With the NHS turning 75 today, I want to take this moment to thank all our staff, volunteers and partners for their tireless commitment to improving the health, wellbeing and care outcomes of the people of north east London.
We’re also celebrating a birthday at NHS North East London – it’s one year since our integrated care board was formed, so I want to reflect on some of our recent achievements.
• Mile End Early Diagnosis Centre: opened in March 2021 with input from local people into the building’s design and patient pathway, it provides an extra 16,500 cancer procedures annually and has received 100% positive feedback from service users https://bit.ly/3Ni3oUJ
• Reducing waiting times: a virtual outpatients service to help GPs manage gastroenterology referrals and ease pressure on Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust reduced outpatient demand by almost 80% and won an HSJ Partnership Award https://bit.ly/3JAJgMi
• Improving dementia care: partners in City and Hackney won an HSJ Award for their integrated dementia care model that delivers personalised care from diagnosis to end of life and improves quality of life for patients and families https://bit.ly/431bqab
• Polio vaccination campaign: from August to November 2022 we vaccinated over 82,300 children – the highest number in London. A new catch up campaign is underway https://bit.ly/3Xm1WFy
• Earlier this year we published our interim Integrated Care Strategy. You can read it here http://bit.ly/43QI6oa, but I want to feature a few key areas.
• Together we’ve committed to prioritise employment opportunities, training and work experience for local people; increase social value in procurement practices; maximise the value of our buildings and land; and support a greener and healthier future (https://bit.ly/3qYPAqs).
• Central to achieving these ambitions is our Green Plan (https://bit.ly/3qU3g6a), which sets out how we will support the NHS’s net zero ambition, including four core carbon reduction targets. Climate change threatens the foundations of good health, with direct and immediate consequences for patients, the public and the NHS. It’s our responsibility to respond effectively and urgently to this emergency.
These are just a few of our highlights, for more visit: https://lnkd.in/e_k8ygWw
As these examples show, partnership working is at the core of what we do. In the years ahead we will continue to work closely with our integrated care system partners, the community and voluntary sector, and local people and communities to focus on population health outcomes, tackling health inequalities and addressing the wider determinants of health.
Our plans are ambitious, but as the last 75 years have shown the NHS is at its best when it’s innovative, utilises the passion and expertise of its staff and is responsive to the needs of the people we serve.
Zina Etheridge, CEO of NHS North East London
