It’s #AHPsDay!
We are proud to be celebrating AHPs’ Day here at Primary Care Doncaster, we have a variety of these roles placed throughout the borough providing additional services to the patients in Doncaster in addition to the traditional primary care roles.
AHPs are the third largest healthcare workforce, with significant opportunities to support delivery of the NHS Long Term Plan. AHPs’ Day is an annual opportunity for AHPs to come together and celebrate being part of the AHP family, and the day gives an opportunity to showcase to others the impact they make to the delivery of high quality care.
To celebrate the day, we reached out to both our directly employed and sub-contracted AHPs for them to explain the importance of their role, the service they provide and the benefits to patients and primary care.
First up, we have Natalie Wilson on a brief insight on the weight management clinic that she runs for the General Practices in the North PCN.
I am the Dietitian for the North PCN, I run regular weight management clinics for each of the North GP Practices. I work with patients to identify areas of their diets that could be impacting on their weight and health, provide dietary education and work with patients to set realistic goals. I also work with Health and wellbeing coaches, particularly if emotional eating or unhealthy habits are identified that may be impacting on weight/health.
Many of those that have used the service so far have made excellent progress! I love helping people to achieve their goals and improve their health!
Natalie Wilson, Dietitian
Quote from Mrs M, Doncaster: “I feel like I have a new lease of life, I’m in less pain as I am nearly 2 stone lighter. It’s been a very freeing experience and I can’t thank you enough”
The North Primary Care Network also have a Podiatrist, Jose San Roman. Jose provides a first contact practitioner service to patients that have any complaints, relating to either the foot or ankle. This can range from anything like musculoskeletal pain or arthritis, to corns or ulcers. Patients are positive about the service, as they have received face to face appointments with more focused, specialist advice and first-hand treatment. Of course, any further investigations or onward referrals Jose is able to arrange.
In addition to our direct employment, we also sub-contract to both Pure Physiotherapy and DBTH. Pure Physiotherapy, have now been providing First Contact Physiotherapy in Doncaster for over a year and last month they saw almost 3000 patients! Pure Physiotherapy are a team of specialist MSK physiotherapists aiming to reduce the workload of GPs and primary care staff by assessing patients presenting with muscle and joint pain as first point of contact.
“Patients give us really good feedback about having easy access to a physiotherapist who can give them a diagnosis, investigate if needed and make a plan with them on how to move forward with the problem. We use our years of experience in MSK to help patients improve their symptoms and general well-being”
Adam Davies, Physiotherapist
Our sub-contracted roles with DBTH are distributed throughout the East PCN, we have Diane Swailes and Ellouise Simpson who are specialist diabetes dietitians and are currently setting up a service specifically to work with patients with diabetes. They will work alongside GP’s practice nurses, health coaches and social prescribing. Their service is targeting those following a type 2 diabetes diagnosis to provide a more intensive intervention in order to slow progress of the condition and reduce associated complications. Using the network of care across the Doncaster area, they are able to signpost and refer to support and other services to empower the patients to manage their own diabetes. Those with long standing and existing diabetes (type 1 and 2) will be able to receive expert management with the aim of reducing GP and nurse time taken to manage these patients and to prevent onward referral to secondary care when possible.
So here is a BIG thank you to all of our AHPs for all the amazing work you do for the patients throughout Doncaster and helping to relieve the pressures from GPs and Nurses.