Issue - meetings

Terri Roche, Director of Public Health, and Jacqui Tuffnell, Head of Co-Commissioning, Rotherham Clinical Commissioning Group

Terri Roche, Director of Public Health, and Jacqui Tuffnell, Head of Co-Commissioning, provided an update of the action being taken for each of the Scrutiny Review’s twelve recommendations.

The Review had taken place between September, 2013 and March, 2014, with the aims being:-

-          Establish the respective roles and responsibilities of NHS England and GP practices with regard to access to GPs

-          Ascertain how NHS England oversees and monitors access to GPs

-          Identify national and local pressures that impact on access to GPs – current and future

-          Determine how GP practices manage appointments and promote access for all patients

-          Identify how NHS England will be responding to changes nationally

-          Consider patient satisfaction data on a practice by practice basis and to compare Rotherham with the national picture

-          Identify areas for improvement in current access to GPs (locally and nationally)

Further scrutiny of the initial response from partner agencies had been carried out in January, 2015 and a mini survey with GP Practice Managers undertaken at their Forum meeting in May, 2015.

The majority of the actions in response to the twelve recommendations fell to the Rotherham Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and NHS England.  Many had now been either completed or included within the Interim GP Strategy. There was also a workforce strategy.

Three were aimed at the Health and Wellbeing Board and, although it was clear the Board would not lead specifically on any campaigns, it had a role in bringing partners together to ensure consistent messages were delivered.  One of the ways in which this would happen would be through a revamped website, due to be completed by the end of May, 2016, and a Twitter account now set up to keep the public and stakeholders updated on partners’ activity and health and wellbeing initiatives.

Consideration was given to Appendix 1 which contained the Cabinet response to the recommendations.  Discussion ensued with the following issues raised/highlighted:-

·           Improvements in telephone systems were taking place, for example informing people where they were in the telephone queue and additional capacity at busy times such as 8.00-9:30a.m.

·           Efforts should be made to gain the support of the large number of private sector employers within the Borough to encourage their employees to keep their GP appointments as part of the prevention and care agenda

Prevention formed part of the quality contract and work took place with Public Health in terms of an element of associated funding which was increasing the number of Healthchecks that took place.  Public Health could work with NHS England to make sure members of the public took up the national Health Screening Programme.  Primary Care needed to be supported in the wider sense and may be work with voluntary and community sector who worked with particular groups

·           Are you now confident that all practices were engaging effectively with their patients?  Are there any hotspots around?  Any issues within any individual GP practices?

There were some contracts that had struggled with Patient Participation Groups  ...  view the full minutes text for item 93