Presentations by representatives from each CCG.

The Board welcomed Julie Hunt, Director of Performance Delivery and Dr. Su Xavier, CCG Consultant in Public Health from Dartford, Gravesham and Swanley CCG, who gave a presentation on challenges and strategic priorities; commissioning intentions for 2016/17; the impact and demand Ebbsfleet Garden City would have on health care services and statistics in relation to Swanley.

The Director of Performance Delivery  advised that CCG’s priorities for 2015 – 2017 were  linked to Kent Health and Wellbeing Board outcomes.  Other specific CCG priorities included bringing together geographical teams to work together with patients through Integrated Primary Care Teams and Integrated Discharge Teams and  reducing the number of people requiring emergency hospital care. Paramedic Practitioners to work alongside GP surgeries to carry out the GP home visits to free up GP time and reduce the amount of being admitted to hospital had also been introduced.  They have also introduced a paramedic practitioners to work alongside GP surgeries, they carry out the GP home visits to free up GP time and reduce the amount of people being admitted to hospital.  In April 2016 a review of urgent care and out-of-hours services would be undertaken to enable services to be more accessible.

An increase of 50,000 people was expected as part of the Ebbsfleet development over the next 15 years which would impact funding and services. The London Paramount development would also have an impact on budgets as it was predicted there could be 90,000 visitors a day and not additional funding for those visitors used the local health services.

The biggest challenge facing the CCG was funding that had not yet been secured, but in the three years that the CCG has been in operation, a lot had been achieved and the transformation of services was crucial for sustainability through partnership working.

In response to questions, the CCG consultant advised that it was difficult to show outcomes from investing in preventative measures but through partnership working with Health and Wellbeing Boards and other voluntary sectors it was hoped this would be improved.

The Board thanked Julie and Su for attending and agreed the CCG should be invited to a future meeting to discuss the work on preventative measures.

The Board welcomed Dr. Bob Bowes Chairman of the West Kent CCG who gave a presentation on West Kent’s CCG priorities and commissioning of services. He advised that both the Council and the CCG had similar priorities in relation to health such as obesity, mental health, older people and alcoholism. Health inequality was a problem and some areas had very deprived streets compared to other more affluent streets. Similarly to Dartford, Gravesham and Swanley CCG a key focus was keeping people in their homes rather than in hospital and to streamline processes for hospital visits.

In response to a question, the Chairman of West Kent CCG advised that there was not always a take up of GP’s making referrals to the Council for people who are overweight to use the gym facilities. The Health and Communities Manager advised that information was held on the number of referrals from GP’s.

Action 1: For Health and Communities Manager to circulate the number of referrals from GP’s in the District.

The Board thanked Dr. Bob Bowes.