Agenda item

To receive reports, presentations and evidence from service providers, commissioners and other stakeholders, to gather information to assess the ability of current services to meet the needs of Cheshire East and consider recommendations for changes to improve outcomes in the future.

(schedule for the meeting attached)

Each stakeholder was requested in turn to provide information about the role they played in the commissioning and provision of ambulance services, what they thought challenges were and what might be done to make improvements. During each section Committee members asked questions and various stakeholders provided additional comments.

Caroline O’Brien, Chief Executive of Cheshire East Healthwatch, provided a brief summary of feedback that they had received from patients regarding their experience of services received from North West Ambulance Services NHS Trust (NWAS).

Sarah Falkner, Director of Quality for NWAS, provided a presentation about the various services which NWAS provided, performance figures for services in Cheshire East and across the Region, factors effecting performance and initiatives being used to maintain and improve response times and outcomes for patients. David Kitchin (Interim Deputy Director of Operations), Michael Moore (Sector Manager), Matt Dunn (Consultant Paramedic), and Julie Treharne (Head of Communications) all supported the presentation providing information and answering questions about various parts of NWAS services.

The meeting was adjourned at 11:50 and reconvened at 12:05.

Jerry Hawker, Chief Executive of NHS Eastern Cheshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), led a presentation from the CCGs about how ambulance services were commissioned, why performance of service differed between locations within the region, what the future challenges were and outlines some initiatives that they were developing with NWAS, acute trusts, community and primary care service providers and Cheshire East Council. Tracy Parker-Priest, Director of Operations and System Manager at NHS South Cheshire CCG, also contributed on behalf of South Cheshire and Allan Jude, Chief Executive of NHS Blackpool CCG, provided a regional commissioning perspective as lead commissioner for ambulance services in the North West.

Diane Hutter, Trustlink Manager at Peaks and Plains Housing Trust, and Ela Gruse, Retirement Living Manager at Wulvern Housing, provided presentations about how their organisations worked with NWAS and other health and care providers and commissioners.

The meeting was adjourned at 13:45 for lunch and reconvened at 14:15.

Councillor J Clowes left the meeting.

Carl Hanson, Group Manager at Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service, provided an overview of the fire safety and education services that the Services provided and explained the various ways in which the Service worked with NWAS and the Police, particularly in relation to the Blue Light Collaboration. The Committee had received a written statement from Cheshire Police about their involvement in ambulance services and David Kitchin elaborated on their relationship.

Dr Heather Grimbaldeston, Director of Public Health, provided an overview of how Public Health supported the various initiatives previously mentioned around ambulance services.

Rob Walker, Commissioning Manager in Adult Social Care at Cheshire East Council, provided an overview of the views from various adult social care services about their interaction with ambulance services.

Jonathon O’Brien, Deputy Chief Operating Officer at Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (MCHFT), and Kath Senior, Director of Nursing, Performance and Quality at East Cheshire NHS Trust (ECT), provided presentations about Leighton Hospital and Macclesfield General Hospital’s Emergency Departments respectively and how they interacted with NWAS and how ambulance services affected the hospitals’’ performance.

Julia Cotter, East Service Director at Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (CWP), provided a brief overview of how the CWP interacted with ambulance services.

During the session the Committee had requested additional information from stakeholders which had not be available at the meeting. The Committee made some brief comments about the information which had been received during the day. It was agreed that the meeting be adjourned until a future date when the Committee would consider its findings, receive the additional information requested and discuss its conclusions and recommendations from the review. The Chairman thanked all those who had attended the meeting to provide information.

RESOLVED – That the meeting be adjourned until 13:00 on Thursday 24 March 2016.