Agenda item

To consider the presentation on current savings plans aimed at improving Quality, Innovation, Productivity and Prevention (QIPP) and current performance data.

Mr Mark Johnston, Deputy Chief Operating Officer, Blackpool Clinical Commissioning Group gave a presentation to the Committee on Quality, Innovation, Productivity and Prevention (QIPP), performance and patient choice. He advised that a number of initiatives had been put in place to achieve savings of £3.2 million, however, the current forecast was that savings of £1.8 million would be achieved. He added that work was ongoing to close the gap but that Blackpool CCG was forecasting a deficit for the financial year.

The Committee discussed a number of the initiatives highlighted in the presentation including New Models of Care, which had previously been discussed by the Committee in detail, the pathway review, referral management and prescribing.

In response to a question regarding the Falls Pathway Review, Mr Johnston advised that there were dedicated falls nurses based in the six Blackpool neighbourhoods and patients continued to be assessed at home. Following further questioning, Mr Johnston advised that the CCG had commenced work to educate care home staff around fall management as part of a wider training programme.

Members noted that performance against the Paediatric Pathway Review was ‘red’ and Mr Johnston advised that that was related to the level of financial saving made to date, which was much lower than forecasted.

The Committee was informed that a number of the initiatives relating to Prescribing related to reducing spend by replacing high cost products with low cost products which were as effective. Members commented that it was important to communicate and explain changes to medication to patients.

Mr Johnston advised that a Care Homes Pharmacist had recently been appointed with a view to reviewing medication prescribed to older people in receipt of repeat prescriptions to identify if the medication continued to be necessary.

The Committee discussed the previous work of the Health Scrutiny Committee and noted that concern had been raised regarding patients receiving prescriptions from the Urgent Care Centre being unable to obtain medication from the pharmacist on site at Blackpool Victoria Hospital. Mr Johnston agreed to investigate the issue and report back to the Committee through the Chairman.

Members were informed of the additional initiatives designed to save money including the closure of the Windsor Unit respite care. The Committee queried if service users had been consulted regarding the changes and was advised that that had been the case. In response to further questioning, Mr Johnston advised that not all service users had been happy following the closure of the unit or their ability to access respite provision since it had closed. He explained that many service users accessing the Windsor Unit had been receiving unequal access to services, which in many cases was more than they were entitled to. He advised that the majority of service users had acknowledged that they had been receiving an unfair level of respite in comparison to carers not in receipt of support from the Windsor Unit.

Mr Johnston provided the Committee with an overview of performance in Blackpool against the NHS Constitution Measures and the NHS Constitution Support Measures and highlighted areas of good and poor performance between April 2015 and September 2015. He advised that although performance of ‘A and E admissions, transfer or discharge within four hours of arrival’ had been good until September 2015 it was predicted that in the last quarter of 2015 performance would drop.

Mr Johnston advised that the percentage of patients seen within two weeks for an urgent referral for breast symptoms was below target and that that was largely related to patient choice, with many women choosing to wait longer than two weeks. He added that further education was required to ensure women realised the importance of attending an appointment as quickly as possible.

Members queried the performance of the percentage of ‘patients receiving first definitive treatment for cancer within two months (62 days)’ and was informed that although targets were not met every month, figures were based on a small number of complex patients. Mr Johnston added that the pathway of every patient in that category would be analysed to determine if improvements could be made.

Mr Johnston advised that the statistics relating to the North West Ambulance Service were Lancashire wide and that performance in Blackpool was very high.

Mr Johnston concluded the presentation by informing Members of the importance of patient choice and highlighted the top 10 choices of hospital for Blackpool CCG residents.

The Committee agreed:

1.             To receive performance reports from Blackpool CCG biannually commencing in approximately six months.

2.             To request that Mr Johnston investigate the use of the pharmacist on the Blackpool Victoria Hospital site and report back to Committee through the Chairman.