Two local carers have reached the final of the National Care Awards 2008. Care UK staff Heather Joseph and Reginald Nnachetam are each down to the final four in their categories, having been nominated by the Elmstead House Home Manager, Diane Maddaford, and the home’s Administrator, Raden Mauremootoo.

Heather is a finalist for the Care Innovator award, which celebrates “a forward-thinking individual in a care home.” Reginald is a finalist for the Care Newcomer award, which is for “an exceptional new member of staff”.

Elmstead House is a modern, purpose-built nursing home in Hendon, London, providing nursing care for older people with dementia. The homely environment has been carefully designed to offer both comfort and security to residents and their families.

Heather, a Wembley resident has worked at Elmstead House as an administrator since it opened 11 years ago, and in that time has made the Admin Office the hub of the home, developing new ideas and projects for the benefit of both residents and staff. Such ideas include the creation of a cinema room, the installation of a flat screen TV in the reception area to provide information for residents and relatives, and the development of a games room for residents, relatives and staff.

Heather said: “I am overwhelmed to be shortlisted and feel proud that the care I provide to residents has been recognised by the judges. If I do win, it will be one of the proudest moments of my life and it will show other administrators that they can be innovative and creative in their job, and every job in the care home is important, not just those providing personal care.”

Reginald, from Cricklewood, joined Elmstead House over Christmas 2007, and the residents have greatly enjoyed his patience and care over the course of the year. He always goes the extra mile with the residents, whether it is taking them for walks outside, playing games at birthday parties or escorting residents to the local shops.

“I feel overjoyed to have reached the final. It gives me so much job satisfaction and encouragement to do even more. If I do win, it will be a very proud moment not just for me but for Care UK as a company, and I will feel confident about my future in mental health nursing with Care UK.”  

The National Care Awards Gala Night, when the winners will be announced, will take place on Saturday 29th November, at the Hilton London Metropole Hotel and will be hosted by Tony Robinson.

The Peninsula NHS Treatment Centre is commissioned by NHS Plymouth on behalf of people of Devon, Torbay, Plymouth and Cornwall.  The Treatment Centre opened its doors for NHS orthopaedic surgery and treatments in May 2005. Between that date and May 2008 it has achieved in excess of 100% of its target utilisation, making it one of the most productive ISTCs in the UK.

The news comes on top of an excellent patient satisfaction survey which showed 98% of patients rating the overall standard of care at the Peninsula NHS Treatment Centre either excellent or very good, and 99 per cent saying that they would recommend the treatment centre to family and friends.

As well as achieving procedure numbers and patient satisfaction, the treatment centre has low infection rates.  Independently recorded surgical site surveillance data since January 2006 shows the early infection rate for 936 hip replacements was 0.1 per cent (the NHS average was 1.2 per cent) and for 1159 knee replacements was 0.0 per cent (the NHS average was 0.7 per cent). [Source: Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust surveillance reports]

The treatment centre is part of a programme introduced by the Government to reduce waiting times and increase choice for NHS patients. It is run by the independent sector but funded by the NHS and services are free at the point of delivery to NHS patients. The Peninsula NHS Treatment Centre performs a wide range of orthopaedic procedures including hip and knee replacements, knee ligament reconstruction, complex foot surgery, shoulder/knee arthroscopic surgery and hand operations.  About 3000 operations are carried each year in two modern laminar flow (clean air) operating theatres.

Patricia Warwick, general manager at the Peninsula NHS Treatment Centre, commented: “We are delighted to be delivering excellent care, performance and value to communities throughout Devon and Cornwall. My congratulations go to our staff – clinical and non-clinical – who have been able to maintain the highest standards of patient care and hygiene while still meeting (and beating) our performance targets.”

Fiona Phelps, Assistant Director of Commissioning NHS Plymouth said: “This has been a real partnership effort to reduce waiting times and improve choice for local people.  We worked hard with our partner Primary Care Trusts to understand and identify what service our patients would need and the Peninsula NHS Treatment Centre has provided us with an extremely high quality reliable service which our patients have valued. I’m delighted that this has been recognised nationally.”

More information is available by calling the Peninsula NHS Treatment Centre on 01752 506070 or by logging on at www.peninsulatreatmentcentre.nhs.uk.

Healthcare services and social care business, Care UK, has been awarded a contract by the Department of Health to develop and operate the Havant NHS Diagnostic Centre in partnership with Hampshire Primary Care Trust (PCT). The new facility will be based within the existing Havant Health Centre.

Care UK also operates healthcare services at the St. Mary's NHS Treatment Centre in Portsmouth.

The Havant NHS Diagnostic Centre will see its first patients today, 14th January 2008.

The service is contracted to carry out over 11,000 X-ray, 4,600 ultrasound, 1200 echocardiograms and 600 MRI scans a year, together with 180 orthopaedic surgical procedures to be carried out at the St Mary's NHS Treatment Centre.

Ben Bradshaw, Health Minister said, "We welcome these new facilities that will provide easier access for NHS patients to local NHS services, and it demonstrates our ongoing commitment to bringing the independent sector into the NHS family to further reduce waiting times. These services will be of the high quality which all NHS patients expect and will still be free at the point of need".

