Agenda item

A representative from NHS Tees Valley Clinical Commissioning Group will be in attendance to provide further information on the initial scoping work and plans regarding key engagement sessions to begin the collaborative conversation around end of life care.

 

 

The Chair invited Katie McLeod, Head of Commissioning and Strategy at the CCG. The Head of Commissioning advised that she supported the adult 18-64 age range postfolio which covered acute, community services and those with long-term conditions, cancer services and end of life care.

 

At the last meeting held in December 2020, the Panel heard from Craig Blair and the information provided by the Head of Commissioning was to build on this information and focus on the future of the programme and to provide further information.

The Head of Commissioning restated the aim, which was to:

 

To make the last stage of people’s lives as good as possible by aligning systems and processes so that everyone works together confidently, honestly and consistently to help that patient and the people important to them.

 

The Panel were advised that the Tees valley CCG is one of the four sites nationally to be identified as a commissioning exemplar site.

 

It was explained that exemplar sites were selected by NHS England to support the national overarching agenda of:

 

•               Publication of a clear commissioning model, supported by national levers and incentives to commission, contract and fund the best Palliative and End of life Care for their area.

•               Integrated and seamless care across providers and organisations

 

The Panel learnt that NHS England would support the local sites and this  support would focus on plans to address national drivers, alongside development of an environment  which supports co design and implementation of a Palliative and End of Life Strategy by 2022.

As part of the opportunity and NHS support, Tees Valley CCG have an opportunity to build this vision and in return, the Tees Valley CCG will test out new models, work with service specification ideas and work in collaboration to meet the aims of the agenda.

 

The time scale is set from January 2021- March 2022, in this time the CCG hope to carry out meaningful engagement processes and develop our vision and work through detailed actions of where we are now and where we want to be.

 

Since December 2020, the following progress has taken place:

 

•               NHS England have issued a Memorandum of Understanding to the CCG for review and feedback by early January

•               Plans in place to sign the Memorandum of Understanding by mid – end January and funds will be transferred to the CCG thereafter (expectation is that funding is spent on programme management, events, clinical consultation time etc and it not to be used for delivery of services)

•               CCG are in the process of developing a job description to recruit to the project support role which was identified in their bid.

•               CCG team part of national project groups to drive the agenda forward and provide meaningful feedback into the commissioning and finance modules of the overarching programme.

•               CCG to form part of and be instrumental in the development of a team that support peer

•               learning across the country.

•               Locality areas previously undertook a self- assessment against the national Ambitions Framework Plans in place to revisit this across all stakeholders to support wider engagement and assessment of ‘where we are now’, and

•               Comprehensive engagement plan in development to use the learning from this self assessment to begin a programme of engagement and ultimately co design of a future vision for PEoLC. The current climate with Covid does put pressure on the services and we are working with external organisations to look at how we get the best out of engagement.

 

A panel member queried about the coordination of services and what was meant by this. In response the Head of Commissioning outlined that there were a host of services which may be involved in the patients end of life journey e.g. inpatient support to the voluntary service. The CCG want to ensure they create a collaborative and co-design approach so that patients feel their care is seamless and do not feel like they have to repeat their story. The CCG are working on the personalisation agenda and embedding this across end of life care, to produce a personal approach and ensure we get this right at the beginning.

 

Another panel member questioned about data sharing within organisations and how developed the peer support network was. In terms of data sharing, the Head of Commissioning outlined that there was a lot of work being undertaken in terms of digital and data transformation. There was  work ongoing in transferring data from one organization to another and the CCG will work on the best practice that is already out there nationally and locally.

 

In terms of peer support, the networks were new and came out as a result of the exemplar site. However we will work with the four sites and share experiences. We will ensure we look at what we have locally e.g  healthwatch. The Head of Commissioning advised that we need to work together and produce a co-designed model to ensure we have the best palliative and end of life care for residents.

 

David Smith, Chief Executive of Teesside Hospice was also in attendance and spoke at length regarding the fragile state of the voluntary / community palliative care is in e.g he outlined at present there was no lead Palliative Care Consultant at James Cook University Hospital.

 

He also discussed the sustainability of hospices and how, if the CCG see this as a priority, would need to be included (as discussed at the previous meeting) in the aim of the programme.

 

As previously discussed, the Chair advised that the panel would welcome an update on the work in 6 months -time and thanked the officers for their presentation.

 

AGREED-

•               That the information be noted

•               That the panel receive an update from the CCG in 6 months- time regarding progress of the programme.