Agenda item

To receive a presentation from Dr Andy Brooks, Chief Officer of the Surrey Heath Clinical Commissioning Group.

Dr Andy Brooks, Chief Executive, Surrey Heath Clinical Commissioning Group, gave a presentation in respect of the work of the Surrey Heath Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).  The presentation included an overview of the CCG’s aims and objectives, a summary of the CCG’s work to date and an overview of the CCG’s future plans.

The Committee was informed that the CCG worked with a range of partners including 9 GP practices, Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust, North Hampshire Urgent Care, North Surrey Voluntary Support and the Borough and County Councils, to provide approximately 90,000 people living across Camberley, Bagshot, Lightwater, Frimley and Ash Vale with a high quality health and social care provision.

The CCG performed well when measured against nationally prescribed performance indicators and was currently ranked 1^st in the Country for residents’ ability to access GP services out of hours and was ranked 3^rd in the Country for the way that it dealt with long term conditions.

Key areas of recent work have included the introduction of the Walk and Live Confidently Programme, which aimed to keep residents mobile and living independently for longer, the commissioning of additional GP hours to improve out of hours access and extend surgery hours from 8am to 8pm, and the development of the Surrey Integrated Care Model.

The Surrey Integrated Care Model provided service users with an integrated one stop shop that provided residents with a single point of access for their health and social care needs and had been developed following input from both service users and service providers.  Referrals to the service could be made by an individual agency or residents could self-refer.  Referrals were then assessed by one of three local Integrated Care Teams based across the CCG area who would identify the best way to take the person’s case forward and the agencies and organisations that would need to be involved and referrals made as necessary.  The introduction of the Integrated Care Model meant that residents’ needs were now being assessed holistically and referrals were being made according to a person’s needs instead of according to what isolated service was thought to be appropriate.  The Integrated Care Team also worked with cases where health links were not immediately apparent, for example a referral was received from an elderly lady who was experiencing loneliness and wanted help with her shopping and to get out more.  The Service referred the lady to the local library where she was able to take computer classes which enabled to do her shopping online and a referral was made to Age Concern who provided ongoing social support.  The Service also works with hospitals to co-ordinate the services provided to patients when they were discharged.

The area’ Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) provided a profile of the area in terms of its current and future health and social care needs and this had been used by the CCG to help it develop its strategic direction and priorities for the coming years.  The CCG had agreed the following six priorities which would shape its future work:

·         Prevention and self-care

·         Improving support in the community and promoting independence

·         Improving children and young people’s access to services and the quality of services provided to this group

·         Integration of urgent and emergency care

·         Improving the integration of the commissioning of health and social care

·         Commissioning value for money

Arising from Members’ questions and comments the following points were noted:

·         The CCG was working with partners to ensure that hospital capacity in the area was appropriate and that residents were receiving care in the community rather than being admitted to hospital unnecessarily.

·         Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust was in the process of developing plans for the redevelopment of the Heatherwood Hospital Site.  It was envisaged that the majority of hospital appointments would take place locally with patents only travelling to Wexham Park Hospital for more specialised treatments.

·         Although the CCG did not have responsibility for commissioning general Practice Services, the growing demand for GP services was a concern for the CCG who had invested additional money into the primary care service so that GP surgeries were able to extend their opening hours.

·         It was confirmed that all the doctors employed by the Out of Hours GP service were NHS doctors and the majority were local to the Surrey Heath area.  The service’s performance in terms of quality of care compared favourably with national figures and the service was considered to be an efficient and effective one.

It was agreed that the presentation would be circulated to Members.

The Chairman thanked Dr Brooks for his informative update.