chelsea and westminster gp bulletin - april 2015
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GP news and updates from Chelsea and Westminster HospitalTRANSCRIPT
April 2015
As the nation waits for news of the arrival of the
Royal baby, this month we have also been
celebrating birth here at Chelsea and Westminster:
Helen George (who plays Trixie in BBC’s Call the
Midwife) formally opened our Birth Centre on its
one-year anniversary. See opposite for more details
of the opening.
In this Maternity special edition, find out more
about our Assisted Conception success rates, read
our recommended Assisted Conception best
treatment guide and find out from Miss Gubby
Ayida, Divisional Medical Director for Women’s and
Children services about how we can jointly support
post caesarean section women in their recovery.
Plus hear how we’ve improved our Newborn and
Infant Physical Examinations process.
Also in this edition:
New PSA clinic
Acute Oncology Clinic joins the GP
advice line
Colorectal advice now available
New Early Arthritis Service
Research Update
Paediatric GP Education Session
If you have any comments, questions or requests
for articles in this newsletter, we’d love to hear
from you.
Justine Currie | GP Relationship Manager
T: 020 3315 6603
E: [email protected] (secure)
‘Trixie’ opens Birth Centre
On the 8 April, the Trust celebrated the one year
anniversary of the Birth Centre with an official
opening by Helen George, the actor who plays
Trixie in BBC’s Call the Midwife.
The Birth Centre which has handled more than 950
deliveries since it opened has proved very popular
with mothers and midwives.
The Birth Centre has seven rooms with adjustable
lighting and music players to help promote a
relaxing birth environment. Four of the rooms have
pools and aromatherapy is also available to women
to enhance their birthing experience.
Head of Midwifery Vivien Bell remarked:
‘We’re delighted to welcome Helen and to have the
opportunity to show her our centre. Call the
Midwife has done so much to promote midwives
and the sterling work they have done for women
and babies in local communities for decades. It is
an honour to show her how we continue that
tradition of supporting mothers in today’s NHS.’
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Newborn and Infant Physical Examination (NIPE) Update
You may have seen new NIPE printouts appearing in new mums’ red books replacing the previous hand written notes. Since mid-March, the maternity and neonatal department adopted the Public Health England Newborn Infant Physical Examination SMART system, meaning all the first day newborn checks are now entered onto a country-wide database. This new process helps to ensure that no baby misses their vital newborn check, and for all babies who need follow up appointments/care following discovery of a problem it will be easier to track that appointments have been made, attended and that appropriate treatment is given. The newborn examination will be printed out and this will be able to be secured into the Red Books. Liz Stewart Examination of the Newborn Lead Midwife [email protected]
CW Private Care Journal
The preceding maternity articles are excerpts from
our new quarterly publication. To read the edition
in full: http://issuu.com/chelwest/docs/cwjournal_1
One stop PSA clinic
launches in May
From 1 May 2015, we are making an important
change to our one stop suspected prostate cancer
Clinic at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.
Currently, suspected prostate cancer patients can
be referred to our regular one-stop Prostate
Specific Antigen (PSA) clinics as part of 2WW
cancer referral arrangements. This system will
continue, however this clinic run by Mr Bijan
Khoubehi and team will now offer same day MRI
and patient consultation. Dedicated MRI slots
have been already been earmarked for PSA
patients to ensure we can minimise any potential
delay or anxiety for patients.
If indicated, all patients seen in the one stop PSA
clinic will be offered trans-perineal biopsies
rather than trans-rectal biopsies. The trans-perineal
biopsies have been proven to be better for patients
with a reduced risk of infection and increased
accuracy and we are proud to be offering this as
the standard biopsy procedure to these patients.
Once patients have seen the consultant and had
their MRI, they will be contacted within 48 hours.
Other local hospitals do not currently offer this
service to their PSA patients. However, for this new
clinic to be effective (as we reserve MRI slots in
advance), we would appreciate the support for this
new and visionary clinic by our local general
practitioners.
If you would like to refer patients to this clinic, you
can refer them via Choose and Book clinic code
(5331398 – 2WW Urology Prostate) or by
emailing referrals to
Further information about the PSA clinic and
supporting information for patients can be found
on our website
www.chelwest.nhs.uk/services/surgery/urology
Mr Bijan Khoubehi
Consultant Uro-oncologist
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Acute Diagnostic Oncology
Clinic (ADOC) joins the GP
Advice Hotline
A new oncology-led clinic for patients with urgent
suspected cancer who are too unwell to wait for a
‘two week referral’ has been commissioned by
Cancer Research UK and NHS England and will be
launching in May 2015. It is aimed at providing an
alternative to referring the patient to A&E.
The Clinic is led by Consultant Medical Oncologist,
Dr Tom Newsom-Davis and Clinical Nurse
Specialist, Rachel Sharkey in Acute Oncology (seen
above).
This new clinic is not designed to compete with or
replace the established two week wait pathways.
The purpose of the clinic is to provide a better
patient and GP experience with faster access to
relevant diagnostic tests to diagnose or exclude
cancer in a cost effective manner.
How to refer patients to the ADOC clinic?
GPs will be asked to contact the ADOC team by
telephone (OPTION 6, Tel: 0203 315 5000) to
discuss your patient before an appointment will be
agreed.
If you are unsure, the clinic team is happy to
discuss your case and provide advice. The aim is
to see patients (who meet the clinic criteria), at an
appointed time, within 24 hours of referral, Monday
to Friday.
