General – Living Well in Communities blog

Welcoming 21 Teams on our Collaborative

Published on 18 September 201918 September 2019 by Living Well In Communities1 Comment

Thomas Monaghan, our Portfolio Lead, announces the successful teams on our Living and Dying Well with Frailty Collaborative

We’ve got the key of the door, never been twenty-one before!

21! What a magical number.

It was my age when I met my wife. It’s the name of my favourite Adele album. It’s the name of my favourite card game.

But 21 has a new meaning for me now as we now have 21 teams that are part of the Living and Dying Well with Frailty Collaborative.

21 teams from 19 Health and Social Care Partnerships (HSCP).

21 teams that include over 70 GP practices, but will grow over the next year to include even more practices.

21 teams from across Scotland working together to improve the outcomes for people with frailty who are living in our communities.

map with space 2 HSCPs with teams in the collaborative:

Aberdeenshire
Angus
Argyll and Bute
Clackmannanshire and Stirling
Dumfries and Galloway
East Dunbartonshire
East Renfrewshire
Glasgow City
Highland
Inverclyde
Midlothian
North Ayrshire*
North Lanarkshire
Perth and Kinross*
Renfrewshire
South Ayrshire
South Lanarkshire
West Dunbartonshire
Western Isles

*indicates when there are two teams from the HSCP.

Living and Dying Well with Frailty Collaborative

Over the next year we will be working with the 21 teams to improve earlier identification, anticipatory care planning and shared decision-making, to ensure that people living with frailty get the support they need, at the right time, at the right place.

We will do this by helping teams to use tools, evidence and quality improvement methods to:

find people who are becoming frail before they reach crisis point using the eFrailty Index,
have anticipatory care planning conversations with people with frailty to understand their wishes for future care, and
work with a range of health, social care, third sector, independent sector and housing providers in local areas to support people with frailty to achieve what they want for their future.

We welcomed the 21 teams to the collaborative in August and our first Learning Session is in September. The Learning Session will be an opportunity for 21 teams to meet each other and share the work they have already done, learn improvement skills and come together as teams to plan their improvement projects.

The 21 teams have outlined excellent and innovative ideas for their local improvement and we can’t wait to work with them as they implement their ideas over the next year.

21 really is a magical number and together, we’ll change outcomes for people with frailty.

If you want to know more please visit our Living and Dying Well with Frailty webpages or follow us on Twitter. You can get in touch by emailing us at hcis.livingwell@nhs.net, calling us on 0131 314 1232 or tweeting us @LWiC_QI.

Meet Gemma Stewart!

Published on 27 April 201830 May 2018 by Living Well In Communities2 Comments

Gemma Stewart b&w I would like to introduce myself as a new project officer for the Living Well in Communities team.

I will initially be assisting with establishing a programme of work LWiC are undertaking to support the health and social care partnerships in the North of Scotland.

This is an exciting new role for me in an established team, where I know I will be given the opportunity to learn lots and hopefully make a difference at the same time.

I have quite a varied work history, but one I think that has given me good experience and learning which I can bring to this role. I initially trained as a Physiotherapist and worked for a few years in NHS England in both acute and outpatient settings. This has given me a great insight into the challenges services and clinicians face on a day-to-day basis to support patients, their families and carers.

Having taken a break to explore the travel bug, I settled in Scotland where I have held office roles in both the private and third sector. For the last two and a half years I have been working in Healthcare Improvement Scotland’s ihub, initially as an administrative officer and then project officer for the Tailored and Responsive Improvement Support team. Here I have been largely responsible for managing the ihub associates framework agreement, and more recently working on the 90-day innovation cycle to explore quality management systems in health and social care in Scotland. I hope to be able to bring the valuable skills I have developed in these roles to my new position.

In the short time that I have been a member of the LWiC team, I have been struck by the enthusiasm and drive of the whole team, who have a multitude of varied skills and experiences behind them. There is a real passion for the work they undertake and an awareness that although there may be challenges ahead, by working together with our partners and communicating clearly these can be overcome.

I am incredibly excited to be a part of this team and to have the opportunity to make a difference and support people to live well for longer at home or in a homely setting.

If you have any questions please do get in touch.

Celebrating great care at the Argyll and Bute Nursing Excellence Awards

Published on 18 May 20178 June 2017 by Living Well In CommunitiesLeave a comment

by Laura Dobie, Knowledge and Information Skills Specialist

On Friday 12^th May I headed to Inveraray for the Argyll and Bute Nursing Excellence Awards. This is the first year of the awards, which celebrate outstanding care by nurses and other healthcare professionals, and were organised to coincide with International Nurses’ Day. Staff were nominated by colleagues, and there was also a patients’ choice award. Nominations were based on caring behaviours, including attentive listening, honesty, patience, sensitivity and respect. Continue reading “Celebrating great care at the Argyll and Bute Nursing Excellence Awards” →

Living Well With Dyslexia

Published on 14 November 20163 February 2017 by Living Well In CommunitiesLeave a comment

This post was written by Lianne McInally, Improvement Advisor, Living Well in Communities. You can follow Lianne on Twitter @LianneMcInally1.

daw Last week was Dyslexia Awareness Week. It also coincided with Occupational Therapy week. As an occupational therapist whose son is dyslexic it seemed fitting to share our journey so far.

Cian was born in October 2005 and I was incredibly proud as a mum when he took his first steps at 10 months and was walking by his first birthday. He talked quickly too and for those of you who know me that should come as no surprise!

He was a very active toddler who didn’t like to stand still for too long. He wasn’t interested in jigsaws or building bricks. He would prefer to drive tractors and play football. He was clever. He knew the various signs as we drove to and from nursery. He was able to tell you the numbers on the buses and where they went. All before starting school.

His transition report from preschool nursery to school was glowing. He had good pencil control, could recognise and write his name. There were no concerns.

In School

Cian started primary school. One day a week I collected his friend from school. Often she would have her homework out and neatly finished before Cian had started. I noticed that despite being one of the youngest in the class she was coping better with the homework than Cian. People kept saying not to worry as often girls start quicker and boys aren’t interested at that stage. I don’t know how many times someone said he’s probably just a lazy boy!

With reading, Cian seemed to memorise the story and often used pictures to guess what was happening. At parent’s night in Primary 1 and 2 we discussed how things didn’t seem to click with writing. Cian was given a handwriting programme and we faithfully completed this as extra homework, even during the summer holidays. Despite this, his progress did not appear to equate with all the extra help.

Cian complained of headaches, sore stomachs and was diagnosed with childhood migraine. He also complained of fuzzy eyes and that the words jumped on the page.

visual_stress — An example of visual stress from the British Dyslexia Association

Continue reading “Living Well With Dyslexia” →