Minutes:
Dr Trevor Fernandes, Herts Valleys Clinical Commissioning Group presented the committee with an update since the last meeting.
Dr Fernandes said that the CCG has engaged with a lot of public and practises and providers and there are lots of events coming up. The aim is to come up with structures and systems in the Health service for the whole of West Hertfordshire that are sustainable for the future and offer the best possible care to patients. He mentioned that there will be a review taking place on Friday detailing out the findings which he will share with the committee once there is an update. The meeting taking place will liaise with the providers; the acute hospitals, the community provider, HCT and Herts County Council whereby all the main stake holders will decide the next steps. Once the proposals have been put forward and agreed they will launch “Case for Change”.
Throughout the country, a stake holder survey was held in March. This entails reviews from practises, acute trusts and patient representatives who comment on how the business is carried out and whether they are consulted with. The results showed that there had been an overall improvement and they were above average on the CCG over the last year.
· There will be a quarterly review held for the NHS England. The last review was 3 months ago which showed that there was a couple of issues at that point, balancing the budget and finances, targets centrally driven, increased diagnosis on Dementia and also the referral to Mental Health.
· As of March 2015, the financial target was met with a 1% surplus (7 million Surplus) which will get carried forward onto the following year.
· Referrals target was also met for the last financial quarter.
· There are 3 million unidentified savings yet to be made within the Health Service over the next 3 months.
· The Emergency care is below current standards.
Questions and answers
B Harris made reference to people being cared for in their own homes and asked how carers are currently being recruited.
T Fernandes explained that Hertfordshire County Council have plans in place for home care services to make sure there are improvements in the health system.
Councillor C Wyatt – Lowe mentioned that Hertfordshire County Council had recently re-procured the home care service and it had been a very successful operation so far making better uses of the resources they have. This week is “Good Care week” and there have been several events taking place designed to encourage local people to come into Care profession. It has been very low status but this has been addressed. In order to attract people the new Hertfordshire care quality standard that is part of the procurement has been put in place to make sure that people are taking the tendering contracts. The providers had to show that they could roster their services properly. She added that these messages need to be place in order to stimulate health care across the profession.
B Harris asked where Home Carers get their motivation from, giving the fact that it can be a very difficult job to do.
Councillor C Wyatt – Lowe said that the Council are trying to encourage local communities to be more involved and encourage more families to help more with the responsibilities of looking after a sick person.
Councillor Fernandes said that a meeting for the Dacorum Support at the Home Advisory Board will be taking place on 26th June at 10am.
Councillor Maddern informed the Committee that some dementia patients can be left alone for at least 22 hours. Age UK is a beneficial service that not only helps the patient but also the family.
B Harris mentioned that Bennetts End Community Centre offers a drop in service for carers to bring their patients for a 4 hour break where lunch, games and activities are provided.
Action:
Resolved
The report was noted.