Agenda item

To provide the Brent Health and Wellbeing Board with an overview of the main service changes at London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust (LNWH) since the start of the pandemic.

Simon Crawford (Director of Strategy and Deputy CEO, London North West Healthcare NHS Trust) introduced the report which detailed the changes within the Trust that were necessary during the response to Covid-19. Changes were detailed in Appendix 1 of the report. He highlighted the key points as follows:

• In response to Covid-19, all elective activity had been reduced and then moved to Central Middlesex Hospital to provide a “green” pathway for elective activity.

• Elderly care transfers from Northwick Park to Central Middlesex Hospital for step-down recovery care was stopped to enable the Central Middlesex site to remain a Covid-19 “green” pathway for elective activity. This also meant elderly care patients did not have to move site which reduced the length of time they needed to stay in hospital, therefore reduced their risk of infection exposure and helped them return home sooner.

• The high volume, low complexity surgical hub was also provided on the Central Middlesex site alongside services provided by St Mark’s Hospital. This increased the bed capacity at Northwick Park and provided benefits to Saint Mark’s patients by allowing surgery and cancer care to continue. The CQC had been impressed with the improvements following the changes that had been made.

• Due to the benefits of the changes made as a result of Covid-19, the Trust would work on a Case for Change particularly around St Mark’s Hospital, which would be brought to the Council in the new year following stakeholder engagement with patients, staff and Healthwatch. This would involve detailed analysis of patient referrals, where they lived, and travel times.

The Chair thanked Simon Crawford for the update and invited members to comment, with the following issues raised:

• Regarding how patient voice was factored in to the decision making and how it would be included moving forward, Simon Crawford advised that decisions taken were in response to Covid-19 as an immediate and necessary action to provide access to surgical interventions to patients. Patients had been engaged on an individual basis to explain the move in site but that they would continue to access their consultant and surgical team. Not all patients had been transferred on day 1, and he acknowledged there was some confusion for some patients in the early days of the transfer but the Trust had worked hard on those communications and improved on them. He added that as time moved on it became more uncertain for patients where their care would be delivered and that was why the Trust felt the need to do a Case for Change.

• In relation to the Case for Change, Simon Crawford advised that they would be commissioning a piece of work through the St Mark’s Foundation to undertake the Case for Change. The Trust would look to engage with partners and stakeholders as part of that and get Healthwatch involved as well as members of the Council and the broader patient population. There would be a need to agree which Committee the case was most appropriate to be seen by within the Council. The Trust were looking to formally commission the work in the next week with a commencement date of 1 November 2021, and run that for 6-8 weeks in the lead up to Christmas. They would look to come back to the Council in the new year.

RESOLVED: To note the Brent Health Matters Update.