Agenda item

West Sussex Winter Plan

Report by West Sussex Clinical Commissioning Groups.

 

The report outlines the winter plans for the health and social care systems across West Sussex.

Minutes:

29.1   The Committee considered a report by the West Sussex clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) which was introduced by Pennie Ford, interim Executive Managing Director representing the West Sussex CCGs who highlighted the following points: -

 

·         The objective of the winter plan was to keep patients and staff safe during times of extra pressure, using a partnership approach across the health and social care systems and to meet demand, including surges of activity

·         All the local accident & emergency (A&E) delivery boards had been involved in developing the plan which had then been approved by internal scrutiny, governing bodies, providers and the Health & Wellbeing Board and had gained the assurance of NHS England and NHS Improvement

·         The plan was constantly monitored and reviewed

·         The key points were lessons from previous years, main service changes, actions for winter and focussing on caring for people at home

·         Key initiatives were operating the ‘Home First’ model, co-locating urgent treatment centres with A&E departments, encouraging flu vaccinations and a refreshed communications campaign that included encouraging people to get their prescriptions in good time

·         Risks and challenges were national and local pressures on the system -  West Sussex acute hospitals were performing well compared to others around the country

·         Access to GPs had been improved to cope with large numbers of expected patients that present themselves to A&E

·         Ambulance conveyance patterns had been reviewed

·         NHS England was assisting to find best practice solutions to the problem of people staying in hospitals longer than necessary

 

29.2   Summary of responses to the Committee’s questions and

comments: -

 

·         There were cold weather business continuity plans that included using four wheeled drive vehicles to transport patients and staff

·         Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust encouraged its staff to go to the nearest Trust location if they couldn’t get to their usual place of work

·         The Council was aware of care providers’ winter plans and had its own detailed plans for social care teams

·         The flu vaccination take-up rate for staff at Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust was currently 52% against a target of 80% - social media was used to encourage staff to be vaccinated and there were weekend and evening opportunities to make this easier

·         Under NHS contracts it was not compulsory for staff to be vaccinated against flu

·         Flu vaccination rates for the over 65s and vulnerable groups in West Sussex was above average – in the Coastal West Sussex area the rate had improved from 44% last year to 62.7% at present

·         There were local and international recruitment campaigns with temporary staff being used when needed

·         The vacancy rate for nursing staff was 10% - ACTION: Pennie Ford to provide the Committee with the vacancy rates for ancillary and medical staff across the Trusts treating West Sussex residents

·         Additional nurses would support the extra adult patient beds to be introduced for winter

·         Acute hospitals had mental health liaison teams to help with an increase over winter of admissions of patients with mental health problems

·         Primary care capacity (including out of hours and pharmacies) was part of the winter plan

·         NHS 111 would be able to book people into primary care as part of the new arrangements with urgent treatment centres

·         The £3.3m from the Council towards NHS winter planning was ring-fenced – ACTION: Kim Curry to provide the Committee with a breakdown of how the £3.3m Council funding for NHS winter planning is spent

·         Specific communication was aimed at groups most likely to use A&E over winter 

·         Key performance indicators and statistics to be included in future winter plan reports

·         The local NHS would consider the consequences of GPs not making home visits when this policy was implemented

·         A sense of the percentage uplift in blocks of care and support at home that would be provided over winter was requested. ACTION: Chris Clark to provide this information to the Committee

·         Home First would help meet the 40% reduction target in long hospital stays, there would also be emphasis on ambulatory care and reablement

·         To reduce the number of people presenting at A&E departments the communications strategy would encourage people to seek advice from NHS 111 – there would also be more GP provision in A&E departments

·         Parts of the Clinical Assessment Service were already in place with the full model being operational from April 2020

 

29.2   Resolved – that the Committee: -

 

  1. Is partially assured that the winter plan across the health and social care system is comprehensive and regularly monitored and that there are sufficient continuity plans in place for individual partner organisations if there are adverse weather conditions
  2. Is concerned at the current level of take-up of the flu vaccine for frontline staff and that work continues to increase the take-up
  3. Recognises the plans to increase bed capacity, but is concerned about the need for a consistent workforce to support this
  4. Requests that future reports on winter plans include statistics so that the committee can understand any particular trends over the winter period

 

Supporting documents: