New health centre is given thumbs-up

NHS Oldham reports

A multi-million pound primary care centre for Werneth has been given the green light.

Work will start shortly on the 14-month project which will see Werneth get a state-of-the-art healthcare centre by autumn, 2011.

The four-storey building, on Featherstall Road South, will house five separate GP practices, which between them, treat 20,000 patients.

Medics working from the new centre will be responsible for the health of 7 per cent of Oldham’s population.

Yesterday’s meeting heard it will be built in a light and airy fashion to offer a welcoming environment for patients, visitors and staff. The exact cost of the development has not yet been revealed

The centre will offer a range of health promotion activities to help patients make lifestyle choices to improve their health and well-being.


Sick days cost NHS £2.5m

STAFF sickness cost NHS Oldham a whopping £2.5 million last year.

The figure was revealed as board members heard sickness levels for the primary care trust were running at an average of 5 per cent.

The organisation employs 1,345 staff in all, which includes community nurses, midwives and health visitors who account for just over one-quarter of the workforce.

A total of 448 work in administration and estates, and the trust employs 72 managers and senior managers. Around one-third of staff have worked for the trust for six years or more. Members also heard there was a robust policy to keep staff sickness to a minimum.


Stroke care improves
THE Royal Oldham Hospital was given a pat on the back for a marked improvement in stroke care.

Concerns raised last year by NHS Oldham on the quality of care for stroke patients prompted a demand for action for improvement. Steve Sutcliffe, director of finance, said improvements had been made in prevention, speech and language support for people who have had a stroke.

And figures for February, this year, showed 73 per cent of patients spent at least 90 per cent of their time on a stroke unit.


Balancing act
NHS Oldham ended the last financial year with balanced books. Director of finance Steve Sutcliffe said it had been a huge task during the most challenging financial year in the primary care trust’s history.

The trust’s budget for 2009/10 was £413 million, and it had the largest capital programme of any primary care trust in the North-West, at £27 million.THE Royal Oldham Hospital was given a pat on the back for a marked improvement in stroke care.

Concerns raised last year by NHS Oldham on the quality of care for stroke patients prompted a demand for action for improvement. Steve Sutcliffe, director of finance, said improvements had been made in prevention, speech and language support for people who have had a stroke.

And figures for February, this year, showed 73 per cent of patients spent at least 90 per cent of their time on a stroke unit.


Screening mystery

PUZZLED health bosses are to investigate why Oldham’s figures for cervical screening are the lowest in Greater Manchester.

The figures were revealed as the board gave its backing to plans to revamp the county’s cervical cytology services. The number of women screened annually in Oldham stands at 11,776, while figures for similar- sized boroughs were reported as 13,065 in Bury and 16,052 in Salford.

Alan Higgins, Oldham’s director of public health, could provide no answers, and insisted take-up for screening by women in the borough was among the highest in the region.