Professor Mike Holmes, of primary health care provider Nimbuscare, reveals in his weekly column for The Press that GP practices are committing to reducing their carbon footprint

 

"For the first time in York, General Practice has joined together with practice groups from North Yorkshire to discuss and commit to reducing our carbon footprint.

Organised by Nimbuscare, I was hugely proud to be part of this initiative. This is just the start of a movement to introduce greener ways of working into local healthcare.

It was also refreshing to be working with our counterparts  - the Heartbeat Alliance and Yorkshire Health Network – who are working towards the same goals. Together we can achieve far more for our communities and this feels great.

Nimbuscare continues to collaborate within the city and beyond on behalf of all the member GP Practices, with the sole purpose of helping our community and helping patients.

Our Children’s Treatment Hub, which has been made possible by working with our colleagues at York and Scarborough Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, grows from strength to strength and will now be opening up further Monday to Friday to support more babies and children with respiratory problems.

We’re also involved in a research study, alongside the hospital trust, to trial a vaccine for infants to protect them from a virus that causes respiratory infection. Anyone who wants to take part in this study can find out more via our website.

We’re also working on behalf local GP Practices, to support people who are waiting to go into hospital for operations and procedures, making sure they keep as well as possible.

The pandemic has had a big impact on the NHS, meaning that some patients are waiting longer for operations or procedures. 

To reassure patients that they have not been forgotten, we’re working with local health organisations to identify patients on waiting lists who may benefit from support, whilst waiting.

We want to ensure they are as well as they can be when it’s time for them to be seen in hospital. So Nimbuscare teams are contacting them to offer support and advice, if needed.

Working with patients it’s so good to hear positive stories of their experiences with General Practice, in fact it’s so important for all of us to hear this feedback. People like Helen, who told us this week that the support she had been given by one or our doctors had been ‘a God-send’.

After suffering from a number of problems for some time, Helen was really grateful to be given the help she needed by one of the GPs working in Nimbuscare’s women’s health service.

As we get set to expand our new women’s health service at the Acomb Garth Community Health Centre next month, we will be helping more women like Helen with their menopause symptoms.

There’s real evidence that this support will help people in our community stay healthier and happier.

Our initiatives in York are being noticed both regionally and nationally. Our teams attended the Health Service Journal Awards in London last week as finalists in the Covid Vaccionation Programme award.

As one of the finalists, we were recognised for the success of the vaccination service which we continue to deliver. We will also be showcasing our team work as finalists for the GP team of the year award at the General Practice awards next month.

Delivering locally, supporting regionally and influencing nationally, is our strategic aim, but we are ultimately focused on our patients and everything we do is to help improve their lives.

Now my appeal is for you to do what you can to help our community – if you haven’t done so already, if eligible, please attend for your free vaccinations. Flu and Covid jabs are being delivered every day at our Askham Bar site.

We have special flu clinics on Saturday 26 November at Haxby and Wigginton surgery, as well as Askham Bar. Please do make sure you have protected yourself and the wider population."