Families in Hull are missing out on thousands of pounds of financial support to help them buy healthy food.

The “Healthy Start” voucher scheme was introduced to help people buy fruit and vegetables, milk and claim free vitamins from 10 weeks into pregnancy or until their child was four.

However, between £250,000 and £350,000 is going unclaimed every year in Hull alone because people don’t realise they’re entitled to the support.

Joanna Melia, Public Health Specialist Midwife at Humber Health Partnership, said: “Eating and drinking healthily during pregnancy means you’re giving your baby a great start to life while looking after your own health.

“These vouchers are a great way of paying for healthy fruit, vegetables, pulses and milk and I’d encourage everyone entitled to the benefit to claim it.”

People on Universal Credit can apply for the “Healthy Start” voucher scheme when they are more than 10 weeks pregnant or have a child under 4.

Those entitled to the benefit will be sent a Healthy Start card preloaded with money that can be used in shops, with the entitlement renewed every four weeks.

You can use your card to buy:

• plain cow’s milk
• fresh, frozen, and tinned fruit and vegetables
• fresh, dried, and tinned pulses`
• infant formula milk based on cow’s milk

You can also use your card to collect:

• Healthy Start vitamins – these support you during pregnancy and breastfeeding
• vitamin drops for babies and young children – these are suitable from birth to 4 years old

You’ll get money added onto your Healthy Start card every 4 weeks. You’ll receive:

• £4.25 each week of your pregnancy (from the 10th week of your pregnancy)
• £8.50 each week for children from birth to 1 year old
• £4.25 each week for children between 1 and 4 years old

Your money will stop after your child’s fourth birthday, or if you no longer receive benefits

If you’re pregnant and under 18 you can claim even if you do not receive any benefits.

Visit the NHS Healthy Start website for more information or to apply.

People with cancer are to benefit from a £1.4m investment in radiotherapy technology at Castle Hill Hospital to remove permanent reminders of their illness.

Advanced technology called Surface Guided Radiotherapy (SGRT) is being introduced at the Queen’s Centre to enable therapeutic radiographers and the radiotherapy physics team to deliver treatment more efficiently.

Tattoos, marked on patients’ skin during the radiotherapy CT planning scan as a guide to deliver radiation to the correct part of the body, will no longer be required for some patients.

Higher Principal Physicist Nikki Mullins, Specialist Healthcare Scientist in Radiotherapy Physics, said: “This innovative system will continuously monitor patients with high-tech infra-red cameras during treatment, ensuring sub-millimetre accuracy.

“It will enable us to deliver treatment more efficiently and remove the need for most patients to be tattooed on their skin, taking away that permanent reminder of their cancer treatment.”

Radiotherapy treatment is high dose radiation delivered to the affected area of a patient’s body with precision and accuracy under one millimetre, protecting surrounding tissue and organs.

Radiotherapy teams using SGRT receive a 3D image of the patient lying on the Linear Accelerator (Linac) couch and then compare it to the radiotherapy CT planning scan to manoeuvre patients into the identical position to receive treatment.

Victoria Sykes, Macmillan Advanced Practitioner, said: “The new technology enables patients to be positioned more quickly, with less manual positioning and movement required, so it’s more comfortable for the patient.”

The new SGRT system is being introduced to treat patients with breast cancer first, with plans to offer it to those with different forms of cancer by the end of the year. Patients with certain types of cancer including breast, chest wall or abdominal have a technique known as Deep Inspiration Breath Hold (DIBH) and another benefit of SGRT is for patients to view a screen in front of them to assist them holding their breath for 20 seconds.

Appointment times are likely to be reduced because of enhanced patient positioning and the efficiency of the new SGRT system.

The SGRT has been fitted on four of the six Linacs at the Queen’s Centre. The new system will then be rolled out to the remaining two machines in the coming months, allowing more patients to benefit.

Patients at our hospitals say they’re treated with kindness, compassion, dignity and respect and they have trust and confidence in staff.

That’s according to the 2023 Adult Inpatient Survey (published today), which asks patients 63 questions about their admission and discharge, the hospital and ward environment, care and treatment, their operations and procedures, communication with staff, involvement in decisions and being treated with respect and dignity.

More than a thousand patients responded to the CQC survey which was carried out by an independent company (Picker) across all adult inpatient areas at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust (NLaG) and Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (HUTH). A random sample of patients from November 2023 were asked to complete the survey with results gathered between January and April 2024.