The Centre is open from 8.00am to 8.00pm Monday to Saturday.  Waiting times for diagnostic examinations will be reduced dramatically (e.g. just 3 to 4 weeks for ultrasound) thanks to this new Centre. Diagnostic reports will be provided to referring clinicians within 48 hours.

These healthcare services are for NHS patients only, and access to investigations are via GP direct access referral. The Havant NHS Diagnostic Centre will see patients from an area encompassing Petersfield, Emsworth, Hayling Island, Fareham and Gosport.

The contract for provision of diagnostic services at the Havant NHS Diagnostic Centre is expected to run until 2010.

Managing the Havant NHS Diagnostics Centre is Simon Harvey. He commented: "We are looking forward to working with Hampshire PCT and health care professionals to offer a wide range of diagnostic services, providing local NHS patients with choice, accessibility and reduced waiting times."

He added: "We have invested not only in the latest and best technology, but also in well-qualified diagnostics professionals who are committed to providing quality care and support to our future patients."

GPs can refer patients to the Havant NHS Diagnostics Centre for healthcare services such as X-rays, ultrasounds and echocardiograms. Consultant orthopaedic surgeons in the Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust will be able to refer their patients for these services and MRI.

More information is available by calling 02392 476672 or by logging on at www.havantdiagnosticcentre.nhs.uk.

ISTCs are hospitals run by the independent sector under contract to the Department of Health for the treatment of NHS patients. They support existing NHS capacity, reduce waiting times and provide patients with more choice about where and when they are treated. All ISTCs must carry out independent patient surveys from July of this year, and the Peninsula NHS Treatment Centre was chosen to pilot the survey process.

Patients were asked 51 questions about themselves and the hospital, encompassing their experience from pre-admission to discharge. Overall, 100 per cent of patients described their care as excellent, very good or good, and 96 per cent would definitely recommend the Peninsula NHS Treatment Centre to family and friends.

The results of the survey were compared against national benchmark statistics for the NHS from an inpatient survey carried out by all NHS Trusts in 2006.

The Peninsula NHS Treatment Centre outperformed the best performing 20 per cent of NHS Trusts in a number of areas including: cleanliness of room or ward; cleanliness of toilets and bathrooms; getting answers to questions from doctors; confidence and trust in doctors; doctors washing hands; getting answers to questions from nurses; and confidence and trust in nurses.

For most of the other questions the hospital matched the scoring for the best performing 20 per cent of NHS Trusts, and in the remaining three questions matched the intermediate 60 per cent of Trusts.

The results of the survey were supported by comments from the patients questioned. One said: "The care and the environment were by far the best I have experienced in 40 years of a very varied nursing career. On a scale of 1-100 this place scores at least 150." Another said: "It was better than expected, I felt confident about the care I was getting. Plus the staff were friendly and put you at ease, it seemed as though they cared and it was not just a job." Another commented: "I can't speak too highly of the care I received. It was just excellent. I have recommended the hospital to several people."

Rosemary Hackett, general manager at the Peninsula NHS Treatment Centre, commented: "We are delighted by the results of this, our first independent patient survey. It is absolutely vital that we provide our patients with the best clinical care, but it is also important that we combine that high level of care with strenuous efforts to ensure that our patients are treated with dignity and respect, and that they feel confident about our relationship with them. My congratulations and thanks go to all my colleagues at the hospital who work hard on a day-to-day basis to ensure that this is so."

Grant Rex, Managing Director of Partnership Health Group, which runs the hospital under contract to the NHS, added: "The Peninsula NHS Treatment Centre has been delivering world class care since it opened its doors to patients just over two years ago. The results of the patient survey show that the hospital offers a great choice to Plymouth and Cornwall patients, with accessibility, innovation and top class quality. My congratulations go to Rosemary and her team for achieving such outstanding results."

The Centre has also done well on infection rates. For surgical site surveillance, the infection rate for hip replacements is just 0.2 per cent (the NHS average is 1.5 per cent) and for knee replacements it is 0.0 per cent (the NHS average is 0.8 per cent).

More information is available by calling 01752 506070 or by logging on at www.peninsulatreatmentcentre.nhs.uk.

Ten pupils, from schools run by Care UK Children's Services at Ditton Priors and Cornmill in Shropshire, sat their GCSEs and all 10 have passed at least one exam, which is the Government target.

One pupil achieved five GCSEs, two pupils four and three pupils achieved three. This is the second year in a row that youngsters from Care UK have beaten the Government target for GCSE results in their group.

Child care provider Care UK operates services for "looked after children", including residential children's homes, fostering and education, under contract with local authorities.

Mark Williams, Referrals and Admissions Director at Care UK Children's Services, commented: "We are delighted for our GCSE pupils. There is so much publicity about "looked after children" underperforming in education, but we have proven that with the right support and despite the challenges in their lives, such youngsters can achieve results comparable to their colleagues in mainstream education. My congratulations go to our GCSE pupils and the teams that have helped them with this achievement."

Care UK Children's Services can be contacted on 01694 724488.