Agenda item

(To receive a report from Simon Evans (Health Scrutiny Officer) which provides information on the NHS publication "Delivering the Forward View:  NHS Planning Guidance 2016/17 – 2020/21" published on 22 December 2015 and intended for Commissioners, NHS trusts and NHS foundation trusts)

A report by Simon Evans (Health Scrutiny Officer) was considered which provided information on the NHS publication "Delivering the Forward View: NHS Planning Guidance 2016/17 – 2020/21" published on 22 December 2015 and intended for Commissioners, NHS trusts and NHS foundation trusts.

Members were given an overview of the guidance which had been prepared by NHS England, NHS Improvement (Monitor and the Trust Development Authority), the Care Quality Commission, Health Education England, the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence and Public Health England.  Building on the NHS Five Year Forward View required two connected plans from the local NHS:-

·       A five year Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP)

·       A one year Operational Plan for 2016/17

The guidance also stated that the planning process had been put forward to execute three independent tasks:-

·       Implementing the Five Year Forward View;

·       Restoring and maintaining financial balance; and

·       Delivering core access and quality standards for patients.

The link for the full document was:-

https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/planning-guid-16-17-20-21.pdf

The nine 'must do's' for 2016/17 for every local system were:-

1.    Develop a high quality and agreed STP, and subsequently achieve what was determined as the most locally critical milestones for accelerating progress in 2016/17 towards achieving the triple aim as set out in the Forward View;

2.    Return the system to aggregate financial balance. This included secondary care providers delivering efficiency savings through actively engaging with the Lord Carter provider productivity work programme and complying with the maximum total agency spend and hourly rates set out by NHS Improvement.  CCGs would additionally be expected to deliver savings by tackling unwarranted variation in demand through implementing the RightCare programme in every locality;

3.    Develop and implement a local plan to address the sustainability and quality of general practice, including workforce and workload issues;

4.    Get back on track with access standards for A&E and ambulance waits, ensuring more than 95% of patients wait no more than four hours in A&E, and that all ambulance trusts respond to 75% of Category A calls within eight minutes; including through making progress in implementing the urgent and emergency care review and associated ambulance standard pilots;

5.    Improvement against the maintenance of the NHS Constitution standards that more than 92% of patients on non-emergency pathways should wait no more than 18 weeks from referral to treatment, including offering patient choice;

6.    Deliver the NHS Constitution 62 day cancer waiting standard, including by securing adequate diagnostic capacity; continue to deliver the constitutional two week and 31 day cancer standards and make progress in improving one-year survival rates by delivering a year-on-year improvement in the proportion of cancers diagnosed at stage one and stage two; and reducing the proportion of cancers diagnosed following an emergency admission;

7.    Achieve and maintain the two new mental health access standards:  more than 50% of people experiencing a first episode of psychosis would commence treatment with a NICE approved care package within two weeks of referral; 75% of people with common mental health conditions referred to the Improved Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme would be treated within six weeks of referral, with 95% treated within 18 weeks.  Continue to meet a dementia diagnosis rate of at least two-thirds of the estimated number of people with dementia;

8.    Deliver actions set out in local plans to transform care for people with learning disabilities, including implementing enhanced community provision, reducing inpatient capacity, and rollout out care and treatment reviews in line with published policy; and

9.    Develop and implement an affordable plan to make improvements in quality particularly for organisations in special measures.  In addition, providers are required to participate in the annual publication of avoidable mortality rates by individual trusts.

To support long-term planning, NHS England had set firm three year allocations for CCGs, followed by two indicative years.  For 2016/17, CCG allocations would rise by an average of 3.4% and the report outlined the promise that no CCG would be more than 5% below its target funding level.

During 2016/17 the NHS trust and foundation trust sector would be required to return to financial balance. £1.8 billion of income from the 2016/17 Sustainability and Transformation Fund would replace direct Department of Health (DH) funding.  Quarterly release of these Sustainability Funds to trusts and foundation trusts would depend on achieving recovery milestones for:-

·       Deficit reduction;

·       Access standards; and

·       Progress on transformation

Members were invited to ask questions, during which the following points were noted:-

·       It was requested that the Health Scrutiny Officer email the full guidance document to the members of the Committee;

·       The Chairman requested volunteers for a working group of the Committee to further consider this document and the implications for Lincolnshire.  Initial came from the Chairman, Vice-Chairman and Councillors J M Renshaw, S M Wray, R C Kirk and S L W Palmer.

RESOLVED

          That the report and comments be noted.