Our Consultant Liaison Psychiatrist Dr Sarah Burlinson talks about her role and helping patients in our Persistent Pain Service - listen here
Our Story
A bit about our history
Pennine MSK Partnership was formed in 2006 and was led by Anne Browne, Dr Hugh Sturgess and Dr Alan Nye. They were joined shortly after by Ann Todd as the Finance and Business Lead.
In April 2022 on the retirement of the founding directors Pennine MSK Partnership became part of Vita Health Group. We are looking forward to a mutually beneficial working relationship with Vita so that we can continue to provide an outstanding level of care to our patients.
The service is commissioned by Greater Manchester Integrated Care Organisation to provide care for the patients of Oldham in Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Persistent Pain in community settings across several sites in and around Oldham.
Get to know us better
The organisation is led by the Directors:-
Ruth Holden, Lead Director
Dr Jill Firth, Director for Service Improvement
Dr Rob Ley, Clinical Director
Sarah Critchley, Director for Nursing
David Pilbury, Director for MSK Services
Dr Shelley Grumbridge, Director for Primary Care
We have a large multidisciplinary team of 80 Clinicians and 40 Operational staff who work in the service to provide an outstanding pathway of care for our patients.
Our multidisciplinary clinical team includes: Rheumatology Consultants, Orthopaedic Consultants, Consultant Liaison Psychiatrists, Clinical Psychologists, GP’s with special interest in Rheumatology and Persistent Pain, Clinical Specialist Physiotherapists, Rheumatology Specialist Physiotherapists, Clinical Specialist Podiatrists, Rheumatology Nurse Specialists, Occupational Therapists , Pharmacists and Cognitive Behavioural Therapists
We run an integrated Persistent Pain Pathway with our colleagues at Pennine Care Foundation Trust and Northern Care Alliance. The service aims to provide a holistic, integrated, interdisciplinary, person-centred care, which meets the physical, psychological and social needs of adults with persistent pain. The persistent pain service is led by Dr Hollie Francis.
Dave Pilbury, Dr Shelley Grumbridge, Dr Rob Ley, Ruth Holden, Sarah Critchley, Jill Firth
Mission Statement
‘We will keep the patient at the heart of everything that we do by providing outstanding care and support to every patient, every time.’
At Pennine MSK we try to live and breathe our Mission Statement.
To enable us to achieve our Mission we have set out the following principles in our Patient Experience Charter:
1 That we communicate well with you
2 That your care is well planned
3 That you feel safe in our care
4 That you receive the right information
5 That you have no unavoidable delays in your care
6 That we always treat you with dignity and respect
7 That you will be fully involved in all decisions regarding your care
8 That we will support self- management of your condition
Quality
At Pennine MSK Partnership we pride ourselves in offering an excellent experience for all our patients.
We offer appointments at a choice of locations across Oldham including: Oldham Integrated Care Centre, Royton, Failsworth, Royal Oldham Hospital Physiotherapy Department, Union Street Oldham and Mossley. At the Oldham Integrated Care Centre we offer evening appointments 3 days a week.
We have 80 clinical staff working in our service and we run over 650 clinics per month plus regular blood monitoring clinics. We have a large team of administration staff who ensure the clinics run smoothly and process all clinic letters, appointment letters and answer the telephones.
14 Orthopaedic Consultants attend our Community Clinics at the Oldham Integrated Care Centre to direct list patients for surgery at local hospitals including Circle Highfield Hospital and Ramsey Oaklands Hospital. We can also refer you to any hospital of your choice including hospitals within the Northern Care Alliance.
We take care of all the rheumatology patients of Oldham GP’s in our clinics at the Oldham Integrated Care Centre where we have a full multidisciplinary team of Rheumatology Consultants, Nurse Specialists, GP’s with special interest in Rheumatology, Occupational Therapists, Pharmacists and Specialist Rheumatology Physiotherapists and Podiatrists.
We also have the expertise of several psychological medicine colleagues who work in the service to help patients cope with chronic or persistent pain. We have Consultant Liaison Psychiatrists, Clinical Psychologists and Cognitive Behavioural Therapists working with our patients.
At a local and national level we have led the implementation of shared decision making in our service and we strive to ensure that patients are fully involved in decision about their care.
