Agenda item

10:30

George Smith, Chairman and Rosalind Pearce, Chief Executive Officer, will be present to report on the views and latest activities from Healthwatch Oxfordshire (JHO6).

The Committee welcomed Professor George Smith, Chairman, and Rosalind Pearce Chief Executive Officer of Healthwatch Oxfordshire (HWO) to present the regular update of issues/activities since the last meeting (JHO6). They highlighted the following from their report:

·         Musculoskeletal services – Healthshare – HWO was aware of the current issues and were meeting with Healthshare that afternoon to raise issues of concern which had been reported;

·         HWO was launching a new website in the style of Trip Adviser which would give HWO direct feedback from the public on every aspect of health and social care. This in turn would serve to flag up areas for HWO to focus its attention; and

·         Three further appointments had been made to the HWO staff roll – one of which was a project officer to work with groups that provided feedback on issues of concern from patients and the public. The aim was to raise the standard of HWO reports by giving a clear focus and to better co-ordinate the stakeholders involved.

Questions from Committee Members and responses received were as follows:

-       In relation to an inquiry as to whether there were any safeguards in place to protect against fake reviews in respect of the new website, Professor Smith responded that HWO was very aware of this and employed a moderative stance. All comments were scrutinised, some of which were better re-directed to the complaints procedure and not placed on the website. This was an opportunity to pick up an issue which had attracted multiple reviews from patients and the public, and to comment back.

-       Professor Smith and Rosalind Pearce were asked if there had, in their opinion, been any recent meaningful engagement with BOB regarding the STP and how HWO were managing to stay with the rapid progress in relation to Accountable Care systems. Rosalind Pearce responded that there had been no public engagement with BOB recently as Louise Patten, the new Chief Executive of the OCCG, had only just taken up her employment. HWO were however keeping a close eye on the situation as things were moving quickly and it was important to exert influence. She added that not all discussion was based on written reports but was verbal and engagement could take place at any time.  HWO was keeping a watching and listening brief in the communities and there were, for example, two forthcoming events taking place in Wantage and Wallingford;

-       With regard to a comment from a member of the Committee regarding the problems being experienced by some users of the new Musculoskeletal Service, Professor Smith stated that HWO was continuing to put pressure on the OCCG and the provider to respond to problems. He stressed the importance of the work being undertaken by the OCCG to put in place more standardised Patient Participation Groups (PPG) across the County - and in turn the work HWO was doing at a locality level with PPGs to help the OCCG to achieve this. This would serve to give a more effective public voice. Professor Smith added that HWO were very pleased to announce that a contract was now in place with the OCCG to provide support for each PPG Forum which would provide a synergy with the new website and an increase in the flow of information;

Professor Smith and Rosalind Pearce were thanked for their attendance.

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