Agenda and minutes

Venue: Committee Room 1, Civic Offices, Merrial Street, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, ST5 2AG

Contact: Julia Cleary 

Items
No. Item

2.

Apologies

Minutes:

Apologies were received from Councillor Northcott.

1.

Declarations of Interest

Minutes:

Councillor Loades declared the following interests:

He was a Shadow Governor on the UHNS Board

A Member of North Staffs CPAG

A Member of Health Watch

A Member of the County Healthy Staffordshire Select Committee.

2.

Minutes of the Previous Meeting pdf icon PDF 39 KB

To agree as a true record the minutes of the meeting held on Wednesday 9 July 2014

Minutes:

Resolved:     That the minutes of the previous meeting held on Wednesday 9th July be agreed as a correct record.

3.

Minutes from the Healthy Staffordshire Select Committee (11.08.14) pdf icon PDF 20 KB

The minutes have not yet been finalised.  Please use the Digest attached until they are published

Minutes:

Resolved:     That the minutes be noted.

4.

Clinical Commissioning Group Urgent Care Strategy pdf icon PDF 275 KB

A presentation will be carried out by Marcus Warnes (Chief Operating Officer).  Presentations are limited to 10 minutes as per the Council’s Constitution.

 

Members are requested, where possible, to submit any questions to Justine Tait before Friday 19 September 2014

 

An updated copy of the North Staffordshire Clinical Commissioning Group Urgent Care Strategy will be forwarded prior to the meeting.

 

Minutes:

A presentation was given by Marcus Warnes in relation to the Urgent Care Strategy for North Staffordshire.

 

Mr Warnes stated that the key to achieving the aims of the strategy was primary care but that less than 8% of the current budget was spent on this area. It was estimated that in order to achieve the pre hospital aims, an additional £37.00 per head was required which added up to approximately £20 million. It was fully recognised that if all patients were able to ring up and have a GP appointment that same day then it could make them less likely to go to the A&E department. At the moment the CCG did not commission GP practices but it was thought that this might change in the future.

 

Members considered whether primary care facilities could be located in Accident and Emergency Departments thus allowing many A&E attendees to be seen by a GP. This would also help to educate people as to what conditions GPs could actually treat, such as heart conditions. Mr Warnes stated that this practice was due to commence at the UHNS from 1st October 2014.

 

Mr Warnes also highlighted the emergence of federations of GPs which would allow for economies of scale and might include between 30 to 50 thousand members of the public (or 80,000 for acute services).

 

Members voiced concern regarding the management of social care and domiciliary care packages. Mr Warnes stated that in the past the County Council had in house services to deal with these areas but the way contracts were now awarded made it hard to sort a package of care in some circumstances (such as in rural areas). Travel time and zero hour contracts also proved barriers to the provision of services with patients coming out of hospital with more acute needs which companies were not commissioned to deal with. There was a requirement to make more use of the bundles of care and make them more accessible to patients.

 

Mr Warnes agreed to return to the Committee with an update once the strategy had been agreed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

5.

Hearing Aid Consultation pdf icon PDF 1 MB

Marcus Warnes will be carrying out a second presentation.  Copies to follow.  There is a time limit of 10 minutes to carry out presentations as per the Council’s Constitution

 

Members are requested, where possible, to submit any questions to Justine Tait before Friday 19 September 2014

Minutes:

The Chair welcomed Marcus Warnes, Chief Operating Officer from the North Staffordshire Clinical Commissioning Group and Dr John Harvey to the meeting.

 

Mr Warnes provided a presentation to the Committee in relation to hearing aid provision in North Staffordshire. Mr Warnes emphasised to the Committee that no decision had yet been made nor had any formal consultation been commenced. The CCG sought the views and recommendations of the Committee prior to reporting back to the Commissioning, Finance and Performance Committee on 15th October and to the CCG Governing Board on 5th November 2014.

 

Mr Warnes outlined the commissioning and prioritisation processes and how they were used to identify priorities to ensure that the best use could be made of NHS funds locally and which investments should be made to deliver the best outcomes for patients.

 

The prioritisation process was led by the Clinical Priorities Advisory Group (CPAG) which ranked interventions in order of clinical importance prior to reporting back to the CCG; interventions falling below a certain threshold were not considered for investment and those that were already commissioned were considered for decommissioning.

 

Mr Warnes also provided information regarding the engagement activities that had taken place regarding the hearing aid question and the results that had come from that engagement.

 

Concerns were expressed by Members and the following questions were raised and answers given:

 

1.  That, without a hearing aid, those with mild to moderate hearing loss could, in some cases, feel isolated and lose any sense of pride or achievement – how, therefore, was prevention of future illnesses given a zero rating in the CPAG?

 

Dr Harvey agreed that there was evidence to show that a link existed between an individual’s mental health and hearing loss but there was little or no evidence to show what impact a hearing aid would have on this.

 

2.  How had such a low rating been given to individuals with an existing health problem such as dementia or poor mental health?

 

Again Dr Harvey emphasised the point that it was recognised that there could be an impact on the quality of life for those individuals with mild or moderate hearing loss through having a hearing aid provided, but that it was relatively small to other ranked interventions for other conditions. An enhanced ability to hear did not necessarily reflect in an enhanced quality of life.

 

3.     Had studies not shown that hearing aids did, in fact, help increase the quality of life along with a magnitude of other health benefits?

 

Dr Harvey stated that he was not aware of any studies that had proven this. The CCG had reviewed a number of studies carried out in the USA by audiologists, which showed that those with more severe hearing loss benefited most from intervention and that the CCG had based its prioritisation on this scientific evidence.

 

4.     Was it surprising that a response to the engagement had been received from across the entire country?

 

Mr Warnes stated that this was not unexpected  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

6.

North Staffordshire Clinical Commissioning Group Briefing Paper pdf icon PDF 96 KB

Attached is a Briefing on the proposals for decommissioning funding of hearing aids for adults with mild to moderate hearing loss

Minutes:

Resolved:     That the briefing paper be noted.

7.

Healthwatch, Staffordshire pdf icon PDF 69 KB

Attached is an update on the GP access project, information on volunteer recruitment and a summary of what Healthwatch has done recently in Newcastle-under-Lyme

Minutes:

Resolved:     That the update be noted.