Minutes:
Councillor W Wyatt – Lowe asked Members if they were aware of the recent CQC event that had taken place and asked if they had any questions.
Questions and answers
T Carter mentioned that the CQC inspections have been within the secondary care now for a number of years and the new inspection process started about two years ago with West Hertfordshire Hospital was recently inspected on the 13th April 2015. 67 inspectors visited them over a period of 4 days carrying out several unannounced visits. Once the final report comes through, depending on the outcome, you can be re-inspected and have further unannounced visits.
Councillor W Wyatt-Lowe asked if the extension from the secondary care into the grammer care is actually worthwhile and will have the same kind of benefits.
T Carter said that it can have some benefits. It is relatively new into the community setting and now that the inspections are much more rounded, there will be a more involved process whereby there will be meetings with the public, Health watch, drop in sessions etc.
The Chair asked Dr Fernandes if it would be beneficial to the committee to have the CQC item put on the agenda to discuss the outcomes and updates that take place with the recent inspections.
Dr Fernandes said that the initial feedback that he has received is that it has been very good. Once all of the processes have been through all of the practises, the CCG will be collating all of the figures on the outcomes. He suggested that a review be held in 6 months with an update.
The Chair suggested that Dr Fernandes brings back to the meeting in December 2015 an update on the CQC in his next report.
Councillor Hicks made reference to Community Cardiology and asked if this meant moving out of the hospital and into the GP surgery.
Dr Fernandes said that Cardiology was a big spectrum affair and patients would not be brought out into the community with life threatening conditions such as heart attacks. Some of the earlier investigations will be looked at more closely to home.
Councillor Timmis made reference to the transforming of Adult Community Services and asked if they would consider transforming the way they communicate and information given to carers and patients about what’s happening and why.
T Carter confirmed that they are working with the sector as part of the system resilience, to look at people’s pathways to look at the information required. She mentioned that they are currently looking at Community health assessments and Social Care assessments and the sort of package care that people require. A huge amount of work is being carried out with the CCG and Mental Health, Community Services.
T Fernandes referred to Councillors Timmis’ earlier question and said that this is an ongoing issue in the health service. The care of the patients will be handled better and there will be a less pressured environment for all.
Councillor Timmis declared an interest and said that she worked for over 20 years in delivering written information for patients.
Councillor W Wyatt – Lowe referred to the discharge to assess capacity for 2014/15. He asked where does it stand at the moment and what are the plans for the future.
T Fernandes wasn’t able to comment on this at present but said he would look into this and any updates in the future he would incorporate into his reports.
Resolved
The report is noted.