Agenda and minutes

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 17 January 2022.

The Minutes (copies of which had been circulated) of the meeting held on 17 January 2022 were approved as a correct record.

Councillors and officers to declare any interests which they have in any of the items on the agenda for the meeting.

Councillors and officers were invited to declare any interest which they had in any of the items on the agenda for the meeting.

No declarations were made.

To consider a report of the Head of Primary Care, Greater Manchester Health & Social Care Partnership.

The report outlines the context of Primary Care Access and provides an update on the NHS Long Term Plan.

The Panel is requested to note and comment on the report.

Officer Contact: Ben Squires, email: ben.squires@nhs.net

The Head of Primary Care, Greater Manchester Health & Social Care Partnership, submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) which outlined the context of Primary Care Access and provided an update on the NHS Long Term Plan.

The following comments were made/ issues raised:-

·         Requested a list of the Primary Care Networks (PCN) in Stockport and the practices included.

·         Noted the importance of initiatives to keep patients healthy to alleviate the pressures on services and queried the programmes offered to achieve this.

·         In response, it was stated that the ethos of the Greater Manchester Health & Social Care Partnership was moving into preventative work as opposed to reacting to illness.

·         Welcomed the focus on general mental health and wellbeing and noted the impact of the pandemic which had resulted in an increase in mental health related appointments.

·         Welcomed the option of telephone and online appointments for residents and recognised the merits of both face to face and virtual appointments.

·         That Members had received positive feedback from the public relating to the PCN and the vaccine roll out.

·         Acknowledged the benefits of collaborative working through the PCN and noted the impact of the pandemic in relation to the development of this work.

·         Queried how patients were able to access the out of hours appointments.

·         In response it was stated that whilst the daytime appointments were being used to capacity, the out of hours appointments including weekends and evenings were underused. Patients were able to book these appointments through their GP as the reception staff had access to diaries across the hubs.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

To consider a report of the Medical Director, Stockport CCG.

The report outlines the Primary Care Access data and provides an update on the impact of COVID-19 on Stockport General Practice.

The Panel is requested to note and comment on the report.

Officer Contact: Dr Simon Woodworth, email: simon.woodworth@nhs.net

The Medical Director, Stockport CCG, submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) which outlined the context of Primary Care Access and provided an update on the NHS Long Term Plan.

The following comments were made/ issues raised:-

·         Thanked the officers for their detailed presentation and data figures.

·         Recognised that a significant proportion of appointments were not necessary to be face to face, although felt patients should be given the option.

·         That the data was not reflective of the constituent feedback that Members were receiving.

·         It was stated that there were capacity issues in relation to same day appointments including emergency appointments which were limited and that patients would be asked to wait for an appointment if their reason for booking an appointment did not constitute an emergency.

·         That some residents when requesting an emergency appointment were not comfortable sharing condition details with the reception staff as they were not trained medical professionals.

·         In response, it was stated that the reception staff were not trying to triage appointments, they were gathering information to ensure that the patient was seen by the most appropriate member of staff.

·         It was noted that reception staff in all practice should have access to ongoing training to support them in handing patient queries.

·         That some practices and patients require IT support in order to effectively access services through the My GP app.

·         That a significant proportion of young people valued and preferred telephone appointments.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

To consider a report of the Information Management & Technology Lead, Stockport CCG.

The report provides an update on the service improvements over the last two years with a focus on how this has benefited patient care/access and highlights the issue of digital exclusion and how this is being addressed.

The Panel is requested to note and comment on the report.

Officer Contact: Peter Laven, email: p.laven@nhs.net

The Information Management & Technology Lead, Stockport CCG, submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) which provided an update on the service improvements over the last two years with a focus on how this has benefited patient care/access and highlights the issue of digital exclusion and how this is being addressed.

The following comments were made/ issues raised:-

·         Raised concerns in relation to the elderly population in Stockport who did not have access to digital services.

·         In response it was stated that it was hoped that by encouraging the use of alternative access methods, it would improve capacity and availability of the original methods for those who required them.

·         Whether the use of digital facilitators and the voluntary sector could be used to support people in accessing digital services.

·         In response Members were informed that currently the digital facilitators were designed to support GP based staff as opposed to patients. However, there was ongoing support provided by the council relating to digital inclusion.

·         Welcome GP and patients embracing digital technologies and acknowledged the benefits that it provided, however noted that a number of individuals who were not digitally confident were excluded from these benefits.

·         Requested assurance in relation to the security of sensitive patient data through the use of online systems.

·         In response it was stated that there was little influence at a local level in relation to individual systems as practices were required to use systems which were preapproved by NHS England and compliant with governance standards.  

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

To receive an update from representatives of General Practices from across Stockport.

Representatives of General Practices from across Stockport submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) which outlined their General Practice experiences.

The following comments were made/ issues raised:-

·         Thanked the doctors for their attendance and welcomed their honesty.

·         Suggested use of other public sector estate owned by the council or the housing providers, particularly for non-clinical activities, as a possible short-term measure to allow primary care support to expand more quickly.

·         Noted the impact that secondary care wait times was having on GP resources, appoints and patient relationships.

·         Recognised the significant pressures that GP’s faced and impact that this had on the recruitment and retention of staff and overall staff morale.

·         Members were invited to spend a day in a local GP to understand how difficult staff were finding it to manage the workload.

