John Radford, Director of
Public Health gave an update in respect of the NHS White Paper
which had been issued by the Government.
He outlined the proposals of
the paper which were:
- To abolish the
Primary Care Trusts and Strategic Health Authorities and replace
with GP Commissioning Consortium
- To set up a Public
Health Service
- To put in place
Health Improvement Measures to the Local Authority
- To establish Health
and Wellbeing Boards
He confirmed that it was unsure
how the inter-relationship would work but this was likely to be
clarified in the next few months when regulations were
issued.
There would be three pots of
money made available to these groups, a small amount for the public
health service to make improvements to health and prevention, a
large amount for the GP Consortium and another small amount to fund
specialist services, such as cancer treatment and heart
operations.
A question and answer session
ensued and the following issues were raised and
clarified:-
- A concern was raised
about how the funding would be administered by individual
surgeries. Confirmation was given that
there would probably be one GP Consortium in Rotherham who would be
responsible for this and there would be statutory requirements in
place for them to work to.
- A query was raised
about what the implications would be for Local
Authorities. It was confirmed that the
Local Authority would be taking on more responsibility from the NHS
in respect of promoting health for people in Rotherham. It was not certain yet how funding would be
determined or how it would be spent.
- A query was raised as
to whether the GP Consortium would work more closely with the
Council than it had in the past. It was
confirmed that this was essential in order for it to
succeed.
- Reference was made to
the work already in place in respect of Breastfeeding and Alcohol
related illnesses and a query was raised as to why this had gone to
the PCT. It was confirmed that the
contracting of services would go to GPs or the Local Authority, but
the staffing would come from the Foundation Trust.
- Concerns were raised
about the buying in of services and a question was raised as to
whether patients would still be able to choose which hospital they
could have their treatment in.
Confirmation was given that this was unlikely to change, and that
GPs would also be able to direct patients to services.
- Reference was made to
the Health and Wellbeing Board which was to be created and a query
was raised as to what the membership would be for this
Board. A comment was made that this
needed to be politically lead but it was
not clear as yet, what the exact membership would look
like.
Chrissy Wright, Director of
Commissioning and Partnerships, confirmed that work was ongoing
with regarding to the implementation of the proposals contained
within the White Paper. A meeting had
been set up to discuss the GP Consortium and the Health and
Wellbeing Board. She added that further
reports would be submitted to the Cabinet Member to keep him up to
date with progress being made.
Resolved:- That the information be noted and further
progress reports be awaited.