To agree a Chair of the Committee for 2015/16.

The Committee nominated Councillor Newman as Chair. 

Decision

To appoint Councillor Newman as Chair.

To agree a Vice Chair of the Committee for 2015/16.

The Committee nominated Councillor Mrs Young as Vice Chairman. 

Decision

To appoint Councillor Mrs Young as Vice Chairman.

To note the membership of the Committee. 

Decision

            To note the membership as detailed in the report.

To note the Committees terms of reference

Decision

            To note the Terms of Reference as detailed in the report.

To note any declarations of interest.

·         Councillor Lloyd declared a personal interest as an employee of the Stroke Association based at Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust.

·         Councillor Bruer-Morris declared a personal interest as a practice nurse at a GP practice in Manchester.

To receive and if so determined, to approve as a correct record, the minutes of the last meeting of the Joint Health Scrutiny Committee held on 23 March 2015. 

Decision:

To approve the minutes of the meeting on 27 January 2015 as a correct record.

Representatives from Trafford CCG, CMFT, NHS England and UHSM will be in attendance to provide an update to the Joint Committee on progress.

The Committee welcomed Jessica Williams and Rob Bellingham (NHS England); Dr Nigel Guest and Gina Lawrence (Trafford CCG), Stephen Gardner and Antony Middleton (Central Manchester Foundation Trust (CMFT)). Members were advised that Silas Nicholls from the University Hospital of South Manchester NHS Foundation Trust (UHSM) would also be in attendance. Gina Lawrence introduced the report provided by Trafford CCG and explained the quarterly performance targets. She said they had tried to show the impact of the New Health Deal for Trafford on performance and explained there had been some issues at UHSM with patient flows, particularly around discharges. Members noted that the information provided in the report was in a much more readable format than previously.

Members challenged the high conversion rates of attendances to admissions at UHSM and were told this was due to the complexity and nature of admissions. Gina Lawrence explained that audits had been carried out to investigate why the rates were higher at UHSM. She confirmed that all patients were appropriate to be admitted, however advised that junior staff were more likely to admit patients as they were more risk averse. She said as improvements were made to community care she expected the conversion rate would decrease. A member said this indicated the extent of the health problems experienced by Manchester residents. Officers could not confirm that any particular trends or health conditions had resulted in the conversions.

Members stressed that increased access to GPs could prevent or reduce unscheduled admissions to hospital. Dr Nigel Guest assured members that all Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) in Manchester and Trafford were committed to 7 day GP access. He advised that the government had agreed to fund 5,000 more GPs nationwide to facilitate this and systems would be tailored to individual areas. He described different schemes that would help, including the use of medical students and delayed retirement. He confirmed that there was potential in Greater Manchester to provide additional access to GPs. Jessica Williams described the work of the Central Manchester Demonstrator which was one of six pilots funded by NHS England to test increased GP access. Members welcomed the progress though felt that some GPs were still reluctant and said that some practices still do not advertise how to get an appointment out of hours. Dr Guest advised that GPs were member organisations and changes to the healthcare system meant it was more important now to work together. He said that in Trafford 95% of GPs had agreed to a single operating system which would extend their core hours from 8am to 5.30pm and discontinue half day closing. He explained that they were not obliged to do this but it demonstrated that they wanted to make improvements. Rob Bellingham agreed there was a general recognition that more investment in GPs was required. However, he said there was lots that could be done in the interim to make Manchester a more attractive place to be a GP. Members asked about the Pharmacy Walk-in Pilot and were advised  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.