Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED

            That Councillor Mrs C A Talbot be elected as Chairman of the Health Scrutiny Committee for Lincolnshire for 2016/17.

COUNCILLOR MRS C A TALBOT IN THE CHAIR

RESOLVED

          That Councillor C J T H Brewis be elected as Vice-Chairman of the Health Scrutiny Committee for Lincolnshire for 2016/17.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Miss E L Ransome, Mrs S Ransome and Mrs L A Rollings.

Apologies were also received from Gary James, Accountable Officer – Lincolnshire East Clinical Commissioning Group.

The Chairman advised the Committee that, due to personal health reasons, she was now a private patient with Circle Nottingham, Nottingham NHS Treatment Centre, Nottingham.

There were no other Declarations of Members' Interests at this stage of the proceedings.

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the Committee and made the following announcements:-

i)          Membership

The Chairman reported that West Lindsey District Council had appointed Councillor Mrs Lesley Rollings as its representative on the Committee in place of Councillor David Bond for 2016/17.  The Committee was advised that Councillor Mrs Rollings was also a County Councillor for Scotter Rural.  Councillor Angela White remained the replacement member for Councillor Mrs Rollings.

Three further changes had been made to replacement members for District Councillors:-

·       Councillor Jane Loffhagen for City of Lincoln Council (as previously reported);

·       Councillor Stephen Woodliffe for Boston Borough Council; and

·       Councillor Neil Jones for East Lindsey District Council.

The Chairman also encouraged Members to send the replacement member to a meeting if they were unable to attend themselves to ensure their district was represented.  The substantive member was asked to ensure that the replacement has the papers for the meeting. 

ii)         Community Pharmacy in 2016/17 and Beyond

The Chairman confirmed that a letter had been written to the Secretary of State for Health on behalf of the Committee on the topic of Community Pharmacy in 2016/17 and Beyond.  The letter had also been copied to the Rt Hon Alistair Burt MP, Minister of State for Community and Social Care, and all Lincolnshire Members of Parliament. 

The Chairman reported that a reply had been received from Alistair Burt MP which referred to the introduction of a Pharmacy Access Scheme which would provide more NHS funds to pharmacies on the basis of health needs of the local population and the location.  It was also stated within the response that the Department of Health was unable to assess which pharmacies would close as they were unaware of the financial viability of individual businesses.

At the last meeting, the Committee was advised of a petition on the Parliament website entitled "Community Pharmacy in 2016/17 and Beyond".  Currently, there were 64,464 signatures which meant it was unlikely that the petition would reach the threshold of 100,000 required to trigger a debate in Parliament by the deadline of 29 June 2016.

The detail of the relationship between the Department of Health and Community Pharmacists remained unclear to the Committee.  The Health Scrutiny Officer suggested that the information presented to the Lincolnshire Health and Wellbeing Board at their meeting in May 2016 be circulated to the Committee as this went some way to explain that relationship.

iii)       Quality Accounts Working Group

The most recent meeting of the Quality Accounts Working Group took place on 14 June 2016 to consider the Quality Account of United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust (ULHT), a statement for which would be drafted and finalised by 20 June 2016.

The Quality Accounts for Boston West Hospital and St Barnabas Hospice both required consideration before the process was complete.

At the July meeting the Committee would be considering a report which would include all the statements together with the priorities of providers for the forthcoming year.  This information would be used to inform  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

RESOLVED

          That the minutes of the meeting of the Health Scrutiny Committee for Lincolnshire held on 18 May 2016 be approved and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

(To receive a report by Dr Kieran Sharrock, Medical Director of the Lincolnshire Local Medical Committee, on the shortage of GPs working to serve the population of Lincolnshire)

Prior to giving consideration to this item, the Chairman advised that two press articles had been published on this topic since the last meeting of the Committee:-

1.   "GPs to be offered £8,000 incentive to come and work at struggling practices in Lincolnshire" – this article reported that under proposals from NHS England, practices who could prove that they have had difficulties with recruitment would be able to offer up to £8,000 to prospective GPs which included estate agent fees, rental costs and the cost of boarding school fees; and

2.   "NHS to fly in GPs from across the world to combat staff shortages in Lincolnshire" – this article reported that Lincolnshire was to take part in a national pilot to recruit doctors from across the world to fill gaps in the county's health service.  This would include experts from Poland, Spain and Romania.

The Chairman also reported that the Councillor Mrs S Woolley had written to the MP for Boston and Skegness in her role as Chairman of the Lincolnshire Health and Wellbeing Board.  The MP was asked to consider the possibility to offer tax incentives to those GPs coming to Lincolnshire rather than offering more money, as suggested in recent press articles, as it was thought this method would not guarantee success.

A report by Dr Kieran Sharrock (Medical Director – Lincolnshire Local Medical Committee) was considered which provided information on the shortage of GPs working to serve the population of Lincolnshire.

Dr Kieran Sharrock (Medical Director – Lincolnshire Local Medical Committee) and Debra Burley (Chief Executive – Lincolnshire Local Medical Committee) were in attendance for this item of business.

There was an increasing crisis in General Practice nationally and this was predominant in Lincolnshire.  415 GPs were required to serve the population but only 340 were in post, leaving a shortfall of 75 GPs.  This led to a shortage of GP appointments which then put additional pressure on other healthcare providers or, in a lot of cases, patients received no care at all.

It was reported that the workload for general practice had expanded dramatically over recent years and, in ten years patients presenting at their GPs had doubled with the average patient attending the surgery eight times per year.  The increase in workload was due to:-

1.    An ageing population who had more long term conditions such as diabetes, lung disease and heart disease;

2.    Conditions which were traditionally managed in hospitals were now managed within general practice; and

3.    Patient demand for immediate access which was often inappropriate.

Practices continued to transform ways of working by forming larger groups of practices to work collaboratively.  They also employed alternative health professionals, including pharmacists, nurses, paramedics and physiotherapists, to provide care in a different way.  This could only partially replace the unique role of the GP, however.

Recruitment of GPs from other parts of the UK would help but would not help the crisis overall therefore recruitment from outside the UK was thought to be the only  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

(To receive a report by Simon Evans, Health Scrutiny Officer, which invites the Committee to consider its work programme for the coming months)

The Committee considered its work programme for forthcoming meetings.

At 12.15pm, Councillor T M Trollope-Bellew and Dr B Wookey left the meeting and did not return.

During the meeting it had been suggested to add the Lincolnshire Recovery Programme Update to the agenda for the meeting of the Committee scheduled for 20 July 2016.  It was explained that, as regulators, it was not within the Committee's powers to require attendance from NHS Improvement (formerly Monitor and the Trust Development Authority) but that a request for their attendance would be made for the July meeting.

In relation to the item relating to Community Pharmacies it was agreed that the Chairman would write to the Minister of State, making reference to the issue of whether these proposals were a substantial variation.

RESOLVED

          That the contents of the work programme be approved, with the following addition for July 2016:-

1.    Lincolnshire Recovery Programme Update