Agenda item

To consider a report from Leeds City Council’s Head of Governance and Scrutiny Support introducing a report from the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership that provides an outline of the activity taking place across the Partnership relating to the urgent and emergency care programme.

The Joint Committee received a report from West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership presenting an outline of the activity taking place across the Partnership relating to the urgent and emergency care programme.

The following were in attendance and contributed to the discussions:

-  Keith Wilson – Programme Director (Urgent and Emergency Care), West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership

-  Rod Barnes – Chief Executive, Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust

-  Karen Coleman – Communication and Engagement Lead, West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership

-  Ian Holmes – Director, West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership

The Programme Director (Urgent and Emergency Care), West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership and the Chief Executive, Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust, introduced the report, which included information on the role of the Urgent & Emergency Care Programme Board and the five Accident & Emergency (A&E) Delivery Boards.  The report outlined the following key areas of work within the urgent and emergency work programme:

·  100% of the population to have access to an integrated urgent care Clinical Assessment Service by March 2019

·  Working with CCGs, the GP Out of Hours Service and NHS 111 to increase the number of patients receiving clinical advice.

·  Bookable face to face appointments in Primary Care services through NHS 111 where needed

·  A WY&H campaign – ‘looking out for your neighbours’

·  Identifying and sharing good practice across A&E delivery boards

The Joint Committee was advised of Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust’s recent award of the NHS 111 contract and, through the combined work with the 999 Service, this would help provide access to integrated urgent care clinical assessment service by March 2019. 

Current challenges / risks identified included:

·  Achieving the national target of over 50% of patients receiving clinical advice (where this would be beneficial).  By the end of March 2019, estimated performance would be 47%.

·  National IT issues affecting the successful rollout of direct booking (of primary care appointments) through NHS 111 (where needed).

The Communication and Engagement Lead also provided the Joint Committee with an overview of the “Looking out for our Neighbours” West Yorkshire and Harrogate campaign, due to be launched on 15^th March 2019.

The Joint Committee discussed a number of key issues, including:

·  Overall plans to improve the NHS 111 service and service user’s experience of the service.

·  General workforce and workforce retention issues that may impact on the objectives and desired outcomes of the programme; and the alignment with the overall NHS workforce strategy.

·  The level of support from GPs in order to provide a direct booking facility to primary care from NHS 111 (where needed).

·  Implications of a direct booking facility for branch surgeries.

·  General capacity issues within Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust.

·  Potential safeguarding issues and considerations associated with the ‘Looking out for our neighbours’ campaign. 

·  The level of contingency associated with identifying additional service users (who may be currently ‘unknown’) through the ‘Looking out for our neighbours’ campaign.

Specific matters were identified for further consideration with reports back to the Joint Committee at a future meeting:

·  A review of the outcomes following the roll-out of the expanded NHS 111/999 service, to include consultation with service users to ensure that the patient experience is reflected and reported.

·  A review of the capacity of the expanded NHS 111/999 service, specifically to provide information on the capital and revenue investment to secure delivery of the contract.

Additionally a request to inform all local Councillors when the “Looking out for our neighbours” campaign was to be launched in their wards was noted, along with the offer to share further information with the Joint Committee.

RESOLVED

a)  To note the contents of the report and the comments made during the discussions

b)  To note the intention for the Joint Committee to receive further reports in due course on the following matters:

  i).  A review of the outcomes following the roll-out of the expanded NHS 111/999 service, to include consultation with service users to ensure that the patient experience is reflected and reported.

  ii).  A review of the capacity of the NHS 111/999 service, to include information on the capital and revenue investment.