Agenda and minutes

Notice of items to be raised under this heading must be given in writing to the Head of Executive and Member Services or his representative before the meeting in accordance with Standing Order 64.

The following apologies for absence were received:

·         Councillor Hector

·         Councillor Hoda Benn

·         Councillor Jones

·         Simon Goulden (Co-opted Member)

·         Lesley Gouldbourne (Observer)

Members are invited to declare at this stage of the meeting, any relevant disclosable pecuniary, personal or prejudicial interests in the items on this agenda.

There were no declarations of interest.

The report updates the Committee on the review of General Practice (GP) extended access in Brent. It provides an overview of the review process and the model being proposed, subject to engagement and a final case to Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) Governing Body in January 2018. It also reports the early findings from our public engagement which commenced on 13  November 2017 and will last until 22 December 2017.

The Chair welcomed all to the meeting and thanked the Brent Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) for the report on improving the General Practice extended access offer in Brent. The Chair highlighted that a number colleagues from Brent CCG were present to address members’ queries and invited Sheik Auladin (Chief Operating Officer, Brent CCG) to introduce the report.

Sheik Auladin outlined the current offer for extended GP access services, which comprised nine GP Access Hubs across Brent and the (walk-in) GP Access Centre at the Wembley Centre for Health and Care. The contracts for these services were due to end in March 2018 and Brent CCG was reviewing both the Hub and Access Centre services to ensure future provision met the needs of Brent’s residents.

Meena Mahil (Primary Care Project and Delivery Manager, Brent CCG) advised that in reviewing the services, the CCG had considered a raft of data,  including information from patient surveys, and sought to address issues of underutilisation. Under the current offer, only 57 per cent of available appointments were utilised, though all available appointments had be paid for by the CCG. The issue of underutilisation was compounded by differing hub opening times, varying models of service  and in some cases, restrictions on which hub a resident could access. The new model sought to address these issues and therefore improve appointment utilisation by providing a consistent offer across five GP Hubs, with regularised opening hours and more GP appointments. Residents would be able to access any of the five hubs and their clinical records would be available to the GP or Nurse at the appointment.

Shafeeq Tejani (Assistant Commissioning Director, Brent CCG) advised that in line with the NHSE Edge of Care Strategy, the new model would be fully aligned with the 111 service, enabling a system-wide approach to managing demand and allowing direct booking of GP appointments via 111.  Outlining the CCG’s strategic objectives regarding the Estates Strategy, Sue Hardy (BHH Strategic Estates, Brent CCG) explained that the overarching aims were to deliver earlier, easy-to-access care, closer to home for Brent’s residents and in doing so, to deliver the major shift of care from a hospital to an out-of-hospital setting. The Estates Strategy identified three key locations for the GP Access Hubs: the Wembley Centre for Health and Care, Willesden Centre for Health and Care and Central Middlesex. The locations of the two remaining GP Access Hubs had not yet been decided upon and a process of engagement was underway to garner views of Brent’s residents and other stakeholders.

The committee subsequently asked CCG colleagues to outline the patient pathway for accessing GP Access Hub services, both currently and under the proposed model. It was questioned when residents would be able to directly book GP Access Hub appointments online and why access to this facility was not being made available sooner. Members queried what processes were in place to cope with high demand on the 111 service and whether translation services were available. Questions were raised regarding  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.