Agenda item
Healthwatch GP Access Report
Minutes:
Dianne Barham, Chief Executive of Healthwatch Tower Hamlets presented her report on ‘Accessing GP services in Tower Hamlets’.
She informed members of the Sub-Committee the report highlighted the main issues that local people experience in accessing GP appointments across the Borough, the impact this has and how access might be improved.
Healthwatch Tower Hamlets visited ten GP Practices across Tower Hamlets in October 2016 and spoke to 134 patients about their experience of accessing GP appointments in order to:
· Highlight what is working well and what is not working well so well from the patients perspective;
· Understand how patients believe access could be improved;
· Identify best practice; and
· Suggest potential opportunities for improvements.
Useful suggestions have been made and the 10 recommendations on page 18 of the agenda have been put forward to the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and GP practices.
Simon Hall, Acting Chief Officer of the CCG added the report had been considered by the CCG’s Primary Care Committee and the GP Care Group, who support GP’s and patients would be working to co-produce a response to the report.
He said in comparison to other Boroughs, Tower Hamlets was well funded for Primary Care however there are challenges and issues in Primary Care that need to be resolved. For example, current allocation from NHS England means there is pressure on budgets and this is a challenge.
The shortage of GP’s and other health professionals is also an issue and the CCG is taking steps to recruit, retain and train staff such as Physician Associates.
Some of the issues highlighted such as improved telephone access, standardised GP registration are things the CCG is working to improve and it’s hoped the Tower Hamlets Health club, (rolling out 1st April) where patients register once will assist in signposting patients to accessing GP and primary care services.
This was followed by the questions and comments from Members:
· Welcomed the standardised registration process
· Executive summary states ‘fewer than half of the 134 people… had a positive experience of accessing appointments at their GP practices.’ Does this reflect more widely in the experience of Tower Hamlet’s residents?
· What is the CCG doing to incentivise GP’s to stay in the borough?
· How are alternatives such as Physician Associates, paramedics being imbedded into the primary care offer?
· Has the CCG undertaken an impact assessment of GP Practices with regard to GPs retiring and potential closures of practices? Plus the recruitment and hiring of new health professionals?
· What plans are in place to promote the patient experience groups at GP surgeries? They do not attract many patients and should be networked to cover a larger footprint.
Following discussion, the Health Scrutiny Sub-Committee NOTED the report and recommendations, namely
1. Understand some of the issues and potential solutions to problems residents face in accessing GP services in Tower Hamlets and note the report recommendations;
2. Note that the GP Care Group and the Clinical Commissioning Group are working collaboratively with Healthwatch and local patients to develop a joint response to the recommendations; and
3. Consider how the Sub-Committee could be involved in supporting a patient partnership approach to tackling the current over demand for GP services.
Supporting documents: