Mike Miller reports..
As part of our “health” month, the speaker on 15th September was a GP, Dr Rebecca Brown, who works with the Haxby practice in New Earswick.
Instead of telling us about daily life as a GP, Rebecca unexpectedly chose to concentrate on her very worthwhile work with the CAT Hub ( Children’s Ambulatory Treatment), based with Nimbuscare at Askham Bar. The need for this service arose especially as a result of the effects on children of the COVID pandemic. It was noticed that children particularly suffered disproportionally with respiratory and asthmatic problems, and needed many visits to A&E. There was concern that there was no coordinated study of the best way of treating them.
So the CAT hub was set up in 2021, with a team consisting of Rebecca as Clinical Lead from Nimbuscare, representatives from York Hospital, and a business analyst. Its aims included – to (a) reduce unnecessary visits to A&E, (b) improve parental knowledge, (c) improve staff skills, and (d) lead to improved processes.
Rebecca gave us a very enthusiastic and optimistic account of how these aims were being met, although she pointed out that funding was a problem. There was also evidence that the NHS nationally were taking a close interest in the project.
In spite of a few technical problems, Rebecca gave a very polished presentation, and we learned that when our own GP seems mysteriously unavailable, they may be doing very important work behind the scenes.
Rebecca with speaker host Mike (l) and President Paul
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