Agenda item

The Chair welcomed Jackie Moran, Head of Quality Performance and Contracting, NHS West Lancashire Clinical Commissioning Group to the meeting. Jackie provided the committee with an update on the Shaping Care Together (SCT) Programme.

Members were informed that SCT was run by NHS leaders across West Lancashire, Formby, and Southport, which sought to ‘futureproof’ the NHS by looking at new ways of working and new ways of delivering services.

It was reported that since January 2021, SCT listened to the thoughts, opinions, and ideas from residents, patients, staff, and stakeholders. The programme received more than 2,500 responses through an online questionnaire and hard copy feedback forms, which was followed up by a series of online and face-to-face in-depth discussion groups with local community organisations and delivered electronic newsletters and information videos about the programme. Some of the main themes which emerged from the engagement included:

·  Concerns around the accessibility of primary care services

·  A need to focus more on preventative measures and use community services better to help patients before they present to hospital

·  Some issues around public transport in certain areas

·  Staffing levels and the recruitment and retention of key staff needs to be improved

·  A need to improve patient journeys and support patients to better navigate their own care.

Comments and queries from the committee were as follows:

·  Members queried the statistic '70% favour telephone or video appointments'. It was clarified that the data came from the whole cohort in January 2021. However, there had not been a detailed analysis of the data to provide the committee with more information, but it was expected that it would have differed across age ranges and that it could have been influenced by the transition to digital services since COVID-19. It was noted that a priority for the NHS was to reduce health inequalities and that they were aware by having a solely digital platform could exclude some patients, therefore the offer would not be exclusively digital. There were also concerns that whilst some patients may prefer to have digital appointments for simpler issues, they might have preferred
face-to-face appointments for more complex issues. The SCT Programme helped to progress policy and planning processes which would improve access and focus on primary care settings to also look at their internal processes so these issues could be addressed. The committee suggested the questionnaire to be revisited now that the UK had come out of the pandemic, to see if this response changed.

·  On Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), there were concerns about the length of time it took for an appointment and that patients could not receive primary care from GPs for mental health issues once under the care of CAMHS. It was noted that across Lancashire there was a transformation programme around mental health with particular concern about CAMHS. Significant investment has been put into mental health services to meet legislation standards. The committee commented that the cross-over age for CAMHS to adult services was 16 years old, but they wished for that to be increased to 25 years old for Children Looked After.

·  The committee were glad to hear about the consultation and that it sought the hard-to-reach communities. It was clarified that seldom heard groups were reached using the Council for Voluntary Services and local groups already set up from Lancashire and Sefton. Also, targeted posts on social media were used.

·  Concerns were also raised regarding disabled communities. It was acknowledged that the NHS needed to engage more fully. However, SCT had already seen an improvement in the offer for children and young people with Autism.

·  In response to staffing issues, this covered both primary and secondary care. The NHS worked with local colleges and universities to promote further education courses and apprenticeships, and with employers to get more people back into work. Also, by primary care settings having more resources available, allowed patients to see more appropriate healthcare professionals which permitted GPs more focussed time and capacity within the workforce. It was noted that the government had announced that GP practices were to open six-days a week.

·  On key messages around public transport and access, it was noted that residents that needed to cross the Lancashire-Liverpool boundary found it the most difficult, however, bus and rail companies have been open to discussion with the SCT team. The team also brought services out into the local community, such as shopping centres. 

Members thanked Jackie for her presentation.

Resolved: That;

  i.  the Shaping Care Together Programme – Engagement Update be noted.

  ii.  A further update be provided to a future meeting of the committee.