Agenda item

(To receive a verbal update from John Turner (Chief Officer South Lincolnshire Clinical Commissioning Group) on the NHS England Long Term Plan and the Lincolnshire Sustainability and Transformation Partnership)

The Lincolnshire Health and Wellbeing Board received an update from John Turner, the Executive Lead for Lincolnshire for the STP, which provided an overview of what was going on in the NHS both nationally and locally.

It was thought that national NHS long term plan would have been published by now, however it seemed to have been caught up in the ambiguity around the current national picture.

It had been recently announced that there would be a 3.4% uplift of the NHS budget for the next five years, and CCG's would be expecting to receive their five year allocations over the coming few weeks.  It was reported that the Secretary of State had identified three priorities which were expected to be picked up in the long term plan and were as follows:

·         Prevention

·         Workforce – it was acknowledged that there issues with NHS workforce across the country as there were 100,000 vacancies

·         Use of IMT and digital technology

It was also noted that a number of clinical priorities would follow, and were expected to be around cancer, mental health, cardiovascular and respiratory disease and diabetes.

It was expected that an integrated care system would be developed as part of the STP, with some features being relatively new but some would be a return to a common sense approach to working together in a joined up way.

There was an expectation of stronger and more effective partnership working between the NHS and local authorities across the country.  It was noted that a letter had been sent to all chairs of Health and Wellbeing Boards in relation to the long term plan.

There would be a requirement to have an open discussion with the public and their representatives and staff about the issues and how they were going to be addressed locally.  There was a need for certainty in order to be able to start moving forward.

It was noted that the Board would be aware that the current regime in the health service was that CCG's were accountable to NHS England, who was then accountable to NHS Improvement.  It had been suggested that this needed serious attention.  New regional directors had been announced and this information was now in the public domain.

Locally, planning for 2019/2020 was underway, and a lot of planning guidance had been received, and it was expected that 'system integration' would be the key term to expect.

Districts and CCG's were working together in an open book way, and had an intention for a shared system.  The issue would be how would the systems be maintained and developed for the populations they serve.  There was a need to reach a point of clarity by 14 January 2019.  It was about ensuring that as much care as possible could be provided in the home so a person's requirement to attend hospital would be minimised.

CCG's would be required to make savings by 2021, and many of these would be in the back office and administration areas.

It was acknowledged that there would be a challenge and significant issues around quality workforce and funding.  There was a need to integrate community care and local services.  In terms of population health management, work was underway to proactively manage the health of the population, mainly around diabetes and frailty.

The Health and Wellbeing Board would be aware that an acute services review was being undertaken and it was noted that a lot of work had been circulated internally.  An assurance process was being undertaken on NHS England.  This would be a full and open public consultation process and should be taking place in early summer 2019.

Members were provided with the opportunity to ask questions to the officers present in relation to the update provided and some of the points raised during discussion included the following:

·         It was reported that problems had been experienced in getting representatives from the NHS to attend meetings of the Health and Housing Delivery Group.  It was noted that numerous people had been invited.  Members were advised that this information would be taken back to NHS colleagues.

·         It was commented that housing was fundamental, and there was a need for new houses to be built and for the infrastructure to accompany it.

·         The news of the senior management teams at CCG's combining was welcomed.

·         It was queried what progress had been made with neighbourhood teams, and it was noted that work had continued quietly.  There had been a huge amount of development on the ground and a lot of work had taken place.  There were 3-4 teams which were well developed and were making significant changes and having an impact on the population they served.  The Spalding neighbourhood team was an example of a difference could be made to people leaving hospital.  It was also noted that the Lincoln South team had done some impressive work supporting people in care homes.

·         It was queried whether an invitation would be open for Councillor Worth to meet with the team with in Spalding, and it was confirmed that this would be welcomed.  It was suggested that it may be useful for the Board to have a report on this in the future.

RESOLVED

            That the update be noted.