North West Surrey Alliance in Action newsletter, Summer 2023 | News centre

I am delighted to welcome you to the fourth edition of our newsletter and what a bumper packed edition it is.

The breadth of activity and resident focussed delivery across our partnership is simply staggering. Many of these extra activities go way beyond the “day job” and they have a real impact on the residents and families of North West Surrey.

In this edition we share some wonderful updates from across our patch including a look at the recent community open day at St Peter’s Hospital which despite some challenges from Mother Nature proved to be a fantastic fun filled day for all who attended. We also put a little spotlight on some of our clinical teams who have been shortlisted for awards for service delivery - a huge well done, in particular, to the children and family health inclusion team on their recent Burdett Nursing Awards win.

We also hear from some of our borough council colleagues who update us with some key developments in their areas. We are delighted to see the impact social prescribing is having on the residents of Spelthorne - 800 GP referrals in just under a year speaks for itself! Well done to all involved. We also hear from Cllr Chris Howorth with an update on the continued Tribe app rollout in Runnymede. We played a key role in supporting this technology rollout and it is exciting to see the impact already evident for local residents.

This month a Runnymede resident Shahla shared her patient journey with the Integrated Care Board of NHS Surrey Heartlands. It was singularly the most impactful patient story I have ever heard and it was delivered in an incredibly brave and thoughtful way.

Shahla bravely shared the incredibly personal and moving story of her husband, John who died in July last year.

A former physiotherapist and later becoming John’s carer, Shahla also outlined the huge learning curve she experienced as they navigated the impact of motor neurone disease (MND) and the support services that became such a huge part of their daily lives. During this journey they had contact with many corners of our system – primary care, community services, mental health, continuing healthcare, disability support and ultimately palliative care.

Shahla explained that interactions with individual clinicians and professionals were nearly always positive, with many going above and beyond to give the best possible care. Where things became difficult was the co- ordination between these services.

We’re keeping stories like John and Shahla’s at the forefront of our mind as we move forwards introducing the first wave of 12 integrated neighbourhood teams later this year. These teams, with their collective skills and expertise will work together on a day-to-day basis to serve the needs of a defined geographical footprint that makes sense to residents - read more on page 4 and 5.

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome our two new Chief Executives, Siân Wicks from Woking and Sam Beare Hospice and Andrew Pritchard from Runnymede Borough Council. We are looking forward to working with you both to further develop the Alliance. I also want to thank and say a fond farewell to two of our Executive Directors Louise McKenzie and Dee Thiruchelvam who have been instrumental to the success of the Alliance.

There is more about hellos and goodbyes on page 22 and 23.

I want to thank all colleagues across our partnership for their continued efforts in putting our residents first. I know it’s not always easy, in fact it seems that simply doing what you’ve always done is getting harder, but our residents recognise the continued efforts and appreciate the expertise you all deliver every single day. Speaking as a patient, and from a family of patients, we are lucky to have you all.

Mark Byrne

North West Surrey Alliance Chair

North West Surrey Alliance in Action newsletter Summer 2023 [pdf] 11MB

North West Surrey Alliance in Action newsletter Summer 2023 plain text [docx] 47KB