The NHS in Devon has reduced the number of patients waiting a long time for spinal surgery by nearly 80% between May 2023 and January 2024 by revolutionising the approach to caring for patients.
The number of patients in Devon waiting 78 weeks or more for spinal surgical treatment was 31 at the end of January 2024. This is 79% lower than May 2023 when that number stood at 131.
NHS organisations in Devon have worked with the NHS England Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) team lead by Professor Tim Briggs, NHS England South West regional colleagues and the Peninsula...
George Vosper lives with pulmonary fibrosis – a little known but devastating lung disease which progressively scars the lungs making breathing increasingly difficult. It is deadly and there is no cure. 15 people die every day in the UK from pulmonary fibrosis. George describes it like living high on a mountain where the air is thin and the oxygen level low. Since his diagnosis in 2019, he has got used to experiencing breathlessness, coughing fits, tiredness, and a lack of concentration, as the low oxygen levels have affected his muscles, organs, and brain – yet he’ll soon be taking part...
“Please don’t visit friends and family in our hospitals if you have Covid or other illnesses” – that’s the message from Devon’s NHS, as the number of people in hospital with Covid-19 remains high.
Many of the restrictions brought in to reduce the spread of Covid-19 in the community have come to an end, but people are still required to wear a mask in health settings and are being asked to wash and sanitise their hands.
And anyone with symptoms of Covid-19 or other illnesses that can spread easily, such as flu or norovirus, is urged not to visit patients in hospital....
People in Devon are being reassured there are extensive measures in place to keep them safe when attending hospital, as doctors urge patients to make sure they take up appointments.
Many services were suspended to free up beds and staff for COVID-19 patients, but as the number of cases falls across Devon and nationwide, hospitals in the county are increasing the number of urgent and routine appointments for non-COVID illnesses.
These include tests and scans which help diagnose illnesses, allowing patients to begin potentially life-saving treatment.
Patients who are worried they are being ‘burden’ on the NHS are being reassured that safe, local health services are there for them.
There has been a significant decline in people seeking urgent and emergency treatment across the country since the beginning of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Doctors in Devon have noted a decrease in attendances across both GP practices and hospitals, and they are concerned that delays in getting treatment due to coronavirus fears pose a long term risk to people’s health.
Clinicians have been reaching out to people since...
Research is being placed at the heart of GP training in the South West giving four recently qualified GPs and one GP who is still in training the opportunity to offer the Covid-19 research to their patients.
The PRINCIPLE Trial is a nationwide study into Covid-19 which is being delivered in the community. The study aims to enable researchers to rapidly evaluate different treatments of Covid-19 symptoms in older people and hopefully improve outcomes.
Of the 36 number of GP practices that are offering this study to patients, five are being led by GPs who are newly...
Patients from across the South West Peninsula (Cornwall, Devon and Somerset) are being enrolled into the firstclinical trial of potential COVID-19 treatments to take place in GP practices.
The nationally coordinated PRINCIPLE (Platform Randomised trial of INterventions against COVID-19 in older pePLE) trial, led by the University of Oxford, has seen the first participants recruited regionally and many more sites are opening to deliver the trial. There are currently thirteen General Practices in the region with the site open for recruitment and a further 61 that have expressed an...
People lead busy lives and need to access services at times that are convenient for them. This December, the NHS is reminding people through a short film that there are plenty of innovative new ways to access their GP this winter.
Many GP practices across Devon offer their patients the choice of online consultations, saving time waiting and travelling. The online consultation service, eConsult, was introduced in Devon GP practices last year and growth in the use of the technology has been more than 500% in the last 12 months.
More than 600,000 patients in Devon are now able...
RD&E helipad will be upgraded to enable more patient landings
Work to upgrade the current helipad at the Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust will begin this month, thanks to a £1 million donation from the County Air Ambulance HELP Appeal.
The donation has covered the cost of the redevelopment and will allow the introduction of night landings at the hospital. At the moment, the helipad does not have the capacity to support night landings, meaning that its day light operation is limited, especially throughout the winter months. The upgraded helipad will also be...
The Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust (RD&E) and Devon Partnership NHS Trust (DPT) have won a national bid to set up a new academy in Devon to improve care for patients.
The Devon Flow Coaching Academy aims to better manage a patient’s journey or ‘flow’ through the healthcare system by streamlining and redesigning processes in a way that benefits them, their carers and staff. It is expected to begin its work in February 2018.
A patient’s experience of pathways of care, sometimes through different organisations, can be complex and involve multiple...
