Agenda item

Mr Gary Collier, the Council’s Health and Social Care Integration Manager, advised that the report provided the Board with an update on the delivery of the priorities set out in the draft Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy.  The report set out workstream highlights and key performance indicator updates as well as key challenges such as winter pressures.  It represented a single performance report for the Hillingdon system.

It was noted that there had been an increase in the number of individuals attending A&E and that there had also been an increase in attendances at the Urgent Treatment Centre (UTC).  However, the UTC had been able to increase the number of people redirected to primary care who did not need inpatient treatment at Hillingdon Hospital.  Furthermore, NHS 111 had directly booked in more Hillingdon patients to see a GP than any other borough in North West London.  Patients were now also able to pre-book an appointment via NHS 111 with an Urgent Care Nurse Practitioner at Mount Vernon Hospital. 

The Board was advised that funding had been made available to primary care to look at accessibility.  To this end, “Advice and Guidance” had been put in place so that GPs and Hillingdon Hospital consultants were working together to ensure that the consultants only saw those patients who needed to be seen at hospital.  Hillingdon had been a pioneer with this initiative which facilitated speedy two way conversations between GPs and consultants and had reduced the length of waiting lists.

Professor Ian Goodman, Borough Medical Director for Hillingdon at NWL CCG, advised that the pandemic had prompted GPs to move towards a digital way of working.  Although the general public had been quite relaxed about this initially to prevent the spread of Covid, consideration now needed to be given to integrating face to face and virtual appointments as part of the GP offering.  Whilst younger people tended to be more supportive of this, older people were keen to get back to the way things had been pre-pandemic with in-person appointments. 

It was noted that the ability to have virtual appointments had meant that GPs were now seeing more patients each day than they had been before the pandemic and were able to prioritise more effectively.  However, as some groups were feeling / being disadvantaged by virtual appointments, it was important that this issue be thoroughly worked through. 

Dr Sharon Daye, the Council’s Interim Director of Public Health, advised that she chaired a Suspected Suicide Learning Panel (SSLP) and was aware that some calls for help were not being heard.  Professor Goodman advised that primary care needed to continue to identify vulnerable individuals but that there had been some concern about Covid infection rates and the increasing use of waiting rooms.  With regard to suicide and self-harm, it was important that any information about patterns identified by the SSLP be passed on to GPs. 

Concern was expressed that good work was being undertaken in primary care but that the publicity around GPs was often negative.  Mr Tony Zaman, the Council’s Corporate Director Social Care and Health, suggested that a partnership approach might be needed to communicate the channel shift around digital service provision across the whole health and social care landscape. 

RESOLVED:  That the content of the report be noted.