The two Trusts, now part of a group, NHS Humber Health Partnership, have five hospitals between them – Castle Hill, Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital in Grimsby, Goole, Hull Royal Infirmary and Scunthorpe General.

Highlights of the survey include:

• 98% of patients said they were treated with respect and dignity
• 98% of patients said they were treated with kindness and compassion
• 98% of patients said had confidence and trust in the doctors and nurses
• 82% of patients at NLaG and 83% at HUTH rated their overall experience as 7/10 or above

Areas where we scored better than the national average included:

• ‘Hospital food was fairly or very good’ (NLaG scored 74% against an average of 68%)
• ‘Did not have to wait too long to get to a bed on a ward’ (HUTH scored 75% compared to 72% average)
• ‘Able to take own medication when needed to’ (HUTH scored 99% compared to average of 87%)

On most improved scores included:

• At both Trusts the scores for ‘Asked to give views on quality of care during stay’ more than doubled
• ‘Always or sometimes enough nurses on duty’ went up from 87% last year at NLaG to 93% this year
• ‘Did not have to wait too long to get to a bed on a ward’ increased from 73% to 75% at HUTH

Other positives, where scores were in the high 90s included:

• ‘Staff helped when needed attention’
• ‘Got enough to drink’
• ‘Staff helped control pain’
• ‘Understood information about what they should or should not do after leaving hospital’
• ‘Staff answered questions in a way patients could understand’

Melanie Sharp, Deputy Chief Nurse said: “We know that coming into hospital for an inpatient stay can be a daunting experience so to see that 98% of patients had confidence in our staff and were treated with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect makes me incredibly proud of the staff who continue to provide excellent patient care across our five hospitals.

“The survey ranks us 39^th for HUTH and 40^th for NLaG out of 64 Trusts surveyed by Picker. Our wards and departments are regularly reviewed to ensure they’re meeting the highest of standards and providing the care all our patients deserve to receive. We’re continuously making improvements and working hard to make our patient’s experience with us the best it can be. Listening to patient feedback through surveys like this and acting on the findings helps us to provide the best inpatient experience possible.”

Areas identified for improvement compared to other trusts include the waiting times for admission, being able to get food outside of meal times and discussions around discharge from hospital.

Healthcare staff in Hull have been shortlisted for two national awards based on their support for black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) staff.

NHS Humber Health Partnership, which runs hospitals in Hull, Cottingham, Scunthorpe, Goole and Grimsby, has two staff members competing in the finals of the National BAME Health and Care Awards 2024.

Launched in 2019, the awards celebrate those professionals who strive to create opportunities for BAME staff and communities, and who show a real determination to demonstrate the contribution and value they bring to the healthcare setting.

This year, Hull-based practice development matron, Karen Mechen, has been shortlisted for ‘Ally of the Year’, while clinical nurse educator, Grace Kapangyarihan, is competing to be named ‘Educator of the Year’ when the awards ceremony takes place in London next month.

Chief People Officer for NHS Humber Health Partnership, Simon Nearney, says:

“One of the absolute strengths of our workforce is our diversity. Our internationally recruited staff make us much better and stronger as a Group of hospitals, so to have two people shortlisted for their work to embrace and support colleagues from different cultures, communities and backgrounds is nothing short of fantastic.

“The NHS in particular has always been reliant on an immigrant workforce. Locally, we employ people of 95 different nationalities and one in every five members of staff working across our hospitals comes from a BAME background, so there’s a clear need to support our colleagues from both a personal and professional perspective.

“The fact that we are up there competing with the best in the country for the pastoral and professional support we give to our BAME staff and internationally educated colleagues sends out a really strong, positive message and makes me incredibly proud.”

Karen Mechen

Karen Mechen is one of six people from across the country nominated as ‘Ally of the Year’. This award recognises someone who has gone out of their way to support and advocate for marginalised groups – while not being a member of this group themselves – and to help deliver equality within the healthcare setting. Karen has been the driving force behind ‘Once a Nurse, Always a Nurse’, a programme aimed at fast-tracking internationally educated nurses working in the UK as healthcare assistants in order to make best use of their skills and experience as qualified nursing staff. Within the space of a few years, the programme has turned around a significant staffing shortfall among qualified nurses in Hull and delivered a 97% retention rate among the hospitals’ internationally educated nurses.