Patients eligible for referral to ADOC include:
Clinical or radiological evidence to suspect
cancer
Those too ill to wait for the two week
referral clinic
Those well enough to attend an outpatient
clinic
Patients 18 or over
Those aware that they may have cancer
Project Lead - Dr Tom Newsom-Davis
Consultant Medical Oncologist
Colorectal GP advice now
available via the web
Mr Oliver Warren, Mr Emilie Tan and Ms Sarah Mills
our new Colorectal Consultant Team are excited to
join the GP web advice service. Any colorectal and
endoscopy queries can now be sent to the team by
selecting the Surgical – Colorectal option on the
GP web advice platform:
https://nww.gpadvice.chelwest.nhs.uk
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New research trials
available to patients
Chelsea and Westminster Hospital are a research
active trust, undertaking a range of observational
and interventional studies in various clinical areas.
Below are two of our current studies that are open
to recruitment. Should you have any questions or if
you are seeing women who you feel may be
eligible to take part, please contact the research
midwife [email protected]
PRISM -‘Progesterone in Spontaneous Miscarriage’
The aim of the PRISM trial is to evaluate the
effectiveness of progesterone treatment to prevent
miscarriage in women with early pregnancy
bleeding.
PRISM is a randomised, double-blind, placebo-
controlled multicentre study, with health economic
evaluation, conducted over three years with 12
months of recruitment. Eligible women will be
recruited from early pregnancy units and
gynaecology departments in NHS hospitals.
PRISM aims to randomise over 4150 women in
total (2075 participants each in the progesterone
and placebo arms).
VMET 2 – ‘Vaginal Microbiome and Metabonome in
Pregnancy’
The aim of the VMET 2 study is to understand the
means by which normal vaginal bacteria help
prevent disease in pregnant women and maintain
health.
VMET 2 will aim to identify the vaginal microbiome
(range of bacteria present) and metabonome
(chemical interaction between micro-organisms and
host) in healthy pregnancy, TPTL (threatened pre-
term labour) and PPROM (preterm premature
rupture of membranes). It will do this by collecting
vaginal, rectal and oral swabs as well as urine,
stool and placental samples.
VMET 2 aims to recruit 800 women in total and
these women will be recruited from maternity
inpatient and outpatient settings.
Early Arthritis Service
There have been major developments in management of inflammatory arthritis over the past decade with better diagnostic tests, improved tools for disease monitoring, an increased understanding of optimal use of classical disease modifying drugs and development of many different biologic disease modifying drugs. Evidence shows that long term outcome from rheumatoid arthritis is now strongly influenced by time from symptom onset to diagnosis and treatment of the disease. Where patients report symptoms to their GPs early, are referred promptly, and diagnosed and treated appropriately, many have excellent long term results with good symptom control and minimal, if any, joint damage. The ‘Early Arthritis Service’ is a new initiative that will provide rapid access to Consultant Rheumatology opinion for patients with a possible new diagnosis of inflammatory arthritis. The service aims to provide for patients with early rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, reactive arthritis or undifferentiated inflammatory arthritis. It is often not possible to make a definite diagnosis early in disease and so we expect also to see some patients who go on to develop osteoarthritis or who have transient non-specific arthralgias in these clinics. Please refer patients with recent onset of joint pain and stiffness, particularly where there is evidence of joint swelling. Appointments (NUEA) are available with Dr Callan or Dr Brand via direct booking, choose and book or following receipt of a referral letter or fax. We aim to see all patients within 2 weeks of referral, in line with best practice guidance. If an appointment is not available within this timeframe please email us at [email protected] or [email protected] (secretary) so that we can arrange to see your patient promptly. If possible/appropriate please send blood tests for CRP, ESR, RF, anti-CCP antibody and ANA as well as FBC, U&E, LFT in advance of the clinic visit and it is very helpful if patients are able to bring results to the clinic with them. Margaret Callan Consultant Rheumatologist
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GP Training and Events
Trust Open Day: Chelsea and
Westminster opens its doors
Chelsea and Westminster Hospital’s annual Open
Day will be on Saturday 9 May between 11am and
3pm at the main hospital site, 369 Fulham
Road.The theme of this year’s event is “Safe”!
The event will feature all the popular stands, health
MOTs and behind-the-scenes tours from previous
years.
New for 2015 are stands which spell out the
histories of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital and
West Middlesex University Hospital. Age UK will
also be joining us for the day and leading some
gentle exercise classes.
You will be able to look around the state-of-the-art
Chelsea Children’s Hospital, which was opened by
HRH Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall
last year.
www.chelwest.nhs.uk/openday
Paediatric Surgery ‘Interactive
Session’ – 10 June 2015
An Interactive Paediatrics Education Session hosted
by Professor Amulya Saxena, Paediatric Surgical
Lead for Europe is taking place on Wednesday 10
June 2015, 6-9pm.
The Programme will cover the following topics:
Hernias - Amulya Saxena
Undescended testis - Marie-Klaire
Farrugia
Wetting - Nishat Rahman
Urinary Tract Infection - Diane De Caluwe
Abdominal pain - William Sherwood
Constipation - Munther Haddad
Vomiting - Muhammad Choudhry
Case studies - Simon Clarke
To reserve a place, please email [email protected]
Did you miss the March 2015 GP News edition?
If so, you can access it online here:
http://bit.ly/MarchGPnews
GP Clinical Advice Line