LINk County Durham

• Home
• About Us
• Management Committee
• Work of the LINk
• Membership
• Policies and Procedures
• What is Enter & View?
• Enter & View Visit Reports
• Newsletters
• Events
• Reports & Working Group Minutes
• LINk Members Feedback
• HealthWatch
• Useful Links
• Vacancies
• Contact Us
• Accessibility
• Site Map

Work of the LINk 2011/2012

LINk Final Evaluation was published and highlights the main achievements of the LINk over its lifespan of 3 years:

• Real progress on Enter & View responsibilities
  
• Increasing belief that the LINk can influence PCT & social care
• Positive relationship with PCT (Primary Care Trust) highlighted each year
• Good distribution of membership across urban and rural areas of the County
• Significant improvement in satisfaction with LINk communication

To read the full report please visit the Reports and Working Group Minutes page

March

• Tina Balbach, NHS County Durham and Darlington, opened our information event with a presentation about the new 111 service

April

• Joint Information Gathering (JIG) Group set up to gather, monitor, share and collate information from PALS/Patient Experience teams aligned to NHS Trusts in County Durham and the Care Quality Commission (CQC)

To read the minutes from this working group please visit the Reports and Working Group Minutes page

May

• Enter and View Visit Outpatients at University Hospital North Durham (UHND)
• The Joint Stroke Working group worked with NHS County Durham and Darlington to provide input on how the upcoming consultation process for the Hyper Acute Stroke Services should be rolled out

To read the Enter and View reports please click here

July

• The group of Children and Young people who previously met with staff at Darlington Memorial Children's ward met again to take a look at the changes that had been made to the recreation room
• Enter and View visits Accident & Emergency at University Hospital North Durham and Darlington Memorial Hospital

August

• Enter and View visits Audiology at Darlington Memorial Hospital and follow up on a previous visit to the Clozapine Clinic at Lanchester Road Hospital
• LINk members attended Alcohol Awareness training on 25 August. The aim was to have an awareness of alcohol, its effects, risks and dangers and brief interventions around alcohol
• Members of the Management Committee and Enter and View group met to review the LINk structure and the ways in which it works so that LINk can be better prepared for the upcoming changes
• LINk members tested the accessability Durham Council County's Personalisation website pages
• The LINk membership produced a response to County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust's hyper acute stroke consultation

September

• A group of LINk members visited North Tees Hospital to give feedback on a mock ward
• The Joint Information Gathering Group produced their first report on University Hospital North Durham
• Dawn Phillips, NHS County Durham and Darlington, opened our information event with a presentation about reducing adult obesity
• The LINk Development Group held its first meeting to discuss the future of County Durham LINk and the transition to HealthWatch

October

• County Durham LINk held its Annual General Meeting
• County Durham LINk and County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust worked in partnership to put on an event called Prevention First. Which sort people views, opinions and thoughts on services that contribute to health and wellbeing including smoking, food and nutrition, alcohol and physical activity
• LINk members gave thier views on what the County Durham HealthWatch model should look like at Durham County Council's HealthWatch Development Reference Group meeting
• The Joint Information Gathering group circulated their first survey looking at the impact of recent changes to how concerns and complaints about hospital in-patient treatment are being handled by County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust

November

• Enter and View visited two Urgent Care Centres, one based at Bishop Auckland General Hospital and the other at Peterlee Community Hospital
• County Durham LINk held an information day in Peterlee. Both members and non members heard the latest news in health service developments first with updates on: North Tees and Hartlepool Foundation Trusts Quality Accounts, Momentum: Pathways to Health (the restructuring of Health services in the North Tees, Stockton on Tees and Hartlpeool area), The Mental Health Crisis Team and Community Pharamcy Services. To get a full report of the day why not read our newsletter.
• Our District Representative for Teesdale and Wear Valley have been out and about asking people what they think about their Health and Social Care Services.

December

• Our District Representatives in Easington have been holding Coffee Mornings and Surgerys. To find out what peoples prioirities are when it comes to Health and Social Care.

Issues that are being monitored through LINk member's representation on subgroups

• Carers Strategy
• Alcohol
• Rural Health Issues
• Stroke Services
• Momentum - Pathways to Health
• Learning Disabilities Strategy
• Older Peoples Mental Health Strategy

Text too small? Click here for instructions on how to resize text