score reflects the hard work and dedication of a team who have pride in their working environment and who recognise that, in order to deliver safe, high quality services to our patients, the very basics are paramount. A comfortable, clean, friendly environment gives the patient confidence in the staff and ensures a safe and positive patient journey with the best possible outcomes.”

JulieWalton, Modern Matron at Weardale Community Hospital in Stanhope,said: “Here at Weardale Community Hospital, we are delighted to have achieved ‘excellent’ status in all three categories within the PEAT scoring system.

I personally feel that this achievement is obtained through the hard work and dedication of our team.”

Karen Dyson, Modern Matron at the Richardson Hospital in Barnard Castle, said: “Staff at the Richardson Community Hospital have worked extremely hard to maintain the excellent standards achieved again this year on our PEAT score.

“The Richardson Hospital was the pilot site for the Royal College of Nursing’s Nutrition Now campaign which involved working with other agencies to achieve a nutrition programme that benefits all of our patients, through assessment, monitoring and evaluation. We continually consult patients for their opinions and suggestions on nutrition and meet bi-monthly with the catering manager to discuss any changes that need to be made to improve this service.

“The three community hospitals have also led in the Essence of Care benchmark for Privacy and Dignity, developing the policy and implementing changes that have provided the privacy and dignity required by outpatients. We continue to monitor this.

“The cleanliness of our hospital is due to the nursing staff, house keeping and the Infection Control Nurse working together as a team.

All staff arehere for the benefit of our patients and I am proud of all my staff and would like to say ‘well done, keep up the good work and thank you to them.

Gypsies and travellers backed a project to produce health information packs for their community...

MEMBERS of the UK Associationof Gypsy Women (UKAGW), with support from the Connecting Communities fund, have been working with Director of Public Health Miriam Davidson at NHS Darlington tocreate leaflets with important health messages for gypsies and travellers.

The project underlines the work already undertaken by the PCT’s Specialist Healthcare Worker for Gypsyand Travellers in Darlington, Finulua Deehan, and has been highly praised by the association. Finulua’s work with the community also received recognition from the Queen, with an invitation to Buckingham Palace in November 2008. 

Research has shown that members of the gypsy and traveller community have significantly poorer health and more self-reported illnesses than anyother English-speaking ethnic minority and economically disadvantaged white UK residents. This includes a lower life expectancy by tento 12 years than members of the wider community and reduced access to primary care. “Being able to work with the UKAGW was an opportunity for us to get vital messages about health to the travelling community,” said Miriam.

“It enabled us to help them to be more informed about a range of medical conditions which may affect them and the services we have available.”A UKAGW spokeswoman added:“With enforced mobility, basic needs are a priority and health often becomes secondary. Health services are sometimes inflexible, so access to health information is reduced. Sometimes communication with health workers can be difficult.”