Agenda item
Chairs Update
- Meeting of "Hybrid" Meeting, Tower Hamlets Health and Wellbeing Board, Tuesday, 21st September, 2021 5.00 p.m. (Item 2.)
- View the background to item 2.
Minutes:
The Chair:
v Stated that there has been considerable discussion about NHS reorganisation and integration between the NHS and local authority services and that the decision has been taken not to have in-depth discussions about this at the Health and Wellbeing Board due to there being quite a lot of uncertainty about the way forward as there has now been quite extensive change in terms of the organisation of the former CCG and we are only now beginning to get clarity of around national guidance for the reorganisation. Therefore, the Chair suggested that the Board discusses this issue at the November meeting alongside a refresh about the Boards own membership and terms of reference.
v Indicated that she was happy to take a couple of questions on that topic now or reflections if that is felt to be helpful. However, the Chair stated that she wanted to give the Board the “Heads Up” that that really is quite a substantial piece of work to ensure that there is a there is a relentless focus on health inequalities on outcomes for people in terms of this NHS restructure and at the same time making sure that NHS and local authority bodies are integrating.
v Indicated that she increasingly had been contacted by constituents about access to GP appointments and there had been some media coverage as well about the new protocol for accessing GP appointments. It was noted that the Chair and Vice-Chair had been discussing the experience of accessing GP appointments and that Board should keep a watching brief on the establishment of the new access arrangements.
The Vice-Chair:
v Stated that he was very concerned about the media’s criticism of family doctors following government demands for them to increase face-to-face appointments. This idea to improve general practice would it was noted would do little to relieve the intense pressure on surgeries and could exacerbate the chronic shortage of family doctors by prompting more to quit the profession.
v It was important to understand that (i) the workload in primary care is overwhelming as research now shows that primary care is managing a third all the patients on the waiting list which is 20% to 30% increase when compared to previous years (ii) this is still the Summer period (iii) staff are still off with COVID or have been in close to someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 (iv) staff are trying to catch up on leave which they have not had for year (v) whilst some people prefer online contact as it is so much more convenient for them not having to come in to a surgery but there is always challenges and situations whenever you change the way a service is provided. Accordingly, there needs that there is a sensible debate about how we can work together on ameliorating the situation with regard to access in primary care.
The Chair:
v Reminded the Board that within (i) the Health and Wellbeing Strategy; and (ii) the Black and Asian Minority Ethnic inequalities action plan there are really clear objectives about digital exclusion or digital inclusion.
v Stated that there is a need to come up “offline” with the actions to respond to this situation quickly e.g. round table discussions with service users and to find out more what can be done to raise awareness and support people with regard to access in primary care.
v Noted that the Acute Sector is currently overwhelmed with a large cohort of patients that have not gone anywhere close to the healthcare system for a very long time and now people are feeling that they can and they are although a proportion of specialist appointments have gone to virtual and there has been no push back from patients so there will be significant joint learning by having a round table discussion e.g. at the Board or Tower Hamlets Together to ascertain where virtual appointments are working or why it is felt that there are different behaviours in different parts of the system.
v Observed that Healthwatch Tower Hamlets had conducted a survey gathering people’s views on how to better understand the referral process and it identified that 7 percent of people were being referred to the incorrect surgery/clinic and if this could be improved and be lowered to 3 or 4 percent that would be a significant improvement. In conclusion, it was agreed that this very important matter should be considered in more detail offline for future scrutiny by the Board.