Author: Joe Groszewski

Care and support for people at the end of life needs to be delivered with compassion and care.

We are inviting those with experience of end of life or palliative care to give their views. This may be from their own personal experience, their experiences caring for a family member, or from a bereavement in the last year. This may include children, young people, as well as adults.

The aim is to further understand the things that help and the things that don’t, so that we can make services more sensitive to people’s differing needs, cultures and circumstances.

We appreciate that this may be a very difficult time but this input will help us put the right support in place.

Please complete our online survey which is open to anyone living in Barking and Dagenham, Havering, Redbridge, Tower Hamlets, Newham, Waltham Forest, City of London and Hackney.

The online survey will close on 9 October. Paper based surveys are also available from the main libraries and Age UK offices in north east London.

Your views will be analysed anonymously. If you have any questions or you need the survey in a different format please email nelondonicb.nelcommunications@nhs.net or call us on 020 8221 5500.

The NHS in North Central London (NCL) has developed proposals which will allow an estimated additional 3,000 eye (ophthalmology) surgery procedures to take place a year and reduce waits for sight saving surgery for some patients by up to four weeks.

You can read about the proposals on NCL’s website or download a short information leaflet.

Patients, the public, and partners are invited to share their views on the proposed changes and to feedback on how the NHS can provide the best possible experience for all patients, if implemented. This includes residents of North Central London and neighbouring areas who may choose to use hospital services in NCL. 

The NHS would particularly like to hear from anyone who has current or recent experience of eye surgery services, or anyone who may need these services in future, and their families and carers

Ways to feedback include:

• Completing a short online survey
• Emailing nclicb.surgicalhubs@nhs.net
• Writing to Freepost SURGERY (no need for a stamp or postcode)
• Phoning 020 4518 7132

The opportunity to give feedback runs until 16 October 2023.

A brand-new health and care centre is taking shape in the heart of Ilford.

Work started in January on the new centre – earmarked for two floors in Ilford Exchange shopping complex – and last week local NHS leaders were given a tour of the site, where construction teams are currently fitting out the clinical rooms, waiting area and reception.

Designed to act as a ‘one stop shop’ providing easy access to a range of healthcare, social care and community services in a single central location, the Ilford Exchange Health Centre will create extra capacity for GP services to meet growing local demand.

It will also offer blood testing and podiatry services, care for people with long term conditions, mental health support, children’s services and adult social care.

During a site visit, Zina Etheridge, Chief Executive Officer at NHS North East London (NHS NEL), and Matthew Trainer, Chief Executive at Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust, were among NHS leaders updated on the project’s progress.

Also among the group was, Tracy Rubery, Director of Partnership, Impact and Delivery: Redbridge at NHS North East London, who said: “It was great to see that this fantastic new centre is now taking shape after months of planning and consultation with local people.

“Providing a range of health and care services in one place, right in the heart of the community, will make an enormous difference to so many people’s lives both now and in the future. It will be a huge asset to people in Ilford and the surrounding area.”

Last year, nearly 1,000 people took part in a public consultation on the centre with the vast majority backing the plans. The feedback received has been carefully considered by NHS North East London, NELFT NHS Foundation Trust and the London Borough of Redbridge, in close collaboration with other organisations which are all working together as part of the Redbridge Place-Based Partnership to ensure the new centre meets local needs.

Following a public vote in July, people in Redbridge chose Ilford Exchange Health Centre as their preferred name for the new centre from a shortlist of seven. Over the coming weeks, construction teams will continue to progress the works and the centre is expected to open in spring 2024.