·         Expressed concerns on behalf of staff following the horrific personal accounts of abuse that staff had faced by the public and stressed the importance of strong communications with the wider public which the council could support to help prevent this.

·         Requested that the council support the GPs to produce and share effective media communications to support preventative work and help them identify the signs off ill health as soon as possible.

·         Offered the support of local Councillors to share their media messaging.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

To consider a report of the Chief Officer, Healthwatch.

The report provides an update on the progress of the surveys being conducted by Healthwatch including preliminary findings and examples of feedback.

The Panel is requested to note and comment on the report.

Officer contact: Maria Kildunne, email: maria@healthwatchstockport.co.uk

The Chief Officer, Healthwatch, submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) which provided an update on the progress of the surveys being conducted by Healthwatch including preliminary findings and examples of feedback.

The following comments were made/ issues raised:-

·         Noted the variance between the responses and the disparity between those accessing health services via telephone, however happy to access appointments via digital means.

·         Commented on the importance of inclusion and providing paper copies of the survey to residents who do not have the means or skills to complete the digital survey.

·         Thanked Healthwatch for the valuable work that they provide.

·         Welcomed the survey and noted the importance of using patient feedback to improve practices.

·         Suggested that Stockport Healthwatch should make the full findings of their patient access survey available to the local NHS, including anonymised ‘free text’ comments, so that the findings could be further analysed and used to identify changes to patient access that GP surgeries need to consider.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

To consider a report of the Head of Communications and Engagement, Stockport CCG.

The report outlines the communication on General Practice Access.

The Panel is requested to note and comment on the report.

Officer contact: Andrea Harper, email: andrea.harper2@nhs.net

The Head of Communications and Engagement, Stockport CCG, submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) which outlines the communication on General Practice Access.

The following comments were made/ issues raised:-

·         Welcomed the volume of information that was being shared by GPs and variety of channels that were being used.

·         Thanked the CCG for their well-received and important communications during the pandemic

·         Raised concerns in relation to those who were digitally excluded and unable to access such methods of communication.

·         Offered the support of local Councillors in sharing the messaging of GP and suggested that the council may be able to provide additional support.

·         It was noted that there were very limited communications from each individual GP practice and suggested that this be explored in the future.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

To consider a report of the Deputy Finance Officer, Stockport CCG.

The report provides an update on the Stockport General Practice Estates.

The Panel is requested to note and comment on the report.

Officer contact: David Dolman, email: david.dolman@nhs.net

The Deputy Finance Officer, Stockport CCG, submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) which provided an update on the Stockport General Practice Estates.

The following comments were made/ issues raised:-

·         Noted the constraints that a lack of estates caused for primary care services.

·         Whether the council and CCG could explore an online booking system to allow the NHS access to council owned buildings to overcome the challenges that were currently posed by the issues with the primary care estate.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

To consider a report of the Senior Commissioning Manager, Stockport CCG.

The report provides an update on the Stockport Winter Access Fund Programme.

The Panel is requested to note and comment on the report.

Officer contact: Gale Edwards, email: gale.edwards@nhs.net

The Senior Commissioning Manager, Stockport CCG, submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) which provided an update on the Stockport Winter Access Fund Programme.

The following comments were made/ issues raised:-

·         Requested information in relation to how Bramhall and Cheadle Hulme PCN were providing the Winter Access Fund Programme.

·         In response it was stated that Stockport had a GP Federation which incorporated all the PCNs within the borough, however to offer this was subject to having the available resource. At this time, Bramhall and Cheadle Hulme was struggling with capacity so to provide the service they were using the GP Federation who had their own pool of GPs for additional capacity during the week and weekends. Although it was noted that estates and lack of capacity continued to be a challenge.

·         Acknowledged the impact that a shortage of GPs and workload was having on the programme being delivered.

·         Expressed concerns in relation to the increase in residents taking out personal loans to access private healthcare.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

To consider a report of the Associate Director of Commissioning, Stockport CCG.

The report outlines the wider commissioning of Primary Care Access and access for vulnerable groups.

The Panel is requested to note and comment on the report.

Officer contact: Gillian Miller, email: gillianmiller2@nhs.net

The Associate Director of Commissioning, Stockport CCG, submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) which outlined the wider commissioning of Primary Care Access and access for vulnerable groups.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

To consider a report of the Head of Primary Care, Greater Manchester Health & Social Care Partnership.

The report provides an update on the support available to the Primary Care Workforce including the GM Primary Care Workforce Health and Wellbeing pilot.

The Panel is requested to note and comment on the report.

Officer contact: Ben Squires, email: ben.squires@nhs.net and Gail Henshaw, email: gail.henshaw@nhs.net

The Head of Primary Care, Greater Manchester Health & Social Care Partnership, submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) which provided an update on the support available to the Primary Care Workforce including the GM Primary Care Workforce Health and Wellbeing pilot.

The following comments were made/ issues raised:-

·         That the GP excellence programme had been integral to the wellbeing offer to staff during the pandemic.

·         Noted that staff had reported offering peer to colleagues in their personal time and felt that this should be recognised.

·         Commented on the importance that a variety of good wellbeing support was available to primary care staff.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

To agree the date for the next meeting of the review.

The Panel was invited to consider the date for the next meeting of the review to discuss the information presented, formulate recommendations and draft the final review report.

RESOLVED – That the Strategic Head of Service & Monitoring Officer (Legal and Democratic Governance) be authorised to determine the date for the next meeting of the Review Panel in consultation with the Chair.