News

Read more

Read more  

Read More 

Find out about the region's specialised health services in NHS organisation's annual report

Members of the public in the East Midlands can now read about the work of the NHS organisation with responsibility for planning, buying and managing all specialised health services for a population of 4.4m across the region.

The East Midlands Specialised Commissioning Group (EMSCG), which commissions specialised health services from NHS and independent hospitals, usually for patients with rare conditions, on behalf all nine East Midlands primary care trusts (PCTs) - has published its third annual report and financial summary.

The report covers the period April 2009 to March 2010 and explains about the role of EMSCG and how it spent its annual £600m budget. It also contains news about its activities and achievements over the last financial year, along with plans for the future.

Some of the specialised services for which EMSCG is responsible include children's cancer, paediatric intensive care, neonatal, renal, and specialised heart services. These services affect small numbers of people and tend to be expensive because of the complex nature of the treatments involved.

Kate Caston, director of the EMSCG said: "We have been nationally recognised for some of our work, and through the efforts of our board which is made up of representatives from each of the region's East Midlands primary care trusts, we have developed new and improved services which provide care for some of the most vulnerable people across the East Midlands."

The EMSCG annual report is now available to download from www.emscg.nhs.uk
For a printed copy or to request the report in a different format please contact EMSCG's corporate support team on tel: 0116 295 0849 or by email: info@emscg.nhs.uk

If your child has a heart condition, you work in children's cardiac care or you have an interest in this subject, we'd like you to come to an event and have your say on the future development of the national service.  Join us at our regional event at the Tigers Stadium in Leicester on 9 June 2010 from 5.00 - 8.00 p.m.

 read more

Two patients, from Derby and Leicester, are the first in the East Midlands to receive new kidneys from their partners, thanks to recent improvements in transplant technology.

Prasanta Chakraborti from Derby and Carolyn Mayston from Leicester have been given a new lease of life after being the first in the East Midlands to undergo an innovative new procedure which means some patients needing a kidney transplant can now receive a kidney from a live donor even if the blood groups don't match. Although kidney transplants aren't suitable for everyone with kidney disease, for those who are, until recently if there was no live donor with the same blood group a patient had to remain on a waiting list until a suitable match was found. But now the technique has given hope to patients with end stage renal failure that more donors will come forward.

The East Midlands Specialised Commissioning Group (EMSCG), the organisation with responsibility for planning, buying and managing all specialised health services including specialised renal services on behalf all nine East Midlands primary care trusts (PCTs), has invested £297k in a new ABO incompatible renal transplant service for the next 12 months, so up to ten patients per year from across the region can now receive new kidneys in this way, alleviating the need for the patient to receive dialysis several times each week.

The operations are carried out at transplant centres at Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust's City Hospital campus and University Hospitals of Leicester's (UHL's) General Hospital site. Leicestershire, Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire patients are treated at UHL and Southern Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire patients are treated at NUH.

70 year old retired GP Prasanta Chakrabroti was the first in the region to undergo the revolutionary technique. He was given a kidney by his wife Alaka on 20 January at NUH's City Hospital campus. He said: "I spent two weeks in hospital and two weeks in the patients' hotel and attended the transplant clinic after my transplant. I've received the best possible care by everyone in the transplant team at NUH City Hospital campus - my pre and post operative care has been brilliant and I can't praise the transplant team enough. Needless to say I have the most fantastic and selfless wife. I want to thank her from the bottom of my heart for giving me this most precious gift an a new life with qualities.

"The transplant has changed my life. After retiring five years ago we haven't been able to enjoy holidays more than a few days long as I was tied to four to five hour dialysis sessions at Derby Hospitals three times per week - week in week out. Just over two months have gone since we had our operations and we are almost back to our normal life. Now my wife and I are planning on going on lots of long holidays to make up for lost time. We can really start enjoying our retirement!

Mrs Chakrabroti had to undergo a number of tests to prove she was medically fit to donate one of her kidneys to her husband. This new technique involves the recipient being given anti rejection therapy in the month prior to the operation to suppress their immune system. A machine not unlike a dialysis machine washes the patient's blood for three hour treatment cycles to help filter out the incompatible antibodies, meaning once the patient receives a transplanted kidney they are less likely to reject it. Once the donated organ has been transplanted into the recipient, rejection is treatable with extra medication.

