Agenda item

11.50

A representative from the Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group and a member of the Townlands Stakeholder Reference Group will give an update on progress (JHO8).

Prior to consideration of this item the Committee received an address by Cllr Ian Reissman of the Townlands Steering Group, and by Cllr David Nimmo-Smith, local member.

Cllr Ian Reissman

Cllr Reissman began by congratulating all who had been involved in work on the new Townlands Hospital, saying that it was a major achievement in securing local delivery of these much needed services. He expressed the concern, however, of the Townlands Steering Group that the OCCG decision, which was made in September 2015, not to provide the beds as originally planned but to operate the Ambulatory Care Model, had not been shared with the Group sufficiently to provide reassurance that the health needs of patients who had been using the bedded service in the Peppard ward were being met. Cllr Reissman commented also that he believed that the closure of beds would lead to higher DTOC statistics. He stated that the community were keen to see an effective process of monitoring and scrutiny of the new model of care. He added that the paper presented by the OCCG to this Committee provided an overview of many of the key issues but asked that the Committee ensure that details were provided by the OCCG in the following areas:

·         Details and location of the Integrated Locality Team which would be based at Townlands as key components of the RACU and the Multidisciplinary Team;

·         Provision of a clear plan for the Rapid Access Clinical Unit (RACU) including the opening dates and staffing arrangements;

·         Evidence that home care packages were available both now and when the RACU opened with the inevitable increased demand;

·         Details of the operation of the beds leased from the Care Home including levels and qualifications of staffing, co-location of the beds and spot purchasing arrangements;

·         Provision of a clear, specific, measurable set of Key Performance Indicators to include an explanation of how these had been arrived at , and the dialogue with the community; and

·         To request the OCCG to engage properly with the Townlands Stakeholder Resource Group (TSRG) and co-operate with the OCCG to reconfigure the TSRG and have clear and constructive Terms of Reference. The CCG was asked to respond to the proposals and adopt as many of the proposed Terms of Reference as possible.

Cllr David Nimmo-Smith

Cllr Nimmo-Smith supported the comments made by the previous speaker address. He too congratulated all involved in getting the new hospital opened and looked forward to the care home opening soon. He hoped that the Henley experience would be taken into account as plans were developed, and consultations held, as part of the County’s Transformation Plan, which in turn fitted into the national health agenda.

He stressed that the new facilities were, in his view, a great improvement, but the OCCG report accompanying this Agenda gave the impression that all teething problems had been resolved. He pointed out that this was not the case, the community required answers to their questions about integration with Adult Social Care and home care packages.

Cllr Nimmo-Smith added that the Henley and district community did not see the newly formed stakeholder group as being the answer and made a plea to the OCCG for sufficient local community involvement. He commented that getting things right in health care was important to the users of the new facility and for the Oxfordshire model.

The Chairman invited Cllr Lorraine Hillier, Mayor of Henley, to state her views. She commented that the OCCG had pledged in September 2015 to work with the community. The three, two hour meetings which had been held to date, had, in the Stakeholder Group’s view, little value. She added that the media coverage had been negative because of the failure of the OCCG to address the communication problems; and asked therefore for clear Terms of Reference for the proposals from the OCCG.

The Chairman welcomed Dr Andrew Burnett, Clinical Locality Director for SE Oxfordshire and a local GP, and Peter McGraine, Clinical Director of Older People’s Directorate, Oxford Health to the table. Andrew Burnett stated that the hospital was now open with excellent facilities. The expanded Minor Injuries Unit, the Physiotherapy service and the Out of Hours service were now in place, adding however that there were still issues with regard to the re - provision of the full X Ray service because the wiring had proved unavailable (it had been ordered in 2014). In addition the RACU was not yet in place, but the plan was always that this Unit would open later. He further reported that consultants were keen to come along to work in the new hospital.

Dr Burnett added that the consultant-led Unit providing rapid access via a combination of doctors and the community teams was a respected and well-established model, which would serve to keep people in their own homes as much as possible. He refuted the issue that the closure of beds would lead to greater DTOC statistics, stating that, conversely, having more beds increased DTOC figures. The modern approach was to close beds and to help patients to go home or out into the community for rehabilitation care.

Pete McGraine reiterated Andrew Burnett’s views stating that the facilities were excellent offering a podiatry service, a speech and language service, a therapy service and Out of Hours care. He reported that the public had been invited to visit the site when it opened and feedback had been very positive. Now that the older hospital had been removed, the full visual impact was being appreciated. He further reported that he had met with the media and talked through the benefits, advantages and challenges still faced, for example with the X ray facilities. Oxford Health were working very closely with colleagues at the Royal Berkshire Hospital. It was both difficult and a challenge recruiting suitable staff with suitable expertise for the RACU, adding that it was an emergency discipline providing preventative care in a responsible way. He supported the fact that the RACU was always going to be established after the other facilities. Staff groups were working in the community and those who were focusing on ambulatory care were currently being trained ready for the RACU’s opening. He reported also that locality teams were not to be placed at Townlands now. He recognised the issue of timely availability of home care across the county and acknowledged that KPI’s had not yet reached the agenda at meetings.

The Chairman, speaking on behalf of the Committee, thanked Dr Andrew Burnett and Pete McGraine for the update. She stated that this new model of health care was to become the norm, but the message did not appear to be being communicated sufficiently well. She added that engagement with the stakeholders and the town about the new model of care and the facilities offered was not strong enough and needed to improve.