Issue - meetings

The Panel considered the report of the Report of the Director - System Delivery providing an update on the progress and planning for the delivery of Southampton City CCG’s strategy – “Transforming Primary Medical Care in Southampton 2017-2021”.

John Richards (Chief Executive Officer, NHS Southampton City CCG), Peter Horne (Director of System Delivery, NHS Southampton City CCG), Sue Robinson (Chair of the NHS Southampton City CCG) and Annabel Hodgson (Healthwatch Southampton) were in attendance and, with the consent of the Chair, addressed the meeting.

The Panel discussed a number of issues including:

·  The split of GP practices over the City.  Members requested that information that detailed the practices in the City be forwarded to the Panel by officers; 

·  The disparity of the financial settlement assumptions based on population growth versus the actual growth of the City’s population and the shortfall of funding that this produced;

·  How merging the GP back offices and processes had encouraged a uniformity of service.  It was noted that merging of practice back offices was possible across the City boundary but that would not see a reduction of the number of practices within the City;

·  The continuing issues relating to the workforce.  It was noted that there is a national shortage of GPs and that whilst there has been a widely publicised increased in the numbers of GPs being trained it would take some time to impact on numbers of staff available.  However, it was explained, in the meantime, that the CCG had been looking to make Southampton a good and interesting place to work in order to recruit staff;

·  How the improved communication of more appropriate and effective care pathways to patients was being encouraged and noted that patients could now refer themselves to a physiotherapist for back issues.  In addition it was explained that electronic reminders were being more effectively used and that GP receptionists were being trained and encouraged to suggest alternative routes of treatment to patients that could alleviate the pressures on a GPs timetable; 

·  The potential implications of the local Sustainable Transformation Plan (STP) being classified with the 3^rd quartile of assessment by NHS England.

RESOLVED that the Panel

(i)  noted the progress and planning for the delivery of the Southampton City CCG’s strategy “Transforming Primary Medical Care in Southampton 2017-2021”; and

(ii)  requested that the information requested information regarding the location of GP practices and the number of patients be circulated to the Panel.