Minutes:
D Evans provided the committee with a short overview of primary care. The Clinical Commissioning Group provides an integrated care partnership through a blend of partnerships in order to integrate and work differently. We are moving towards collaboration instead of competition. We will soon be submitting our plan to the Department of Health and Social Care at the end of the month. D Evans said he couldn’t share too many details at this stage but would be happy to share at a future meeting.
Councillor Bhinder asked if D Evans could elaborate on the collaboration proposal.
D Evans said the idea of delivery was to increase outcomes and use as a driver for success. Some services are delivering high quality but others are costing money. The idea is to work towards a control total budget and focus on value for money not income. More collaborative work will help to fix local problems before we use procurement as a default.
Councillor Beauchamp referred to the government plan that the CCG are waiting to be finalised and asked if they had flexibility to adjust.
D Evans said statute hasn’t changed at the moment and the CCG’s responsibilities remain the same. Engagement is the direction of travel and it is difficult at the moment due to the current political climate but we will work within our frameworks in order to be able to action the new plan when it arrives.
L Dalton gave the committee a presentation on primary care.
Councillor England said he was interested in how the Primary Care Networks were formed.
L Dalton said it stems from previous relationships, shared visions and values and geographically.
K Magson added they may have delivered services collectively previously and bigger practices team up with smaller ones to provide support which creates resilience and ability to deliver services.
Councillor England asked if they looked to larger practices to step up and lead these networks.
L Dalton said that they have done that in other areas but it has worked effectively in Dacorum.
Councillor Maddern asked what benefits patients would experience.
L Dalton said the PCN’s provide extra funding for extended opening hours.
Councillor Tindall asked how these PCN’s fit with the Urgent Care Centre.
L Dalton said the Urgent Care Centre operated under a separate contract and is acute focussed.
Councillor Tindall said he was pleased to see that social prescribing appeared in this plan and asked if this would work alongside the current navigators.
D Evans said there are currently seven navigators and funded from the voluntary sectors. Within the PCN’s, the model is to embed these so they benefit from training to work towards their goals. 15 out of 16 have agreed to provide additional services which are boosted by investment.
Councillor Tindall asked how information was shared.
D Evans said they all work within a Herts wide system.
Councillor Bhinder said it was an impressive set up and asked for more examples of what these PCN’s deliver for customers and if extended hours were recently introduced.
L Dalton said extended opening hours have been running for a number of years commissioned through the PCN’s. GPs now have an extended framework and phlebotomy services will be moving into GP surgeries instead of people using the acute site.
Councillor Beauchamp asked what the patient experience would be and asked if patients would be referred to surgeries outside their own.
L Dalton said there had been wide engagement with patient groups about a variation in services.
K Magson said if a patient wanted a weekend appointment, they could go to another practice. The PCN’s work in a locality so the other practices will be relatively close. Some will choose to wait and see their own GP. Over 75s must have regular, consistent contact with their own GP so it is about managing different demands and creating different solutions for different needs.