Self-Management Today

Self-Management Today is the regular newsletter published by The National Register of Self-Management.  it is published once every two months and is emailed to everyone on the circulation list - which includes everyone on the NRSM.  Keep up to date with the latest news, information, guidance and best practice from the self-management community.

The latest edition of Self-Management Today :  

May 2011

Welcome

Welcome to the 9th edition of Self Management Today- packed to the brim with news from the Self Management Community!

We have an exciting and exclusive offer for SMT readers to be the first to test a new website- Know Your Own Health- an online tool to help manage your condition, capture information, track progress and share information with others. Have a look and let us know what you think!

Also in this issue- The Department of Health need your help to understand what is going on locally with PCT changes and how this may affect the DH licence, you can also read about a new evidence based analysis tool to help make the local business case for self care education which has been developed by the DH and EPPCIC and read more about the Lead Trainer Supervisions and manual which has been launched.

We hope you enjoy this edition- let us know what you think by emailing admin@selfmanagement.co.uk

Know Your Own Health - simple online self-management

We're offering our Self Management Today readers exclusive access to Know your Own Health (BETA), our online tools that aim to improve your everyday life, making it easier for you to build your knowledge about you and your condition, organise your information, manage it and share it. It also enables you to track your progress, capture vital information and keep a record of how you are doing.

We're only launching it to our network at the moment; we'd like you to engage with us (and our development partners at Worth Digital) and tell us what you think so we can improve it before we launch it to the wider world. Our intention is to make Know Your Own Health for you, not us, so tell us what you do like, what you don't, and what you would like to see added to the product. Also, look out for condition-specific modules of Know Your Own Health in the near future starting with a Diabetes (BETA) version that will be available in the summer.

Please click on the link below to create a user account for yourself.

http://www.knowyourownhealth.com  

THE DH NEEDS YOUR HELP!- DELIVERY OF EPP COURSES BY NHS ORGANISATIONS

Message from Angela Hawley -Self Care Lead - Long Term Conditions Team at the Department of Health-

You will be aware that NHS organisations are able to deliver the Expert Patient Programme (and its derivatives) under the terms of a licence between DH and Stanford University.
I am trying to understand what has happened to PCT EPP tutors/services now that PCTs no longer provide community services. If they have transferred to FTs then EPP can still be delivered under the DH licence, however if they have transferred out into a CIC or not for profit organisation or a vol org, then they may not. The Licence is very specific and we dont want a situation where people unknowingly breach the licence arrangements, or indeed apply for their own licences when they are not necessary. I am starting discussions with Standord so we can work together to reach the best solution for NHS patients. I would therefore be very grateful if you could let me know what happened to the provider sides of your PCTs so I can judge the scale of any potential issue. Thank you.
If you have comments please contact Angela by emailing longtermconditions@dh.gsi.gov.uk

Making the case for self care education

A NEW evidence based analysis tool to help make the local business case for self care education from the Department of Health and Expert Patients Programme CIC.

At the heart of the Department of Health approach to managing long-term conditions is the concept of personalisation. While self care education won't be appropriate to all people with a long-term condition, it plays an important role in avoiding the need for people to use healthcare services, improving people's quality of life and engagement in society. Survey evidence suggests not all people who would want to do self care education courses are given the opportunity to do so.

The Department of Health, in collaboration with Expert Patient Programme CIC, have developed an innovative new analysis tool to help make the local business case for self care education. The tool aims to stimulate demand for self care education courses, both generic and disease specific, by providing commissioners - users can choose GP commissioner pathfinders, PCTs or GP practices - with an evidence based business case, tailored for their area – with information about costs and cost savings based on local circumstances. The tool, which is essentially a sophisticated Excel spreadsheet, contains default costs and benefits of self care courses based on published research. It allows data based on local knowledge and circumstances to be entered to check where the break even point is and how the cost/benefit of these interventions stack up against others. It can also calculate the most cost effective way of providing self care education based on local population characteristics and total budget available.
 

The analysis tool and a detailed user guide are available to download free from the Resource Library on www.selfmanagement.co.uk/resource-library 
 

DH UPDATE

Self Care Week 2010 Activity review now available

The review has captured some fantastic local and national activity which took place during Self Care Week to promote the campaign including pictures from some of the activities held during the week. Please visit http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Healthcare/Longtermconditions/DH_123950  to access the self care week activity review .

Did you know that during Self Care Week there were

7,500 Information Sheets for Healthcare Professionals downloaded
4,000 visits to the DH LTC Website
1,500 downloads of the Self Care Promotional materials
130,500 DH publications were ordered; and there was
a threefold increase in the number of people visiting the self care web
pages on NHS Choices

New health and care reform channel launched A new channel has been created on the DH website to provide healthcare professionals, stakeholders, the public and the media with all the latest news on health and care reform. www.dh.gov.uk/healthandcare captures all of DH’s external-facing news, information and resources on the new direction for health and care. It puts the changes in context and highlights the latest developments for NHS providers, GP commissioning, public health and local government.

It will also provide healthcare professionals with the opportunity to join in conversations on blogs, listen to what other professionals have to say and take part in discussions with them.

Health & Social Care

The Health and Social Care Bill was introduced to Parliament on 19 January.
It plays a crucial part in the Government’s vision of modernising the NHS to provide a service built around patients, led by health professionals and focused on delivering quality healthcare outcomes.

The Bill covers five themes:
strengthening commissioning of NHS services
increasing democratic accountability and the public voice
liberating provision of NHS services
strengthening public health services
reforming health and care arm’s length bodies

Further information can be found on the new Health and care reform channel

Mental Health Strategy

On 2 February Paul Burstow, Minister for Care Services launched the No Health without Mental Health: a cross-Government mental health outcomes strategy.The strategy represents a major step forward in mainstreaming mental health and supporting the Government's important aim of achieving parity of esteem between physical and mental health.

It has been produced in collaboration with many of the Department's partner organisations, which reflects the belief that mental health is everyone's business. It will enable more decisions about people's mental health to be taken locally, and stresses the interconnections between mental health, housing, employment, and the criminal justice system.

The strategy and supporting documents including an action plan for expanding talking therapies are available on the DH website via the link below Mental Health Strategy and supporting documents 

www.healthtalkonline.org would like to talk to you!

Health charity website, www.healthtalkonline.org are supported by the Department of Health and based at the University of Oxford and would like to interview people about the subjects below. The aim is to help others in a similar situation by sharing information.

• Experiences of conditions which threaten women’s lives in pregnancy and childbirth
• Experiences of family, friends and relatives of people with serious life-limiting illness
• Patients’ Experiences of treatment for Penile Cancer
• Children, young people and parents’ experiences of clinical trials
• Experiences of living with Asthma
• Family members and friends who care for people with MS
• Experiences of giving up smoking
• Long term users of urinary catheters

If you are interested, please call Francie on 01865 289 328 or email Francie.smee@phc.ox.ac.uk and she will send you a patient information pack explaining all about the research project with no obligation to take part. 

Lead Trainer Supervisions 2011

We are now completed the cycle of Lead/ Master Trainer supervision days which incorporate the update training for the new guide. The Guide is the manual used by Lead/Master Trainers to run tutor training events and was rewritten by representatives of the T Trainer Group working with Prof Kate Lorig from the Stanford University Patient Education Programme.

For most Lead/Master Trainers this is their first look at the new manual and so far the reactions have been overwhelmingly positive. As part of the training the Lead/Master Trainers presented the new sessions to their peers so they not only had a flavour of what it was like to deliver the training but also what it felt like to be on the receiving end! New activities include personalising the Symptom Cycle, a completely new Working with Groups activity (replacing the fishbowl exercise), a session on ‘bringing the manual to life’ and a new look at both the Resource Table and the Social Model of Disability. They also got to practice doing Round Robin sessions for Action Planning and Feedback.

The general feeling was that the new manual won on two fronts as it not only gives Lead/Master Trainers more guidance and opportunity to hone the skills of prospective leaders but it also gives them the opportunity to think on their feet – the motto of the new manual being ‘ask and discuss’ rather than ‘ask and be told’! One of the Master Trainers said ‘I really like the new trainers guide and think it’s a great improvement. There is a lot more involvement for the trainees which makes it more lively. The introduction of the Question Mark (ask and discuss) helps both the trainer and trainee to explore all aspects of course delivery. Feedback forms give more guidance and all in all I am really looking forward to delivering this as a Lead Trainer’

The guide was tried out a few times whilst still in the draft stage and is now available for general use (the old guide will be withdrawn on 31 March). I delivered a tutor training with the new guide in Birmingham at the end of January and felt that tutors received a more rounded and participative training and feedback from the participants was very positive.
 

This is the first major bit of work put together by the UK T Trainer Group and we will continue to look at ways to keep training up to the minute, appropriate, alive and vital.

Newsfeed

The Guardian

'We have to see patients as people, not collections of diseases' -   http://www.selfmanagement.co.uk/news/we-have-see-patients-people-not-collections-diseases
GPs oppose health reforms in survey as Lancet foresees 'end of the NHS - http://www.selfmanagement.co.uk/news/gps-oppose-health-reforms-survey-lancet-foresees-end-nhs 
 NHS reform could see GP surgeries on stock market  - http://www.selfmanagement.co.uk/news/nhs-reform-could-see-gp-surgeries-stock-market

100,000 NHS patients given wrong diabetes diagnosis, says report - http://www.selfmanagement.co.uk/news/100000-nhs-patients-given-wrong-diabetes-diagnosis-says-report
 

Budgets more worrying than NHS reform, say bosses- http://www.selfmanagement.co.uk/news/budgets-more-worrying-nhs-reform-say-bosses
 

 Health Exchange leads the way on Health and Wellbeing - http://www.selfmanagement.co.uk/news/health-exchange-leads-way-health-and-wellbeing
 

BBC

NHS shake-up 'risks diluting patient power'  http://www.selfmanagement.co.uk/news/nhs-shake-risks-diluting-patient-power
Why the NHS must face up to the new world - http://www.selfmanagement.co.uk/news/why-nhs-must-face-new-world 
Doctors 'want halt to NHS plans but reject opposition' - http://www.selfmanagement.co.uk/news/doctors-want-halt-nhs-plans-reject-opposition

 NHS Networks

Making the local for self care education