Grace Kapangyarihan

Grace Kapangyarihan will be competing to claim the title of ‘Educator of the Year’. This award recognises someone whose role involves teaching, mentoring, coaching and developing BAME staff, as well as supporting their ongoing learning and career development. Using her own lived experiences as a starting point, Grace has introduced various tools to support the training and development of international nurses and enhance patient safety, such as a competency booklet and IV passport. She also personally delivers medicines management training to offer a safe platform for colleagues to understand UK practices. This and other highly visible work to upskill and promote the professional competencies of internationally educated nurses has helped colleagues see the true value they bring to our hospitals and helped to ensure fair and equal opportunities are available.

Winners will be revealed at the National BAME Health and Care Awards ceremony which takes place in London on the evening of Thursday 26 September.

A neurorehabilitation consultant, a team of radiotherapy nurses and a mortuary assistant are going up against each other for an award after being nominated by local patients. Dr Faisal Riaz, Neurorehabilitation Consultant based in Brigg, the radiotherapy nurses at the Queens Centre at Castle Hill Hospital and Lisa Wilson, Mortuary Assistant at Grimsby hospital have all been revealed as finalists for the Healthcare Heroes award.

The accolade is one of 15 awards set to be announced at Golden Stars 2024 – the first joint staff awards ceremony celebrating employees and volunteers of Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust and Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. The two Trusts are now working together under the group name of NHS Humber Health Partnership.

Dr Faisal Riaz, Neurorehabilitation Consultant, was described as a ‘beacon of hope’ for a family who felt all but abandoned after a rare and complex diagnosis. Dr Riaz carried out home visits, helped with pain management, chased equipment provision and adaptations with community partners, and was always available to provide advice. They knew they were not alone, and it meant the world to the family when Dr Riaz really pushed to ensure the patient’s wishes were honoured when it came to arranging end of life care.

The radiotherapy nurses at Castle Hill were put forward by the family of a cancer patient with learning difficulties. They were praised for the extra efforts they went to help them feel at ease when going through treatment. This included playing their choice of music whilst undergoing radiotherapy and when they were in hospital with Sepsis they even visited her and put up posters of their favourite band, Take That, which they had printed out especially.

From her base at Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital, Mortuary Assistant Lisa Wilson provides comfort and reassurance to grieving families not least to those who have lost a little one. Two separate families nominated Lisa as their ‘Healthcare Hero’ this year after losing a baby; they praised her compassion and her desire to help parents and siblings say goodbye in a way that was right for them. One family said they would always be in awe of her, and that Lisa had become ‘a part of the family’.

Earlier this year members of the public were asked to put forward their nominations for the award and a judging panel whittled down the nominations to the three finalists.

The winner of the Healthcare Heroes Award, and 14 others, will be revealed on Friday 13 September at Golden Stars 2024, which is being held at the Hilton Hotel in Hull.

Golden Stars would not be possible without the generosity of sponsors. Thank you to all of the Golden Stars 2024 sponsors:

Stroke patients in Hull and parts of East Yorkshire are to benefit from a new rapid assessment system aimed at saving lives and improving care.

Hull University Teaching Hospitals, part of NHS Humber Health Partnership, is introducing a Pre-Hospital Video Triage Scheme after securing some funding from NHS England on a trial basis.

Stroke Co-ordinators, supported by Stroke Services Consultants, will connect to Yorkshire Ambulance Service crews using video technology enabling visual checks and digital evaluation of patients.

Patients with a suspected stroke will be “blue-lighted” to Hull Royal Infirmary, straight into the care of the specialist stroke team for CT scans or to begin life-saving treatment such as mechanical thrombectomy to remove blockages from their arteries.  Some patients who do not require hospital admission will be redirected to community services.

Dr Bernard Esisi, Consultant in Stroke Services, said: “This will allow clinicians to formulate a more accurate diagnosis so people having strokes can be treated in the right place at the right time, as quickly as possible.

“Every minute counts when someone is having a stroke so this new system means we can help people who need us more quickly while making sure those not having strokes get the right support without having to come into hospital.”

This triage scheme aligns with “Flow”, a major campaign spearheaded by the hospital group to improve patients’ experience of emergency or acute care and reduce unnecessary stays or admissions.

Ambulances parked outside Hull Royal Infirmary

Around 39,700 stroke survivors are registered with GPs across Humber and North Yorkshire and the prevalence of strokes in our area is 2.25pc compared to the national prevalence of 1.8pc.

Early diagnosis is crucial. Strokes can have a devasting, life-changing impact, with health and social care costs estimated at around £45,000 in the first year alone if a stroke survivor doesn’t get the right treatment at the earliest opportunity.