Dr Gavin McHaffie, consultant nephrologist at Nottingham Renal and Transplant Unit said: "The use of this transplant technology in the East Midlands is fantastic news for our patients. The Nottingham and Leicester transplant teams collaborated closely to ensure that each patient's pre-operative therapy went smoothly and are delighted that the results have been excellent. We hope to build on our experience and offer this treatment to other suitable donor-recipient pairs in the near future."

Carolyn Mayston who received her kidney from partner Alan Rainbird on 21 January at University Hospitals of Leicester, said: "By mid 2009 my partner and I were facing the cold reality of my total renal failure and by the end of October with no suitable donor available the only option was the unlikely availability of a kidney from a deceased donor. My partner has an incompatible blood type and that appeared to close all doors for us.

"However in late 2009 we were contacted renal staff at Leicester General Hospital and told of the ABO transplant procedure. Now, thanks to Leicester's Hospitals we have a future together and we are so grateful for that.

"Perhaps most importantly, my partner and I really hope that what we have recently experienced will bring new hope to those others experiencing similar blood incompatibility situations to know that for some this new technology can really change lives and that in the hands of all in Leicester General your hopes and aspirations really can be realised."

Professor Michael Nicholson, professor of transplant surgery at UHL, said: "Until recently, kidney transplants had to be performed between patients with compatible blood groups, in the same way that blood transfusions can only be performed between patients that do not react against each other. The need for matching arises because patients with different blood groups have antibodies against red blood cells of patients with incompatible blood groups. These antibodies can also destroy kidney cells. Advances in technology have lead to a number of methods which can successfully remove the offending antibodies and, because of this, it is now sometimes possible to perform kidney transplants between patients with, what would previously be regarded as, incompatible or wrong blood groups."

Kate Caston, director of the EMSCG said: "This new procedure does offer real hope to more people in need of a new kidney than ever before. Thanks to £297k investment from the nine primary care trusts in the East Midlands the East Midlands Specialised Commissioning Group has been able to fund this new renal transplant service, making such a huge difference to the lives of up to ten patients each year from across our region subject to suitable donors coming forward. This funding pays for the extra treatment required on top of the cost of a kidney transplant."  

Two East Midlands members of the public recruited to specialised health board

The Appointment Commission has confirmed that two members of the public have been appointed into newly created lay advisor roles, to sit on the board of the East Midlands Specialised Commissioning Group (EMSCG), the organisation with responsibility for planning, buying and managing all specialised health services on behalf all nine East Midlands primary care trusts (PCTs).

Julia Cons who lives near Southwell in Nottinghamshire and Lee Bartholomew who lives near Ashbourne in Derbyshire took up their positions in January this year and also sit on a sub group of the board - the Clinical Priorities Advisory Group (CPAG). The posts have been created to ensure the public and patient's perspective is heard in EMSCG's decision making process.

Kate Caston, director of the EMSCG welcomed the appointments, saying: "We are delighted to welcome Julia and Lee to the board, and they are already starting to play a key role in influencing our decision making. The public voice within the board and CPAG agenda is vital for us to gauge public opinion on the services we commission and the decisions we make. Our new starters have a broad range of skills and experience that will be extremely valuable to the East Midlands Specialised Commissioning Group and to specialised NHS services in the region."

The EMSCG board meets bi-monthly and is made up of 20 members including representatives from each of the nine PCTs in the region, along with four members of the EMSCG executive team.

THE CPAG also meets bi-monthly and oversees policy and makes recommendations about access to specific treatments relating to specialised services on behalf of EMSCG's board. Members include representatives from each of the region's PCTs including public health consultants and commissioners.
ENDS

For further information or to request an interview please contact EMSCG's communications consultant Jo Travis on ddl: 0116 295 0866,
blackberry: 0792 053 4480 or by email: jo.travis@emscg.nhs.uk

Plans approved to improve care for sick and premature babies born in the East Midlands

The East Midlands Specialised Commissioning Group, the NHS organisation with responsibility for planning, buying and managing all specialised health services across the region, has put plans in place to improve care for approximately 5,500 premature and sick babies in the East Midlands who require specialist neonatal care each year.

It has co-ordinated a review in response to national guidance from the Department of Health, which looked at the organisation and capacity in the region's neonatal units which care for the most vulnerable newborn babies. It involved all hospitals' neonatal units, parents and expert clinical networks.

The review has resulted in improvements to neonatal care, with the hospitals across the region working closer together to ensure all babies needing neonatal care are cared for according to their particular needs in the right unit at the right time, as close to home as possible. The plan has now been approved by NHS East Midlands, all the neonatal units and the nine primary care trusts in the region.

