Welcome to the pages for the Symphony Care Hub, a new way of supporting local people to get the most out of health and care services in South Somerset.
The Symphony Care Hub has been developed by patients, carers, health and social care staff and voluntary organisations as a better way of supporting people living with three or more specific long-term conditions.
It will put the patient in control of their care and ensure they get the most from local services.
We will use these pages to help patients, families, carers, and staff understand and use the Symphony Care Hub and to provide information to help people develop their personal care plans. Please visit regularly for updates.
Why have we created the Symphony Care Hub?
There are many NHS and voluntary organisations in the county which provide valued services to help local people stay healthy and independent. However, because they often work separately, sometimes it can be difficult for them to share information and expertise with each other, with patients, or with carers. This can lead to delays and mean people have to repeat information to different staff, or attend multiple appointments.
The Symphony Care Hub has been developed by patients, carers, health and social care staff and voluntary organisations as a better way of supporting people living with three or more specific long-term conditions.
The first Hub is based at Yeovil Hospital, and employs staff called Care Coordinators. It is their job to work with patients to arrange care and develop a single plan for patients’ health and wellbeing.
The Hub also employs doctors who are experts in working with people who have several conditions, and Key Workers who will be the first point of contact for patients and will help them access other support.
The Hub will help patients to navigate through these different services more efficiently and effectively than ever before, and will work with each patient to create a bespoke Single Care Plan.
What is a Single Care Plan?
When a patient chooses to participate in the Symphony Hub, the Hub will support them (and their carers) to develop a single care plan. This will bring together details and arrangements for any care and support already being accessed - and any other suitable support - making it easier for people to stay in control of their health and wellbeing.
Patients, and any chosen carers or family, would be able to access the care plan through a safe, secure and easy to navigate website called Patients Know Best.
Find out more by visiting www.patientsknowbest.com
News from the hub
We’re looking for GPs
We are going live with the first Symphony hub with an initial cohort of 200 patients in late February 2015. We are looking for GPs to work in the hub, providing clinical leadership to the team and senior medical input into the assessment, care planning process and crisis response for patient with multiple conditions.
The hub is designed to work with complex patients with multiple co-morbidities and the service includes care co-ordination, a single care plan (that can be accessed by all), senior specialist medical input and health coaching. The hub will also be used to test different flexible models of working with practices, including the ability to see patients in the hub, in the practice, in the community, in the patient’s own home or remotely using technological options (eg Facetime, Skype).
The medical support in the hub needs to be provided by those with an expert knowledge of managing comorbidities and a good understanding of the local health system, including primary care This service has been designed with local GPs, and we would very much like local GPs to work in the hub and help shape it further. There is backfill available for interested GPs at the normal CCG rates and a flexible approach to the number of sessions available.
The post is live on NHS Jobs reference 386-MS464. https://www.jobs.nhs.uk/xi/vacancy/8f869854026ae53c6829b0291dee49ca/?vac_ref=913624909. If you would like more details of this role, please contact Tracey Fletcher, Project Lead, on 01935 384825, Dr Rob Munro at [email protected] or either one of us.
This first phase is to test the model and improve it, and then extend the service as funds become available to cover the whole of South Somerset from three hubs providing the service to 1,500 patients, so even if you are not available immediately, please do get in touch as we will be looking for more GPs to get involved later in the year.
The programme has achieved national recognition through the Integration Pioneer programme, is being fully evaluated, and our achievements will be watched with great interest around the country.
Meet the team
Click on the video links next to each photo to meet the Symphony Care Hub team members.
Senior Care Coordinator - Debbie Gibbons
Fiona Dewdney, Care Co-ordinator
Andrea Ledger, Keyworker
Joyce Pitman, Keyworker
Sarah Oliver, Keyworker
How to find us
We are located within Queensway Day Hopsital at Yeovil Hospital. Please click on the below map to see where the entrance to Queensway Day Hospital is located in the hospital grounds.
Hospital Map