Hull Royal Infirmary sees around 1,000 patients with strokes every year. However, a further 300 or so people are brought to hospital with “stroke mimics” – conditions such a Bell’s Palsy, migraine or low blood sugar, which do not require emergency treatment in hospital and can be dealt with by GPs or community services.

Dr Esisi said: “There is no pre-hospital process that is 100pc effective at excluding a stroke or confirming a stroke diagnosis. At the moment, we rely on telephone conversations which can mean, for a variety of reasons, that some patients are not picked up or those not having strokes are brought to hospital when they may not need emergency care.

“This video triage system will allow us to add another level of assessment so that patient can be triaged to the most appropriate place for treatment.”

Tim Millington, Consultant Paramedic (North and East Yorkshire) at Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust, said: “Stroke video triage offers ambulance clinicians rapid access to specialist support when caring for stroke patients. This pilot follows a successful trial in South Yorkshire and the senior clinical support provided to our pre-hospital clinical teams is beneficial in enabling our patients to get the right care, first time.

“We will be seeking feedback from patients, colleagues and partners throughout the pilot to ensure this innovative initiative on pre-hospital stroke practice works well for all those involved.”

Results from the scheme will be reviewed and, if the Hull scheme is a success, the project will be rolled out to North Lincolnshire and North Yorkshire.

Our Group directors will come together on Thursday 8 August for a meeting of our Trust Boards-in-Common.

The meeting will start at 9am and will be held in the Boardroom at Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital in Grimsby. This is a formal meeting with a set agenda, which is available on the Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust (NLaG) website.

Members of the public are welcome. Please email sarahmeggitt@nhs.net before noon on Wednesday 7 August if you wish to attend.

A Hull surgeon and his team are leading the way when it comes to epilepsy management.

Neurosurgeon, Mr Adam Razak, and colleagues at Castle Hill Hospital in Cottingham are understood to be among the first in the country to conduct battery changes for vagus nerve stimulators in a dedicated day case facility.

Vagus nerve stimulation is a technique used to manage the symptoms of epilepsy in adults and children of all ages. VNS Therapy works by implanting a small device under the skin in the chest which is then connected to the left vagus nerve in the neck with a thin wire lead. VNS Therapy delivers mild pulses to the brain through the vagus nerve to help prevent seizures before they start, and help them stop if they do.  Batteries last approximately five years before they need replacing.

Previously, a patient who required their battery device changing would have been admitted to a bed at Hull Royal Infirmary. Short notice cancellations would often occur if a bed were needed for more urgent surgery, and low bed availability would often mean only two or three patients could be treated in a day.

Now, within the new £10m* Day Surgery Unit at Castle Hill Hospital, patients requiring a VNS Therapy battery change can be admitted, operated on and discharged within a couple of hours. There is much more certainty around appointment dates and as many as eight or nine procedures can be carried out each day, helping to reduce waiting lists and deliver a much better experience for patients.

Mr Razak says:

“Moving this type of surgery from main hospital theatres to a day case unit was not without its challenges, but it’s precisely the type of surgery our new Day Surgery Centre was built for and ultimately it’s the best thing for our patients.

(L-R) Mr Adam Razak and Natalie Bailey

“In the past, we have had to cancel patients’ surgery just prior to their date, or even on the day of the procedure, because the bed was needed for more urgent work. As Hull Royal is so busy, it can often be subject to low bed availability, and that also limited the number of patients we could admit for the procedure, leading to several hours of empty theatre time between patients.

“By carrying out the VNS Therapy battery changes in the Day Surgery Centre, we have much greater capacity to admit, operate and discharge within the day, meaning greater certainty for patients, a reduction in the time people are waiting for battery changes, and it frees up our theatres at Hull Royal Infirmary for more complex or urgent operations.

“As a surgeon, it’s also a much more productive use of my time. The surgery itself only takes 15 or 20 minutes so I can help many more patients in a single day. Having a battery run flat could lead to uncontrolled epileptic seizures, so it’s really important to provide as many patients as we can with timely battery changes.”

Natalie Bailey is the VNS Therapy Representative (North) for Livanova, the supplier of VNS Therapy devices and batteries, and works closely with Dr Razak and his team. She says:

“We understand just how important it is for patients with an illness like epilepsy to have their condition under control, and we see first-hand just how beneficial VNS Therapy can be if medication proves unsuccessful.

“The new Day Surgery Centre at Castle Hill Hospital offers a much more modern and suitable facility in which to be providing VNS Therapy battery replacements, and we’re proud to be involved in delivering this type of surgery, and supporting local patients, in such a pioneering way.”

