Issue - meetings

The Panel considered the report of the Chief Executive Officer, NHS Southampton Clinical Commissioning Group, requesting that the Panel consider, and provide feedback on, the current high level draft Southampton Health and Care strategy.

John Richards (Chief Executive Southampton Clinical Commissioning Group) was in attendance and, with the consent of the Chair, addressed the meeting.

It was explained that the Panel had received a high level analysis of the City’s current and future health care challenges.  The analysis had drawn together a number of sources of information including population growth, current health inequalities, disease prevalence, adult social care forecasting and urgent care hospital usage in order to develop a strategy to cope with the future needs of health care provision in the City.

It was further explained that the analysis undertaken was being used to target resources across the City more effectively.  It was noted that the analysis had the benefit of having better quality data than that previously used to inform the current CCG plan. 

It was noted that the draft plan seemed to have a far starker outlook on health issues than the current plan.  The Panel questioned how the CCG had arrived at this position.

The Panel were informed that the data indicated that the level of deprivation was a big factor in indicating the health within an area. It was explained that the data had shown that there was a significant difference in the life expectancy of those from different ends of the social deprivation spectrum.  It also questioned the use of the national comparison figure within the document. 

The Panel stated that the paper circulated did not acknowledge the importance of child health and services linked to education.  The Panel were keen to stress the importance of this and in particular the interaction with parents and children within the first 1000 days of a child’s life. 

It was questioned whether the potential additional usage of the City’s hospital from other areas like the Isle of Wight would have a negative effect on the services offered to the City.  The Panel also reflected upon potential measures to reduce the numbers of patients being admitted to hospital by ambulance including the use of paramedics.

The Panel were advised of the opportunity to attend an engagement event hosted by the CCG on 20^th November 2018. 

RESOLVED that the Panel

(i)  noted the draft of the 5 year strategic plan;

(ii)  questioned why the plan did not include an emphasis on child health; and

(iii)  requested that the supporting data be made available to Panel Members.