Agenda item

Report of the Devon Clinical Commissioning Group, attached

The Committee considered the Report from NHS Devon Clinical Commissioning Group on engagement of Members in the development of the Long-Term Plan and opportunities to influence, contribute and scrutinise.

The Report aimed to address Member engagement by setting out the key areas of the Long-Term change programme that were being accelerated and those which scrutiny committees input across the Integrated Care System (ICS) would be sought. It also offered an approach as to how the Clinical Commissioning Group could work together going forward with Members. 

The development of a Long-Term Plan (LTP) for Devon had started in 2018 and was designed to tackle a host of complex issues facing the Devon health and care system. There is an overarching Long-Term Plan for the NHS as a whole and this was being localised for Devon.

While work to progress the LTP slowed as the NHS focused all efforts on supporting patients and communities through the coronavirus pandemic, the challenges faced in Devon remained the same and had been exacerbated because of Covid-19.

Re-starting work on the Long-Term Plan had been a priority over the latter part of 2021 and tackling the issues the LTP aimed to address was essential for the Health and Care system in Devon. 

The Long-Term Plan was still in the development phase, it was being shaped and was not fully formed. The CCG confirmed that elected Members had a key role in influencing, contributing, and scrutinising this programme of work in a way that acknowledged the voices of the communities and neighbourhoods they represented.

Members’ observations and discussion points with the Deputy Chief Executive NHS Devon Clinical Commissioning Group, the Chief Executive of the South Devon and Torbay Hospital Trust, and Clinical Adviser South Devon and Torbay Hospital Trust included:

·         the focus within the Plan on (i) protected elective capacity to address the exceptional number of people waiting for acute specialities which had reached 144,209 (noting that cancer and urgent care and emergency services had been maintained) which had exacerbated as a result of the pandemic; and (ii) Community Diagnostic Hubs reducing times for vital tests; and (iii) Community urgent and emergency care to help ensure that it was easy for people to navigate their way through to ensure everyone was seen in the appropriate setting;

·         the engagement with clinical and care professionals across health and social care and developing engagement with the workforce;

·         the willingness and value for further engagement with Scrutiny and other local authorities,

·         the need for further and more detailed information in the drafts relating to timelines, finance and geography and strategy and with implementation plans to address the identified issues, using more accessible language and ensuring timely engagement with Scrutiny;

·         the increased capacity at Axminster (on which further information was requested by the local Member);

·         the contribution of the Nightingale hospital in Exeter in helping address the capacity issues in relation to orthopaedic and ophthalmology treatments;

·         the significant workforce issues across the health and care system and development of training regimes nationally, alternative professional positions through such as Nursing Associates for example and international recruitment;

·         the key role of the Integrated Care model within the developing the LTP;

·         use of community hospitals as health and care hubs and care at home wherever safe and appropriate; 

·         the digital strategy to help improve capacity access health and social care; and 

·         the valuable role and work of the North Devon District Hospital serving a wide rural area and isolated communities across Northern Devon.    

It was MOVED by Councillor S Randall Jonson; SECONDED by Councillor C Whitton and

RESOLVED that Masterclasses (open to all members of the Council) and the Standing Overview Group (with invitations to members of Torbay and Plymouth Councils as appropriate) be used as the opportunity to influence the development of the Long-Term Plan for Devon and with regular update reports to this Committee.