* Phase 1 of the development cost £10 million

Patients and hospital staff in Hull are to be tested for a serious infection in a ground-breaking public health project believed to be the first of its kind in England.

Nurse specialists from the Blood-Borne Virus Team are testing staff and patients on wards at Hull Royal Infirmary for Hepatitis C, a potentially serious viral infection damaging the liver, as part of a global campaign to eradicate the virus.

Hepatitis C is a blood-borne virus spread through contact with infected blood from sharing needles or syringes, blood transfusions before 1996 or the reuse of un-sterilised medical equipment and the hospital team aims to raise awareness ahead of World Hepatitis Day on July 28.

Infectious Diseases Consultant Dr Nick Easom said: “People can have Hepatitis C without realising because symptoms in the early stages can be similar to general day-to-day feelings of tiredness or aches and pains. Many people have no symptoms at all.

“However, it can have potentially serious consequences, damaging a person’s liver to such as extent that they require a liver transplant. It can also be fatal in some causes.

“Offering this simple test to our patients and staff is a major leap forward in helping us to identify cases and ensure people receive treatment as soon as possible to prevent them becoming seriously unwell.”

Currently, around 58 million people worldwide are living with Hepatitis C and the World Health Organisation (WHO) has set a global target to reduce new infections by 80 percent by 2030.

NHS England is at the forefront of the campaign after securing almost £1bn of antiviral medication in 2022, identifying and treating more than 70,000 people in England with Hepatitis C. This has reduced significantly the number of liver transplants required because of the damage caused by the virus.

People can be exposed to Hepatitis C if they’ve undergone medical or dental procedures abroad, they’ve had tattoos or facial fillers and injections or they’ve injected drugs intravenously. Healthcare workers can also be at risk of Hepatitis C from “needlestick injuries” or contaminated blood which has entered their system through their eyes or mouth.

And they often don’t know they have the virus for months as symptoms can include general tiredness and aches and pains although the infection can also cause fever, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, dark urine and yellowing of the skin or eyes (jaundice).

Nurse Specialist Vicki Butterwick said: “We aim to test patients and staff using a simple finger prick test, similar to the one used to test blood sugar, to test for Hepatitis C antibodies. This is a good way of ruling out negative cases very quickly and for the small number of cases we expect to be positive, it means we can move forward and offer them treatment with all the appropriate support in place.”

One of England’s largest NHS groups is spearheading a major transformation project to deliver world-class patient care across its five hospitals.

NHS Humber Health Partnership – the group formed by Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust – is launching “Flow” to reduce unnecessary hospital stays and admissions.

“Flow” will streamline every stage of a patient’s progress from Emergency Departments until they are well enough to be discharged from Hull Royal Infirmary, Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital in Grimsby, Scunthorpe General Hospital, Goole and District Hospital or Castle Hill Hospital in Cottingham.

Jonathan Lofthouse, Group Chief Executive of NHS Humber Health Partnership, said: “This transformative project will create meaningful and lasting change to how 1.65m people in our region receive hospital care.

“Every stage of the patient’s journey will be evaluated to ensure people receive the best treatment in the right place when they need it.”

Advanced technology will be deployed over future years to support patients with conditions such as COPD or heart failure in their own homes as part of the evolution of “virtual wards” to end time-consuming outpatient appointments and prevent emergency and unnecessary admissions to hospital.

Specialist AI software will be introduced where available to prepare x-ray reports or read blood test results to create tailored treatment, freeing doctors to provide more “hands-on” patient care, and teams will share ideas and best practice to improve patient flow throughout the hospitals.

Rapid assessments will be undertaken by consultants as soon as seriously ill or injured patients arrive at Emergency Departments, with patients moving to specialist assessment units for same day treatment and short stay admissions or transferring to wards for hospital care lasting longer than three days.

“Patient Packs” will be issued within 24 hours of arrival at hospital, outlining expected treatment such as scans, tests or surgery and estimated dates of discharge.

Enhanced board rounds will review every patient daily before 10am to check treatment is on track, discharge dates are appropriate and patients going home can be moved to Patient Discharge Lounges.

Nursing and medical staff, therapists and pharmacists will coordinate care with teams in transport, portering and administration so people can go home as soon as they are well enough, avoiding health complications linked to lengthy hospital stays.

Community health providers, mental health teams, local authorities and home care services will work with the hospital group to provide home care packages and minimise delays in getting people out of hospital as part of the region-wide project, supported by Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care System.

“Flow” is launching in all five hospitals this week.