Agenda item

The Select Committee will receive an update from the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) on current issues.

Dr Ian Orpen addressed the Select Committee. A copy of the update can be found on their Minute Book and as an online appendix to these minutes, a summary of the update is set out below.

A&E performance

Local system performance against the A&E waiting time target (95 per cent of attendees to be seen within four hours) during April and May is set out below including the comparative performance with the 2 other Acute Trusts in the Sustainability &Transformation Partnership.

There has been a good improvement in performance during May which is thought to be attributable to a strong system wide focus on patients who have been in hospital more than 7 and 21 days.

CCG and Council integration plans

At meetings of the Cabinet and CCG Board in November 2017, BaNES CCG and Bath and North East Somerset Council agreed their intention to pursue closer integration, specifically to develop a single integrated commissioning function. New shadow governance arrangements have been established which includes the creation of a shadow Health & Care Board; the first meeting will take place on 6 June 2018. 

Launch of Homeless Service

Homeless people in Bath and the surrounding area can now access vital healthcare five days a week thanks to the expansion of a key community health service.  From 1 May 2018, the Homeless Health Care Service began providing homeless people with access to a local GP for an additional day each week.

The service is run each weekday morning from the Julian House hostel in Manvers Street, Bath.  The facility has a specially equipped consulting room which is kitted out with all the essentials of a doctor’s surgery. It is staffed each day by either an experienced nurse prescriber or male and female GPs from the newly-established Heart of Bath Medical Partnership, a result of the merger of Oldfield Surgery and St James’s Surgery.

Local increase in measles cases

Since January there has been an increase in the number of measles cases across the South West with 11 people diagnosed in B&NES alone. Measles is an avoidable disease and we are working with Public Health England to encourage everyone to make sure they have had the MMR vaccine. As young people aged 16-25 are particularly vulnerable to the illness, we are working with GP practices to identify registered patients who fall into this category. They will then be contacted and invited in to their practice for their two doses of MMR. 

Breast Screening Programme

You will have seen the recent news when it was reported that about 450,000 women had not been invited for their breast screening due to a problem with the IT. This error went back to 2009 and resulted in women not being invited to their final breast screening appointment.

There will be an independent review into the facts, chaired both by the Chair of the Macmillan Cancer Trust and of the Chair of the Royal Marsden Hospital, and this will be expected to report in six months.

NHS England will be sending a letter to GPs to help advise any patients that may be concerned. Any patients who have been affected by this incident will receive a letter by the end of May 2018. A telephone helpline has been set up and widely advertised.

NHS 70th Birthday Events - 5 July 2018

A number of national events are taking place to celebrate the NHS’ 70th Birthday, these include:-

i)  The NHS Big 7Tea is a partnership between more than 80 NHS charities with people across the country being asked to host a tea party on the big day and raise a cuppa to thank NHS staff. More than 800 people have already registered to host tea parties. We would like to encourage the whole nation to get involved, please register for your tea party pack.

ii)  Westminster Abbey Ceremony: On 5 July 2018 nominated members across the NHS have been invited to attend a ceremony at Westminster Abbey.  Three members of staff from BaNES CCG will be attending.

Councillor Geoff Ward congratulated the RUH on the recent good A&E figures, but asked why the projection figures for June were lower than had been achieved in May.

Dr Ian Orpen replied that hospitals are obliged to show a trajectory of improvement and that it was better to over achieve than to under achieve on their projected targets.

Councillor Ward asked if patients can register as part of the Homeless Health Care Service and why the service is only available for five days a week.

Dr Ian Orpen replied that patients can register as it is effectively a separate practise. He added that for other times of the week that the Urgent Treatment Centre is available.

Councillor Lin Patterson asked if the Health & Care Board meetings would be held in public.

Dr Ian Orpen replied that they would be eventually, but not for the first six months. He added that the Board would be co-chaired and in effect there will be two bodies within one meeting. He said that they plan to meet every two months.

Councillor Robin Moss asked if he knew of the numbers involved locally with regard to the Breast Screening Programme.

Dr Ian Orpen replied that he did not know of the exact figures, but informed the Select Committee that he had discussed the matter with Dr Bruce Laurence, Director of Public Health. He said that personally in his role as a GP he had not been contacted.

Councillor Moss stated that he felt that members of other political parties should be involved in the Health & Care Board as well as members of the Cabinet.

Dr Ian Orpen replied that he valued input from all political groups as historically there had been good collaboration.

Councillor Vic Pritchard, Cabinet Member for Adult Care, Health and Wellbeing said that four members of the Cabinet would be present on the Board, but he would not look to preclude other Councillors from contributing to the meeting.

Councillor Cherry Beath said that she welcomed the A&E figures and the Homeless Service. She asked who will decide how patients are treated at the Urgent Care Centre.

Dr Orpen replied that patients will be streamed by experienced nurse practitioners.

The Chair thanked Dr Orpen for the update on behalf of the Select Committee.