In order to deliver this new system of care that makes the most of the region's specialist facilities and medical expertise, EMSCG has worked in partnership with the clinical experts in the units and neonatal networks to develop clinical thresholds of care for each unit. These determine the age of pre-term babies that the unit can care for and the other aspects of specialist care that the unit can deliver.

In the new improved system which starts in April, the smallest and sickest babies will continue to be treated at lead specialist centres at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust's Queens Medical Centre and University Hospital of Leicester NHS Trust's Leicester Royal Infirmary, with the other neonatal units across the region caring for babies according to their unit thresholds. This will ensure that cot capacity is maximised, with the highest level of care for the babies that need it most. All units have agreed to work together with guidance from the lead centres to deliver the best care possible for mothers and babies in the East Midlands.

To support this, £1.7m has been invested into a new dedicated regional specialist newborn transport service, so babies can be quickly and safely transported to the most appropriate unit within the region. This means staff will no longer be taken away from the units to travel with a sick baby in an ambulance. The service is due to be launched this Spring.

Kate Caston, director of the EMSCG said: "This is the culmination of 18 months of hard work and reflects the close working relationship between the East Midlands Specialised Commissioning Group team, clinical experts, the teams on the units and parents. Neonatal care is complex, expensive and labour intensive. This plan shows how we can sustain and make the most of the specialist facilities and staff we have available at neonatal units across the East Midlands, so hopefully the sickest babies don't have the travel too far from home to receive the best possible treatment.

"We look forward to launching the new regional neonatal transport service in the Spring, thanks to investment from the nine primary care trusts."

Richard deBoer, clinical lead for the Central Newborn Network added: "The unit thresholds and pathways are a significant development to ensuring the delivery of high quality care as close to home as possible. It puts clinical decision making squarely at the centre of care through close collaboration between clinicians across the networks and provides enough flexibility to ensure that babies are only moved when it is absolutely necessary to do so for highly specialised and complex care."

Dr Andy Leslie, nurse consultant for the new neonatal transport service said: "The investment in transport means we will be able to transfer babies between hospitals without taking away nurses and doctors from the neonatal units where they are needed to provide care. The new transport service will help us make sure that we can transport sick babies for specialist care at the time they need it, and get babies who are getting better closer to home as quickly as possible."

For further information or to request an interview please contact EMSCG's communications consultant Jo Travis on ddl: 0116 295 0866,
blackberry: 0792 053 4480 or by email: jo.travis@emscg.nhs.uk

The East Midlands Specialised Commissioning Group (EMSCG), which commissions specialised health services from NHS and independent hospitals, usually for patients with rare conditions, on behalf all nine East Midlands primary care trusts (PCTs) - has published its second annual report and financial summary.

The report covers the period April 2008 to March 2009 and explains about the role of EMSCG and how it spent its annual £500m budget. It also contains news about its activities and achievements over the last financial year, along with plans for the future.

Some of the specialised services for which EMSCG is responsible include children's cancer, paediatric intensive care, neonatal, renal, and specialised heart services. These services affect small numbers of people and tend to be expensive because of the complex nature of the treatments involved.

Kate Caston, director of the EMSCG said: "This report describes the work we have done over the last 12 months and reflects the close working relationship between patients, specialised commissioning group members and clinicians in the East Midlands. Thanks to the significant investment by our nine primary care trusts into specialised services during 2008/09 we have made a number of service improvements, bringing care to as near to people's homes as possible."

The EMSCG annual report is now available to download from www.emscg.nhs.uk
For a printed copy or to request the report in a different format please contact EMSCG's corporate support team on tel: 0116 295 0849 or by email: info@emscg.nhs.uk

For further information, to request an interview or a paper copy of the report please contact EMSCG's communications consultant Jo Travis on ddl: 0116 295 0866, blackberry: 0792 053 4480 or by email: jo.travis@emscg.nhs.uk

A simple scan which identifies which children with sickle cell disease are at a high risk of suffering a stroke is now available on the NHS across the East Midlands. The transcranial Doppler (TCD) ultrasound scan is a painless test which will benefit around 150 children in the region who have this hereditary condition.

Read more 

The East Midlands Specialised Commissioning Group (EMSCG), the organisation which commissions specialised health services, including some cancer services, on behalf all nine East Midlands primary care trusts (PCTs) across the region, is today launching a three month engagement with 13 to 24 year old cancer patients across the region.

Read more