Verbal report.
Minutes:
Jerry Hawker reported that the Eastern Cheshire CCG five year plan had been submitted to the Board previously and was publically available. It had been produced in a format which was suitable for submission to NHS England. An attempt had been made to rework the document and the connections between the various programmes and support work in East Cheshire had been updated. A Healthier Together consultation listening event was due to take place later in the afternoon, in Wilmslow, as part of the work to improve health standards, by the joining up of local authority and health services in greater Manchester. The population of East Cheshire used South Manchester and Stockport for routine care and it was, therefore, important for the CCG to be involved and to listen to the presentations.
He also provided an update in relation to the south sector work, which was a very restricted piece of work, commissioned by NHS England, with the Trust Development Authority to look at changes in the four South sector hospitals. The South sector work had now been completed, but the conclusions would not be put in the public domain for some time. It had been concluded that the south sector work would significantly affect the Caring Together Programme and a refresh of the Programme was planned, which would then be brought back to the Board for consideration. It was noted that all partners had now signed up to the programme and that there were many similarities with the Connecting Care Programme in respect of how individuals received care. The process of producing new documents for the next 5 years was now underway and would be available by October.
Members of the Board commented that there was a theme running through both programmes and that the two plans complimented one another. I It would also be important to align the standards across both wherever possible.
Concern was expressed regarding the lack of consultation in relation to the tender for specialised cancer services in Manchester, which would affect patients in Cheshire and it was considered that this needed to be carefully scrutinised. The Chairman reported the issue of non consultation had been raised at the Council’s Health and Adult Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee. The Scrutiny Officer responsible for the Committee, who was in attendance at the meeting, reported that the Cheshire and Merseyside Authorities had joined together to write a protocol in respect of this matter. The Association of Greater Manchester Authorities had a joint Scrutiny Panel, which consulted on health issues across the greater Manchester area and the Chairman of the Scrutiny Committee was invited to observe at the meetings of the Panel, but not vote.
It was noted that the Healthier Together Programme had a mandatory requirement to consult practices affected in their area and that the greater Manchester authorities had to carry out a consultation and be held to account. It was considered that the issues relating to cancer procurement and scrutiny needed to be raised with NHS England and it needed to be ensured that Cheshire was not excluded from any future consultations relating to other health services which were geographically situated outside the area, in view of the significant impact that they may have on the population of the Cheshire East area.
RESOLVED
1. That a letter be prepared for submission to NHS England requesting clarification on the process relating to the major health provider challenge.
2. That consideration be given to how other Health and Wellbeing Boards are working together in respect of the above issue.