North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust

Fantastic to see the Distington Community School benefitting from the Community Diagnostic Centre build at Workington 🏫

The construction of our new £15m Endoscopy Unit at the Cumberland Infirmary has passed its halfway milestone, marking significant progress in this exciting project. On track to open in Spring 2025, the new Endoscopy Unit will be able to treat more patients, helping to reduce our waiting lists and improve timely diagnosis, particularly for cancers. Below is a timelapse video from our construction partner Ergéa, showcasing the rapid and effective build from the initial groundbreaking to its current state. Find out more here: https://lnkd.in/ePpxwQ5b #endoscopy #nhs #northcumbria

Over 400 patients have avoided admission to a hospital ward and have been able to receive care at home instead, thanks to virtual wards The virtual wards, otherwise known as ‘Hospital at Home’ are a safe and effective alternative to hospital level care for patients. Jeanette Hodges, 58, from Egremont, was a patient on the Respiratory Virtual Ward following a Lower Respiratory Tract infection. Jeanette said: "I’m really happy with the level of support and care I received from the team on the Virtual Ward, they couldn’t have done enough for me. I returned home from hospital to find all the equipment I would need was already waiting for me. The team have been so attentive, I can’t praise them enough.” Kate Harwood Specialist Respiratory Physiotherapist, who currently works on the Respiratory Virtual Ward explains: “We currently have a well-established virtual ward that offers, hospital at home acute care with daily support from specialist teams. We are a team of specialist respiratory nurses, physiotherapists and health care assistants with direct access to a respiratory consultant to help manage patients in the place they call home.” https://lnkd.in/eAqyUffz

Next week we will be sharing an update on the progress of our endoscopy unit! In the meantime - take a look at the time lapse video made by our construction partners Ergéa on the progress so far!

🚨Are you an experienced healthcare leader looking for your next challenge?🚨 We are seeking an ambitious and dynamic Chief Operating Officer (COO) to join our Board and Senior Leadership Team. This is a unique opportunity to lead operations across our organisation and drive high standards of patient care, operational performance, and service improvements. 📅 Apply now to help shape the future of healthcare in Cumbria. 👉 Find out more and apply here: https://lnkd.in/eQT9jnKg #Leadership #NHSJobs #HealthcareLeadership #NCIC

Welcome to new Deputy Chief Nurse Ife Akinyemi NCIC has a new Deputy Chief Nurse for Safety and Governance, Ife Akinyemi. Ife grew up in Lagos in Nigeria and has spent an equal number of years between Nigeria and England. She attended university in London and has worked for the NHS since 2006. She said: “I started in the NHS in 2006 as the Foundation Year 1 & Year 2 Training Coordinator (AfC Band 3) at the Royal Free Hospital Trust in London.” Ife says the role and opportunity attracted her to Cumbria. She said: “The role and the opportunity to contribute to the vision of NCIC in improving health for the North Cumbria communities is what attracted me here. “I started in the organisation on November 11, meeting colleagues across the organisation, noting the warmth, enthusiasm, commitment and drive to improve safety, experience, and outcome for our patients, their relatives/carers in a psychologically safe environment for our all our staff.” Ife talked about some of the challenges her role brings. She said: “In recognition that there is much to do to improve safety, quality of care, equitable access, population health, staff wellbeing and staff experience. Albeit, all achievable and deliverable with stead and pace. I overcome them by living and promoting the Trust values.” Ife says all of the NCIC values resonates with her equally as these are the fundaments for delivering on the clinical, people and strategic vision. In her spare time she enjoys listening to gospel music – her favourites being Don Moen, Nathaniel Bassey, Dunsin Oyekan, CeCe Winans (Goodness of God) and many more. She also likes to volunteer at her local church.

New Chief Pharmacist appointed at NCIC Hadar Zaman has joined NCIC as our new Chief Pharmacist. He tells us about his education and background. He said: “I was born and bred in Bradford. I graduated from the University of Bradford with my Pharmacy degree and then went to train at the Boots Pharmacy and then, on registering as a Pharmacist, I went to specialise in mental health services and worked at various trusts. “I’ve always had a passion for education and training and went onto work at the University of Bradford as a clinical academic, and after a period of time I became the Head of Pharmacy. During this time at the University I developed an interest in research and started to get involved in research on patient safety.  “In addition to the above roles I also worked as an Associate Non-Executive Director at Barnsley Hospital which was an eye opening role and one I really enjoyed working at board level.” Hadar started his career at South West Yorkshire Mental Health Trust and then went onto work at Rotherham and Doncaster Mental Health Services. After that, he worked in the Independent Mental Health sector before switching to academia at the University of Bradford. After 10 years at the University he worked at Bradford Teaching Hospitals before coming to NCIC. He said: “The people and the surroundings attracted me to Cumbria. When I came for my interview, and as part of the tour around the department, the staff from Trust HQ to colleagues in the Pharmacy department were so welcoming and warm. And of course it goes without saying having the great outdoors on your doorstep is amazing.” In his role as Chief Pharmacist he said: “I have a great team around me who are passionate about delivering an outstanding service for our patients and communities. No day is the same and you are involved with strategic projects at Trust level and leading the Pharmacy department operationally. “I am a glass half full type of person so I see the challenges as opportunities but my main challenge is around stabilising our pharmacy workforce and looking at introducing different ways of working and new roles. If you have a friend or relative seeking a new opportunity please signpost them to our Pharmacy department we have several roles and opportunities.  “To overcome them, for me, it’s about engaging the team around me and creating a culture and environment that allows ideas to be generated and empowering staff to put the ideas into action to overcome the challenges. I certainly could not do this on my own so having a collaborative approach to finding solutions to the challenges is essential.” In his spare time he enjoys the great outdoors – walking and cycling. “You can say I’m a fair weather cyclist,” he said.

Exciting opportunity to join our speech and language therapy team at North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust 👇👇

Professor Matt Phillips, our Deputy Medical Director and Sexual Health Consultant was invited to a reception in Number 10 last night to mark #worldaidsday in his role as President for The British Association for Sexual Health and HIV (BASHH) We are united in our efforts to eliminate AIDS as a public health threat by 2030. Most recent figures show that HIV diagnoses in England rose by 22% in 2022. For the first time in a decade, the number of new HIV diagnoses among ethnic minority heterosexuals (49%) is higher than for gay and bisexual men (45%). Professor Phillips is reminding the public that clinics are available across the County where people can get tested and that the treatments are now effective. He said, “It is concerning that we are now seeing greater health inequalities and higher numbers of infections in ethnic minority groups. “Today, many scientific advances have been made in HIV treatment and we understand so much more about the condition. “Testing and treating is the key to ending HIV transmissions. Effective treatment helps people to live long, healthy lives with HIV and means they can’t pass the virus on. “People can also use Pre exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) if they are at higher risk of HIV to protect themselves from catching the virus. We are able to offer this in our clinics across Cumbria.” “We are keen to highlight the variety of different ways that people can now get tested including free and confidential HIV tests from sexual health clinics charity testing services, many GP surgeries, pharmacies or online for self-testing at home.” The Trust has clinics in Carlisle, Workington, Whitehaven, Kendal and Barrow. If you want to attend a sexual health clinic in Cumbria call the central booking line on 01228 608989, take a look at our webpages or there is also a confidential online booking system.  https://lnkd.in/e4Mr_FuM Rapid HIV testing is also available in some pharmacies in Cumbria. The test is free, simple and confidential. You’ll receive your result in around 15 minutes.

Congratulations Ray 🌟