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;
· Campaigners prepare to take legal action in fight for South Tyneside Hospital – Evening Chronicle 12 December 2017
Campaigners were preparing to mount a legal challenge in their fight for the future of South Tyneside Hospital. The Save South Tyneside Hospital campaign group was crowdfunding for a judicial review into proposed cuts to urgent and emergency paediatrics, stroke services and maternity and gynaecology. A spokesman for the group, said the decision to temporarily close the hospital’s special care baby unit (SCBU) had made the campaign even more urgent.
· NHS workforce 'at crunch point‘ – BBC Website – 19 December 2017
The UK's medical profession was at a "crunch point", facing the prospect of too few doctors to treat rising numbers of patients, the regulator says.
The General Medical Council said that the supply of medics had failed to keep up with demand and warned against the over-reliance on overseas staff post-Brexit. The GMC's Charlie Massey called it a "crucial moment" for UK healthcare. It came despite government promises in England to increase the number of doctors in training. The annual report by the GMC highlights four areas of concern:
o Supply of new doctors into the UK has not kept up with demand
o A dependence on non-UK qualified doctors in some specialist areas
o The risk of some overseas doctors being put off working in the UK after Brexit
o An ongoing strain on doctors in training
· GP admits to being under severe pressure to care for patients as NHS winter crisis bites – Evening Chronicle 4 January 2018
NHS services were under immense pressure as they struggled to cope with the surge in patients, health chiefs say. The NHS was reeling as a GP admitted to being under the most intense strain to care for patients in almost two decades.
Hospitals’ inability to cope with the demand for care had left tens of thousands of patients across the country having their pre-planned operations or routine outpatient appointments delayed.
· GP referral scheme extended for further year in north Durham – Northern Echo 17 January 2018
An NHS scheme using private companies to assess GP referrals for specialist treatment was set to be extended by a further 12 months following an assessment which found it has saved almost £1m.
North Durham Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) had extended its pilot project following an assessment of its Rapid Specialist Opinion (RSO) scheme, which saw GP referrals assessed by a private company called About Health before patients were given further appointments for specialist treatment.
It followed a 12-month assessment of the pilot, which was due to end in March, which the CCG says did not identify any significant adverse clinical outcomes, while there had been a 13 per cent reduction in the number of inappropriate referrals.