Agenda item

To consider a report on issues brought to the attention of the Committee which impact upon the planning, provision and/or operation of health services within Hampshire, or the Hampshire population.

The Committee received a report (item 6 in the minute book) which provided Members with information about the issues brought to the attention of the Committee which impacted upon the planning, provision and/or operation of health services within Hampshire, or the Hampshire population as follows:

Proposal to create an Elective Hub – Hampshire Hospitals

GP Access and Patient Participation

Performance of NHS 111

Ambulance emergency handover performance

Elective Hub – Hampshire Hospitals

The Chairman welcomed Alex Whitfield and Julie Maskery from Hampshire Hospitals to present the report.

It was noted that approval to proceed with building the Hub had been given by the Trust Board in February.  £40m of funding had been confirmed in June. Operating 6 days per week, the facility would be used jointly by Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust to treat appropriate patients.

It was planned to open the unit in early summer 2025. The focus would be patients requiring hip and knee replacements. The need to address lifestyle changes to reduce the needs for this type of surgery while meeting current needs was acknowledged.  There was greater use of prehabilitation and patients did not always need a general anasthetic so could be discharged quicker. 

The Trust could not create any further car parking on the site and was looking at patient drop-off areas and recommended the use of park & ride where possible. The new facility was closer to X-ray than was the case currently.

Urgent Care

The Chairman welcomed Emma Boswell, Frimley ICB, Sara Tiller, Place Director, Darren Cattell, senior lead on urgent and emergency care at H&IoW ICB, and Paul Jeffries, South Central Ambulance.

Sara Tiller reflected on the challenges of winter 2023/24 which included rises in demand and periods of industrial action.  Providers had put in actions to speed up processes and manage high levels of occupancy.  Recovery from the pandemic continued to be a factor.  Also of note was managing discharge with re-starting packages of care and availability of step-down beds.

The information on ambulance delays at hospital was cause for concern in relation to Queen Alexander Hospital, Portsmouth.  This was considered to be a whole system issue which the IBC continued to address.

Primary Care: access and public participation – Frimley and H&IoW ICBs

The Chairman additionally welcomed James Roach, Director of Primary Care, H&IoW ICB to address the package of reports received in this connection.  Slides were shown in support of this topic. 

Primary care continued to evolve and the ICB was developing a workforce strategy to develop GPs and keep them in role.  There was a trend towards individuals wanting to train in specialisms, rather than be responsible for a business as a GP partner. The configuration and packaging of local health services in localities was continually being reviewed as patients needed to access a range of health care services including pharmacy and community services.

A further update on the reconfiguration of north Hampshire primary care networks and an action plan on improving primary care access in Basingstoke.

The Committee noted the update.