We report on Key Performance Indicators that are agreed with our commissioners at Greater Manchester Integrated Care Organisation and some of our main ones are listed below and our achievements against the Key areas are provided.
Our latest results January 2023:
-
RTT (Referral to Treatment) We have a target of 95% of patients to be treated within 18 weeks of referral.
Our target this month was exceeded at 97%
-
DNA (Did Not Attend) We strive to keep DNA’s as low as possible and no higher than 10%. Our current DNA rate across all 3 pathways is 9%
-
Triage of new referrals We have a target to ensure that 100% of new referrals received by the service are triaged to the appropriate clinician within 24 hours.
100% of referrals were triaged in time
-
Patient Satisfaction We measure this in a number of ways, by asking via text and telephone the ‘Friends and Family’ question to rate us on a scale of 1-6 and give us comments. We also undertake patient satisfaction surveys monthly on the clinical floor and must report these scores.
96% of our patients are extremely/very likely to recommend us to friends and family
-
Staff recognition We like to recognise staff who have gone the extra mile to help a patient or colleague – we use comments received from patients via the surveys and also we can nominate other staff members. We have a clinician and an admin team member of the month.
This month saw rewards going to:
Clinician
Danielle Whitmore, Rheumatology Nurse
Admin
Callum Whitworth, Secretarial Team Leader
Well done!
Accessible Information Standard
Pennine MSK are committed to meeting the information and communication support needs of our service users, where those needs relate to a disability, impairment or sensory loss.
If you have any information or communication needs in relation to your care with Pennine MSK please contact us either by telephoning 0161 357 5270 press option 4 or by email: info@pmskp.org and we will be only too happy to help.
Care Quality Commission
Customer Service Excellence
In March 2009 Pennine MSK Partnership were delighted to be awarded The Government Standard for Customer Service Excellence. We strive to maintain these high standards by monitoring, improving and continuing to provide high quality patient focused care.
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
Pennine MSK Partnership believes in fairness, equality and above all values diversity in all dealings, both as provider of health services and employers of the people.
Within the population, and our workforce, there are communities representing different minority, or “equality target groups”. We seek to ensure that members of these target groups who require health care services, and also those employed by, or seeking employment with us are not treated less favourably on the basis of their (as per the Equality Act 2010):
• Age
• Disability
• Gender reassignment
• Race
• Religion and Belief
• Sex
• Sexual Orientation
• Marriage and Civil Partnership
• Pregnancy and Maternity
Definitions
Equality is not about treating everyone the same, it is about ensuring that access to opportunities are available to all by taking account of people’s differing needs and capabilities.
Diversity is about recognising and valuing differences through inclusion, regardless of sex, gender reassignment, age, disability, race, religion/belief, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, commitments outside work, part-time or shift work, language, union activity, HIV status, perspectives, opinions and personal values etc. We ensure our workforce is representative of the community we serve.
Pennine MSK Partnership’s Vision and Commitment
By demonstrating these beliefs we ensure that we develop a healthcare workforce that is diverse, non discriminatory and appropriate to deliver modern healthcare.
The Pennine MSK Partnership embeds its equality and diversity values into every day practice, policies and procedures – so that equality and diversity becomes the norm for all.
There are eight key principles at the heart of Pennine MSK Partnership:
1. Patient Centred Care
2. Whole system approach – linking primary, hospital and social care
3. Partnership working
4. Patient and public involvement
5. Priority of investment in primary and community services
6. Equality of health and service provision
7. Valuing staff, people and patients
8. Building and enabling a creative culture across the organisation
In order to fulfil our public sector equality duties, Pennine MSK Partnership are:
• An organisation that harnesses the talents of all, by welcoming diversity and managing it in a truly effective manner.
• An organisation where all forms of harassment and discrimination are not tolerated and are actively eradicated.
• Demonstrating that equality of access is embedded in everything we do for users of our services.
• An organisation that promotes good relations between people of all groups and communities.
We produce an annual equality report
Contact details
The point of contact for any enquiries relating to our Equality and Diversity Policy is:
Rachel Chrisham
Patient Care Manager
Pennine MSK Partnership
Oldham Integrated Care Centre
New Radcliffe Street
Oldham
OL1 1NL
Tel: 0161 357 5270 press option 4
email: rachelchrisham@nhs.net