Phone Numbers for Patients
 We are increasingly contacting patients to remind them about their appointments in order to reduce the number of non-attendances. Our DNA rate is up to 16% in some specialties, such as endoscopy, and we'd appreciate your support in addressing this.
We'd be grateful if you could please ensure that patients' current phone numbers are included on the referral letter/form. It is often more effective and confidential to contact patients on their mobile phones, so please also include any mobile phone numbers where available.
This will help to reduce our DNA rate and therefore reduce the number of patients that are discharged back to you for re-referral. It is also helps us to arrange urgent appointments with patients.
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New Perineal Clinic for Episiotomies and Tears
We have a new clinic in uro-gynaecology called the perineal clinic. The aim of the clinic is to see women who have had problems with tears and episiotomies following childbirth and who may have pain, difficulty with intercourse, scarring and urinary and faecal incontinence. It will be staffed by Miss Claudine Domoney-consultant gynaecologist and Charlotte Barton-senior physiotherapist. Referrals are accepted from GPs, as well as midwives and obstetricians. Please direct your referrals to the appointments office (gp.referrals@chelwest.nhs.uk or 020 8746 8814) specifying 'perineal clinic' and please include the delivery date on the referral letter.
Best regards
Mike Stafford-Consultant Urogynaecologist
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Swine Flu Update
 Chelsea and Westminster Hospital is urging patients with flu-like symptoms to follow official NHS advice and stay at home, rather than visiting their GP or going to hospital. There are multiple signs in and around the hospital, including A&E, advising patients of this. For those patients that do present at A&E, we are following clinical protocols to triage them and a specific area of the hospital has been segregated for this purpose. Patients are being asked only to attend A&E if they are seriously ill.
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Infertility Referrals to Appointments Office
We would like to ask that all referrals for infertility services are sent directly to the Appointments Office, rather than to the Assisted Conception Unit. This will ensure that the referrals are documented and promptly routed to the correct department, which will help to ensure the speed and reliability of this service.
Patients who have been unable to conceive for a period of time will first be seen in the Infertility Clinic within Gynaecology, and will then be referred to the ACU if necessary.
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Integrated Electronic Referral Forms
 NHS Kensington and Chelsea has assisted us in producing electronic versions of our referral forms. The forms are integrated with your EMIS/Vision system so that the patient's demographic details are automatically populated. Available forms include radiology, chest pain and endoscopy. If you are within K&C, the PCT will visit your practice to install the forms on your system. For practices outside of K&C, you can access the forms via the 'Useful Documents' list on the left column of this newsletter.
We hope you find them useful and we're grateful to NHS Kensington and Chelsea for initiating this project.
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Gynaecology Rapid Access Service for Post Menopausal Bleeding
As post menopausal bleeding can be a symptom of endometrial cancer, women experiencing this symptom need to be assessed promptly. Our Gynaecology Rapid Access Service has been developed to offer these women efficient and effective investigations under specialist care, and they will be seen within 2 weeks of referral. The women can have a trans-vaginal ultrasound scan on their first appointment and the decision can be made on need for hysteroscopy on the same day.
To refer to the Gynaecology Rapid Access Service, simply fill in the NUCA (New Urgent Cancer Appointment) form and send it to the appointment office immediately. There is no need to request ultrasound as this will be done on the day of first appointment. A recent audit has showed that diagnosis delay occurs if ultrasound is done in primary care prior to referral or if the referral is not on a NUCA form.
Read More»
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Monitoring Patient Feedback in Realtime
 The Trust recently began using electronic Patient Experience Trackers (PET) to obtain instant feedback on our inpatient services. The devices are handheld units which ask patients five questions in order to capture their experience of the care they received in a simple, accessible manner. We will use the feedback to identify areas for improvement within the hospital and to monitor our progress in addressing these areas. We will be providing regular updates on the feedback received within the GP Bulletin.
Read More»
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Upgrade of Facilities in Assisted Conception Unit
 We are currently upgrading the facilities in our assisted conception unit. The upgrade will take approximately three months to complete, and during this time no new treatment cycles will be started. However, outpatient appointments will operate as usual and therefore patients will continue to be referred to the ACU from our infertility clinic as necessary.
We expect the Unit to be fully open again by the end of October.
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Cardiology Study Session
 We would like to invite you to a cardiology Study Session which we’re holding on the afternoon of Wednesday 29th July. The full agenda can be found here. The BLS session is now full so spaces are only available on the cardiology session from 2.15pm.
If you would like to attend please email alex.prior@chelwest.nhs.uk or call 0208 237 2275. There is no attendance fee.
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Other News in Brief
• In the latest annual survey of hospital inpatients 94% of patients rated the overall care they received at Chelsea and Westminster as ‘Excellent’, ‘Very good’ or ‘Good’—an increase of 4% from 2007 and 12% from 2006.
• The latest National Sentinel Stroke Audit has ranked stroke services at Chelsea and Westminster as the third best in the country—congratulations to all staff who help provide such excellent care to stroke patients.
• The postgraduate centre is holding a study day in 'Bariatric Emergencies'. The full programme and details of how to register can be found here.
• Lord Darzi officially opened 56 Dean Street on Tuesday 12 May. Located in the heart of Soho, 56 Dean Street offers a wide range of free and confidential sexual health and HIV services for men and women of all ages in a modern, contemporary environment. Further details on the centre can be found at www.chelwest.nhs.uk/56deanstreet/
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