Minutes:
The Principal Overview and Scrutiny Officer provided the Committee with a presentation of the following press articles which related to the remit of the Adults, Wellbeing and Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee;
· GPs to offer more appointments as decision made to close urgent care centres during the day – Northern Echo 13/09/16
GP opening hours would be extended and it would be easier to get same day appointments as part of a shake-up in how urgent care is provided across parts of County Durham. Urgent care centres, which are staffed by GPs, in Bishop Auckland and Peterlee will no longer provide services during the day but will still cover out-of-hours appointments, while nurse-led minor injury units will still open for 24 hours a day.
· Four in 10 children not going to dentist, NHS figures show – BBC Website 23/09/16
More than 40% of children in England did not see a dentist last year, NHS statistics show. The figure for the North East Region was not as bad as elsewhere in the Country.
· Hospital ward closure over patient safety risk – Northern Echo 30/09/16
An inpatient ward at Shotley Bridge Hospital was closed after health bosses revealed problems with the water supply were putting patients at risk.
• Hunt for three million 'ghost' patients – BBC Website 27/09/16
As of March 2016, there were just over 57 million patients on GPs' books however, official census data suggests the correct figure should be about 54 million. Some of the discrepancy is due to patients who have died or left the country have not been removed from GP lists. NHS England has already announced new rules to find and remove these "ghost" patients.
• Hospital bosses address rumours of potential A&E closures in North Yorkshire and Darlington – Northern Echo 15/09/16
Concerns were raised over the possible plans to close Northallerton’s Friarage Hospital A&E department – but the health trust said the service was set to be changed in a pilot scheme bringing in GPs to give extra support. There were ongoing concerns in respect of the future of Darlington Memorial Hospital’s A&E department that were being addressed through the Better Health Programme.
Councillor P Brookes expressed concern over a recent article in the Northern Echo about the cutting back of x-ray services at Sedgefield Community Hospital.
Councillor O Temple referred to the recent article about Shotley Bridge Hospital and said how important it was to receive these updates as soon as possible. The Chairman referred to similar problems at Trimdon but said that assurances had been given that the community hospital was not closing. He asked that the Chief Executive of County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust come back to Committee with an in-depth report.
The Chief Executive of County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust said that as the CCGs were reviewing all community services she felt that it would be appropriate to come back to a future meeting.
Councillor Brookes said that would be welcomed and sought clarity on whether there would be a combined CCG headquarters.
The Chief Executive said the hours of when the radiology department would be opened at Sedgefield had been modified. It would allow the hospital to deal with as many patients as possible with the slots and sessions available being filled. This way the hospital would make better use of this scarce resource.
With regards to Shotley Bridge, the Chief Executive advised that the risk to patients and staff was too great to keep it open following the water leak. To evacuate 1 person at night would take 8 minutes and there could be up to 16 patients on the ward. The Trust were working closely with NHS Property Services and discussions were ongoing.
Resolved:
That an update report regarding the future service provision across County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust’s Community Hospital sites within the context of the ongoing review of Community services being undertaken jointly between CDD NHSFT and Clinical Commissioning Groups be brought to an early future meeting of the Committee.