Primary Care Trusts

Back home

2006-09-17T16:29:00.000+01:00

Hallo everybody!

Just arrived at home...
We really had a great time in Southampton and we will always remeber our stay in Great Britain! Thank you very much for everything!

Best wishes from project group Primary Care Trust!

Hard times come easy......

2006-09-14T22:05:00.000+01:00

Good evening everbody,

Today we`ve had a busy day, packed with three lectures at Solent University and more work to do waiting at home.
In the morning, Rebecca gave us specific information about making a good presentation such as:

how to greet our audience and welcome them
how to introduce ourselves to our audience
about the necessity to describe the structure of our talk and to give the title of our presentation
how to inform our audience about the length of our presentation and the use of media
how to move from the introduction to our first point within the presentation`s body
how to do transmissions, use rethorical questions and rephrase something
how to finish or presentation and so forth....

After a short break, Carolyn discussed with us the importance of cultural awareness relating to negotiations and meetings which are conducted. To make class more lively we played the "Cultural Awareness Game" to identify differences in the way meetings are held. Generally said, for in business, as in life "All human beings are captives of their culture"!(Please, feel free to comment on that.)

"Are these the new colonialists?" -> we discussed that question with Colin who gave another lecture about "Applied language tasks"in the afternoon. This report on volunteering gap year prooved to be more than interesting because of its controversy and its hint of sarcasm. Most of us participated in the discussion on various issues, such as the importance of sustainability, careful consideration and the need to be sensetive, open-minded as well as empathetic referring to voluntary work.

Throughout the evening our team has worked on our presentation which included finishing the slights and doing a rehersal. As you might guess, we are quite exhausted and stressed out. Therefore, we are looking forward to giving our presentation on Primary Care Trusts tomorrow and handing in our writing assignment. ...good night.

Yours, project group

Children`s Care

2006-09-13T18:16:00.000+01:00

Hallo everybody out there!

This wednesday started with an Applied Language Task Lesson with Carolyn. The topic was housing in Britain. We, the students, pretented to be managers in a housing organisation. We were supposed to allocate differnet flats (1 bedroom flat up to a 3 bedroom house) to certain applicants. The decisions were not easy, as we were to consider several aspects, such as age, number of children, working or financial situation.
After that lesson, we had Academic English with Peter. It was very informative, as he explained different ways of referencing, which is quite useful for our project.
In the afternoon, we visited the organisation "Children`s Care". The organisation looks after families in general and children in particular. Members of the organisation support families in the way that they give them advice, how to provide everything the child needs to grow and to mature. Moreover, the organisation looks after children, who are suffering from serious domestic violence or of significant harm."Children`s Care" also assists children to overcome the threatens of neglect, emotional or physical abuse.
"Children`s Care" cooperates with social workers, who look after children who are at risk to become criminal or who are already criminal to support them making their way back to the community. Moreover, they intervene in serious family problems, in order to achieve the best for the child and to make the child growing up in a stable family situation.
To empahsise, how difficult the situation of family problems is for everybody who is involved, we worked on some case studies. It is not only the direct family members, but also relatives neighbours, teachers, psychologists, social workers, the government or the police, who is involved for example in case of abuse. It was quite interesting to see the situation from different perspectives as everybody had to take on different roles.
At the end of this afternoon, we heard another presentation, about children, who move away from home at the age of 16. As it is a very important age for the personel development of children it is neccessary to help them becoming independent and organising their lives on theirown.
And the end of our day, the ones who had some energy left, went to the gym, while others made another shopping tour through the malls of Southampton. The Sale-offers are (unfortunitely!) still too attractive...!!!
Now, we are going to cook a very unique meal for dinner: baked beans with potatoes. But differnet from Saturday, both will be hot! Thanks again, Carolyn, for the advice! :-)

Good night, everybody!

Project group

Healthcare Management in England

2006-09-12T16:18:00.000+01:00

Hello again!
This morning Julia Barton, Head of Learning and Development, gave a presentation about "Healthcare Management in England: An Acute Care Perspective". In the beginning she asked us about our perceptions of healthcare in the UK. Mrs. Barton was curious to know our future plans such as possible fields of work.

In her main part she talked about the history as well as principles and development of the NHS. Moreover, she also explained the organisational structure via an organigram.
She illustrated the difference between primary and secondary care (as the chart shows)

and pointed out the development in the NHS workforce in England. Mentioning the NHS characteristics Mrs. Barton stressed the traditional hierarchical management system. Furthermore, she gave us an insight into Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust. We learned that it has an annual turnover of £360 million, being the 2nd largest employer in the UK, with a staff of 7,500. At the moment they construct an additional building which will be opened by the end of 2009.
Mrs.Barton went on by talking about the NHS Plan (2000) which implies convenience, high quality and considers patients as partners. She emphasized the improvement of quality, the financial reform and the workforce reform. Mrs. Barton especially highlighted the skills of healthcare managers and demonstrated career pathways.

Afterwards we ate some sandwiches (again, self-made !!!!) and later we had "speaking and communication" lessons with Colin. Eveybody had different role either acting as a surgeon, nurse or midwife to non-medical executives.

This afternoon we have finally completed our citation work.
The biggest part is done!!!

Now we are starving! No energy left!
See you tomorrow :)

Trip to Salisbury

2006-09-11T19:55:00.000+01:00

Hello everyone!
This morning at 8.45 am our bus left to Salisbury where we visited the Philipps House, a property of the National Trust. It was very impressive to see this beautiful old house which is still in good shape. The housekeeper gave us a tour through the ground floor of the building. The hidden doors covered with faked books were very scary... :-)
Moreover, the librarian told us about the history of the Philipps House and its former owners.

After having a cup of coffee and some biscuits and a representative of the National Trust gave us an insight into the organisation, by showing us pictures of different properties.

After returning from Salisbury Carolyn handed out the timetables for this week. Now we are going to finish the conclusion.

Good night
See you soon!!

What a beautiful day!

2006-09-10T17:12:00.000+01:00

Hello everbody!

Just to let you know our project group has a terrific time in Southampton! As we`re quite satisfied with the progress relating to our project Franzi, Julia, Lena and me, Birgit, have decided to make the most of this beautiful Sunday.
Some of our group fancied a trip to the Isle of White which is famous for its "Needles" and breathtaking landscape. Others went for some shopping and made use of Southhampton`s parks whith their traditional bandstand, rose gardens, elaborate fountains and imposing sculptures for relaxation, reading and chatting with people.
Enjoing ourselves the whole day the project team will meet to modifiy and finish the main part of our work on "Primary Care Trusts (PCTs): What are they and how do they function?" in the evening. We`ve also planned to discuss and do some brainstorming about ideas and structure referring our conclusion.
By now, we have dealth with the National Health System (NHS) in general, PCTs nationally and locally as well as the Southampton City Primary Care Trust (SCPCT) which aims to improve the health and well-being of people throughout the area.
As you can see our time management prooves to be quite efficient and we feel confident meeting the deadline.

Have a lovely evening,
your project group

2006-09-09T23:58:00.000+01:00

2006-09-09T23:57:00.000+01:00

2006-09-09T23:40:00.000+01:00

Excessive Lifestyle

2006-09-09T23:23:00.000+01:00

Hiya!
After a long night out we couldn`t sleep in because our project was waiting for us... We were very successful as we almost finished the main part.
At 2 pm we took a train to Bournemouth where we went window shopping and enjoyed the beautiful beach. The sale offers were overwhelming but unfortunately we have already run out of money after only one week. Thank God we filled our refridgerator last week!!!!!
The weather is suprisingly better than expected and hopefully it remains the same.
After returning from our trip we immediately continued finishing our main part while we were eating cold baked beans out of a can! Now we are totally full and ready for bed.
Have a good night sleep!
Project team

...time runs so fast...

2006-09-08T20:11:00.000+01:00

Good evening!

First week is almost over...

Our day started with the Applied English Task-Lesson with Carolyn. We had a lot of fun there, as we were supposed to develop a promotion campaign for British Non-Profit Organisations. The task was to build a Cause-related Marketing-concept. The different NPO`s had to cooperate with profit-orientated companies. The revenues of each Carity event directly go to a specific cause of the NPO. Our class was very creative and we prepared various funny concepts!

Later on we had another Business English Lesson with Trish talking about the advantages and disadvantages of a male or a female boss. In this context we demonstrated the different characteristics of male and female managers.

After a short lunch-break we visited Sure Start Millbrook Children Centre where we heard a very interesting presentation about the main functions of the centre. These are basically:

Promotion for target "Be healthy"
Promotion of "Stay safe"- domestic violence groups and workers, safeguarding children training, first aid
"Enjoy and Advice" - free access is guarenteed; they give out bags with toys to families, links with schools etc.
make a positive contribution: build up children's confidence
parents can enjoy their weekends like everybody else does

Another interesting programme of the Sure Start Children Centre is the so-called "Daddy Cool-Project". The idea behind this project is to involve and to integrate fathers into the upbringing of their children in order to strenghthen the relationship.

These programmes are succuessfully executed in Sothampton since one and a half years.

Furthermore, we got a tour through this modern and impressive buliding.

At about half past 4 we returned to our accomodation.

After having some noodles with tomato-sauce we had enough energy for the main part of our assignment about the Primary Care Trusts and its function. Fortunately, we already finished our introduction yesterday evening.

As it is Friday evening you will understand that we need to have a rest now and to widen our horizon concerning the British Pub-Culture! :-)

See ya tomorrow!

PROJECT GROUP

Brainstorming and structuring

2006-09-07T09:24:00.000+01:00

Good morning everybody!

This afternoon we are going to split up the workload. Therefore everybody has to contribute and has an equal amount of work to do.
We will spend our self-directed work on doing some internet research. In addition to yesterday's presentations in the Western Community Hospital, we hope to find further information about PCT in general and the Southampton City Primary Care Trust in particular.

