Minutes:
Michelle Campbell Presented an update to the group.
Since the last update in September there has been one practice merger in Berkhamsted, the Rothchild House Surgery have now merged with the Berkhamsted Group effective form January 1st, they are now the largest GP practice within Dacorum and Across the CCG.
The benefits of the merger has enabled the Berkhamsted practice to become more resilient, patients have a wider selection of services to access at different sites.
In-hours additional capacity appointments have been commissioned, these can be accessed with either A GP or a Blended workforce (an advanced nurse practitioner / a paramedic / a pharmacist). The scheme started on October 1st and will run right through until March 31st to cover the entire winter period. To date an additional 16.5 thousand appointments have been offered across the CCG.
From December there were also some additional protected appointments specifically for paediatrics, these are mainly before / after school and some lunchtime and weekend appointments.
For 19/20 there is additional funding or reimbursement if a Primary Care Network employs a Clinical Pharmacist and a Social Prescribing Link Worker. 15 out of the 16 PCNs took up the offer from the voluntary sector around employing a social prescribing link worker and to date 10 have now successfully recruited, in addition there have been 10 appointments for Pharmacist with the other 5 going through the recruitment process.
Population Health Management is a programme of work which looks at the individual population Health Data to identify areas of priority within PCNs. A support unit / Data warehouse has recently been commissioned, this will enable PCN data to be uploaded, this will enable the CCG to triangulate primary care data with acute and community services date, this will provide a clear overall picture of what is happening with the registered population and enable care providers to plan how they provided services going forward to meet the needs of their population.
A Locality transformation plan was implemented in October, the initial period has gone will and things are moving forward as expected.
Councillor Hollinghurst would like to know how the changes have effected the number of GPs over the last year and how the mergers will effect patients trying to book appointments in Tring.
Michelle Campbell explained that inevitably with mergers there potentially is a reduction in the number of partners on the contract, however in relation to the number of GPs actually working this information is outside of the CCGs remit and they do not hold this kind of data.
Dr T Fernandes is a working GP in the area and explained that it is becoming harder to recruit GPs into practice especially as partners, this is mainly due to the work load and the hours, people don’t want to committee to being in one place for the entirety of their career or take on extra financial responsibility. All of these factors impact the number of GPs available, with the use of locums and the high turnover of staff it makes it very difficult to estimate the actual number currently working.
Councillor Bhinder would like to know what effect the 111 service has had on reducing the stress on GPs. Dr Fernandes explained that it is very difficult to assess, he doesn’t have the exact figures however the 111 services does absorb a lot of the initial enquiries but he isn’t aware of the percentages of those that then don’t seek further advice form GPs. His personal opinion is that it works well with the out of hours services and is doing a very good job.
David Evans confirms there has been a huge increase in the number of calls to 111 and the amount of A&E traffic has been reduced. The appointment service is being well used and is working well.
Councillor Tindall would like a clear list of the surgery names as the abbreviations give no clear indication. Michelle Campbell will produce and circulate the list.
Kevin Minier enquires if Dacorum are prepared to deal with any cases of the corona virus and what steps are currently being taken.
Dr Fernandes assures the committee that measures are in place and he is confident that if any cases do arise Dacorum is prepared.
The Report was noted by the Group.