C Blair, representative from the North East and
North Cumbria Integrated Care Board (NENC ICB), delivered a presentation to Members
regarding the outcome of the integrated urgent care in South Tees
patient/stakeholder engagement work. The
presentation covered the following topics:
- Background – a reminder of what was
being proposed for the populations of Middlesbrough and Redcar &
Cleveland, i.e. a new model of Integrated Urgent
Care (IUC).
- Engagement work that had been carried
out over an 11-week period from 1 August 2022 to 16 October 2022.
- Methods of engagement, which included:
surveys; public events; and targeted engagement with people from protected
characteristic groups (responses in this regard had been very good, with
120 being received).
- Survey results, which referred to
demographics; patients’ experiences of accessing urgent treatment out of
hours; ease of access to urgent treatment; patient transport methods;
support for the proposals; and whether relocating facilities would cause
any potential access issues.
- Additional responses from
individuals/groups, including: Middlesbrough
Primary Care Network (PCN); Tees Valley wide PCN; Meeting of the Tees
Valley Joint Health Scrutiny Committee; PCN Clinical Director; Local MPs;
Members of the Public; and comments on social media.
- Summary, which highlighted, through the
engagement work, the high level of support for the proposals.
During the discussion that followed, Members queried several points with
the representative - the following information was provided in response:
- Regarding the issue of mental health,
this had often been raised during the engagement process. It was indicated that further work
around mental health matters was required, but
would be heavily supported.
- 83% of respondents supported the
proposals; concerns had been raised in relation to access/transport to
services from East Cleveland. These
had been acknowledged and were currently being looked at.
- During the pandemic, out of hours
services at North Ormesby Health Centre were temporarily
suspended in order to deliver Covid-19 support. The out of hours service had since
resumed for those patients that, following contact with 111, needed to
attend.
- Regarding the availability of physical
space on the James Cook University Hospital site, it was explained that
this posed significant challenge because, although there was space, it was
being fully utilised at present. If
the decision was taken to implement the proposals, these would need to be
phased in as the estate may need to be changed.
- It was difficult to provide an
indication of how much capacity would be freed up in GP practices through
the proposals, as GP data sets were not as readily accessible as A&E
data sets. Members heard that it
was same day appointments that posed constraint.
- It was highlighted that the proposals
would be submitted to the ICB Executive with a view to proceed with a
phased implementation. The
representative would provide the Health Scrutiny Panel with an update
later in the year.
- Consideration was given to transport
issues that had been experienced in East Cleveland. It was explained that, owing to a lack
in footfall, it would not be feasible to build a new urgent treatment
centre in the area. Further work
would be undertaken to look at potential ways of improving
accessibility.
- In terms of cost implications, it was
explained that current services and resources would be reutilised. Exploratory work would be carried out to
look at capital investment support for the James Cook University Hospital
site. In response to a comment made
regarding additional costs equating to additional services, it was explained
that there was, but there was a need to look at existing resources and a
skill mixing model to determine favourable options. Examination of facilities in other
localities had been undertaken to identify what worked well. It was indicated that there was a need
to look at A&E and urgency support.
Following the formal presentation, a Member
made reference to the slides and commented that these did not feature an image representative
of Middlesbrough. In response, it was
agreed that images were important to ensure inclusion; this would be looked at.
The Chair thanked the representative for the information presented.
NOTED