Our project group will meet in the evening to discuss and structure the results. In terms of managing our project we will do some brainstorming and talk about individual ideas and expectations. Afterwards we will write down our thoughts and organise them so that we can proceed step by step. On Saturday we are planning to start writing our first draft.

Academic English lessons are coming up next and we are looking forward to working with Kevin once again.

The project group "Primary Care Trusts" remains with best wishes to all of you!

Western Communitiy Hospital

2006-09-06T22:36:00.000+01:00

Joe Adams, Senior Nurse provided a tour through the hospital.

Visiting the Western Community Hospital

2006-09-06T14:55:00.000+01:00

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen ;)

Just to let you be informed - our trip to the Western Community Hospital was quite astonishing!!!
We got lots of general and detailed information about the Southampton City Primary Care Trust and the NHS.
Chaired by Dr David Paynton FRCGP. DMS we heard about various characteristics such as:

the history of the NHS
current drivers for change
the role of and pressures for the Primary Care Trust (PCT)
markets and finances
Practice Based Commissioning (PBC)
Shift emphasis into community

We also got the chance to visit the Western Community Hospital which is one of three that PCT manages in Southampton. Among others the hospital provides various services such as inpatient services, supporting psychological and counselling services as well as voluntary and chaplaincy services in terms of meeting the religious and spiritual needs of patients, staff and carers. Its core competences are providing care and rehabilition for older people in comfortable surroundings. We got to know that service delivery encourages people to maximise their independence after their illnesses or injuries.

Additionally, the Western Community Hospital stresses the so called Patient Planning Meetings (PPM) which are arranged shortly after admission. The PPM enable patients and their families or carers to discuss any queries or concerns they may have and plan their discharge.

Sheila Brooke, Head of Unscheduled Care, explained the necessity of Walk in Centres (WiC) as the NHS has become much more patient led over the last years. These facilities aim to keep patients away from hospitals and provide quick access to treatment. The interesting aspect of WiC is that patients are treated by nurses who are highly educated and assessed to be competent.

In summary, what WiC do:

Open 7 days a week, 365 days of the year 7am - 10 pm
Emergency contraception for free
Health promotion is focussed on puplic needs
Sexual health clinics (high teenage pregnancy rate)
Sign posting to other services
supporting people
Treatment for minor illnesses and injuries

While we were given a tour around the institution Judith May, Senior Clinical Nurse, made us aware of the importance of monitoring and improving the quality of health care provided by and for that body which is ensured by the healthcare governance. Facing new challenges in health care, the NHS developed new standards for better health in the year 2005; an improvement plan which includes various domains such as:

Safety
Clinical and cost effectiveness
Governance
Patient focus and so on...

As you can see we have got lots of information for our project which is just waiting to be written down. See you tomorrow - greetings,

Your project team

An insight into Housing Solutions

2006-09-05T22:02:00.000+01:00

This morning we heard 2 succinct presentations about housing in Britain as well as the Atlantic Housing Association.
These presentations mainly dealt with the core housing issues facing Southampton today such as the need for affordable homes. We got to know various criteria how poor people get access to subsidised accomodations. Furthermore, the Department of Housing Solutions also focuses on improving private sector homes.
In this context the Atlantic Housing Association supports the Housing Solutions in the following ways:

general needs houses
supportive housing ( especially for the elderly )
refugees and hostals
lease holders
shared ownership

The Association lays emphasis on working hand in hand with their customers and value their opinion.

After lunch we had the speaking and communication course with our teacher Trish. We had very funny lesson where we learned register use in English. A lot of "coulds" and "woulds" ... :-)

At the end of our day Caroline gave us a good insight into communication skills in business English. ( Tony Blair is a bad communicator! ;.)

Instead of having five o`clock tea we went down to the docks where we had dinner and enjoyed the beautiful sunset.

We are looking forward to visiting the Western Community Hospital tomorrow morning. As it is run by the Primary Care Trust we hope to get specific information for our project.

Sleep well!See you tomorrow!

Project group

Impressions

2006-09-05T21:59:00.000+01:00

Once again, we would like to welcome you on our weblog!

Let`s get started !!!

2006-09-04T21:55:00.000+01:00

Hello people out there!
I`m looking forward to reading your comments on our project. We will try to do our best to satisfy your expectations. Greetings from Southampton

2006-09-04T21:42:00.000+01:00

Hello everybody!
You have to decide whether this blog is "superb" or not your "cup of tea"!
Great two weeks in Southampton lay ahead of us! Have fun :)

2006-09-04T21:22:00.000+01:00

I'm looking forward to working with my new team. We have got a very interesting topic to work on. Hopefully we find a lot of information about the primary care trust and its function.

KICK OFF!

2006-09-04T21:12:00.000+01:00

Welcome to our weblog! Just to let you know: our team consists of Franziska Götz, Lene Höcker, Birgit Lusser and me, Julia Ankele.For the next two weeks we will give you information about the progress of our project, dealing with the definition of Primary Care Trust and how it works.Have fun with our blog and you are welcome to visit us at any time and feel free to comment on our page!